Protecting selective enrollment schools

Any school that produced Michelle Obama should be protected. As board member representing the 4th District, I'll make certain our selective enrollment schools like Lane Tech and Whitney Young (where our former first lady went to high school) continue to support high-achieving CPS students. Selective enrollment schools do not pit students against one another. They accelerate excellence. 

 

I understand the need to increase diversity at our selective enrollment schools and to strengthen our neighborhood schools. In fact, I believe the original intent of the selective enrollment schools -- to merge Chicago's many diverse communities together in classrooms -- is an aspiration we should hold for all of our public schools. And I completely agree with the need to ensure that our neighborhood schools have adequate staffing levels and modern buildings.

 

But I would not support ending selective enrollment schools to drive equity in Chicago Public Schools for the same reason I would not support closing Harvard and Princeton to support economic mobility of state school students (like me when I was an undergrad!). We can do better for our neighborhood schools without ending selective enrollment schools that have served CPS students so well.