CPS

Today I had my first experience of CPS (Chicago Public Schools). I made sure it was one on the North side of town, trying to ease my way into it. When I was walking past the school the first thing I heard another student say to the other was "Hey you have my weed right?" ............ what a way to start the day. I checked in with security by going through a metal detector, got a lil sticker with a green circle on it, and headed to room 426 to meet with the teacher I would spend all day with, Mrs. Cate Mascari. She was such a sweetheart! She is from Australia so she has an accent, but she is amazingly nice. The kids she was dealing with weren't half as bad as I expected either. She really liked her, and respected and listened to her cause she gave them respect also.

My eyes were opened though so some of the things that were typical CPS high school. At least one girl was pregnant in every class. It wasn't a weird thing to them, in fact a lot of them wanted to keep it. The average ACT score was 14 because 60% of the students were Latino and couldn't read English well. One kid was considered a genius because he got a 28 (just one higher than mine, and trust me I'm no genius lol) The average reading level was grade 5 or 6. A girl in her first class was talking to her about all her stress, about how there was a shooting in her neighborhood and now her brother, even though he wasn't involved, has to "lay low". She was shipped in from the south side every day. It was scary to know that this was actually kids lives.

The thing I liked the most was you could tell that to most of the kids, choir was the one thing they liked about school. It is the reason they come to class instead of skipping, and probably the reason they will graduate. She gives all her students in her advance choir her cell phone number and tells them if they ever need anything (ex: jail in middle of the night) to call her. She hasn't had anyone call yet, but she says it's reassuring to them to have someone who cares. Less the half the parents actually come to parent-teacher conferences.

The don't do musicals because they don't have the money, talent or time to do it. She has two small children at home she needs to be with and she can't afford to do musicals right now. I thought it made sense.

We had to go do "lunch", basically walk around the cafeteria and make sure no fights break out. Fights happen about 3 to 4 times a week, moreso among the older students. I was told to get out of the way if a fight was to happen and let the men handle it.

We talked about CPS in general. She has taught at suburb schools, and she loves CPS so much better because she can be the difference in a kids life. It's more rewarding. She says it depends on the school, but generally they are pretty safe. And that the kids actually get protective of the teachers that they like. She said starting salary is $46,000 but doesn't increase that often after that. You have to live in the city to work with CPS though, sometime they give you a few thousand to get started.

I have a lot to think about now. I know if I taught at a suburb school I would get better off kids who could afford private voice lessons, and I could do more with their voices. However, I also know that if I get into the right CPS school, I could really be the difference in a kids life, possibly be the reason they get their high school diploma.

I get it, why God has sent me on this path: to save kids with music.