Manford Byrd Jr. started his second year as Chicago school superintendent Tuesday on a note of cautious optimism, contending that the school system is beginning an era of improvement under his leadership but warning that change is a gradual process.
In a first-year self-assessment speech before principals and other school administrators at Young Magnet High School, Byrd did not mention the arrests of six teachers on sexual abuse charges in the last two months. But at a press conference afterward, he said the board`s new policy requiring background checks of new employees ”will not be a cure-all.” Instead, he said, solving the problem will require the vigilance of parents, the schools and the community.
”Underlying our initial efforts was the crystal-clear understanding that change is a gradual process,” Byrd said in his speech. ”It has always seemed to me that those who observe education always see change in overdrawn dramatic dimensions.”
But Byrd reviewed several new programs that he said are indicators of revitalization of the school system, which has a dropout rate that two studies have pegged at 38 percent and 42 percent.
He said $12.5 million from the statewide education reform program is being spent to add 127 reading teachers, after-school tutoring in 326 schools, 60 teachers to reduce 6th-grade class size, 42 bilingual teachers and 36 aides to improve English reading skills of youngsters with limited ability to speak English.
Also underway, Byrd said, is a $2.25 million alternative educational program at 32 schools for potential dropouts, a $5.1 million early education program at 88 schools and a $120,000 prevention program for drug abuse.
Byrd is pressing to increase academic competition by using a $500,000 grant from American Airlines and $115,000 from the system`s budget to enlarge the Academic Olympics competition, which started a decade ago in West Side schools, to include the entire city.
Also in the planning stages are 10 new schools to relieve overcrowding in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods and renovation of 123 schools to help shore up the system`s aging physical facilities.
Byrd said his primary goal in the second year of his term is to ”move toward putting a specialist in reading, math and science in every elementary school.” He said the main obstacle will be money.
He said 200 of the system`s 463 elementary schools have reading specialists, but ”far fewer” have math and science specialists.
In Byrd`s first year as superintendent, average reading scores in all elementary school grades dropped. He made no reference to the decline, instead claiming that ”this necessary process of change” began with his desire ”to restore credibility and integrity to our citywide testing program.”
Reading achievement scores reported during the term of his predecessor, Ruth Love, were questioned after an internal audit found that she approved discrepancies. One of Byrd`s first moves as superintendent was to order new testing procedures, including a requirement that most teachers could not give the test to their own classes.
Byrd, a teacher and administrator in the school system since 1954, told his audience: ”Let`s not expect overnight changes. Indeed, the journey we must take cannot be done in a quantum leap, but it can be done in measured steps.”
