Bucktown’s growing parent population struggles with limited neighborhood schooling options.

by Liz Ecker, Sara Eisen and Alex Sherman

Tanya Govert, 31, recently moved to Bucktown with her partner, Heidi, and five-year-old son, Seth. Govert sends her son to kindergarten at Pulaski Elementary School, 2230 W. McLean Ave., just a few blocks from her Wilmot Avenue home. She was planning to register Seth in Pulaski's gifted program, but there was a problem: Seth is not Hispanic. As a result, he cannot enroll.

"I find it strange that a public school that is supposed to be offered to everybody doesn't have a gifted program for students that are not Hispanic," Govert says. "It seems unfair."

Pulaski is one of three Chicago schools that offer a gifted program specifically for students with a Hispanic background. According to Pulaski Principal Leonor Karl, the purpose of the program is to give bright Hispanic students a chance to learn at an accelerated level. For younger students, especially in first grade, much of the curriculum is taught in Spanish. Analicia Ramos, who teaches the gifted first-graders, says most parents are pleased with the program.

"Parents are looking for Latin roots," Ramos says. "Many would like more diversity, but the program, overall, needs to be geared to children with Hispanic backgrounds because parents have to help their kids with homework, and that involves knowing how to speak Spanish."

The Pulaski program is an example of a Bucktown paradox. Rising property taxes, an abundance of cafes and boutiques, a new library and other marks of gentrification have changed the face of the once predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. While it is difficult to obtain exact statistics for Bucktown, according to 2000 statistics from city-data.com, roughly 62 percent of Bucktown residents are white and approximately 24 percent are Hispanic. According to U.S. Census data, in 1990 the statistics were nearly reversed: 60 percent of residents in the same zip code were Hispanic and only 27 percent were white.

In contrast to the changing racial demographics of the Bucktown community, the three Chicago Public Schools in Bucktown have remained overwhelmingly Hispanic. Ninety-two percent of Pulaski's student population is Hispanic, and just less than 75 percent of students have Latino backgrounds at both Thomas Drummond School, 1845 W. Cortland St., and Burr Elementary School, 1621 W. Wabansia Ave. Pulaski and Burr are less than 5 percent white-a stark contrast to the residents in the neighborhood.

While Principal Karl praises Pulaski's gifted program, she says the lack of diversity at Pulaski is "extremely frustrating." However, despite her wishes to improve diversity, Karl says Bucktown residents have been less than eager to consider Pulaski for their children.

"We are doing our best to try to bring the neighborhood in," she says. "Last May, we had a special event to invite the neighborhood to come to Pulaski " but not many came, if any."

Govert's desires to send Seth to public school may represent a minority opinion in Bucktown. Bucktown Community Organization President Scott Trotter admits public education is almost never brought up as an issue during the organization's monthly meetings. Of the 10 BCO board members, only one has a child in a Bucktown public school.

Many local, white elementary school parents, such as Clifford Norris, opt for private schools for their children.

"Over the past five years Bucktown has become a very expensive place to live" you will find a larger percentage sending their children to private school," Norris says. "Our kids" school has one teacher for 10 kids. Chicago public schools have twice that ratio."

Because there is no opportunity for Seth to enter Pulaski's gifted program, Govert plans to home-school him next year and join waiting lists for private schools.
"A good education is not free. I don't mind paying the extra money [for private school], but it's the availability and having a school that's so close [that makes Pulaski appealing]," Govert says.

Ald. Ted Matlak (32nd) says he understands that many Bucktown residents will not send their kids to underperforming schools. According to the Illinois State Board of Education for the 2004-2005 school year, the three schools" ISAT test scores were well below state averages. As defined by No Child Left Behind, 25 percent of classes at Pulaski and Drummond are not taught by highly qualified teachers, compared to the state average of 2 percent.

"The public schools in Bucktown are good, but they're not where they need to be," Matlak says.

Liz Parrott, a Columbia College graduate student and an after-school volunteer at Pulaski, has done extensive research on Bucktown public elementary schools for her thesis project. Her goal is to create and provide a plan that will enable public schools to market themselves, and she researches by sending surveys to community parents that ask about their priorities regarding elementary education.

Pulaski, like a lot of public schools, does a lousy job of marketing itself," Parrott says. "I've looked at schools that have been able to shift with the neighborhood, with gentrification. The key is parental involvement."

Ramos, who in addition to teaching is also a Pulaski parent, agrees with Parrot that a move toward increased diversity must come from outside the school. "I think we're totally open to having other people," she says. "But I think the other people have to want us too."

Alma, a seventh-grade girl at Pulaski, says she would like to have more classmates with different backgrounds.

I would like to meet other people from other cultures and see what they do for fun and talk to them about what they do for parties, what their holidays are," she says.

One school in Bucktown has recently found an edge to attract local students. Last year, Drummond implemented a Montessori program that maintains diversity mirroring that of Chicago. The program mandates 35 percent of its students must be white, the same percentage of Chicago's overall Caucasian population. While Drummond currently offers the program for preschool through second grade, Drummond's ultimate plan is for Montessori to phase into the entire school and extend through sixth grade.
"I have great faith in this Montessori program," says Matlak, "I'd like to see it in every school I have."

Mary Shaughnessy, another BCO board member, says the convenience of Drummond to her home is one of its major appeals. Having lived in the neighborhood for four years before the Montessori program came to Drummond, Shaughnessy recalls her feelings on the school when she first moved to Bucktown. "It was more like Pulaski at the time," she says. "We thought, "wouldn't it be nice if Drummond was a good school?"" She applied her three-year-old son, Finnian, to a number of schools in the area with hopes that Drummond might someday be a viable option. When Finnian was accepted to Drummond Montessori last fall, they enrolled him.

Shaughnessy says she is happy with her son's Montessori education at Drummond and admires the program's commitment to representing Chicago's demographics. "We didn't want our son to grow up without diversity," she says.

Laura Kuzniar, a mother of three Drummond students and an educational advisor to Matlak, expresses similar feelings. She has two children currently attending the Montessori program.

"Montessori has the coolest kind of curriculum for children I've ever seen," Kuzniar says. The waiting list for Drummond Montessori has more than 700 names, she says.
Trotter, who is considering Drummond for his three-year-old son, says the application process for both public and private school can be extensive. He says waiting until the year before a child is due to enter school is too late. "Kidding aside, we spent more time and effort getting our 5-year-old into school than we did collectively getting ourselves into college."

At Drummond, the lottery acceptance process poses another potential problem for local parents. "Your child's education shouldn't be a roll of the dice," says Matlak.
The landscape of Bucktown public education will not change overnight; Matlak stresses that high property taxes and consistent neighborhood gentrification is a necessary aspect of public school improvement and growth.

"You can't continually have people leaving," he says. "If you don't have the house with the second bedroom, that couple is gone because they need that second bedroom for the child."

While some parents have found schooling options by applying early, many Bucktown newcomers, such as Govert, remain stuck. Govert says she regrets moving to Bucktown.

" I want to say [I don't regret moving] because I live in the neighborhood, but yeah, I do," she says. "Now we're locked in."