THOSE DEMOCRATS WHO CAN DO GOVERN, THOSE WHO CAN'T LEGISLATE:

Charter offers 'great start in life' (KATE N. GROSSMAN, September 7, 2004, Chicago Sun-Times)

On a desolate strip of South State Street, inside an old elementary school building, something unexpected is under way.

Inside is one of the country's only high schools backed by the construction industry, a school that hopes to offer students both a vocational and a college prep curriculum.

"The industry wants kids interested in these fields who are prepared," said Louis Jones, an architect and president of the school's board of directors. "There is a queue of people who want to support this school."

ACE Tech Charter High School is one of three new charters and several new schools and programs launching in the Chicago Public School system this year. ACE Tech, 5401 S. State, opened Aug. 26. Most Chicago public schools open today. [...]

The other new schools include a new Montessori program in Bucktown, two new schools to relieve crowding in Latino neighborhoods and a high school that doubles as a teacher training academy.

Also new this year -- twice as many reading specialists at schools on academic probation and more "community schools" that stay open into the evening with classes for kids and parents. The number will jump from 35 to 65 over the school year.

The three new charters and the training academy, which has a contract with CPS, represent the future of new schools in Chicago.

In June, Mayor Daley announced plans to close roughly 70 low-performing schools and transform them into 100 new ones by 2010, two-thirds to open as charters or through contracts with CPS. Both types are public schools, but they have greater control over hiring, teacher pay, schedules, curriculum and budgeting than traditional schools.

We're starting to see an interesting and hopefully fruitful divergence between mayors, who actually have to run school systems, and the national Democratic Party, which is beholden to Labor.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 7, 2004 10:15 AM