UPTOWN — After Chicago Public Schools slashed the budget at John T. McCutcheon Elementary by more than 20 percent, it looked like the Uptown school had no choice but to cut teachers and combine different grades into one classroom, according to Ald. James Cappleman (46th).
Of the affected Uptown schools, McCutcheon, 4865 N. Sheridan Road, was hit the hardest. Facing a 27-pupil drop, the school stood to lose $611,150, a 20.6 percent decrease from last year, according to CPS data.
But through Cappleman, whose ward includes the school, as well as state Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago), the school was able to recover $250,000.
"Principal [Jenn] Farrell notified me that as a result of my push and the push from state Rep. Greg Harris, $250,000 of their $611,150 cut was restored. This means that they will not have to lay off three teachers and combine classrooms," Cappleman said in an email to constituents.
Cappleman admitted that "there is more work to do" despite the victory.
According to parent Reshunda Odom, McCutcheon "already didn't have much" prior to the cuts. She said a security officer and a couple of other teachers also serve as sports coaches, and the school doesn't have its own gym — it uses the one at the neighboring Pederson-McCormick Boys & Girls Club, 4835 N. Sheridan Road.
"They receive a lot of shelter kids. Sometimes they have to supply them with book bags, uniforms. And every nickel, penny and dime helps," said Odom, a lifelong Uptown resident whose daughter will be a seventh-grader at McCutcheon this coming school year.
She fears that the cuts mean a lot more parents and faculty will have to volunteer their time to prevent more programs from being slashed — not just at McCutcheon, but at the other neighborhood schools in Uptown as well.
Odom also has two sons, one who just graduated from Uplift Community High School, 900 W. Wilson Ave., and another who is going to be a freshman there in the fall. She serves on the Local School Council at the high school, which is expecting a 32-pupil drop and will lose $91,348 this school year, according to the CPS data. That's a 4.25 percent decrease from last year.
She said Uplift will lose an art teacher and will not be able to hire a full-time boys basketball coach as a result of the cuts. That means the dean of students, David Taylor, will continue to coach the boys basketball team.
Despite juggling two roles, Taylor has had a lot of success, leading his team to a class 2A state championship last year. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"[Uplift] can't even get a full-time basketball coach, whereas some schools have three or four coaches for one activity," she said. "I'm speechless."
The cuts, she said, are also preventing the Local School Council from pursuing some ideas, such as partnering with nearby Harry S. Truman College, 1145 W. Wilson Ave.
"Because of the lack of money, we're unable to take it to another level. [Truman] is right down the street. We can't move ahead because we're robbing Peter to pay Paul," Odom said.
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