2/27/08 CPS Board Appeal

Below is the text of what I read and submitted to CPS at the Board meeting today. Arne Duncan and Rufus Williams were responsive and introduced me to the CPS demographics analyzer.

On a side note, best wishes to the former Edison, now to be housed at APMA, likely to be known as the new regional gifted center. I am grateful for the education Edison provided for the past 23 years.

February 27, 2008
To: CPS Board of Education

"I am here as a Palmer Elementary parent concerned about quality education and the impact of overcrowding.

Palmer Elementary has seen a dramatic rise in student population, from 482 students in 1991 to 933 students in 2006, a 99% increase, yet Palmer has not been included in any recent conversations to relieve our overcrowding. Given our demographic history, it seems fitting that we would be given consideration in addressing our needs, especially as a school with an 88% Space Utility over-crowding rating, according to the 2007 CPS Space Utility Report.

While
-we have no science lab
-no computer lab
-no foreign language instruction
-no music instruction
-no recess, and
-no lockers for grades 4-8

we do have some questions.

Before posing just a few of our questions, I want to iterate that our eastern attendance boundary is exactly one mile from the Albany Park Multicultural Academy which, according to a May 10, 2005 CPS press release, was built to relieve overcrowding with Hibbard Elementary serving as the main feeder school, and “students will also come from other surrounding elementary and middle schools”. Members of the board, Palmer is one of those overcrowded surrounding schools, yet we were not included in any conversations about the use of this facility, built in and for the needs of our community.

I am here to ask: What is the plan for Palmer Elementary’s overcrowding? Does a plan exist? Will an addition be built to accommodate our community’s needs? Will attendance boundaries be adjusted? Will our pupils have the option to elect to attend APMA or new magnet schools with capped or earmarked seats?

The Palmer community would like to have meaningful dialogue with both CPS planners and elected officials regarding our needs and optimistically await responses to our questions.

In the meantime, it is my personal recommendation as the parent of an Edison alum, as well as, a current Palmer elementary student, that the board not approve the relocation of the Edison Regional Gifted Center to the Albany Park Multicultural Academy."