Chicago Schools Boycott OR A Tale of Too Shitty

Reverend James Meeks took 75 busloads of Chicago students on a field trip for the first day of the Chicago school year. They traveled north about 25 miles to New Trier's Freshman attendance center. The purpose of the trip was to illustrate the disparity between schools and funding and attitudes and politics. That was yesterday. In more ways than one.

Either there were no protesters or their efforts were not successful. The buses rolled up, the kids and parents stepped off, were welcomed by New Trier greeters and directed to lines set up to take new registrations. Kids milled about, exchanged first day looks and pleasantries. For some of the Chicago kids it was their first look at how different things really are. Beautiful buildings and grounds, manicured lawns, trees to sit under, walls and benches upon which to sit, and everything was cleaner, brighter, newer shinier and more colorful than their school back in the neighborhood.

In the end this wasn't about New Trier being some walled White enclave where discrimination and racism are exposed. Adults from both sides agreed that every kid should have the resources the kids from New Trier have.

The Chicago kids won't be allowed to attend New Trier. There is a residency requirement firewall in place. If parents are willing to pay NT's out of district tuition of $17,000 per year, their kids could attend. No problem. Or at least that was the official response.

While I applaud Reverend Meeks' effort I can't help but think it misguided and misplaced. He didn't chose to visit a downstate rural school district where funding is even more difficult to come by. He didn't visit any of several Chicago Suburban school districts with more resources, comparable issues and differing approaches to their problems.

Missed by Meeks and his movement, or just not mentioned, is that students don't vote. His demonization of the Chicago Public School system will not make voters more likely to support the schools in their neighborhood. It won't inspire efforts to clean up, fix up and provide a safe environment for Chicago's neighborhood schools. It is purely a greener grass approach. One that doesn't empower people where they live. One that reinforces that there is an answer from OUTSIDE to fix what ails the system. One that doesn't wrest the ownership of neighborhood schools from the bureaucratic inefficiencies of the CPS system and allow parents and neighborhood communities to make choices for the kids. One that doesn't put the kids above everything else.

There are districts that do more with less and districts that do less with more and more than a few that do MUCH less with MUCH more.

Today he's taking his caravan on a tour of Chicago businesses. Tomorrow the zoo? Eventually, the kids on the bus will wind up in the classroom already a few days behind. The schools they attend will have ground to make up. The rest of the kids will likely have to wait until they catch up, putting the whole school a few days behind. How is this a recipe for success?