Crane News

Students that attend CPS schools complain about not being able to visit certain sites on the internet. They always say they need to see the site because it contains information on a project or work they need to turn in. From my own experience, having sites blocked that I needed to get information off of was very frustrating. If school is your only access to a computer that can cause problems for your grade.

      According to the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Policy Manual, unacceptable uses include “using the CPS network for, or in any illegal purposes”. I think this rule is very good, and ensures that no one is using the internet inappropriately. CPS also argues that “[t]his policy ensures CPS compliance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act”. But a lot of these policies were not well thought out and make using CPS computers complicated.

      But the policy is only helpful to a point. Then it starts to keep students from completing their work well. “Use of the CPS Network is a privilege that is provided to help Members complete and deliver educational and business obligations” But if you are doing a research project on gang violence and a site blocked, how can you complete your assignment? Students think that CPS should have a way to permit them to get on the site even if it is blocked. Students would have to prove it is for a school assignment and for “educational purposes”. So I think the policies are good to have, but they are not allowing students to access the information they need to learn.

                                       ~Zackary Berryman

Different kinds of people choose to wear a huge variety of shoes. Different types of shoes match people personalities and let them express their identities. Some of these shoes may run between $99-200. Most kids cannot afford these shoes but still really want them, and sometimes they will do almost anything for them. 

      There are many shoes that have been in style for a long time, like Air Force Ones, Chuck Taylor’s All Stars, and Timberlands. Some shoes are not in style, like New Balance,

K Swiss, Reeboks and Fila. Right now people may wear these shoes to match their wardrobes. Shoes are a way for people to express their personal style. 

    Shoes tell a lot about who people are. They tell how they treat their shoes and how much they like shoes in general. This tells us that they maybe can not afford shoes or maybe it is their favorite brand of shoe. When students at Crane were asked about how they feel about their shoes, Ben Moore said, “These are the stylish shoes that make me who I am”. 

  The downside of having these shoes is that they sometimes cause violence amongst people. It is because some are not able to afford the new and up-to-date shoes that they act on violent impulses towards other kids. The uniqueness of the shoes and the demand on them by the public causes some to act out. That shoes define a person is some people’s perspective, and the better you associate your shoes with your gear, the more you are adored. In this society, fashion is what keeps the threads together and distinguishes the fashionable from the non-fashionable. But that still does not give people reason to harm others for their gear.

                                                                          ~Xaxier Johnson

     Tagged is a website that teenagers hang out on to chat with friends or meet new people. Tagged also lets visitors send messages to their friends. Visitors can also view other people’s pages, which tells them which tells them what they are interested in. Tagged is a good place for finding life partners as well as keeping in touch with friends that you have not seen in a while. Tagged also show pictures and chat and you could go on other people’s page and invite friends from other people’s pages. Tagged also let you customize your page with cool graphics. Visitors can look at pictures of you or of rappers and other famous people.

      People use Tagged at school even though administrators have blocked it because some people know how to get around the block and still get on the site. Tagged is used by some people daily. Some people sit on the computer all night on tagged chatting. Tagged is a good thing because it helps people stay out of trouble and it keeps them connected with their friends.

                                                          ~Robert Williams

   The gangs in Crane High School are so dangerous that people are afraid to come to school. When people do come, they leave early by running out of the school building. The cause of the problems in Crane are all of these different gangs, better known as 5-6,BD,GD,VICE LORDS. If you are not in one of these gangs, they assume that you are with another gang. Then they want to start a fight, which will lead to something else. There are a lot of fights in Crane because of gang-related problems. There have been fights when people got their eyes blackened and noses busted, heads busted, lips, busted, and even killed. Those fights were very dangerous to sit and watch, some people say they love to watch fights, but when it comes to Crane fights, you should just continue to go where you were headed before you end up a victim.     

People have been in gangs for lots of years now and probably will continue to stay in gangs for some time. Gangs are made up of mostly boys that join them to make friends, hang out together, and make money. There are a lot of young boys that grew up with older brothers, cousins, or uncles who were in gangs and pass it down to the younger children. 

But one might ask why young people joining gangs are? The most obvious answers are for protection and feeling wanted. They might not have a father and when they are around gangs they feel safe. It is also about their surroundings-they might not have a choice. Peer pressure is also in the school, to join them, to be cool, and to be a part of the crowd. Teens are motivated also for money, clothes, and shoes. When boys join gangs, they feel they are a part of a family. When you are a part of a gang you think people have respect for you. For young people being a part of a gang, you will have back-up, and then you might feel you do not need school any more.

As difficult as the gang situation is now, it was not always that way. The Vice Lord leaders in the 1970s changed their gang name to ” Conservative vice Lords ”. They developed new logos and advertised themselves as a community outreach group. They even went as far as to petition for a community outreach chapter named ”Conservative vice Lord Incorporated”. This started with two Vice Lord leaders trying to build up the community and empower it. The Chicago police also never fully supported the organization from the start. The programs of the CVL tried to create networks of information so that future generations could grow up with a sense of knowledge and self-worth. The Conservative Vice Lords, Inc. served as an example of a movement to bring sustainable power to the people. From 1967-1969 years the former CVL gangs opened businesses and community programs in Lawndale community, which receive notice from politicians and government official neighborhood clubs. But they could not change the community. Thing have changed in the future and gangs are more violent, because we have young kids 10-15 years old gang banging and killing each other over stupid stuff. If today gangs would behave more like earlier gang members, maybe the world would be different. 

    The African art that hangs on the first floor of Crane High School was installed by the Institute for Cultural understanding in Macomb, Illinois. There are about 13 masks and they all have meanings. They are constructed so that students could learn about their heritage. Students might not know that the wall was put up in 2002 and was the vision of a lady named, Ms. June Collins, a former employee who used to work for Crane High School. 

    Each mask in the exhibit has its own name. Few people know that one of the masks is called Gbajero. Most people believe that that the masks are spiritual, but the masks got discovered many years ago. When in Africa, the people used to dance around wearing masks. The dance was for entertainment, but it also reflected the way in which life was regulated by society.

      The masks are important because kids can get to know their African heritage. First the masks catch people’s eyes, and then they read about them and understand that it is a part of their heritage and not just something to look at it. The wall really is important because people need their heritage. Knowing our cultural can tell who you really are. Our beautiful masks our some of our most precious assets here at Crane High School.

                                           ~Ebony Stubbs

Just as I expected! Here at Crane there is a program called Credit Recovery. Credit Recovery is a program that, if you failed one or more of your classes the 1st or 2nd semester, lets you go to recovery for free after school.  My opinion about Credit Recovery is good because they give you a second chance. Instead of just failing or going to summer school you can attend Credit Recovery.  Credit Recovery is at Crane from 3:00 to5:00, Credit Recovery classes are on Monday, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.  It is always good to have a second chance. Credit Recovery is here to help you pass the class that you failed and you supposed to achieve a subject.

    The students I interviewed said that Credit Recovery was boring and a waste of time and interfering in their personal life and spare time.  But the students that need Credit Recovery think it very slow and not right. .  When I asked some students how they feel about Credit Recovery instead of going to summer school, they replied “I will rather go to Credit Recovery then summer school because you will have to pay to attend summer school, and you miss out of the most of your summer.”

                                                ~Tierra Anderson

    There are a lot of good things in Crane High School. That is the reason why some students are moving on to the next grade. Some of them really have not been doing anything in school but playing around and talking back to the teachers who are really trying to help them pass. 

    Crane students do not know the good opportunities they have-teachers try their best by helping students pass, getting good grades, and not having to go to credit recovery to make up their credits. The teachers are not as hard on students as they should be because they let students get away with too much stuff. For example, when they are supposed to be doing work, they do not finish it and teachers let them do it another time. Crane is an important extracurricular activity to help students pass called credit recovery. Credit recovery is like summer school, but it is better because it is fewer hours. Students do not have to get up early in the morning at 8:00am because you go instead at 3:00pm when you are ready, active and wide awake. All of these are good activities that Crane students have. They should take it into consideration that there are nice teachers trying their best to help them 

                                  ~Kareema Groves, and Oreha Jones 

[Interview conducted on March 25, 2009]

Ladakh Farley: My name is Ladakh Farley, I am interviewing Mr. Smith, the Principal [of Crane High School]. Mr.Smith, what kind of progress do you think you have made over the last couple of years?

Principal Smith: Well, when we made progress, I can’t say I made it – we all made it as a school. We’ve made tremendous progress in terms of our Freshmen on track, our Freshmen doing an extremely good job, along with our teachers that touch Freshmen in terms of school-wide. I think students are now coming to school to actually get an education whereas last year was a changing of guard, I was new to a lot of students, this year the administration has one year under their belt so we’ve seen a lot of situations that weren’t familiar with last year which have made things a lot more smoother for the students that attend Crane High School. Another area I think we made big gains and big changes is in our college and post-secondary lab with our Seniors in terms of high percentages for faster completion, high percentages for college enrollment, and high percentages for college scholarships. I think we’ve done a tremendous job at facilitating our Seniors and getting them acclimated for college. So holistically, we’ve made a lot of gains from last year and I’m very proud of all the students and staff that work and attend Crane High School.

LF: What are some of your goals as principal, ways of improving the school?

PS: I have a lot of goals, but being a principal you only focus on certain amount of goals each year. This year I had two goals: one was to increase our college enrollment and another, my second goal, was to increase our attendance. And I actually had three, was to increase our Freshmen on track. To be honest we were successful, at this point of the year we’ve been successful in improving our Freshman on track, and right now we are at 83% school-wide. And we’ve done a tremendous job increasing our college enrollment, we have at least 68% of Seniors that have been accepted to college. I think in terms of the goals set this year we’ve surpassed two of them. Now the one goal that is troubling to me, which we are working on every day, is our attendance goal in this school. Our attendance has dropped since last year due to many different reasons but we not giving up and we are still going to encourage our students to come to school each and every day so that they can become acclimated for the college experience and that is one of my biggest goals that I will surpass as I become a better principal.

LF: I have a question about the Juniors, about the ACTs, how do you think the preparation helps?

PS: I think Ms. Washington, Ms. Barnes, and all the Junior teachers do a fantastic job in trying to get our Junior class prepared for the PSAE high stakes test. Saturdays we’ve been averaging about 60 students, here on Saturday mornings from 9-11, in which they study the different skills in order to be successful on the PSAE. Then we buy them lunch, then we let them do whatever they want to do whether it be play basketball or go to the computer lab, just to show them that we appreciate them coming. This year I expect us to do quite well on the PSAE, as I do every year. I believe in the Juniors, I think the Juniors have a tremendous class and we’ve set high expectations for them. And we just feel as an administration that they are going to do an excellent job in terms of passing the PSAE, and which will turn the perception of Crane into a positive perception. What I envision in us meeting and exceeeding at a high percentage on the PSAE so we can brag and hit ourselves in the chest because my thing is what are they going to say to us if we do this? So that is my goal for the Junior class, to prove everyone in the city wrong, and to prove to people we do have students here at Crane High School that do take a value in their education. And we do have Juniors and students at Crane High School who are good students, solid students, and students who are just as motivated to go to college as any other high school in this city.

LF: Alright, thank you for your time.

PS: Thank You.

Transcription by Kareema Groves

  There is a lot of peer pressure here in Crane High School. Many students say”we all know this,” but why is there so much peer pressure? Maybe because people do it to fit in, maybe to be popular, or maybe just to have friends. There are a lot of followers at Crane, as many people don’t think for themselves. They look for people who are more popular than them. When they go looking for attention, they tend to follow the wrong crowd and then do things they should not do, like joining gangs, fighting frequently, smoking, and drinking.

Many people will do anything to gain popularity. Everyday girls and boys go in the bathroom and smoke and do other things. The people around them convince them it is cool and if they don’t do it, they would be called names and teased. Some people don’t smoke or drink because they are told; some do it to get attention or rank. Many people buy expensive shoes because everyone else wears them, even though they might not have the money to spend on them. Those decisions are still made just to fit in. Students agree that there is a lot of peer pressure at Crane. Peer pressure is everywhere, not just in our school. It is outside, in the library, your house, my house, it is everywhere. There is a slight chance of pressure bein prevented. Some students feel that if they could prevent it, they would ask students to stay away from big rowds and to be theirselves. Try to decrease the bad friends they hang with because they bring nothing but trouble.