The Difference a Few Miles Can Make

Last Friday, Lisa and I took two of the kids and drove up Interstate 65 to Chicago.  The Windy City was living up to its name.  We fought head winds all the way there and met up with Noah, our oldest son.  He lives in Wriggleyville but teaches chemistry at Prosser Career Academy, a Chicago Public Schools high school.

To get to Prosser, we drove north on Lake Shore Drive, past the Magnificent Mile with its high rise apartments and high dollar stores, and out along frozen but beautiful Lake Michigan.  We took a left at Irving Park Road and headed west through re-gentrified Chicago and  hit less-gentrified Chicago several miles before arriving at Prosser Career Academy.

Prosser is housed in an older building in the middle of a mixed residential and industrial neighborhood.  It has three floors, tall ceilings, and lots of wood trim that is typical of its era.  (I can personally relate to this building since it has seen some wear and tear since it was built in the late 50’s.)  Walking the halls of this school was a bit surreal.  As we moved through the corridors, kids would call out “Hi, Mr. Lederach,”—and they weren’t talking to me! 

You would recognize much about Prosser Career Academy.  It has a front office manager/mom, who knows everything and everybody, the students wear their Falcon gear with pride, the teachers are passionate and compassionate, and there is lots of laughter and talking in the halls during passing periods.  We visited the History Fair in the gym, and one of Noah’s students showed us with pride his project on one aspect of Chicago’s checkered past.  My favorite projects, however, were from the Psychology class.  Students had identified the psychoses of cartoon characters or famous fictional characters.  (Ron Burgundy suffers from Pervasive Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and you should see all the issues Popeye has!)

Prosser has its differences from our experience as well.  There is very little parking, since students don’t have cars.  In fact, many of the teachers, including Noah, use public transportation to get to school.  The neighborhood is also very different from the one surrounding us here on Olio Road.  The science department chair who has been at Prosser for twelve years after transitioning to education from the world of art—a significant change of vocation—pointed out one big difference.  She spoke passionately about her effort to start a community garden housed at Prosser.  The school sits in a “food desert.”  There are no grocery stores nearby, and she has major concerns about what this means for her students’ dietary habits.  In comparison, I believe we have at least three grocery stores within a mile or two of HSHS.

During our time together, our son also shared his experiences as a first year teacher at Prosser.  He says he sometimes eats at the only restaurant in the neighborhood, The Shrimp House.  It advertises itself as the “Fourth Best Shrimp House in Chicago.” Judging only from the exterior, this may not be a sterling recommendation and begs the question of what numbers five and six might look like.  On the way back to his apartment after school, we drove by a science supply warehouse where Noah often spends his own money to buy supplies to use in his classes and labs. 

He would really like to have equipment to monitor water quality in the Chicago River and Lake Michigan because he wants his students to see and experience the tremendous natural resource that is so close to their homes.  He says that very, very few of his students have taken the short bus ride down Irving Park to see one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the world.  (It would be interesting to know how many of our HSE students have seen one or more of the Great Lakes.  The percentage might be higher in our classes than in Noah’s.)  This past week he sent me a grant for proofreading.  He is trying to find money to buy portable equipment for the chemistry classes which are taught in regular classrooms because of the limited number of science labs.

Level Playing Field?

There is no question that public education comes under fire almost daily.  If you have been teaching for any length of time, you can testify to the increased pressure on and criticism of public education that was not evident even a decade ago.  They feel this pressure at Prosser even more than we do here.  Our trip to Chicago solidified my belief that all educators need to be in this together.  Our HSE kids are our primary concern, but in the larger picture, those students at Prosser and schools like Prosser are “our” kids, too.  They need our support, and their teachers and administrators need it as well. 

Schools are schools, teachers are teachers, and kids are kids, but not all schools compete on a level playing field.  Walking the halls of Prosser was a good reminder for me that inequity exists.  Prosser is a great school with great kids and teachers, but they fight battles that we don’t. 

Speak Up: If Not Us, Who?

Away from school we sometimes find ourselves in a position to support public education, to bash public education, or to remain silent.  These conversations and opportunities sneak up us, often when they are least expected.  It is easy to blow with the prevailing winds and say, “We are doing fine, but those other schools….”  And it is even easier to stay quiet.  I encourage you to fight this temptation.  When given the opportunity, we need to have the courage to recognize the significant efforts of our fellow teachers locally, regionally, and nationally, especially those who work in schools facing even more difficult challenges than we do in Hamilton Southeastern.

So speak up for yourselves, HSE, and speak up for other educators, whether they work in Hamilton Southeastern, in one of the Indy township schools, in Indianapolis Public Schools, or in Chicago Public Schools.  We are, after all, in this together, doing the best we can for all of “our” kids.

Have a great week, HSE.  Keep fighting the good fight.

Phil