Public Education in the 43rd Ward

MICHELE SMITH, ALDERMANIC CANDIDATE, 43RD WARD

Our schools must be as great as the dreams we have for our children.

We are so proud of the excellent public schools in our ward. These schools are great because of the intense involvement and support of our parents and the excellent staff that our local school councils have recruited.

Private fundraising must be supported. Every elementary school in our ward has a private fundraising effort underway: Newberry wants to build a new playground, LaSalle is raising money to fund an addition, Lincoln funds extra instructional time, Franklin funds teacher’s aides, and Alcott is expanding into a high school. As alderman, I’ll throw the full weight of my office behind these campaigns – because it’s our local schools that keep this neighborhood strong.

Our elementary schools are bursting at the seams. And what to do about it? The Children’s Memorial Hospital project presents some interesting possibilities, because it immediately adjoins Lincoln Elementary. As alderman, I’ll make sure the planning process for that site fully explores the potential of helping meet Lincoln’s space needs. And I’ll support the excellent work done by the LaSalle parents to make their public- private partnership with the city succeed.

My passion is to make Lincoln Park High School the best school it can be for all our children. We all know that Lincoln Park High already dominates the highest level of academics because of its renowned International Baccalaureate program. But we also know that Lincoln Park High suffers from some antiquated facility issues and lack of funding. This is not the school’s fault: the school has done very well with the limited capital dollars that they have received from the city.

But I have investigated this issue and learned that the Board of Education’s own policies hurt our high school: the capital budget of the Board favors building new schools over renovating old ones. And our lovely 1898 building needs more than small fixes.

I’m going to change that. First, I’ll engage our entire Lincoln Park community - parents, neighbors, local businesses, and the corporate executives who live here - to financially support the school. Second, I’ll leverage private dollars to advocate with the Board of Education to allocate its capital funds to address the pressing needs of Lincoln Park High School. Third, I’ll rally our entire Lincoln Park community around our high school: to watch its kids play team sports and concerts, get neighbors involved in the classrooms, and get its students involved in our community. Lincoln Park High has a terrific new principal who is already making things happen there.

The children and families of the 43rd Ward deserve a neighborhood high school of the highest quality - so let’s improve Lincoln Park High. Our sixth and seventh graders can’t wait ten years. This improvement must start to happen now.