Emanuel wants to boost teacher training

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Rahm Emanuel, shown with NLU enrollment representative Matildo Ojeda, discusses his school plans Tuesday at National-Louis University. | John H. White/Sun-Times

Updated: April 19, 2011 5:10AM

Calling quality teachers and involved parents the “key to educational success,” mayoral challenger Rahm Emanuel said he wants to double the number of teacher training academies in the city — but he won’t commit to sending his own children to Chicago Public Schools.

Mayor Daley and his father, former Mayor Richard J. Daley, both sent their kids to private Catholic schools — even as the younger Daley championed school reform.

Emanuel’s three children currently attend private Jewish Schools. If he’s elected mayor, the former White House chief-of-staff was asked whether he intends to lead by example and become the first Chicago mayor in recent memory to send his kids to public school.

“The decision I make on my children is one that [wife] Amy and I are gonna make as parents. . . . We’ll discuss where our children go as parents. And I think the people of Chicago, as parents, will appreciate that,” Emanuel said.

“When it comes to your own children, you make a decision as a parent. I’m not saying I’m not. I’m not saying what I’m gonna do. . . . I do appreciate that all of you are now part of my family. But the family I’ll be deciding with is my own.”

Chicago currently has seven urban teacher residency programs, also known as teacher training academies.

They combine a full year of course work at the master’s degree level with teaching under the wing of a mentor teacher.

Graduates commit to spending five years in Chicago Public Schools. They are currently dispatched to nearly three dozen “turnaround schools,” where principals, teachers and support staff are dismissed, but students stay put.

Emanuel’s $10 million plan to double the number of teacher training academies — and open the program to existing teachers — would nearly triple the number of annual graduates from 60 to 160.

It would pave the way for highly-trained teachers to turn around two additional high schools and six more elementary schools each year, he said.

“We have a gem here. The only thing stopping us is our willingness to scale it up,” Emanuel told reporters at National Louis University, 122 S. Michigan, home of the Academy for Urban School Leadership, where teachers are trained.

Emanuel said he’s open to the idea of expanding the program beyond turnaround schools. But he’s not about to ask one highly-trained teacher to change an entire school.

“I loved the idea that a core of 15 teachers with master’s degrees arrived at a school because you brought the quality of the game up from the whole teaching profession,” he said.

A possible infusion of education funding could come from the massive gambling expansion bill that passed the state Senate last week.

On Tuesday, Emanuel declared his support for the land-based Chicago casino that’s part of that bill.

“Chicago has gambling. It’s in Hammond, Ind. That’s the unfortunate part about it,” he said.

“It is not a panacea for our financial woes… . We’re gonna have to make tough decisions… . The budget is clearly not on a sustainable path. This can help. But it does not absolve us of the obligation to make the changes that are necessary to put us on a stronger financial footing.”

Emanuel’s refusal to commit to sending his children to public schools leaves an opening for his opponents to criticize. But Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), who has all but endorsed Gery Chico for mayor, was not about to exploit it.

“My kids went to parochial schools, and I don’t see any way that should be part of the public discourse. That’s a private family matter and it should be left at that,” Burke said.