CPS chief: New admissions policy 'not racist at all'
Under fire from black aldermen, Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman denied today that a new admissions policy for elite schools was a ploy to free up seats for middle-class white families tired of paying private school tuition.
Huberman said the new policy was dictated by a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling and by a federal judge’s more recent decision to void a 1980 desegregation consent decree that allowed CPS to use race to decide admissions to coveted schools.
(Sun-Times File)
“This has absolutely nothing to do with any one racial group — white or otherwise — paying private school tuition. This is about the best system that we could come up with that is lawful, that will continue to ensure we have an inclusive system,” Huberman said, after joining Mayor Daley at an unrelated news conference.
Huberman noted that CPS tried to keep what he called the “race-based quota system” in place for a while longer to give the system more time to craft a replacement. A federal judge refused to extend the consent decree, forcing officials to turn to “the next best available tool,” he said.
“It’s not racist at all. We value diversity. We value inclusion,” Huberman said.
“Socio-economic status has been used in other parts of the country successfully as a tool. Given the fact that the consent decree has been lifted, it is the fairest way to ensure that we continue to have an inclusive system that is racially diverse.”
As for charges that black middle-class students would get the shaft, Huberman said, “Our analysis does not [show] that any one group will suffer. [It shows] we will maintain the same levels of inclusion we have today.”
Earlier this week, the City Council’s Education Committee held a hearing on the new admissions policy, which uses census tracts, neighborhood income levels and socio-economic indicators to decide admissions to elite public schools.
Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th) called the policy “preposterous” and warned of its impact on black middle-class students who have been the system’s backbone for decades.
“They’re the ones whose parents have been driving ‘em all over the city. They’re the ones whose parents have been taking ‘em to enrichment programs to make sure they could test into these schools that were test-only, even though we know they were test-only and principals’ discretion,” Lyle said.
“Now, we say to them, ‘Sorry. You’ve helped the school system stay out of receivership for the last 20 years. But now, you can go pay tuition because we’ve got another group of people who are tired of paying tuition and they want these seats.”
Lyle likened the new policy to the “separate, but unequal” policies of the 1950’s and `60’s.
“I went to an all-black elementary school. I was in a Willis Wagon [portable classroom]. ... When I read this preposterous program that you guys formulated, I said, ‘God. This is déjà vu’,” she said.