The Chicago Public School System plans to implement a change to the schedule of all Chicago Public Schools (CPS) in September, 2012. In response to a request from Jean-Claude Brizard, CEO of CPS for feedback regarding this initiative, the Parent Teachers Student Association (PTSA) of William Howard Taft High School has prepared this petition.

The William H. Taft PTSA will submit this petition to the Chicago Public School Board requesting that William H. Taft High School be exempt from the directive for the modification to the existing school day schedule proposed for all Chicago Public Schools based on the unique characteristics of our school.

Background                                                                                                                                   Driving into the city of Chicago on the Kennedy Expressway from O’Hare airport, the first CPS school that you will encounter is William Howard Taft High School. Taft has a very rich history and for many of the more than 70 years it has been in existence, Taft was the “crown jewel” of the Chicago Public School System.

Taft is named after a unique individual: William Howard Taft; the only person, to date, who has served as a Congressman, President, and Supreme Court Judge.  There are many things that are unique about Taft High School beyond the person it is named after.  

Taft is the only Chicago Public School that has been the inspiration for a Broadway Play, hit Movie, –AND- a Reality TV Show.  Jim Jacobs, who graduated from Taft in 1960, based the characters in his hit Broadway Play Grease on the students he went to school with in the ‘50’s in Taft High School. The play was later used to create the enormously popular film Grease, and then, recently, the Reality TV Show Grease: So You Think You Can Dance? 

Today, Taft is a neighborhood high school with the largest attendance area of all neighborhood high schools in the city.  Unlike most CPS neighborhood high schools, Taft’s student population is diverse.  Taft’s student population is very reflective of Chicago overall, and there are few ethnicities or faiths found in the city that are not found at Taft.   

During the past ten years, there has been a revitalization of Taft, such as improvements in attendance, test scores, and overall school spirit. This is such an achievement because during the past ten years, there has been a push to establish Selective Enrollment Schools in Chicago, and a disproportionate amount of the students enrolled in Selective Enrollment High Schools during that time period were from the Taft High School Attendance Area.  

School Day Schedule Modification Exemption                                                                

Now, as our neighbors and our own parents, whose students attend Selective Enrollment High Schools, are rallying to ask you for an exemption from the Full School Day for select Selective Enrollment High Schools, we find ourselves also asking for an exemption.  Without additional funding to help make the increased time in the classroom truly productive and useful, we feel that the delayed release time will negatively impact our students that have to juggle numerous extra curricular activities and/or jobs with many hours of homework.

Academically, Taft students overall rate comparatively with their siblings and neighbors that attend Selective Enrollment Schools – which is masked at the aggregate by the large population of Special Education students at Taft, whose scores have a dramatic negative impact on our school’s accomplishments. Our students are also accomplished in numerous extracurricular activities and are engaged in many hours of preparation outside of what is offered at Taft, and will be negatively impacted by needing to remain in school longer.

Although in many areas in the city there is high teen unemployment, there are MANY Taft students that are employed; most are employed to help augment their family’s resources that are stretched during these tough economic times.  Adding time to the school day will impact our students’ ability to get a job and/or keep those that they have now, impacting many of our families financially.  

In Conclusion                                                                                                                               Nestled in the very “suburban like” residential community of Norwood Park, in the far Northwest corner of the city, Taft High School is very unique and changes to the existing school schedule will negatively impact our students that do not share the low achievements of many other schools in CPS.   

Amongst all of Taft’s unique characteristics the statistic that sets us apart from all other neighborhood high schools is that our student population has been increasing. In a city where parents “vote with their feet” each year, more parents choose Taft as a safe, enriching alternative for their children. This shows that we as parents know that what is going on at Taft is positive and we respectively ask for you not to disrupt or impede our progress by making us adopt a solution that addresses issues at other schools but, in no way will be beneficial for our students at Taft High School.

Therefore, we submit the following signatures in petition to exempt Taft from any schedule changes.

 Respectfully,

The William Howard Taft Parent Teacher Student Association