Former CPS Chief, Michael Scott committed suicide or was murdered as charges of improper use of credit cards and other charges of corruption were made against him, now Huberman is cleaning house.
Eighty principals -- some of them only a year or two into their contracts -- will be replaced to shape up chronically-under-performing Chicago Public Schools, Schools CEO Ron Huberman said Monday.
Huberman made the surprise disclosure under questioning from Ald. Ray Suarez (31st) during a City Council Finance Committee hearing on Round Two of Mayor Daley's plan to use tax-increment-financing dollars for school construction.
The unprecedented number of principal changes will be accomplished through a combination of "retirements, disciplinary removal and voluntary resignations," Huberman said.
"We're gonna be removing approximately 80 principals. ... That is a very high number for us. We don't believe those principals are performing for schools. ... A key leader in a school makes a big difference," he said.
"Many of these planned exits of principals we don't believe are performing are folks who are one or two years into their contract. If a principal is not performing, simply the fact they have a contract is not something that prevents us from acting on that removal."
Suarez said some of the schools in his Northwest Side ward have been so bad for so long, they've turned supportive parents and gung-ho politicians into advocates for school vouchers.
"This didn't just happen last week. This has been going on for many, many years. And you still give the same excuse: 'We're working on it. We have a contract.' In private industry when you have a leader and he's not performing, I don't care what kind of contract he's got. He's out," Suarez said.
"I'm starting to become more and more a believer that the only way you're gonna get the message across is through a voucher system. If that school doesn't change, then those parents have a right to take their kids to a better school."
Huberman countered, "We're not giving excuses. ... These are all planned exits that are being executed."
As for the $175 million installment of Daley's school construction plan, it was temporarily de-railed amid complaints that money was being raided from adjacent TIF's and that restrictive attendance policies made it difficult for residents of those wards to send their kids to the new schools.
"You all are putting us in a bind. You know we can't go against [building] schools," Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) yelled during a lengthy rant.
"Our TIF dollars should not be used for these schools. It's not right how you all are doing this. ... You gotta play fair. You've got to stop playing us."
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