Word: chicago
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Indeed, Chicago represents a role model for success in mayoral school takeovers. Its public school system, branded the worst in the nation in 1987 by U.S. Secretary of Education William J. Bennett, had physically dilapidated schools and churned out students ill-prepared for the work force or college. By the mid-'90s, students were testing some 70% below the national average in reading and math, and nearly 6% were chronically truant. And kids could always plan for a few extra days of summer vacation as teacher strife over pay would invariably grind into a strike...
...Chicago's school-reform movement has been gaining momentum for more than a decade. The late Mayor Harold Washington began planting the seeds of reform in the mid-1980s, but it wasn't until 1988 that the Illinois legislature passed a school-reform act that parceled authority to newly elected boards for each public school and granted them power to hire and fire principals. Even that reform movement didn't gain significant traction until 1995, when state Republicans turned control over to Daley. "Everybody knew things had to change, but they felt powerless to do anything about it," Daley says...
...deny that Chicago's 559 public schools are enjoying a slow but steady revival under Daley's leadership. Taking cues from his appointed schools' chief Paul Vallas, a veteran budget aide, and lawyer Gery Chico, who heads a new body called the Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees, the mayor has succeeded in pushing up test scores virtually across the spectrum. The district has added 632 classrooms, finally taking teachers out of lunchrooms and auditoriums. Some $2 billion has been spent on capital improvements, and for the first time in recent memory there's labor peace. "My people were used...
...Still, Chicago's experience has inspired other mayors frustrated with their city's public schools. Even mayors with little hope of gaining full authority over schools have begun to push aggressively for greater influence. Philadelphia Mayor Edward Rendell has put his political muscle behind the city's reform-oriented superintendent, and Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan has stirred controversy by backing his own slate of school-board candidates. "The school board's attitude toward me is, 'Stay out of our business,'" says Riordan. "But we know who the people will hold accountable if the system continues to fail"--the mayor...
...says. "But I plan to...do everything humanly possible to ensure that teachers have the textbooks they've requested and anything that needs to be replaced, repainted or repaired inside our schools before teachers and students return in September." These may seem modest initial goals. But perhaps, as in Chicago four years ago, any progress at all will be welcomed by Detroit's students and parents alike...