'Must Read' Post Script

Yesterday I shared a letter from a parent at a CPS school who lamented the three budget cuts this year along with staff reduction. To say that class sizes and the children are hurt by these cuts is an understatement. It is wrong on so very many levels and is bound to continue to harm both teaching and learning going forward. As I thought about the letter, parent and her child I was struck by the fact that no where in the correspondence was any reference made to an allegation of poor performance by the staff and students. On the contrary, in recent years the school has made great progress. And that's what you get - slashing of your budget?! It is any wonder there is trouble in many urban areas? The decimation of budgets, some low property values, individuals not wanting to enter the field of teaching, blight, unemployment, cuts in school personnel, growing class sizes and other harmful actions perpetuated at the expense of teachers and students, is it any wonder that urban neighborhood schools are struggling to survive? Dick