History

CIS of Sangamon County History

CIS of Sangamon County, Inc. was formed as a result of a "grassroots" effort on the part of parents and other concerned Springfield residents who sought a way to promote community presence in schools. We have evolved from a small group of individuals that extended to a community-wide representation on a CIS Task Force and finally the formation of a CIS Board of Directors who are committed to the organization, which will serve children and families in public and non-public schools in Springfield and Sangamon County.

The work of the CIS Task Force established a "base-line" level of need for and interest in CIS development to serve Springfield and surrounding communities. Among facts that indicate that CIS is needed in our schools are those statistics which relate to poverty and mobility, intervention for substance abuse, coping with domestic violence and child abuse, and a need for enrichment programs which can benefit all students. Ever since George W. Bush took the oath of president of the United States, he and his administration have instituted many federally mandated changes for public schools across the nation. Now, according to Margaret Spellings, education secretary for the Bush Administration, there may be more that directly affect the Chicago Schools and the state of Illinois. Currently, the states of Illinois, Michigan and New York have the lowest caps on the number of public charter schools allowed. Illinois has the lowest cap of 60, then New York with a cap of 100, and Michigan with 150.

At one of the charter Chicago schools in late January, Spellings stated that the president wants all school districts across the country to change their restrictions on the number of public charter schools allowed, giving school districts, like the Chicago schools, the ability to convert as many failing traditional schools to charters as they wish. Chicago schools’ officials see this as a positive move. Over the years, they have aggressively pursued the conversion of failing schools to charters. The Chicago schools currently have 29 of their allowed 30 charter schools in place and running. With a current 185 low performing schools, the Chicago schools’ officials see conversion to public charter schools as a possible solution to improve the schools’ performance. Otherwise, their only option is to make major staff changes, since they can only convert one more traditional school to charter under current state guidelines. Chicago schools’ officials believe that more drastic interventions are required to make these failing schools successful.

Charters within the Chicago schools have more freedom over their curriculum, budgeting and scheduling than traditional schools do. They also have more accountability to the Chicago schools. Opponents to the Bush Administration proposal for changing the state’s public charter school cap believe the president is going too far. Legislators involved in drafting Illinois’ cap are some of those opposed to the proposal. The state’s teachers’ union also is against the proposal. Representative Monique Davis, who is a Democrat representing Chicago (and the Chicago schools) and vice chairwoman of the House Education Committee, stated in response to the proposal that the legislators of Illinois believe, as many others across the nation, that charter schools still are in the experimental stage. Expansion of the number of public charter schools should be held back until they prove themselves as a viable and successful alternative for the future. They just are not there yet. Regardless of what the Illinois legislators believe, the proposal will soon be in Congress. If the bill passes, it takes the matter out of state hands, since the federal government can impose whatever mandates they desire when contributing federal funding to schools. This means the Chicago schools’ officials may soon be able to enact some serious interventions for their 185 low performing schools.

The work of the CIS Task Force clearly revealed that we have significant and willing (human) resources in our community/county along with a need for an efficient means to see that services/programs are delivered through the schools. With an increasing poverty rate, transportation and access to services is a significant issue, and bringing service providers to the schools where children are has been realized as a logical way to fulfill the needs. CIS can help to "fill the gaps" so students can concentrate on learning. Teachers are free to spend more time teaching, and a safe, productive learning environment results The Ohio schools have had state-funded, online charter schools for a few years.

Students do their work over the Internet from their homes or other sites. They can work anytime but must log 920 hours per year for perfect attendance. With some Internet schools reporting perfect attendance for the past three years, the Ohio schools are questioning the validity of the attendance rates and plan to review the rates and formulas used by the schools. Twenty online Ohio schools reported perfect attendance last year, with many others reporting nearly perfect attendance rates. To date, the Ohio schools have found that at least two of the schools exclude students from the count, who were expelled for being absent for at least 21 days. The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, the largest online Ohio schools with 6,664 students, was one. This has allowed them to report perfect attendance for the last three years. School spokesman Nick Wilson said the state’s attendance formula results in the perfect score, though they look more at student engagement rather than attendance. This includes when students are logged in, how long they work, and their contact time with their teachers. Wilson said the school met three state standards last year out of 25, required by the Ohio schools.

Lisa Zellner, spokeswoman for the Ohio Federation of Teachers, believes this method of calculating attendance is just another way the charters schools are “gaming the system”. The TRECA Digital Academy, which has 1,300 students, agrees. Director of Operations John Shank believes the Ohio schools need a more meaningful attendance formula for Internet schools, if so many are reporting perfect scores. TRECA uses an attendance formula developed by their board, which looks at how many hours students are logged onto the computer system each week and how many assignments students are completing. TRECA missed the state standards last year with a 91 percent attendance rate. Todd Hanes, executive director of the Ohio schools’ Office of Community Schools, said the Ohio schools would begin comparing the number of students expelled with the attendance rates — a first for the Ohio schools. He stated that it is impossible for any of the Ohio schools to have a perfect attendance rate, if even one student has been expelled for missing 21 days of class. Traditional Ohio schools calculate attendance by dividing the number of days each student shows up for class by the number of days in a school year.

Ohio schools must have an attendance rate of at least 93 percent to meet state standards. The online Ohio schools may be forced to soon change their calculation methods for more meaningful results.Public relations for private schools is very important to make sure they have proper enrollment and can attract the best teachers and professors to their schools. There is another important reason to have community goodwill programs for private schools and that is the fact that many teachers unions will figure out ways to just ruin the credibility of a private school. What kind of public relations can private schools do? Well they can do all sorts of things including hosting spelling bees at their school and invite other public schools and private schools to participate. This shows how great the private schools are to produce great spelling students even thought they have so few students to draw from. Whether they win or lose is not as important as the public relations and community goodwill that is achieved by a hosting the event. Another great public relations strategy for private schools is to host fundraisers, silent auctions and incorporate these with theatrical performances and other events which highlight the schools work and achievement by students. This brings the community into the private school to have a look and therefore will promote future enrollments and word-of-mouth advertising throughout the community. Please consider all this