Chicago Public School system removes 2 principals amid investigation into how sexual abuse allegations handled

Simeon High School (8147 S Vincennes Ave) by Eric Allix Rogers

We've shared a few piece with regards to sexual abuse allegations within Chicago Public Schools. For our purposes we're just going to focus on the removal of the principal of nearby Simeon High School over sexual abuse allegations by a school volunteer:

Sheldon House, the principal of Simeon Career Academy, was removed amid a newly disclosed allegation of sexual abuse lodged against an unnamed school volunteer. District officials said that allegation was discovered during an audit of “systemic issues” in the school’s background check process.
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“As a result of district-led investigations into allegations of sexual abuse, two CPS principals were removed from their positions today due to initial findings that suggest they did not effectively safeguard their students,” Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson said in a statement.

“Investigations into both cases remain ongoing, and we will keep the school communities updated as this process moves forward,” she said.

The district announced the administrators’ removal barely more than a day before a scheduled Chicago Board of Education vote to change how CPS investigates allegations of sexual misconduct by adults against students, as well as new practices that would require employees to inform child welfare authorities and supervisors of “any interactions or behaviors which suggest that an adult has or had an inappropriately intimate relationship with a child or may be grooming a child,” even if the employee does not have “reasonable suspicion” of whether any abuse occurred.
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At Simeon, CPS officials said they launched an internal review of “management practices designed to keep students safe,” which occurred amid a Tribune investigation that documented the school’s failure to conduct a mandated criminal background check before making Gerald Gaddy an assistant coach of the boys wrestling and girls track teams starting in 2010.
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CPS officials said the Simeon audit found “systemic issues” in the school’s handling of volunteer background checks, while uncovering an unspecified, new allegation of sexual abuse by an unidentified Simeon volunteer.

The recent allegation “was not handled in accordance with CPS policy,” according to the district. The volunteer is now barred from the school, and the allegation is under investigation.

CPS said it selected Patricia Woodson, a retired former principal, to lead the school until a new principal is selected by Simeon’s local school council.

 Hat-tip Newsalert

#formyblock Shoveling for Seniors #twill

[VIDEO] Major kudos to Jahmal Cole who spent some time during last weekend's snowfall doing snow removal on those blocks that could use it the most. Especially those blocks with a relatively large senior population. He definitely was using instagram to get the word out for volunteers and in no small feat got people to come out from all over the city.

I  don't want to blow hot air but great things are happening for Mr. Cole. Thankfully the snow from last weekend is melting but  wouldn't mind volunteering with him during the next winter snowstorm. Get a good shovel, some salt, and perhaps even a portable snowblower. There's nothing wrong with helping Chicagoans in need!

Also he got some significant media attention during last weekend's snowfall. I shared a story from NBC 5 though that wasn't the only news coverage he got!

Tribune: Volunteers help spruce up Pullman neighborhood

Via The Chicago Neighborhoods

Yesterday, I posted about the attention being given to Englewood and then found this article about the attention given to Pullman. Pullman was designated a national monument and that means it will be getting further attention in years to come.

When railroad baron George Pullman built the Hotel Florence in 1881 in the heart of his company town, he meant for the extravagant Queen Anne style inn to host businessmen and dignitaries.

In addition to hotel rooms, the building featured a dining room, billiard room, barber shop, separate men's and women's parlors, and the only bar. Over the past several decades, most of the four-story, 50-room hotel, named after one of Pullman's daughters, has remained closed during restoration efforts, which include a new slate roof and an elevator.

On Thursday, with the building's doorways still draped in sheets of plastic and much of the ornate ceilings in its rooms still in the process of being torn down, the hotel hosted new guests. Five months after President Barack Obama named a portion of the historic Pullman neighborhood a national monument, volunteer Sam Gutterman and others helped clean up the hotel's main entrance.

"It's getting closer to having people attracted to come here," said Gutterman, 67, who lives on the North Shore, as he washed the first floor windows with a rag. "Because if it's in rundown condition no one's going to want to come here, no one's going to want to learn about the history. If you make things a little more attractive — it doesn't have to be perfect — people will appreciate it."

The hotel was among half a dozen sites in the Pullman neighborhood that were targeted in the first major cleanup of the area by the National Parks Conservation Association.

Several dozen volunteers grabbed ponchos to combat the rain and fanned out across the historic factory district. Among the efforts: A team of volunteers painted the baseboards of Greenstone United Methodist Church; another group weeded around the Historic Pullman Foundation Visitors Center, and a local landscaping company donated mulch and assisted in sprucing up Arcade Park.

Of course the 9th Ward Alderman jumped on some of this attention:

 Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, who also was in attendance, still remembers riding his bike past the historic row houses and other architectural gems as a child, thinking "it was like driving through another world." Witnessing the cleanup and initiatives since the national monument designation has been especially poignant for Beale, given the huge blow the community suffered in 1998 when an arsonist destroyed much of the factory district and damaged the administration building.

"To be able to quarterback the rebirth of this ..." said Beale, who paused as he looked toward a damaged factory building with black tarps covering its structural beams. "I can't even put words on it.

There's already ranger overseeing this park:

Sue Bennett has become the park's first full-time employee taking on the role of acting superintendent. Bennett has worked across the country as a park ranger for 26 years, most recently at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Though the national park still doesn't have a budget (that usually is set up after two years by Congress), the Illinois native says she's been lucky to lean on a number of established community organizations for help.

"I never dreamed when I started on my journey that I'd be back in my home state in a city that I love and doing the kind of service work, community outreach and preservation and stewardship, here," Bennett said. "So I'm the luckiest park ranger in the world in that I have at least 10 key partners that have been here on the ground and doing work to make it easier for us."

It's good to know the community has stepped up to the plate at least until Congress finally sets up a budget for the Pullman nat'l monument.

How long until Pullman gets their own Starbuck's? Would it be located at the Hotel Florence?

The hope dealers

Last week students of Morehouse College went on spring break. Also last week a group of 14 Morehouse students led by Roseland resident & Corliss High School alum Corey Hardiman came to Chicago forgoing the usual spring break rituals - i.e. going to the beach - to engage in service on the South Side of Chicago. I'm going to share some of the media that I have found of these young men doing good in Chicago in early March

Mary Mitchell discusses these young men in a recent column:

Corey Hardiman and his crew could be kicking up sand this week in Florida.

Instead, Hardiman and 14 other students from the historically black Morehouse College are in Chicago shoveling snow — and delivering hope — to young people who have been impacted by the violence on the Far South Side.

Hardiman grew up in Roseland where he attended Lavizzo Elementary School and Corliss High School.

Now about to graduate from Morehouse, where he attended on a Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholarship, Hardiman returned to his alma mater this week as an alternative to the spring fling most college students are enjoying.

“Dope has plagued our community for so many years, it is time to give out hope,” Hardiman told me. “Dope is for sale, but hope is free.”
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Hardiman, 22, raised about $4,500 to pay for the bus tickets

Hardiman said he was inspired to do this by a literacy project he did in Philadelphia as stated in the Mitchell's column.

Also this article from the Tribune also discusses this service project. Below it's illustrated how well students who go to Roseland area high schools perform on the ACT tests:

In Roseland, the picture for black males is even more dire than the national portrait. According to Chicago Public Schools data, there arefour high schools that serve students in Roseland. At Corliss, Harlan, Fenger and Julian High Schools, only a little more than half of the student bodies went on to graduate in 2013, statistics show. The average ACT score at those schools was about 14, which is considered poor. The average score in the state last year was 20.

Wow, it's been years since I took the ACT and well my score was slightly above the average score for thos local high schools and much lower than the average score for this state. Although let me just admit that it's been years and who knows how they score the test these days. Assuming the ACT changes like the SAT.

Now here's some other media. Audio and some videos!