Harris: Let's really fix our schools this time

I'm glad my 10/22 post has prompted debate on the need for school reform, although regret that my suggestions have been so misunderstood by some.

Under No Child Left Behind, if failing schools don't fire teachers and principals and restructure, they must be turned over to the State or different management entity or else risk losing federal dollars. I think CPS can avert this fate with some proactive governance reform that will elevate the performance of CPS’s central office and board.

CPS has some high performing schools and many low performers. We clearly outperform all other urban districts, and have incredibly dedicated teachers and students. But there are also glaring signs of mismanagement of finances, etc.--as evidenced by the recent discovery of a massive projected revenue shortfall. There are just no excuses for this.

We can continue to hope election year pledges for reform come to fruition; we can continue to fight for stop gap levies; we can continue to hope the status quo transforms itself. But I feel much more needs to be done.

While I will vote for the levy, I also fear that the levy’s passage will lessen the scrutiny over CPS. I believe that we should be proactive as a community and empower diverse third party expertise to help reorganize the district, not let the McKinsey & Co report recommendations sit on some shelf, and arm our next superintendent with the tools and capacity to impel much needed change. When it comes to CPS, now is the time for our community to take all-hands-on-deck approach to bold reform. I don’t think our current governance structure is equipped to deliver on this front without third-party help.