Chicago day-1 school boycott

Rev. Meeks' call draws community support

In Chicago, you don’t hear too much lately about Daley/Duncan’s school Renaissance 2010. The reason? With only a year remaining for completion of the business-model reform plan, they’re running out of money to pay for it. No such problem in rich Chicago suburbs a few miles up the lakeshore.

With all the power wielded by the Mayor and Democrats, especially in this election year, nothing has been accomplished in the area of school funding or leveling the playing field for Chicago’s 420,000 mostly black and Latino students. And you can bet that the anti-tax Civic Committee that’s been pushing so hard on privatization, isn’t going to kick in or push for a more equitable tax policy.

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Rev. James Meeks, whose southside Salem Baptist Church has about 25,000 members, has emerged as the leader of a dynamic, community-based movement for adequate and fair funding. At a huge downtown rally Thursday, he continued his call for a school boycott on the first day of classes, Sept. 2.

He plans to take boycotting students up to New Trier High School in the wealthy suburb of Winnetka, in an attempt to enroll them at a school where there’s nearly three times the number of tax dollars spent per child. He also wants to flood the Chicago Stock Exchange, Mercantile Exchange, Chase Bank, Fifth Third Bank, and the Aon building with students and parents until some action is taken. While that can't make the Civic Committee very happy, Meeks' call is meeting with enthusiastic support in black neighborhoods and churches.

But Daley and Duncan are frantically attacking Meeks' plan. Gov. Blagojevich wishes Meeks would disappear (under his administration, the state’s share of school funding has dropped under 30% for the first time ever). School Board President Rufus Williams has been out scrambling for media in an attempt to counter Meeks' boycott call, claiming that missing the first day of school will lower student test scores and cost the district money.

If you’ve ever been in a Chicago school on the first day of classes, you know what’s wrong with the first argument--more chaos, missing school buses, and classroom mix-ups than any real teaching. Kids will learn much more lobbying for public school funding--even if it's not on the test. There may be some truth in the second, but if that’s a real concern, the Mayor, Williams, and the schools CEO ought to be standing with Meeks, not against him—or at least offering a better strategy.

Why aren’t they? First, Meeks has upstaged the Mayor and has rightfully assumed the leadership position in the movement to save our schools, while Daley, Duncan (who lined up behind an underfunded NCLB) and a divided CTU are stuck in political sand of their own making. Second, Daley needs this kind of publicity during his quest for a Chicago Olympics, like a fish needs a bike.

Finally, where are the school reformers and the powerhouse foundations at this important point in CPS history? Are they really joining Daley in opposing the boycott?