The Rise and Fall of Adversarial Politics in the Context of Chicago School Reform: Parent Participation in a Latino School Community.

When the Chicago School Reform Act was first passed, many worried that the legislation would usher adversarial politics into the school building. This paper describes parent and community involvement in school decision making at Sprague Elementary school, which serves 1,500 Latino students. The case study chronicles the school's development through three Local School Councils and three principals. Data were collected through participant observation and interviews with parents, comnrinity members, teachers, and principals. At the end of the first 2 years of reform, the school community was mired in an all-consuming war over power and control. However, the Sprague case illustrates a victory of "democratic localism" that crossed the lines of role, ethnicity, and nlass. The Sprague school community was poor but had strong social resources. Parents, community members, and teachers with no prior involvement in governance educated themselves about issues and the law. The election of the third school council contributed to a sense of continuity and stability that the school desperately needed. The battle energized the broader parent community, catalyzed their social resources, and focused their attention on issues of school improvement. Five years after the passage of reform, the school had an activist principal, a supportive council, a broader parent community, and a newly roused faculty. (Contains 27 references and 73 endnotes). (LMI) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** The Rise and Fall of Adversarial Politics in the Context of Chicago School Reform: Parent Participation in a Latino School Community Josie Yanguas and Sharon G. Rol low Center for School Improvement University of Chicago April 1996 This paper was prepared at the Center on organization and Restructuring of Schools, supported by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement (Grant No. R117Q00005-95) and by the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, School of Education. University of Wisconsin-Madison. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of supporting agencies. The authors are grateful for the comments and insights provided by Robert Putnam and Concha Delgado-Gaitan on an earlier draft of this work. FINAL DELIVERABLE TO OERI BEST COPY AVAILABLE U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION oeti nt E7 du( atInnal Rasaarch and nnprovanant ED ,ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced a received from the person or organuation originating it CI Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points ot yiew or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy The Rise and Fall of Adversarial Politics in the Context of Chicago School Reform: Parent Participation in a Latino School Community Josie Yanguas and Sharon G. Rol low Center for School Improvement University of Chicago December, 1994 Chicago School Reform conceives of politics as a force for organizational change. This view seems strange to many, both in Chicago and elsewhere as traditional notions of politics--and especially notorious Chicago politics--conjure up strong images. One such image is that of Alinskystyle organizers who rally the "have-nots" to oust principals and take over schools. When the Chicago School Reform Act was first passed many worried that the legislation would usher this style of community politics directly into the school building. As bad as Chicago schools were, some feared that this might make them even worse. Over the first four years of reform adversarial politics have developed in less than ten percent of Chicago schools) These sites are marked by sustained conflict which focuses on issues of power and control--who gets elected to the Local School Council, and who the principal will be. While the percentage of schools afflicted by this type of political practice is relatively low, this activity has proved debilitating to those school communities. Sprague is racially isolated, Latino elementary school in Chicago serving 1,500 students. ' This case study chronicles its development through three Local School Councils and three principals. During this dine the authors have been participant observers at the school; attending LSC and other meetings and school activities, and conducting extensive interviews with parents, community members, teachers and principals. Parent and community involvement in decision-making is a main focus of the story, first because enhancing this participation was a main aim of Chicago's reform, and second because involvement in decision-making overwhelmed other forms of parental involvement during the period of this research. The passage of Chicago school reform at Sprague catalyzed significant activity. It opened up the school to the politics of the larger community and significantly changed relations of power between professionals, parems and community members.