Call for Chicago students to skip 1st school day

Can someone tell me how is it possible that a city that has means to rally together funding to build a park and to bid to host the olympics are strapped when it comes to the education of our kids?

We have a huge drop-out rate especially among minorities. We can't afford training that would help those who do graduate so that they can compete on a higher education level. This is the 21st century and there are schools that don't have books to give to students. Then people have the nerve to say that taking a stand is more harm then good. What else is there?

Something is wrong when you can't get off of your high moral horse and see that the people below are being neglected. I keep reading arguments and reports about "the angry black preacher." I'm glad someone is angry because to many people have been sitting on their hands and being lap dogs instead of standing up for what's right.

The greatest problem is those who have never been without, never struggled or never been without are the ones that have issue with change or conflict. Then you scare those who want to try to make a difference into believing that make a difference is wrong.

Hate, talk about, dislike, Rev. Meeks if you want, at least he is trying to make a change. As an added note for the Obama haters. Rev Meeks is not the one running for President. Lay -Off it.

Clearly, Chicago has other priorities than its schools, with billions to spend on other things many would see as optional. Cook County, too, has other priorities as well, as we are so painfully aware.

If the Rev. Meeks wants to enroll students in a school, it might help to actually show up on the first school day of that school. On Sept 2, New Trier will have been in session for a week and a half. I think I see an education problem here.

Perhaps the students should bus to city hall/cook county HQ in a mass demonstration insisting on a reprioritization. Kill two birds with one stone.

Have we not had enough of these sycophants in government? This guy is a bloody idiot. What's immoral is this paragon of mediocrity's utter and total failure to take a single positive action that might improve the economic tax base of the geographic areas lacking in adequate funding for schools. Mr. Meeks, you are a fool, and anyone who allows their children to be used in this absurd political stunt is not worthy of being a parent.

Send his office a fax/email/letter to let him know your disdain. Here's mine:

Sen. Meeks,

You ill-fated plan to get support to send 'underserved' students in your district and beyond to suburban schools for the first day in fall is self-serving saber rattling. Your interests and ego need to be set aside to preserve the best interest of the students. YOU are the authority figure and if YOU tell them it's 'okay' to miss school you are stepping out onto a slippery slope with thousands of children follwing your lead. I shook my head when I heard your idea on the news, now I am shaking a clenched fist demanding you handle this responsibly. You made your statement now leave the young, impressionable minds out of this. If all schools looked like the city magnet schools (there's a motivator well within reach) or the sprawling suburban campuses of New Trier, Barrington and the like, all students would be given a privlaged oppritunity. Fact is, the people in those suburban districts voted for taxes to give their childen those privlages. Don't damn their children to a distracted first day by marching into their school with children you have jaded and incited. Your publicity stunt needs to end now. Ask the PARENTS in your district to be strong authority figures, have their children make-do with what they are given then lead your constituants to demand more from you, their local goverment, the city and the state. There is an order to these things. The suburbs follow them, the city follows them, just what makes immune to rules and responsibility. I hope you change your tune or never see another turn writing and passing laws.

- Gerrit

Yeah, right. Could Meeks and the other community leaders be more wrong here?

This is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard of. Meeks is a state senator (and good buddy of Barack Obama), so why not change the system THROUGH THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS if you don't like it or you think it's unfair? Isn't that his job?

(BTW poster Lesha - as much as Obama-supporters would like to pretend otherwise, one's associates do matter, and speaks volumes about a presidential candidate's judgment and true priorities. It is proper to judge Obama by his associations and dealings with Meeks as well as Wright, Rezko, Ayers, etc. This is not hate, just common sense.)

Black students failing in education is a big part of other problems for blacks (i.e., unemployment). Why have them miss the important first day, causing them to be unprepared for the following days?

These publicity-seeking, egotistical politicians are using the children, just as they used them for the recent handguns protest (when the students again missed a day of school).

School should not be optional unless something better comes along. Come on. Make school the priority it should be.

And by the way, what does Meeks propose as a solution? Winnetka residents pay high real estate taxes to pay for their good schools, as many communities do. Are Chicagoans going to raise their real estate taxes to pay for more school funding in Chicago, or are residents of Winnetka and other suburbs (and downstate) expected to donate part of their real estate tax revenues to subsidize the failing Chicago schools?

Is this another liberal/Democratic/socialist income redistribution scam?

So much for 'no child left behind'.

I literally laughed out loud in a room full of strangers when I saw this on the news. This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard and wrong on so many levels.

Does Meeks have any idea how stupid he sounds? Knowing the position that he holds (as crazy as that is in itself), I think it is safe to assume that he knows that the funding the school receives is directly affected by attendance. So, if everyone skips the first day, CPS loses a lot of money. That would be counter-productive considering that he is griping about a lack of funding.

What kind of a person encourages kids to skip school?!!!!!!! Now the kids have an excuse to blow off school. Taking a ride to Winnetka sure sounds like a lot more fun that going back to school. That is all I can say because if I start, I'll never stop - once again - wrong on so many levels!!!

I love how he picked Winnetka. Moron - most kids don't go to school in that kind of environment. I was lucky to get the good education that I did. I did not go to New Trier. My school was nice - probably not in comparison to New Trier, but I had what I needed for the most part. I also worked in high school. If I needed something (new calculator, binders...) I went out and BOUGHT it with my hard earned money. I also saved up my babysitting money to buy textbooks. There are some cases where the school building itself is gross. I do think the buildings should be adequate ( although we need to keep in mind how hard some kids can be on them).

I work in a school in a predominantly white suburb. I think the builing I am in is pretty gross. I bring an air purifier in because my allergies act up from the mold in the building. I certainly don't expect the people from Winnetka, to build a new school for me. I am not entitled to their money.

Also, having the textbooks and school supplies only benefits you if you open them and use them on a regular basis. A district could spend a million dollars per kid, but if those kids don't work hard, they will fail. It all comes back to the students and parents. When I was in high school, I heard about it if I didn't do well on a test or missed assignments. My parents didn't tolerate that. It is not the school's responsibility to pass these kids through or to follow them home and keep teaching. The kids need to go home, study and do a couple hours of homework every single day.

You also have to remember that ANYONE who wants to move to Winnetka is free to do so. It would likely take a lot of work to be able to afford a home there, but if that is what you really want, go for it.
I personally can't afford it. If sending my kids to a school like New Trier was a priority for me, I would have my work cut out for me. I would have to find a way to significantly increase my salary. After all, running a school like that takes a lot of money - the people in Winnetka pay a lot in taxes. They CHOSE the lifestyle they live (and hopefully earned it). They deserve to benefit from all their hard work. I'm willing to bet that the majority of the people who live in Winnetka did not skip school in an attempt to make a point. That would make no sense for someone who is trying to get an education. They owe me (and you, CPS) nothing.

Just out of curiosity...have you planned senior ditch day yet?

Some great thoughts - I too think this is INSANE!! I live on the NW side in a 2 bed 1 bath home. I live in an average community with hard working people, pay my taxes and my husband works very hard for our family while I stay home to raise the kids. We are financially strapped because we CHOSE to raise our kids and not have someone else raise them. We believe we need to be involved in their lives and education. We CHOSE this for our family. If people don't like what they have they need to change their surroundings and their schools. PEOPLE HAVE CHOICES! Move or get involved!!
$10,000 per student spent by CPS is a lot more than the private schools spend per student and they do it without tax dollars. Money isn't everything - kids need people at HOME and at school who care and know what they are doing and what they need to succeed. The City needs to redistrict, the CPS system is too big and too wasteful. Bussing needs to stop make the schools neighborhood schools again. Show everyone their is pride in your neighborhood. If you think your neighborhood is bad work to fix it or relocate.
Who is worried about my family? Thats why I am. Take care of yourself and your family the rest of us are working for our family.

Meeks complains that Winnetka has much better school because itspends about $10,000/student more.

That may be true to a point.

How about children that are actually students. They come, for the most part, from stable, two-parent educated households that know the value of an education. They go to school to compete academically. Not gang bang...

Whereas Meeks flock comes from single -parent high school drop-out families that have little value for education and do not instill a value for it in their offspring.

This is from a man that built a mega-church that sits on tax-exempt land and rents out it's hall for concerts and basketball games, always the centerpiece of a successful community...

So, Rev Meeks, how much money would it take to guarantee that Shameka, Tomeeka and all of her inner city school friends would now academically perform at the same level as the Winnettka kids???

$30,000?

$40,000?

Sorry, rev, it ain't the money. Problem more serious than that.

Did it occur to Senator Meeks that the students cannot just go and register themselves for school or transfer to a new school? The only ones that can do the registering or transferring are the parents or legal guardians of the students in question.

Is the senator also advocating that the parents take off of work and not be able to financially support their families so that he can make the media that day?

Meeks' plans are not totally thought-out or fully cooked and require more work to be fruitful or make sense.

There have been occasions when a school system has drastically increased the amount of money its spends per student (for instance, there have been situations in which a judge has actually ordered an area to considerably increase its tax rate so as to provide greatly increased funding to its school sytem), but it has usually made little or no difference in the academic performance of the students in that district.

And if I myself was the superintendent of a school district, of course I would much rather have funding of 17K per student rather than 10K per student. However if I had only 10K per student, or even only 6K student, my district would still have excellent academic performance if most of the students and the parents in the district cared about school. And if I had 17K - or even an astronomical100K, 200K, or even 500K - per student, the academic performance would still be very poor if the majority of the students and their parents were not deeply committed to academics.

In other words, while still more money would be nice, however: one, the attitude of the students and their parents is far more important than the amount of funding; and two, 10K per student is far more than enough to provide a good education if the students and their parents are deeply committed to education.

Lesha wrote:

Can someone tell me how is it possible that a city that has means to rally together funding to build a park and to bid to host the olympics are strapped when it comes to the education of our kids?
We have a huge drop-out rate especially among minorities. We can't afford training that would help those who do graduate so that they can compete on a higher education level. This is the 21st century and there are schools that don't have books to give to students. Then people have the nerve to say that taking a stand is more harm then good. What else is there?
Something is wrong when you can't get off of your high moral horse and see that the people below are being neglected. I keep reading arguments and reports about "the angry black preacher." I'm glad someone is angry because to many people have been sitting on their hands and being lap dogs instead of standing up for what's right.
The greatest problem is those who have never been without, never struggled or never been without are the ones that have issue with change or conflict. Then you scare those who want to try to make a difference into believing that make a difference is wrong.
Hate, talk about, dislike, Rev. Meeks if you want, at least he is trying to make a change. As an added note for the Obama haters. Rev Meeks is not the one running for President. Lay -Off it.

Why the suburban tax players should pays for the ones in the inner city's kids? Just like the left to do something like this. Also the public school in the suburbs is just as bad as the one in the inner city. The only difference is the package in which it is delivered. Private schools and home school are far better than those at public. The achievement closes for blacks, when they been home school or attended private school. Doing this little act, will only make a big mess of the public school system, which we all would pay dearly for.

Meeks and his phony crusade angers me so much I don’t know where to begin.
To have students skip school, to try to register in a district they don’t live in, knowing they won’t get in is unconscionable. Meeks should be ashamed. But he’s a charlatan so I guess he’s doing what he does best.

Like most schools systems, CPS and New Trier are both funded through property taxes. People on the North Shore pay two arms and two legs to fund their schools. Instead of being a publicity whore, Meeks needs to do his job as a state senator and challenge the State of IL on how they fund schools in general and Mayor Daley over the fact that he can find money to fund his Olympic dreams but can’t find money to fund CPS schools. Are Chicago residents willing to have their taxes raised to pay for CPS schools? And speaking of funding, what Meeks and his ilk don’t want their constituency to know is that New Trier is ranked 4th in the state of the 50 top ranked high schools in IL. THE TOP 3 SCHOOLS IN THE STATE ARE CPS SCHOOLS – Northside Prep, Payton Prep and Whitney Young. On this list of the top 50 schools in the state of IL – Jones Prep, a CPS school, comes in at 16 and Lane Tech, another CPS school comes in around 27. Here’s a thought, why doesn’t Meeks put pressure on Arne Duncan and CPS to replicate the types of programs they have in Northside, Jones, Payton, Whitney Young, and Lane Tech in other CPS schools. Because if funding was the only issue, these schools wouldn’t be the success stories they are.

Also, this whole skipping school issue angers me in that it goes against what Philip Jackson and the Black Star Project is doing. The Black Star Project advocates that children to go to school on the 1st day because it is so very important. Unlike Meeks, Jackson stresses the importance of parental involvement in their children’s education not just funding issues. You can throw all the money in the world at a school system but if the parents aren’t promoting education in the home, it’s near impossible for children to succeed even at a top ranked school.

I have one question...WHERE ARE THE PARENTS? Meeks is just looking for more publicity.

Shoomeka, Shumequa, Takwan and Lil Antwon will enroll at New Trier and never show up.

Better yet, have 'em 'skip' the entire school year. Close the schools, lay-off the teachers and the staff. Sell off the school properties.
Cut ALL education - including the state's pathetic university system, from the budgets and correspondingly from all taxes! Let people and the market develop their own 'system.' It couldn't work any worse than the current one!!!
If people want to have 4, 5 or more kids - let 'em pay for the education their kids deserve because mom can't keep her legs crossed and dad{s} won't keep it in their pants. If illegals are here in 'sanctuary-city'- they can educate their kids, IF they can pay for it / the private schools will enroll 'em.
The CPS is a sham. The 'graduate' coming out of those hopelessly inadequate institutions aren't ready for college and they certainly aren't ready to work. Looking at the minority of those who enter the system who actually graduate from High School and then who graduate from college/become employable, the costs per student of those who actually get ahead are ABSURD.
Close 'em, sell 'em off, cut our taxes and let's get real. These kids are going to have to compete with 1.5 billion Chinese, 1 billion Indians, a half a billion western Europeans.
Game, set and match, shut 'em down!!!

Like we don't already know this Meeks is a waste of flesh.

It's not a matter of funding; all of the money in the world won't make up for or correct the environmental dysfuncitonalism that precludes effective education in the CPS.
Now many of these 'students' have 'father unknown' on their birth-certificates? How many are in single-parent households? How many have brother and/or sisters who were 'fathered' by other men than those that 'fathered' them? How many of these 'students' come from homes where there's noone who is literate in the household? How many of these kids are being raised by 'Auntie'? How many of these kids are being raised by their grandparents? How many of these kids are living in poverty? How many of these kids are living crime-ridden, violent, gnag-banger infested neighborhoods? How many of these kids see those around them who have never been out of 'the system'- not the school 'system', but, the government entitlement programs {aka:'the system'}?
Until and unless the root causations of poverty - generation after generation, are addressed it's futile to even attempt public education for the most part in Chicago.
Serve the outstanding warrants in Pilsen, Englewood, Humbolt Park, etc. Take the felons off the streets, crush the gangs, round up the dead-beat fathers and put 'em to forced labor. Require a literacy exam be passed for a driver's license. Establish a WPA and CCC for those in 'the system', if they can work - and we're supporting 'em, put 'em to work. If they can't work {illiterate, no skills, etc}, require a 38 hour school-week to continue to receive their entitlements. Provide day-care, provide protection {safety}, provide transportation, relocate 'em out of harm's way if need be, but - ADDRESS THE REAL ISSUES, or, write off another and then another generation{s} of Americans not as AmeriCANs, but, as American'ts.
This isn't rocket science, it's society 101. When you've got a contageon amongst you - you treat it, not the symptoms, but, the disease. It's time for mega-shots of anti-bitotics and to continue the doses until the fever breaks. Thought the treatment for those who are bitten by rabbid animals is severe, the disease is far worse - and deadly. Right now we've a disease that's killing our society and we have the choice; do we treat it with placebos, or, do we treat it with meaningful cures?
Let's triage the ER and offer up some REAL medical care, least the patient and the community perish.

I say keep the kids out of it. Let them go to school the first day. They dont need to get involved with adult BS.

Meeks is advocating irresponsibility in his constituents.

It is absolutely ridiculous to suggest truancy for something that should be dealt with in Springfield.