Whitney Young principal testifies before grand jury
Written by DJ Special Blend from Chicago on September 17, 2009
CHICAGO, IL – The principal of a school that’s part of a federal probe into admissions practices at the city’s elite public high schools said today that she has testified before a grand jury.
Whitney Young Principal Joyce Kenner declined to provide details of her two-hour testimony before the grand jury last week.
“I have been assured that I am not the target of this investigation,” Kenner told parents during a regularly scheduled meeting of Whitney Young’s Local School Council. “And I have been assured that Whitney Young is not the center of this investigation.”
Federal authorities would not comment tonight about Kenner’s remarks.
Investigators launched a probe in July into what role public officials played in getting students into the city’s nine selective-enrollment high schools through a process that allows principals to pick up to 5 percent of students.
Kenner and Chicago Board of Education President Michael Scott previously have acknowledged they have been subpoenaed in the probe.
The 5 percent principal pick has come under fire, as critics argue it has been abused by public officials who clout their friends and relatives into the top-notch schools. Two Chicago aldermen have said they called Kenner to help get a relative into Whitney Young.
But Kenner said today that she intends to keep using her 5 percent discretion, arguing she uses it to admit well-deserving students who help diversify the school and keep it one of the city’s highest performing, academically.
Kenner pointed out during the meeting that Whitney Young was named a Blue Ribbon school earlier this week, a prestigious national honor awarded to schools that show consistent achievement on standardized exams.
