I'm Not Eating That

Here's an interesting link I found earlier today:

Fed Up With Lunch

It's a website created by a Chicago school-worker who secretly ate school lunch for an entire year, photographed her meals, and then blogged about them.

She's creating quite a stir in the community, advocating for nutritional school lunch reform.
Here's a write up in the Chicago Sun Times.
And here's the link to her Flickr with all the photos! Look at those hamburgers!

When I was in elementary school there was nothing I loved more than square pizza. The more ranch dressing to dip it in the better. But looking at the pictures, school lunch has gone beyond grease. We've moved to shrink-wrapped, plastic covered, chemically modified territory.

Correlations between hormonal development in young girls and boys and chemically altered foods have often provided scary and unsettling results. In the majority of schools that Femi Memorial Outreach partners with, 90% of students are on the Free Lunch program. That means that not only are these lunches our student's only options, but they are also meals these children think are reasonable and normal to eat. Students learn all kinds of things at school-- one of them seems to be poor eating habits.

What should we do? Get involved with the Healthy Schools Campaign?

The Short of It: Longer School Day Program Halted

Chicago has one of the shortest school days in all of the United States.
The bell ringing with just 5.14 hours of instruction per day, Chicago school systems have been under fire since Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office and started campaigning to add ninety more minutes to the public school day.
All in all, thirteen schools agreed to the new system, and slowly have been easing into the new school day (which allows a 30 minute recess most elementary students have never had the luxury of seeing).

That is until today when the Illinois Educational Labor Relations board sided with the Chicago Teacher's Union to halt the implementation of the longer school day.

Rhee's Time Cover

The fight between Labor Union and School System seems to be representative of something larger within the school system.

 Think back a couple of years, when Michelle Rhee was blowing up the cover of Time magazine, saying forget tenure, teachers should be paid according to student achievement and accountability should be taken top to bottom. In her reign as Chancellor of the D.C. public school systems she closed twenty-three schools, fired thirty-six principals, and cut one-hundred and twenty-one office jobs. Rhee was heavily criticized during this time period, but continued to fight for tenure and teacher compensation reform. In 2010 she awarded up to 20% pay raises of $20,000-30,000 to teachers who fostered "strong student achievement."

I can't help but draw correlations between this present school-day legislation and the shocking approach Rhee took to "cleaning up" schools in 2007.
To what degree do we care about teachers' rights as union members? When do teachers stop being union members and start being the driving educational force of students' futures? How do we reconcile the two? As Chicago- Americans, we are in the heartland of Union support. But, we are also in the heartland of poor testing, enrollments, and overall academic turnout.

How can we think about labor and education relating to one another?

What do you guys think? Feel free to comment!

The Learning Curve: Mission and History

Welcome to the inaugural post of The Learning Curve!

We hope this blog will function as a counterpart to the Femi Memorial Outreach program-- a way to keep our students, tutors, followers, and the residents of Chicago updated on our daily moves and progress as well as offering an innovative approach to interacting with the educational community.

So how did all of this get started? And why should you read our blog?
Part of our mission at Femi Memorial Outreach is to provide at-risk students in the Chicago area with top-notch tutoring and home-work assistance. We love working hands-on with our students, in the classroom. But we also believe there is more that we can offer to the Chicago education community.

 I've often sat, scratching my head and wondering, where can I find reliable information and updates about education in Chicago? Where can I find breaking news about local legislation passed that directly influences our schools? Aren't we all "at-risk" students if we aren't educated about what's going on?
 But, education isn't all politics, what about the kids? Is there a resource that gives personal classroom stories, or a website that posts interviews with students? Can we be the digital refrigerator door, showcasing our students' finest work and creativity? We hope so. This is what The Learning Curve is all about.

What's our history?
It goes without saying that the Learning Curve wouldn't be possible without the wonderful support and resources given by our parent organization Femi Memorial Outreach.

Femi Memorial Outreach is a non-profit after-school program dedicated to helping at-risk students throughout the Chicago area, with a focus on children who come from either immigrant families or low socio-economic backgrounds.

Femi Memorial was founded on October 1st, 2004 by Bob Pedro, a Nigerian immigrant who moved to the United States to start his family . The organization was founded in loving memory of Olufemi (Femi) Robert Martin Pedro, son of Bob Pedro, who died of a rare cancer at the age of seventeen. Femi Memorial Outreach honors Femi by providing students with the opportunity to enhance their educational accomplishments, realize their best selves, and fulfill their dreams.

Femi Pedro (right) with friends 

Currently we serve Loyola Park in Roger's Park, Broadway Armory in Edgewater, Holy Angels in Bronzeville, Mahalia Jackson in Beverly, John Hay Community Academy in Austin, and Bret Harte in Hyde Park.

Students in the Broadway Armory in Edgewater

Our success can largely be attributed to the Federal Work Study program, a grant that provides financial assistance to college students by linking them with community service work for which they receive monetary compensation as well as a decrease in college tuition. By partnering with student employment centers at Chicago universities, our program enjoys increased sustainability and provides elementary students with bright college students who provide academic assistance and serve as role models. In this way, we feel our organization builds and opens dialogues between many types of students. Our university partners include Loyola University Chicago, University of Chicago, and Dominican University.

So watch out for us. Keep us bookmarked. We promise to bring good things in the future.