Some Chicago neighborhood schools have a lot to brag about

I read with interest your recent article “For Chicago students, path to a top CPS high school often begins at 4 and is filled with disparities,” and I can’t argue with the data you present regarding admissions prospects to Chicago’s selective-enrollment high schools.

However, as a principal at one of Chicago’s neighborhood schools, Lake View High School, and a proud graduate and parent of a student at another (Kenwood Academy), I was dismayed that you chose to perpetuate popular stereotypes that the selective enrollment schools are the top schools in CPS, or are “elite” when compared to neighborhood schools.

I was a founding teacher at Walter Payton College Prep; in my 15 years there, I was glad to bring opportunities to students from a wide range of diverse backgrounds. But great opportunities aren’t limited to Chicago’s selective-enrollment high schools. Neighborhood high schools like Lake View offer a wide range of college-level courses (AP, dual credit and dual enrollment), alongside programs that provide industry certifications in everything from game programming (Lake View’s specialty) to pharmacology.

We connect students with internships and enrichment programs at the University of Chicago and Northwestern, and we attend to the interests and educational needs of all students, including the young people who aspire to build houses, work as lab technicians, or join the police and fire departments.

As your article implies, true diversity — not just of race and ethnicity, but also of economic background and national origin — can be found in abundance at Lake View and many other neighborhood schools. In an increasingly connected and diverse world, many families rank that diversity as an essential part of their child’s educational experience. And I’m proud to say that our students are successful in college and career post-high school.

I understand that families in Chicago often perceive selective-enrollment high schools in the terms your article uses: “top” and “elite,” and I think it’s fair to report on those attitudes and beliefs. But it’s also important for journalists to take another and perhaps deeper look at our neighborhood schools and to recognize the gains that have been made over the past few decades to strengthen these schools. In short, it’s time to tell the fuller story.

Paul J. Karafiol, principal, Lake View High School

Newspapers offer more than a ‘home page’

Your editorial on why readers like reading print editions of newspapers missed a major point. The print edition makes it much easier to see all the news — not only the items that are placed on the home page or that match a specific user algorithm. Please don’t underestimate your readers.

Elizabeth Van Ness, New Eastside

Waiting (and waiting) on 911

Walking from dinner on a lovely Chicago summer evening, I encountered a man standing unsteadily in the middle of our community’s driveway. He was disheveled, dirty and in bad shape. He was causing no harm to anyone but possibly himself as he fiddled with the crook of his arm while being dodged by cars entering and exiting the complex.

I called 911, as we had been instructed by our police district and alderman, gave a description of the man and situation and asked for help to be sent. I made it clear that this man was in distress. And then I waited 30 minutes in the dark with a member of our security team and a fellow resident. I called 911 again and asked if anyone was coming and left my number. A full hour later police arrived. The man had wandered unsteadily away in the dark across the Kinzie Bridge 75 minutes prior.

This man is someone’s son. His life has worth. Where was the urgency? This situation did not warrant a police officer. It called for a trained, compassionate and timely distress response team armed with Narcan.

The man was failed, and I was left with the haunting feeling of not being able to do enough.

Claudia Jackson, Kinzie Park