A Raise by Any Other Name | Politics | Chicago Reader

A Raise by Any Other Name | Politics | Chicago Reader

Recent News and Bell Schedule

The results of the bell schedule change are in:

51 No and 19 Yes

Thanks to all that have participated in the school closing rallies... CPS announced today that amid the protests that a "handful" of proposed schools will not be closing. Your support is appreciated by all those that believe in true public education.

PPC Agenda 1/20/2010

The agenda items are followed in bold by the response from the administration.

1. Track E/bell schedule update- Track E will go to Feb Board mtg; information to assist our staff vote on a bell schedule to follow
2. Guest speaker policy- provide administration with information about the qualifications of guest speakers
3. Bells in mobiles; emergency exits unshoveled, unsalted in bad weather- all bells are being fixed due to a malfunction over the holidays; mobile bells will be fixed when the system is fixed; engineer informed of need to clear emergency exits
4. No intercoms in Teacher Resource Room, Room 222b or the Sped office (or fire drill signal)- will address intercom situation and get fire drill signal for 231
5. Resources: need for commercial printers; additional TVs: printer in Teacher resource Room was commercial but broke; will try to get another; no funds for additional TVs
6. Safety & security- GPHS requested additional security held and was given 4 additional security guards who will be here for the rest of the school year; they will be deployed to our reported hot spots; we reviewed items a-p (below) and discussed what needs to be done to address these issues; more staff will be deployed on the 2^nd floor during 8-9 periods; staff are encouraged to help get students to class and continue to enforce all rules relating to cell phones/ipods/headgear; staff are encouraged to report immediately any situation that has not been properly addressed after being reported; staff is also encouraged to report any rule violations (e.g. seeing students smoking) immediately with as much specificity as possible (e.g. who, what , when where)
1. Students scaling fence to leave the building (e.g. 1/13 during 5^th; 1/14 during 5^th-students left thru unlocked gate in courtyard)
2. Students letting outsiders in through the back (southwest) door
3. No security in stairwell near Sped office where students continue to eat, hang out or make out all throughout the day- new staff will be deployed to monitor; there are also security cameras which catch some things; sped staff should report anything immediately
4. Back stairwells (south) are never checked—students hang out there during classes, all day long- these will be added to security duties
5. Hundreds of students in halls after tardy bell- more staff will help; all staff strongly encouraged to stand by classroom doors and help students get into classrooms
6. Pot smoking in Boy’s locker room- anyone caught smoking pot on campus is and will be turned over to police for arrest
7. Smoking cigarettes/weed behind the mobiles and in the gazebo: no consequences- staff witnessing such activities should report them immediately; if not satisfied with the first response, let the principal know
8. Tagging in bathrooms/locker rooms suggest spray cans are being brought into the building despite metal detectors- kids are using other items to do graffiti (e.g. sharpies); anyone aware of metal getting through, report it immediately
9. Staff being threatened and students returning the next day- principal wants to know of such cases immediately
10. Gang affiliated clothing worn all around the building- will have a staff presentation by our police officers reviewing gang symbols on a PD day
11. Bullet holes in the door of room 213- anyone who knows what happened, please let us know
12. Guns drawn outside the school at end of the day- this did not happen on school property; additional police cars patrol the school perimeter after 8, 9^th periods
13. Not enough security and occasions when security does not respond (e.g. 1/19, 8^th period, students in halls after tardy bell, 2 security guards taking photos with students instead of getting hallways cleared)
14. January 15—teachers told 5 security guards were out
15. Students roaming halls during class just told to get to class by security
16. Fire/emergency drills- not addressed due to time-will email administration and report at next GPHS-CTU meeting
7. PPC suggestions for safety/security
1. regular checks of back stairwells
2. clarify role to staff of police officers- will have police do this on PD day
3. more obvious police officer presence- current police officers have more of a presence this year; will continue to encourage this
4. more administrators and teachers in halls during passing periods- everyone should make an effort to do this and if everyone does, it should help improve things
5. clarify and make more use of in-school suspension room- kids roaming halls during class time should be going to in-school suspension room
6. more effective consequences for infractions (e.g. smoking weed, threatening a teacher)- school follows UDC and violations of law go to the police
7. add parent patrol staff to supplement security presence (e.g. suggestion box) for anonymous reports of suspicious situations, concerns
8. enforcement of 1^st and class tardies- students significantly tardy must have a pass and we let them in; all kids should have passes and anyone who delays a student should give them a pass to their next class

Track E Advisory Vote

Results:

48 Yes
39 No

Track E

Ms. Andrews responded to a number of questions on Friday about Track E. Ask any one of us (Doudican, Lynch, Pope) about the details of the conversation and we'd be glad to inform you of the conversation. We will field any questions tomorrow and then take an advisory vote on Tuesday morning. This is only an advisory vote but it is ultimately up to the administration since the contract says nothing about switching to Track E. Remember to vote on Tuesday!

PPC 10/19

1. Teacher Cafe: More furniture is on its way so lets be patient while its under construction. Also, check out the sign above the door in the hallway!

2. Red - Yellow - Green Rational: When asked about the rational of the red-yellow-green evaluation of lesson plans, remediation plans, and assessments; the administration responded that it was from a trickle down effect from the district. Currently everything on the district level is red-yellow-green and the writing is on the wall that it will soon be mandated in all of the schools. In order to not spring new ideas half way through the year, our administration has started the program here since the beginning of the year. It is currently not an evaluation tool but serves as a guide. It is also not as much about the document as it is about the alignment from the lesson plans to the remediation plans to the assessments in a cycle.

3. Security: We have lost 2 security positions so keep an eye on your students at all times.

If you have any questions, please see one of us or post a comment and we'd be glad to talk. Thanks!

PPC Next Monday

Our 5-member PPC is scheduled to meet with the administration this Monday, October 19 at 2:00 p.m. If you have any PPC issues you would like to see addressed at this meeting, please see one of us before then. (FYI, please make sure that any issues have gone through the proper procedures first, e.g. department chair, engineer.) We will have a report of the meeting online by Tuesday.