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* UPDATED x1 - IEA weighs in * Kennedy takes heat for dissing Cairo schools

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* Chris Kennedy met with the Southern Illinoisan’s editorial board earlier this month and said this about Cairo’s school…

“Zero percent of kids in Cairo are college-ready. Seventy-five percent of high school graduates need remedial education,” Kennedy said. “The problem with Cairo is not with the housing authority. It’s with the school. It needs to be fully funded by the state.”

* Um…

The senior class disagrees. In fact, 10 of the 24 members of the Class of 2018 are taking college classes this semester through Shawnee College Escrow Program. About half of them will graduate with a full year of college credit or close to a year. They will start college in the fall as sophomores.

In addition to their classes, several students have been accepted to SCC Phi Theta Kappa international honor society for two-year colleges and academic programs.

Cairo seniors have received scholarships and been admitted to colleges and universities across the country. Eight seniors spoke on behalf of their class. They started by talking about the colleges that accepted them.

* And…

“I’ve been accepted to SIU, SIUE, Tennessee State University, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Culver Stockton, and DePaul University. Oh, and Spartan College,” said Mack Hicks.

In fact, most of the students who spoke up on Wednesday have been accepted to several colleges and offered scholarships. Coming from a town that has seen its share of struggle, the teens said they are unfazed by the negative comments. […]

The students said they were a little confused about Kennedy’s comment because, according to the superintendent, 42 percent of the students will enter colleges and universities as sophomores, rather than freshmen. The senior class has 24 students, and 18 of those students have at least 1 college offer. So, they said something about his math doesn’t add up

“What person that is seeking the highest job in the state would even form his lips to say something like this? (It) shows us he is not ready to be our governor,” said Mayor Pro Tem Connie Williams.

“I actually want to thank him for doubting us. It’s going to push me further right now. It makes me think: If he doesn’t think I can make it, I got to prove him wrong,” said senior Shamari Smith.

Kennedy’s campaign told the local TV station that the candidate was referring to SAT scores, which are here.

You may recall that Kennedy was called out for the same sort of error on Springfield’s public schools.

* Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery, whose union is backing JB Pritzker, was not pleased…

“Chris Kennedy sounds more like Bruce Rauner every day, disregarding the facts and tearing people down instead of seeing their promise,” said IFT President Dan Montgomery, a high school English teacher. “As we’ve been reminded this week, high school students are stronger and smarter than some adults think, and it’s good to see them teaching Chris a lesson in Cairo. Kennedy’s defense – that he was only looking at SAT data – reveals even more. As teachers, we look at students as whole people, not just test scores. We’re proud to stand with JB Pritzker, who has spent decades fighting to expand early childhood education and supporting public school students, teachers, and staff.”

* Pritzker campaign…

“Chris Kennedy ‘applauded’ Bruce Rauner for creating a crisis for public education in Illinois and is now badmouthing the same students impacted by that crisis,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Kennedy’s comments undercut the future leaders of this state and entirely disregard the hard work these students have put in to their own education.”

*** UPDATE *** IEA President Kathi Griffin…

“Chris Kennedy needs a fact checker. During a meeting with the editorial board of The Southern Illinoisan this month, he claimed “zero percent of kids in Cairo are college-ready.” It’s not only false, it’s insulting! It’s insulting to the students and it’s insulting to the hard-working teachers and support staff of Cairo schools. The students there said it better than I could say it myself when they took to the media to defend themselves, pointing out that many of them will graduate high school with a year of college already under their belts, that many of the 24 members of the graduating class have received scholarships and been admitted to colleges and universities across the country. “Our entire class is smart. We’re going places. We will just have to show them, not tell them. We have a small town, a small school, but there is a lot of love here,” Mack Hicks said. Candidate Kennedy owes Mack Hicks, his classmates and his teachers an apology.”

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 9:27 am

Comments

Chris is so terrible at politics.

Comment by PJ Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 9:31 am
Does Chris have a bull’s-eye on both feet, or just one?

Comment by Langhorne Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 9:35 am
“Every”, “Always”, “Never”, “Only”, “None”… “Zero”…

Candidates and Crews that use these words without documented and unquestionable facts to back up words like this… only prove how not ready that Crew and Candidate are to take any role in governing, including the Office of Governor.

“Zero”?

“That’s your IQ buddy, Zero” - Coach Mike Ditka… see what I mean.

I pretty sure I’m not meaning this as a compliment.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 9:35 am
Surprising that none of his peeps have knocked him off that canned talking point.

It’s incorrect, ignorant and insulting.

That works in politics when you’re trying to drum up support from one group by attacking “the other,” a la Trump.

It doesn’t work to attack the group you’re trying to win support from. That should be obvious to anyone.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 9:36 am
staffers, what the heck?

Comment by Amalia Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 9:40 am
This is something that troubles me about Chris Kennedy — he stumbles and fumbles with the very groups from whom he is seeking support. Competent staffers are good, but I don’t go to the ballot box to elect the staffers.

Comment by morningstar Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 9:48 am
==…said IFT President Dan Montgomery, a high school English teacher.“==

Dan is still teaching? His salary with IFT implies that’s a full-time gig.

Comment by City Zen Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 9:49 am
Chris Kennedy will be unable to attend tonight’s debate because of a self-inflicted foot injury.

Comment by Leigh John-Ella Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 9:49 am
There Kennedy goes again…off script. Not ready for prime time. Talk about insentive. Yikes.

Comment by Shytown Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 9:49 am
Kennedy should just back out of this race already.

See what I did there?

Comment by MG85 Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 9:57 am
Mr. Kennedy, may we see your act/sat scores please. I am just a little curious. This a very silly statement from Kennedy. That is a great way to alienate a section of the State of Illinois.

Comment by Retired Educator Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 9:58 am
Kennedy “Cairo? No I meant to say Chicago, yeah that’s what I meant to say”

Comment by Table for one Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 10:00 am
Kennedy, like most politicians, know little to nothing about the education business. It only becomes more obvious when you pop off with specific comments like his that are awful, demoralizing and lacking facts.

The “remedial” classes that some kids are forced to take by colleges are questionable at best. But Kennedy talks about the complex issue with no understanding of what it even means.

He would be better off attacking his rivals and complementing Rauner.

Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 10:03 am
Kennedy should know better—only a Sith deals in absolutes.

However, the fact that 58% of students didn’t matriculate is a matter of concern.

Comment by Red fish blue fish Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 10:17 am
No less, those SAT scores should be concerning. Accepted to college is one thing, accepted and prepared to succeed is another.

Comment by Shemp Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 10:18 am
“Kennedy should know better—only a Sith deals in absolutes.”

Are you saying Kennedy is a Sith Lord? Boy, that would make for an interesting ad.

Comment by Anon0091 Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 10:22 am
There goes Kennedy again. Opening his mouth and inserting his foot. That really makes me question the Trib’s endorsement even more.

Comment by Big Joe Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 10:28 am
==Accepted to college is one thing, accepted and prepared to succeed is another.==

To be fair this is only true if Kennedy did mean to refer to SAT test scores when he made this statement, and is also one of the few people who believes that the SAT test is the only way to determine whether or not a student is prepared to succeed in a college setting. There are any number of reasons why high school students perform below average on standardized SAT and ACT tests, and I’m sure you could also find any number of students who perform quite well in a college setting even though they received lower than average SAT scores.

More likely explanation is that Kennedy is just a goof who can’t speak about almost any topic without making a fool of himself.

Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 10:31 am
==…10 of the 24 members of the Class of 2018 are taking college classes this semester…==

There are only 24 students in the entire class? Do all the students attend the same classes?

Comment by City Zen Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 11:02 am
Clicking around the rest of the metrics on the ISBE website that is linked in the post, the district’s ACT scores and PARCC scores are also abysmal. If the data is flawed, they are entitled to make that argument. But the data and the state board of education support what he said.

Comment by Anon324 Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 11:39 am
==staffers, what the heck?

Almost every time there is a story in Capitol Fax about Chris Kennedy making a big mistake, someone in the comment section asks how his staff could let this happen.

Staff can only do so much. There are some candidates that are beyond staff help.

Kennedy is beyond help.

Comment by Miss Marie Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 11:59 am
“There are only 24 students in the entire class?”

For 2017 Cario had an enrollment of 94. There were 50 schools with smaller enrollments.

Comment by Bigtwich Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 12:03 pm
Kennedy could have been a bit more polite, but he’s largely right.

Comment by Ron Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 12:20 pm
CK: “The problem with Cairo is not with the housing authority. It’s with the school. It needs to be fully funded by the state.”

No, CK; the problem with Cairo is disinvestment, depopulation, and poverty. The school situation in Cairo (and Little Egypt more generally) is but a consequence-symptom of the much larger malaise.

This makes me so sad - another “progressive” rich man from Kenilworth proves he couldn’t be bothered to learn about a very well-publicized and well-published topic in advance.

I mean, couldn’t somebody have put together ten articles by Molly Parker and given them to him as a homework assignment? She works at the newspaper whose board he met with, for goodness’ sake. Very … ill-prepared of him.

The SATs/ACTs / PARCC results are bad, but they’re bad in nearly all poor rural schools in Illinois. I’ve looked at a lot of comparative numbers, and the scores correlate pretty closely (with a few exceptions) to the percentage of students eligible for free meals in any given district. The poorer the students, the poorer their scores.

And yes, there are only 24 students in the graduating class; AP courses iirc are shared among schools, and attending college classes has proven one way of enhancing the curriculum - it’s impossible to offer a full senior high school array of courses to 24 students. And because the public housing complexes are being shut down and residents given vouchers to move (away), it’s only going to get worse. A substantial percentage of Cairo’s students lived in those housing units.

Kennedy is sort of/more or less right in saying that the state should be funding Cairo’s school system, but hey, that’s pretty much the whole concept underlying evidence-based funding and the new Ed bill. So at that comment, I was like, “Huh? Don’t you follow state news?”

And as a former Chair of the BoT of UIUC, he should know a lot about education. It was part of his job to understand the entire educational landscape of the state whose flagship school he served for six years. It really was.

Comment by dbk Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 12:42 pm
- Shemp - Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 10:18 am:

I agree. I know Cairo and I was educated in Southern Illinois (frightening). Still have family in Southern Illinois and my brother’s kids (”honor roll” students) went through the same school system as I did. His kids have spoken at length about how ill prepared they were for college and were always frustrated by the differences in their schools and that of my kids (all around the same age). We have amazing schools in Lake County (D128); the difference is striking. Kids coming from schools like Cairo often get into college’s for reasons other than solid grades/scores and they struggle. I should also note that my father taught at Shawnee Community College for many years. I know stories about the “behind the scenes”. I understand what Kennedy was saying and I believe it to be true. I don’t think Kennedy meant what he said in the manner it was received. He isn’t a very good politician. But I like him.

Comment by Sands Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 1:03 pm
Kennedy for Governor slogan: I’ll get the numbers right someday.

And he was BoT Chair at UIUC??? Wow.

From what I’ve read on CapFax, Kennedy needs to get out while the getting out is good.

Comment by revvedup Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 1:09 pm
My problem with Kennedy is that he is against pot legalization. That’s an easy $600 Million annually the state could use.

Comment by Ron Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 2:41 pm
One little slip of the tongue like this could cost Kennedy a couple hundred votes. He might need em.

Comment by Blue dog dem Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 2:55 pm
Excellent post, dbk. I can’t add more to that. I would just amplify your last graph-CK was too busy pulling power plays and installing questionable people in top spots at the UI (see Hogan, Joseph or Wise, Phyllis) that he failed to learn the big picture of education in Illinois. Just another reason he is not suitable to be Governor.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 3:23 pm
How come IEA President Kathi Griffin doesn’t claim to be a teacher like IFT President Dan Montgomery does?

Comment by City Zen Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 4:06 pm
AA, Kennedy has been lucky that his tenure at U of I has not got a hard look.

Actually, all politicians in Illinois are lucky that more real reporters ain’t giving them a hard look.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 4:20 pm
How many of these kids are actually ready for college? Sorry but we aren’t funding these schools enough and that’s the core of the issue here.

Comment by Thomas Zane Stepp Thursday, Feb 22, 18 @ 7:50 pm