Chicago Public School Students Skip Class in Show of Activism: Meeks' Boycott Leads 1,000 Kids to Affluent North Shore Schools New Trier, Sunset Ridge

Chicago Tribune

Sep. 3--Sporting book bags and name tags, nearly 1,000 Chicago students on Tuesday got a tutorial in civic action aimed at spotlighting the disparities in Illinois public education as they missed the first day of city classes and instead attempted to register at two North Shore schools where educators and residents welcomed them.

The civics lesson continues Wednesday as some students again will miss school as part of a teach-in protest in the lobbies of more than a dozen Chicago businesses and agencies.

Critics charged that the symbolic, well-orchestrated protest shortchanged students of a day's education and Chicago Public Schools of more than $100,000 in potential reimbursement from the state. Mayor Richard Daley on Tuesday described the boycott as "very selfish." Gov. Rod Blagojevich said students "should not be used as political pawns."

The boycott's architect, state Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago), defended his tactics. Standing outside New Trier Township High School's Northfield campus, Meeks urged Blagojevich and legislative leaders to call an emergency session to address how Illinois funds public schools.

"If they can call an emergency session for capital projects, they can call an emergency session to deal with education. This is human capital," Meeks said. "This is a 30-year problem, the system of funding education."

Blagojevich said he will not meet with Meeks during the boycott, spokesman Lucio Guerrero said. He also affirmed the governor's opposition to raising income taxes as part of a funding solution.

Chicago students will again board buses Wednesday, traveling to 18 Chicago offices, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, City Hall, Boeing Corp. and Aon Insurance, according to Meeks' spokeswoman. Forty educators will deliver four hours of daily instruction during the boycott, which is expected to last through Friday.

The protest appears unlikely to spur lawmakers to address funding disparities among schools, an issue that has stymied them for decades. Still, the unprecedented influx of mostly black students from Chicago to the predominantly white, affluent New Trier highlighted the long-simmering school funding topic, many said.

"The reality is it's not going to happen today. Sometimes small numbers have to make a lot of noise, and I appreciate that," said New Trier parent Megan Davy of Kenilworth. "This is civil disobedience at its finest."

Thirty buses collected students, parents and religious leaders from eight city churches for the trip north, including the Salem Baptist Church where Meeks serves as pastor.

Meeks supporter Dalene Harris attempted to teach the 21 children aboard one bus about the history of civil rights. Harris and Rev. Jason Reynolds asked students if they knew what a protest meant. Some students shouted "to stand up for your rights."

Reynolds replied: "To protest means to stand up for your rights, but it also means not to take what someone is giving you."

Cousins Jasmine Williams, 12, and Daja Williams, 10, stared through the school bus windows as they rolled past New Trier's 9th grade campus in Northfield. The girls quietly viewed the waving parents and welcome sign prepared by high school art students. The excitement almost outweighed the disappointment about not returning to classes, Daja said. She'd picked out a new backpack.

"I'm a little sad for not going to school on the first day," Daja said.

Administrators opened the Northfield campus for registration, and school officials said they received 800 applications for elementary school and 150 for high school, though Meeks claimed the tally was higher. More than 100 teachers and administrators greeted visiting students with handshakes, snacks and water on the hot day.

State law requires proof of residency to register in a public school. Suburban school officials said this will be no exception, and they will notify families in writing about whether they qualify to attend the North Shore schools.

Classes took place as scheduled at Sunset Ridge elementary and New Trier, an academic powerhouse where 99 percent of students graduated last year and 98 percent enrolled in college.

At issue is how much money schools spend per student. In a funding system fueled largely by local property taxes, New Trier Township spent nearly $17,000 per student in 2005-06 and Sunset Ridge spent about $16,000, while Chicago Public Schools spent an estimated $10,400 per pupil.

State funding, in part, is predicated on a school district's highest three months of enrollment. September tends to be one of the best, said Chicago schools spokesman Michael Vaughn. He estimates the city school system could lose $110 for every day a student is absent during the month.

School officials who disputed the boycott and ministers who endorsed it agreed on one point.

"The shame of Illinois is we have left whole districts behind, not only in Chicago but in rural districts as well," said Rev. Marshall Hatch of Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church.

Such financial and academic divides fueled discussion in New Trier teacher Peter Tragos' history class.

"This is a protest against the system, not necessarily New Trier, and we tried to make that clear to students," Tragos said.

Nearly a dozen New Trier students attended the afternoon rally in Harms Woods forest preserve, where Meeks and other ministers thanked suburban officials and urged parents to participate in day two of the boycott. "Does it help for us to come here?" Ada Sochanska, 16, a New Trier junior, asked the city students.

"Yes, it helps a lot," one young man said. "It shows someone cares."

Tribune reporters Monique Garcia and Dan Mihalopoulos contributed to this report.

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