Any CPS students who feel like a cappuccino and a biscotti?

[Chicago 360]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

My roommate worked for CPS for 5 years. By her second year she realized (after being told by the other teachers) that they actually received so much sick time she could take one day a week for the entire year.

So that's what she did, worked 3-4 days a week, and took at least 1 sick day per week and no one said anything. She tried her hardest, but the school she was at was well beyond a lost cause. It was like a halfway functional prison.

No gym class, no playground, no heat in the winter (they had to wear gloves and hats in the room). No science classes, no art classes, no library, no supplies.

She actually spent $500 of her own money to buy all of her kids supplies since none of them bought anything, and the school didn't even have a supply closet. They stole or broke everything the first week though. She started a drive with me and my friends back in Iowa and Chicago to collect books so she could set up a "library" in her class. That was by far the most success she had with the kids the entire year, and they were the envy of all the other kids in the school because they had almost 200 books to go through. Strangely none of the kids stole any of her books or ripped anything apart.

It was 6 hours a day of her sitting in one room with them (they never left) and fiddling around with whatever she could find to try and teach them. Sometimes she'd get desperate and just have them put their heads on their desks for an hour and she'd sit at the front and try not to cry. She had NO parents show up at all for any parent teacher conferences.

One of her kids had sex with a 4th grader in the school the year before she took over...yet he was allowed to stay when she had him in 5th grade. There were multiple pregnant 6th graders throughout her 5 years there. She had many 11-13 year olds in her 5th and 6th grade classes, and at one point I remember her telling me that the kids in whatever class she was on that year were caught having sex in one of the kids houses since there was never anyone home alone. Two girls were also caught on the school bus having oral sex with each other in front of other students - and they were only 11 years old!

And of course when you ask 10 year olds the question "have any of you ever smoked before" you would naturally expect the whole class to respond at once "well....smoked what?"

What the hell school was this???

[GoCUBS1]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

At Carson Elementary, an overcrowded school in Gage Park where even neighborhood kids were restricted from enrolling, five lower- level employees got six relatives into the school by falsifying addresses. Sixty-nine students from outside the attendance area got in, but they didn't even bother to lie about their addresses. CPS had to spend as much as $252,000 to bus kids who live in the neighborhood to other schools, Sullivan said."

So these kids can't get into their own neighborhood elementary school because outside students take their spots (some by faking addresses). How does this work? Were the displaced students somehow not qualified for this school's programs? Or is it just that they didn't know the right people? And we pay $252K to bus them out!

[At1WithNature]

I hope this isn't a sign of things to come with Obama and his Chicago laden team of reps...

[cubssoxfan]

Maybe they can install the machines in some of the higher income neighborhood schools and turn them into profit centers for the PTO. Nah, that makes too much sense.
Maybe it's a scheme to keep the students awake, nah.
Maybe it's a scheme for the teachers to get free cappucinos instead of having to pay out of their own pocket -Bingo.

Reminds me of 15 years ago when one of my associates was selling tens of thousands of dollars a year in new classroom furniture to CPS and then they discovered warehouses full of furniture that never got distributed to the schools that needed it.

[aragx6]

I have no words. How awful all of this is.

Would having a well run organization immediately solve all of these kids' problems? Absolutely not, but geez it might at least help to begin to change things. As it is, this corruption seems so entrenched in everyday life, how can anyone hope to change it?

[Venom]

I've never had coffee or any of that coffee shop stuff.

[Costa Rica Chica]

At least they have their priorities straight.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by GoCUBS1

So these kids can't get into their own neighborhood elementary school because outside students take their spots (some by faking addresses). How does this work? Were the displaced students somehow not qualified for this school's programs? Or is it just that they didn't know the right people? And we pay $252K to bus them out!

As far as I know this school does not have selective enrollment. For whatever reasons it is just a better school than others in that area. It just appears that the enrollment process was up for grabs there. I would have to put blame on the principle. Principles are in control of enrollment to a great degree. Perhaps that person was either asleep at the wheel or in on it. I tend to lean towards the latter.