06-16-2009, 11:14 PM
fedupinwaukegan Wrote:Tensions rise over Schuler Scholar program
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May 28, 2009
By JUDY MASTERSON <!-- e --><a href="mailto:JMASTERSON@SCN1.COM">JMASTERSON@SCN1.COM</a><!-- e -->
Number of Waukegan students to be reduced this fall
WAUKEGAN --Since its inception in 2001, the Schuler Scholar program has put nearly 300 Lake County high school students on the path to success at the nation's top colleges and universities.
Nearly 200 are currently enrolled in the program through high schools in Waukegan, Round Lake, Warren and, just added, Highland Park. The Lake Bluff-based Schuler Family Foundation provides mentorship and money to high-achieving students, many who are the first in their families to attend college.
But the Waukegan School Board learned Tuesday that the program, which chose to start in Waukegan because of the high-level of community support, is reducing the number of Waukegan High students it will accept this year to 25. In previous years, as many as 42 students advanced through a rigorous selection process to receive assistance including one-on-one and group coaching, tutoring, college tours, workshops, summer camps, cultural excursions -- and $5,000 per year for four years at a top school.
Candace Browdy, Schuler executive director, said the downsizing was related to challenges in preparing Waukegan students for the rigors of highly-competitive four-year schools.
"We need to make sure we can provide the right level of support and properly prepare them so they can go on to be successful in college," Browdy said.
Browdy cited "opportunities" for improvement in the district where, she said, some departments have shown a lack of cooperation. Schuler staff have had difficulty obtaining grades, transcripts, test scores and responses from teachers, she said. While lauding improvements under new Principal Steve Hamlin, Browdy cited an overburdened guidance department and "disengaged" guidance counselors. Another problem, she said, is a lack of attention to class assignments. Students with potential are not taking core subjects, she said, and are not enrolled in honors courses.
Browdy also said that she had been subjected to "pressure from a sitting board member to pay said board member" to help recruit more African American scholars.
School Board member Anita Hanna confronted Browdy after her presentation and threatened legal action. Browdy then met in closed-door session with administrators and board members. An ethics investigation has been proposed.
Browdy refused to comment on her run-in with Hanna.
"We're not interested in dividing the community," she said.
But Hanna said Browdy's charge was related to one conversation last year in which she told Browdy "If I wasn't on the school board, I could work for you and you wouldn't have this problem.'"
"She blew it out of proportion," said Hanna, who works as a juvenile probation officer. "I never asked nor intimated I wanted a job."
Hanna said she believes Browdy, board member Mark Hawn and others want to drum her off the board because of her resistance to a charter school.
Hawn, the only member to vote in favor of a charter last December, accuses Hanna of leaking information discussed in executive session. He said the board chose to ignore a warning months ago that Schuler was growing frustrated with a lack of cooperation at the high school.
"They're downsizing us while they're expanding everywhere else, to me that's a knife in the heart," Hawn said. "It's a huge loss for our school district and I'm deeply disturbed by it."
Browdy also informed the board that, beginning with the class of 2012, scholarships for all scholars have been downsized from $20,000 to $10,000.
"This is not a hit that will be felt by the students," Browdy said. "Colleges are willing to step up and fund them."
Funds will be redirected, Browdy said, to increase summer programs and to move the selection process to the eighth grade.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/1595729,5_1_WA28_WAUSCBRD_S1-090528.article">http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... 28.article</a><!-- m -->
I wonder if this has been swept under the rug, or if there is an actual ethics investigation proceeding?
Shawn White
224-381-2834