O'Shea Gets Earful from Residents on 'Proposal' to Reorganize Ward's CPS Elementary Schools

CHICAGO, IL -- Residents got their first glimpse into the thinking behind Ald. Matt O’Shea’s proposal to reorganize some of the public elementary schools in Beverly and Mt. Greenwood during a heated community meeting Monday night at the Beverly Arts Center.

Backed by Sen. Bill Cunningham (18th District) -- who said he assisted the alderman in formulating the reorganization framework to address overcrowding in some of the neighborhood schools -- O’Shea told residents that the reorganization wasn’t really a plan, but a proposal.

“This is a proposal that I put forth to address a number of concerns in our public schools,” O’Shea said. “It’s not something I’m married to but something I believe will be beneficial. If people have an alternative proposal to achieve some of the same goals, I’m very open to hearing it.”

Under O’Shea’s “proposal,” Mt. Greenwood Elementary School would split into two campuses, with seventh and eighth graders moving into the building currently being used by the Keller Regional Gifted Center. Keller would take over the Kellogg Elementary School building, and Kellogg would consolidate with Sutherland Elementary School.

O’Shea claims shifting enrollment has caused overcrowding in Mt. Greenwood, while Kellogg and Sutherland’s enrollment has decreased. Sutherland has more than enough room to safely accommodate Kellogg students should the proposal become a plan.

Through better utilization of existing facilities, resources can be used to make major infrastructural improvements at Esmond Elementary School in Morgan Park, which is 87 percent low income and has one of the oldest buildings in the CPS system (1891). The school also has a crumbling 45-year-old module that was only meant to last 20 years.

“Before we begin any discussion, we must fully understand the state of education in our community and needs that exist in some of our schools,” O’Shea said. “There is no place that needs more than Esmond Elementary.”

Esmond principal, Dr. Angela Tucker, described how students must put on coats in the winter or dash out into the rain when transferring classes between the two buildings. On the first day of school, buckets had to be placed in the hallways to catch water from leaking from the roof. The 19th century air vents also recently caught fire, forcing staff and students out of the building.

“I’m trying to maintain high morale among teachers while we work in conditions that are an embarrassment and unbearable,” Tucker said. “We need a serious investment in our school and we need to see change right away.”

Despite such obstacles, Tucker said that Esmond has a great success rate.

“Many of our students go off to college and come back,” she said. “We make good on the investment. We do what we can with what we have, but it’s time for an improvement.”

O’Shea said that student enrollment at Kellogg and Sutherland has been steadily declining over the years. In 2005, Sutherland had over 800 students; as of last Friday, Sept. 9, Sutherland had 614 students. Over at Kellogg, the school had over 300 students enrolled in 2010; as of the beginning of the current school year, 231 students were enrolled.

CPS has also projected a combined enrollment of 794 at Kellogg and Sutherland for the 2017-18 school year, and the year after that (2018-19) a combined enrollment projected at 755. Such a merger, O’Shea said, could be safely accommodated at Sutherland for it to operate within CPS’s prescribed efficiency range.

“I am suggesting a merger phased in over time,” O’Shea said. “Generally speaking, most schools have higher enrollment in upper grades than lower grads. With every graduating class, they get smaller.

If current enrollment trends are to continue, according to CPS projections, Kellogg will have 151 students, and Sutherland would have 456 students enrolled in 2021, O’Shea said.

Some parents from the two schools thought the small enrollment sounded just fine, after years of art carts and tech carts when both buildings were overcrowded in past years.

Meanwhile, current enrollment at Mt. Greenwood has grown from 531 to 1,100 students today in a building designed for 990 students, according to the alderman. Some parents have suggested shifting the attendance boundary between Mt. Greenwood and Cassell Fine Arts School, sending some Mt. Greenwood students to the other school.

As of last Friday, 411 students were enrolled at Cassell, an increase from the 350 total student body in 2012, the alderman explained.

“Data projections indicate that this problem cannot be addressed merely through boundary shifts or grade modifications,” O’Shea said. “CPS is projecting ten-year enrollment growth at Cassell … Cassell has a robust diverse learner program. The program requires more space than the usual classroom.

“[Cassell] Principal [Eileen] Scanlon has shown me she does not have the capability of accommodating a large influx of students,” the alderman said. “I would love a simple fix. Unfortunately, that’s not the case here.”

Acknowledging to audience laughter that people across the city don’t trust CPS, especially with numbers, O’Shea said that both he and Cunningham have looked at U.S. Census figures. The 2010 census data, the alderman said, shows a significant decline of children under the age of 14 in the Beverly community.

“Essentially, we have CPS school enrollment numbers and census data telling us the very same thing,” the alderman said. “This is the framework I’m working from. It hasn’t been decided, it is not being implemented, it is merely being presented to our community.”

Parents and residents were harsh in their criticism of the alderman’s proposed school reorganizationl.

“Nobody in this community has addressed Esmond’s needs,” a woman said. “This has never been an issue until today. It’s disingenuous.”

After the meeting, O’Shea said $13 million has been poured into Mt. Greenwood to ease overcrowding; at Cassell School for the Fine Arts, $4 million has been spent on capital improvements. In addition, CPS has allocated $20 million in capital funds to establish a seventh and eighth grade academy at Chicago High School for the Agricultural Sciences. O’Shea said he’d rather see those dollars spread out.

“There would be an investment in Sutherland if Keller were to move to Kellogg,” he said. “A portion of the capital funds could be used to add an elevator would have to be built in the [existing Kellogg building]. I would like to upgrade science labs because Keller is a gifted center. Do I have it written as part of this plan in dollar figures? No, I’m not that far along.”