We know school reform because we’ve lived it. Although our work centers on Nettelhorst, a neighborhood public school in Chicago, the How to Walk to School blueprint is applicable to any school, be it public, private, parochial or charter. Ready to gather-up a few friends and create change from the ground up? Send an email to jacqueline@youtopia.com
Jacqueline Edelberg: jacqueline@youtopia.com
Susan Kurland: susan@howtowalktoschool.com
November 6th, 2009 at 9:54 am
I walk down Broadway and am always so excited to see the art that happens in public at the school. My partner and I have a designer interior shop with a lot of left overs–many fabric and sample panels of drapery. I think this would fit into our reuse model. Been in the arts forever in Chicago and could workshop with kids or teachers. Didn’t know how to get in touch–thought this the best way Look forward to meeting with you or rep
February 27th, 2010 at 10:30 am
I just heard Jacqueline’s great presentation on books tv. And I have 2 question and a comment.
Question: 1. I didn’t hear the whole show. And you mentioned a fee for services. Does this mean that to attend this school there is a fee? 2. You mentioned that most of the students who were enrolled in the school when you walked in, were still there thru middle school. What about new students? Is the percentage of students from the same socio-economic group the same as it was before the transformation? Is this education/school still available for them or have the new enrollies that would have been incoming been displaced by a more affluent population? You mentioned that there are still families taking advantage of a free lunch program, but that in itself does not define the current population? I know that often free lunch is available for families that are financially much better off than others. How many students are in that program does not address the real question of whether or not you made the school better for the population at large as it was or did you make it better for your own kind, effectively excluding students of poor families. You don’t have to transport your own kids further, pay more for different private schools, etc. To have real improvement, it needs to be available to all families. And yes middle class, college educated parents have much more acceptance within the communitees, businesses, chambers of commerce etc. when organizing, presenting, creating change. The challenge for us as a whole is how do we create education, communities, opportunities that are good for everyone.
Too often it seems to be about perception and I don’t come from a middle class, college educated background, but often I am perceived that way and get better results. Since I have an injury the positions I hold are limiting and viewed as non-professional, I am treated much differently. It is very obvious the way people respond. So often I seem to have to create a false image in order to be valued, treated seriously and with respect. I have been involved in local activism and I see this to hold true with others as well.
I also have worked in the public school system and requires much more than a receptive principal. It requires an open teacher’s staff to create change. I worked in a system with a great principal and she had parents and community support, but very little teacher support and the teacher’s very effectively shut her out. They shut out the community at large and effectively shut out change. They have the advantage of being percieved as one of the best schools in the state. Families frequently move from schools where the scores are higher and the teaching methods more creative and open to this community where it is basically a closed system with mediocre and often low scores so that their children can attend this “great” school.
Everybody has a story. I’m glad you are telling yours. It is inspiring. I do agree that if we all got together and cleaned up our own backyards the world would be a different place. But again that is about perception. Until we recycle, separate and take our own trash to the “dump” our perception will remain skewed. Until we clean up our own mess, clean our own rooms and houses and yards, mow our own lawns, weed our own gardens, clean our own toilets, wash our own dishes, dust and vacuum our own offices. Until engineers, recycle and clean up and breath in the residue of their own innovations and bosses and ceos, clean their own toilets and live in a 2 bedroom apartment with 2 kids and make sure that everyone has access to health care of their own choice, clean air, vacation time, etc. We are just going to continue to create bigger and more costly messes. Taking the I out of Life.
I was once cleaning a friend’s mother’s lake-house that he was getting ready to rent. The renter came in to sign some papers. My friend said to this affluent “friend-renter”. “I had to hire my friend here to help get the house ready, while Mom was here she didn’t really clean much. And the “renter” said well Dave your mom had a lot more important things to do besides clean didn’t she? His mother had been an affluent real estate broker, selling million and multi-million doller properties. And there-in lies the problem. I “the lowly-service worker” just about walked out the door that instant. I sometimes wish I had, because sure I also had a lot more important things to do than help my friend clean so that he could rent out this house at $3,000 dollars a week for 2 months and get paid $14 an hour to do so. Until service workers band together and demand to be treated as professionals doing an exclusive and important work and until those hiring us recognize us as invaluable, therefore deserving the best pay, the best treatment even before we recognize it, the world will not and can not change. Every creature is a valuable part of the whole and deserves a life at least as good as yours.
And just so you know, yes there are some teacher’s who deserve better pay. But there are a lot of teachers who deserve a lot less. Tenure doesn’t make a good teacher. Dollar signs don’t make a good career or a good life. Until we treat teacher’s assistants as professionals and substitute teachers as true professionals we deserve lousy schools. Until we treat janitors and cooks and cook’s assistance as valued workers the system will remain skewed. The examples we set for our kids shows them who they are and how to be. Some of those examples are that we are better and we deserve more and some of them are that you are less and you deserve less.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Hi Jacquelilne, I met you last night, Could you please contact me at my email adress – pfarone1@aol.com. Thank you, Patti
March 14th, 2010 at 10:43 am
I need you to be part of a live broadcast this Wednesday, March 17th. We are pre-empting NBC programming. I am the Executive Producer for this live show called “Lesson Plan: Future of KC Schools”
Please call me-816-797-9505. We can do this via satellite or try to have you instudio. Thank you for responding.
May 20th, 2011 at 10:16 am
Any chance you might hold another boot camp? Please?!