UPDATE 2 -- "Mao Tse-Tung and Castro quotes used for a teachable moment, CPS office says"
UPDATE --" Bell School principal 'unclear as to the problem' about Communist dictator quotes"
Chicago father Eric Kohn was stunned when he noticed a bulletin board in the Chicago Public Schools Bell School halls' entitled "Celebrate the Value of You":
Kohn says he checked closer to read the bulletin board display in children's handwriting, and found a quote from Cuban Communist dictator Fidel Castro:
And another, this one a handwritten "inspiration" from Chinese Communist mass murderer Mao Tse-Tung:
Alexander Graham Bell School, located at 3730 North Oakley in Chicago, teaches 950 K through 8th grade students with three specific subgroups:
- Neighborhood, for grades K-8 students who live within the attendance district.
- Regional Gifted, for grades 1-8 with admission determined by CPS testing.
- Deaf, for grades pre-K-8 for students with IEPs indicating eligibility.
A portion of the school's mission statement as listed on its website says:
Bell School will teach all of its students the foundational academic and social skills they need to achieve their highest ambitions; will help all of its students learn to be respectful, thoughtful, and well-balanced; and will challenge all of its students to excel as engaged citizens of the world.
Kohn's discovery raised his concerns about what CPS students are learning at Illinois taxpayers' expense. He's not interested in a similar curriculum for his own new daughter, as he wrote on his Facebook page:
"No public schools for my daughter."
Illinois Review will publish Bell Elementary School principal Sandra Caudill's response as soon as she returns the voicemail we left at the school's office this afternoon.
