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Public Affairs coverage from our award-winning staff |
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Chicago Public Schools Student On the Streets Again
Produced by Julia McEvoy on Tuesday, June 09, 2009
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Demetrius Davis |
This is the last week of school for most Chicago students. But for some teens, school ended weeks or even months ago. They’re the kids who’ve already dropped out. And they make up a devastating statistic in this city. WBEZ has spent a year reporting from Robeson High School in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. Homelessness, violence, teen pregnancy are some of the complicated reasons young people at Robeson give up on school. But sometimes, it’s the school that gives up on the kid. That’s what happened to one of the students we’ve been following, Demetrius Davis. As part of our series, Fifty-Fifty: The Odds of Graduating, we find out that like most things at Robeson, the situation is not simple.
Demetrius began the school year determined to graduate. But all this year he struggled academically. He’s had a lot working against him--a spotty history of attending school, partly because he’s been in and out of juvenile detention. He’s a dad already—with three kids.
And his mom, a recovered drug addict, only recently began to advocate for him at school.
Then at the start of the second semester at Robeson high this year, he got another blow. Robeson decided to kick him out.
DAVIS: Actually it was like a surprise. They told me it ain’t nothing but a five minute process. I could just go and get my mom.
Here’s what happened to Demetrius. In mid February he was returning to school from being out for three days. He went into Robeson’s front office to let them know he was back. But instead of sending him to class, the school told him to get his mom.
DAVIS: So I went to get my mom and we came back and that’s when they was telling me I didn’t have enough credits. And it would be best if I just go to an alternative school. And I guess I was no longer allowed at Robeson.
Illinois law says students have to stay in school until they’re 17. Ask Robeson and the District’s Area Instructional Officer Jerryelyn Jones and they say the school can “counsel out” a 17-year-old student it believes would be better served in an alternative school.
That’s what Robeson was telling Demetrius and his mom, Mary Davis. That at the rate he was going, with so few credits, he would never graduate by age 21.
At first, Mrs. Davis argued to keep him in school.
MRS DAVIS: And I was like can you just give him another chance till the next semester and see where he at from there and if he can improve? And they were like no the only thing we can do is give him the names and addresses of some alternative schools he probably can go to.
Mrs. Davis had started the year thinking Robeson could help her son. But in the conference that day she says it became clear the school didn’t want him there anymore. And so she stopped fighting. There was something else she knew too. Something she told Demetrius at the time.
MRS.DAVIS: I am like, it’s not like they kicked you out, you brought this upon yourself. They was giving you chances after chances after chances and telling you to come to school and be on time, and you know you just choose to do your own thing. I said I just hope that when you go to another school you just take school more serious.
It wasn’t just Demetrius that day. That week, the school told at least 10 other students they weren’t cutting it. Demetrius says he knows three of them.
DAVIS: Three of my guys got kicked out with me. They all sophomores.
Principal Gerald Morrow says at the beginning of the year between 35 and 50 student programs were pulled. These are 17 –year- olds who had so few credits or such poor attendance the school concluded they weren’t trying.
MORROW: It’s just the reality of it. There’s no way to jazz it up and say it pretty. It happens, about 10 do get counseled out. And it mainly comes down to you’re not making the effort!
Principal Morrow says all the students were warned that if they didn’t improve they’d better plan on getting themselves on a list for an alternative school—because there is a very long waiting list. By late in the
semester Demetrius had 27 unexcused absences. Still, Demetrius says he never got that warning.
DAVIS: If they would have told me something like Demetrius we’re going to let you back in but you’re very close on the edge if you even argue with somebody you’re going to get kicked out. And then I would have knew alright, alright it’s time to do work and you know, nerd up.
REPORTER: If you had known what would you have done differently? I mean, specifically.
DEMETRIUS: I would have been doing everything I had to do. Every sheet of paper that was in front of me.
Demetrius got almost all F’s first quarter and his interim report wasn’t any better. All year he had a mentor at the school, Rodney Thomas. Thomas had seen the grades.
REPORTER: Did you ever make sure that he did get tutoring?
THOMAS: You know just like with every kid and Demetrius it started out well. But when a kid is disinterested then we can’t force them to be there. And so it was just a constant questioning of did you go, did you go, did you go and then you would get ‘Yeah, Mr. Thomas I went,’ but he didn’t go. So it was back and forth with that.
Looking back, Thomas says maybe it’s his fault. Maybe he didn’t make things clear to Demetrius.
THOMAS: There are a lot of areas in Demetrius’ life that we-- things could have been better. Personally, school-wide. Even me as a mentor. Not that I lied, but being brutally honest to Demetrius.
Thomas spent a lot of time helping Demetrius manage his anger. Anger over seeing one brother shot and another in jail. Anger over his mom choosing drugs over her children. Thomas made a lot of progress. Demetrius had fewer outbursts and suspensions.
THOMAS: But if I could rewind, knowing what I know now. I would be a little more aggressive around the academic portion as well.
Thomas says no school should ever give up on a kid. And Morrow agrees. But then he says there are kids like Demetrius who only show up because they are in the juvenile court system. They must come to school or violate their probation.
MORROW: It goes both ways. Do they want to be here? Are we just carrying them to be carrying them. I tell the parents all the time, I’m not a baby sitter, a lunch program. This is school they need to come, participate, go to class, do what they supposed to do.
But in Demetrius’ case there was another compelling factor that somehow the school never knew about. Something Demetrius himself doesn’t want to acknowledge. He was reading at about a second grade level.
MORROW: It’s not that he’s quote, unquote a slow learner. He’s talented. What happened? Missed so many days of school. He’s talented, what happened, didn’t have a parental structure. He’s talented, what was going on? Got involved in the street. Those are the things that came in and took him away from school. Now if we’re talking about a kid who came every day but is not comprehending? That’s a kid with special needs.
REPORTER: Although, if you are in a sophomore class like world history with Ms Roberts and you’re looking at a text book and she’s saying read the book, and you can’t read? I mean literally, he-- at Healy they tested him, she’s saying second grade. There’s no way he could have done that and maybe people were afraid to push him because every time they asked him (he’d lash out, right) then he’d get mad.
MORROW: But the thing about it is when you sit him down and have him focus on school you can see how quick he picks things up. That means he doesn’t have a learning disability, that means he did not go to school.
REPORTER: Then what do you do with a kid like that here?
MORROW: You give him resources as far as tutorial, SES, AIM high, but all again these are after school programs. Getting Demetrius to stay after school is a whole different dilemma.
Paige Ponder is in charge of reducing the district’s drop out rate. She says she understand principals’ frustrations.
PONDER: They’re perspective is I need to focus the resources that I have and the energy I have on kids who can graduate. So kids who are coming to school who have no chance of graduating may often be also kids who are disruptive and distracting everybody and causing lots of problems. But the problem is we simply don’t have the capacity as a city to serve these students. There is no where else for them to go, or not enough places for them to go.
Ponder wants to fix this, of course. But it’s expensive. New York City has invested heavily in re enrolling drop outs, Chicago has not. There are at least 50,000 Chicago students who need to be reenrolled in school. There are only about 5 thousand spots for them in alternative schools. Demetrius was lucky enough to get one of them.
RANDOLPH: Demetrius Davis enrolled in Healy South on March 17… March 18 absent, March 19 present. March 20 absent. Mom called.
Healy South is an alternative school at 81st and Cottage Grove. Demetrius got in with the help and encouragement of his mentor from Robeson, Rodney Thomas, and also his probation officer. Ms. Randolph runs the school.
RANDOLPH: We’ve been calling the parents every day to let them know he was not here. A couple days we spoke to the grandmother and the probation officer. So we don’t know where to go. Once Demetrius is here we can set up an academic plan or a behavior plan.
Ambi: sound of Demetrius and family…
On one of the last days of the school year, Demetrius Davis is keeping an eye on his 16-month-old son, Meechie Jr. He’s with his Meechie Jr.’s mom, Rayshawn and her sister, Rakia in the girls’ family’s apartment. The teens are playing cards. All three have dropped out. All three insist they will go back.
RAYSHAWN: Yeah, I’m going to go back when September hit. To Robeson? No to an alternative school. Do you know which one you want to go to? Banner.
RAKIA: So, as for me, I’m going to be graduating next September.
DEMETRIUS: Actually I’m out of school but I went to school yesterday and they said I missed too many days I’m supposed to bring my parent back up in there. I’m supposed to be doing that tomorrow. Tomorrow.
Ambi: Sound of him teaching Meechie.
Demetrius says what’s important to him right now is being a good dad to his son. Especially since his own dad was never there for him. He says he is serious about providing for 16-month-old Meechie. But with no skills and little education, that doesn’t seem too realistic at this point.
His mentor, Rodney Thomas hasn’t given up on Demetrius. He stays in touch--says he’s seen other guys like Demetrius eventually turn themselves around.
But for now, instead of being in school, Demetrius stays home with Meechie Jr.…teaching him his ABCs.
Ambi: sound: Yeah! Big boy! Applause.
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Jermont Montgomery, Englewood // Tuesday, June 09, 2009 @ 11:26 AM
Untimely I don’t know Demetrius true life. The story does give me a strong insight into it, yet even with all the odds against him. I must say that Demetrius new those odds and he also knew the work required of him to overcome those odds or maybe he didn’t know the work needed. I think that his reading level is a major factor to his lack of success at Robeson yet as sorry as this statement sound that I’m about to say many youth have been able to graduate from Paul Robeson High School in Chicago IL without being able to read at all. The administration and teachers at Robeson for years have chosen to pass troubled students simply for showing up, and in this story while the administration sourced both academics and attendance. I believe that Demetrius was told to choose an Alternative School based more so on his issue with attendance rather than his actual academic performance. I think the best thing for now is for Demetrius to look toward to his immediate future, complete his High School Education no matter where he must obtain it from.
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Jeff in Lake County, Grayslake // Tuesday, June 09, 2009 @ 7:17 PM
I listened to this story in amazement. How is this news? This guy clearly did not want to be in school and clearly did not want to learn. The schools must have spent a lot of money and resources on trying to help him. The wasted money is what you should have reported. I wonder how your reporter was finally able to get a sound bite of the mentor saying he may have been able to do more. Even though he clearly went above and beyond. This guy is now practically an adult and should be able to make good decisions. How about using this money to help kids who want to learn? Why do we keep catering to the lowest common denominator. We will never be a great country if we cannot help our best students succeed. I AM DISAPPOINTED IN YOUR REPORTING.
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Cheryle, Chicago // Tuesday, June 09, 2009 @ 9:54 PM
You will never be a great country unless you are willing to help "the least of these." That's from the Bible, Jeff.
Our country has gotten away from this. We allow our politicians and corporate elite to do anything and everything to us, while we begrudge help to those who clearly need it. What kind of country have we become when we take out our aggressions on the folks who are least able to defend themselves. Why don't you direct a little of that anger towards $40 and $50 million dollar executives who have run companies and this country into the ground? Demetrius is only hurting himself in the long run, but the corporate elite who have pilfered away workers' pensions and retirement benefits, who are THEY hurting? Lets reexamine our priorities and direct our moral outrage and anger at the right people.
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Katie, Andersonville // Tuesday, June 09, 2009 @ 9:59 PM
My heart really goes out to Demetrius. It's clear that he's made some bad choices in life, but he's also had a lot stacked against him. It's hard to know what his life was like growing up, but it seems like he was more or less on his own during a critical time in his youth. It's a lot to put on his shoulders to be successful without the proper resources--good parenting (ideally with both parents), economic stability, a safe neighborhood, and ultimately--people there to look after him and care when he missed school or came home with failing grades.
What's also heartbreaking is how cyclical these stories often go. I hope that we can begin to invest in true prevention so that at least Meechie Jr. can get the proper support and nurturing from his parents throughout his life. I hope that he can have the opportunity to be raised in a neighborhood where joining a gang isn't even a choice--or a way of finding fraternity.
Thank you for this wonderful series this school year. I hope that it can be expanded next year.
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Gale, Chicago // Tuesday, June 09, 2009 @ 11:56 PM
I have watched boys disappear from school like Demetrius is doing. They may be showing up in body, but they aren't really present to what it takes to be successful there. I think we should all be alarmed at the way we are throwing these kids away with no skills and little hope. It will only be a matter of time before we are funding them in the penal system. As a solution, I think our schools need to break through the motivation barrier, and help these kids see beyond what they've been dealt in life. We, adults, need to offer mentoring programs and job shadowing and counseling to make sure that we aren't losing countless American youth to simply become the next troubled generation of parents.
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Judy McEvoy, Evanston // Wednesday, June 10, 2009 @ 10:12 AM
It is such a sad and depressing story. The last person to comment on your story just missed the boat altogether. Chicago needs funds to support the re enrollment of all of these students. It is either money spent to educate (and all that that entails) or we pay for prisons and court dates. The anger in this young man is clearly due to his inablility to read and his inaability to articulate his feelings. I know there has to be a way to address this on going problem,. You did a great job of allowing all of the angles of his situationi to be expressed and exposed. One just wants to call him up and sit down with him and make a plan that he can grasp and fulfill. THere must be a place for me to step up and help out in some way
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John Rosengarten, Carpentersville // Wednesday, June 10, 2009 @ 12:49 PM
Give these kids an internet option!
Many universities are recording their best lecturers and putting those classes on the internet. Why can't the CPS do something similar and let students who have fallen behind catch up on their own time, at their own pace. Sure, as Jeff said the Chicago schools (and even schools in his county) waste money on trying to assist reluctant students, but you never can know which one will start to get serious about turning their life around.
Many students fall through the cracks and not much effort is made to give them a helping hand. Providing the full high school curriculum via the internet could be done at low cost and might allow some percentage of those disenfranchised former students to catch up, or at least complete credit requirements at home.
On colpletion of the web course, the student would then go to a school to take a "final exam" on that subject to gain their full credit.
This would be a real boon to the kids who drop out because of family economics, pregnancy or gang recruitment and bullying.
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Kathy, North Lawndale // Wednesday, June 10, 2009 @ 1:24 PM
The most recent fatal mistake to getting his kid an education was placing someone reading at a second grade level in a high school. He should have been at an alternative school to begin with. No way you will get a kid reading at that level engaged when other students are doing much better. Robeson is no Whitney Young but the other kids in that classroom that not only read better than him but wanted to learn should not have been his peers. He was once again set up for failure.
The question really should be, given the right set of circumstances, does Demetrius make the right choices? Expecting him to make a come back in the circumstances he was given is as unrealistic as him being a successful parent to Meechie, Jr. It is what it is.
And why was he sent back to live with his mother? So many ways the system failed him. She does not have the resources, personal or otherwise, to get this kid in gear. This is not a judgment of how she feels about any of her children. But she is clearly not effective or successful at parenting. And a troubled boy get sent back to her? That was just someone trying to get a file off of their desk; trying to get a check mark on their checklist.
The system failed this kid pretty early. No wonder he is failure now. This not meant to be mean. But, like I said, it is what it is.
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Jeff, Uptown // Wednesday, June 10, 2009 @ 7:30 PM
Whatever happened to accountability from the child or parents?
It's addressed fairly in the article and I appreciate the different perspectives that are gathered but the line, "...but sometimes the school gives up on the kid," is just refusing to acknowledge the real issue at hand.
Most CPS schools are a mess and giving them money to improve the schools will be a waste of money. It's the culture in the community that needs to change. Irresponsible and unfit people usually makes a child of the same mold. It's cyclical and at this rate, it will only get worse.
Many of the students and graduates are not prepared for college or for life in general. I work in education and have reviewed writing samples. Many of them are at an elementary school level.
Schools might not be fully funded and teachers may not be fully motivated for a myriad of reasons, but if children don't want to learn, don't want to be in school, and don't see why having three children by the age of 17 is illogical and unfair to their own child's well-being, then call out the parents and the communities that want all the opportunities given to them but refuse to improve their own well-being for their own sake.
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Janette, Rogers Park // Thursday, June 11, 2009 @ 8:27 AM
I'm listening to this story & I am completely floored... there are too
many Demetrius-es in CPS but to actually hear this kid almost obligating
himself to a life with slim chances (even with his umpteen chance at
Healy about to slip away) is so frustrating. Awesome segment, Julia -
thanks for sharing.
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Martin Macias Jr, Brighton Park/Pilsen // Thursday, June 11, 2009 @ 12:13 PM
Thanks for sharing this with me Julia. As always, I think your pieces are unique in that they show "us", the by products of the age of paradox, in a true light. The story really evokes a lot of personal emotions for me as a young person and former CPS student who always saw flaws in the way the "system" dealt with "at-risk" youth, or others that had a lot of obstacles in the their way of a "good" education, which is not yet secured as a right for every child. Suffice it to say, we have a BROKEN public school system in Chicago. One that is deeply rooted in bad capatlism and inside deals that lead to the collapse that is happening all around us. That is why CPS has a CEO and not a Superintendent. The lack of accountability across the table is also critical here. I interview William Ayers around election time and we spoke about his education reform work. He said "The full development of EACH individual is critical to the full development of ALL!" We need a system that values each student. There are, however, groups like GEM and TSJ who are working with communities to bring a change. Remember their protests against R2010 early this year? To piggy back of this, one of things we (No Games Chicago) are saying about the Olympic bid for 2016 is: the Mayor wants to showcase a world class city, what about a world class education for our children right now? Never mind the debt they will incur when the taxpayer is handed the bill when the budget goes "Kaboom!" On that note, why are we spending more on war, handouts to corrupt bankers, and giving money to health insurance companies? "Money for education, not for occupation", these were the cries of the Palestinian people and their allies on the streets of Chicago when Israel led its assault on Gaza late last year. Looking forward, now we have Renaissance 2010, and the small crowd of business types, coming in and privatizing education and ultimately ruining any chance of "gaining" a true democratic process between CPS and parents. It is a case of the wolf wearing the mask of savior to gain the trust of the city's most precious asset, our children.
I know I've gone on a rant here but I think it represents the potential reaction from other young people across the social spectrum. These are the unpolished, raw, gripping narratives that we media folks have to work, tirelessly, to evoke from the underlying stream of reality. I hope all is well with you and I wish you the best!
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Diane, Evanston // Sunday, June 14, 2009 @ 3:49 AM
Another listener,Judy McEvoy of Evanston, asked if there was anything she could do to help Demetrius. Good question. Is there a program whereby concerned citizens can sign up to help kids like Demetrius? Is it possible that Judy or another volunteer can reach out to him? Blaming the schools, teachers, the parents, CEOs or the "system"
is fruitless at this point. How about organizing a brigade of volunteers who would be willing to reach out?
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