When Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard announced the list of schools that would be closed, merged and phased out in November, it set off howls and protests all across the city.

Parents and the teachers union protested the closure of schools that were on academic probation, having failed for years and years.

But lost in the shuffle was University Village’s John M. Smyth Elementary, which improved its test results by at least 10 percentage points nearly across the board and escaped the chopping block.

It was a big step forward for a school that had been the subject of intense derision just a year earlier, when CPS assuaged local parents demanding another option for their kids by opening the STEM Magnet Academy a few blocks away in the heart of University Village.

Smyth’s principal, Ron Whitmore, began engaging the community, trying to focus parents on how to improve the school.

For one reason or another, it seems to be working. While the school’s still on academic probation, its huge one-year jumps in test scores show that change is taking place.

In an interview with Chicago Journal, Whitmore spoke frequently about moving from a negative point of view to a positive one, or as he puts it, from deficit to asset.

“We went through a community engagement process, and while that process was a very difficult process, we went from a deficit model to an asset model,” he said. “Now we’ve got five buckets of support for our school.”

Whitmore credits the increase in test results with the school’s now-stable population. For several years running, its enrollment was in flux as the Chicago Housing Authority’s nearby ABLA homes were demolished and Roosevelt Square was built. In the meantime, several other neighborhood schools were merged with Smyth, bringing in kids from different academic cultures.

Last year, though, Whitmore said, was the first time the school had a consistent, stable student population in a long time, allowing the school’s culture to take hold.

“Any time schools close and come to us, we get a whole new bunch of kids,” Whitmore said. “They haven’t been ‘smytherized,’ they haven’t adapted to the culture and the climate of our school. Depending on the number, that could be an arduous task.”

Whitmore admits that when parents began to rally for the new school that would eventually become STEM, it was difficult to hear the community slamming Smyth. However, the fact that it got people talking about Smyth and how to improve it was a boon, he said.

“Those were hard conversations. At the end of the day, when you look at test scores, when you look at certain populations, I think it’s easy to engage communities on a deficit model,” he said. “But out of those conversations, we had people who would not come to Smyth coming into Smyth. And what happened after they came in is they got smytherized. And it kept them coming back, and it helped us talk about the quality of instruction that was going on.”

Despite the big increase in test scores last year, Whitmore knows there’s plenty to be done moving forward. “We don’t call it being in a hole. We know that there’s a lot more work to do,” he said. “Was there ever a time where I didn’t think this would happen? No. And we’re not resting on our laurels.”

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By KMNR from Loop
Posted: 12/27/2011 6:20 AM

Kudos to Dr. Whitmore and the Smyth Team! Dr. Whitmore's exemplary educational leadership and community engagement strategies have created measurable success for Smyth students. Stand strong against the naysayers. Our kids are worth the effort.

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By Anonymous
Posted: 12/26/2011 9:56 PM

It's wonderful that this school has finally had an opportunity to tell it's story. It's evident that Principal Whitmore cares about his school, students, parents, and community. Congratulations are definitely in order.

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By Dr. Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins from East Garfield Park
Posted: 12/22/2011 7:21 PM

Every movement needs a leader. Principal Whitmore\'s ability to corral a community to improve their school is a testament to his leadership as well as to the parents that dared to step up to the plate and take the challenge. Congratulations.

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By David Askew from Near West
Posted: 12/22/2011 1:25 PM

I knew the kids, parents, and administration could do it. Congrats!