In case you’re wondering why the Chicago Public League has 60 high schools and five of them are powerhouses in boys basketball, five are powerhouses in girls basketball, and the vast majority stink in both sports, wonder no longer.
In Chicago, a student can attend ANY school he likes. All he has to do is hop on the CTA bus and go from far north side to far south side or vice versa.
There are no rules regarding which school you can attend. As a result, the top basketball players for both girls and boys all gravitate to a handful of schools.
Imagine if we had that in Lake County. Every good boys basketball player could attend the same school. That team would never lose.
Does that give the Chicago Public League an unfair advantage.
We’ll see … just wait to see how many teams from that league are playing downstate in the boys and girls hoops tournaments.
Then, start complaining.
Talk about free agency! It certainly does lend itself to an uneven playing surface, doesn't it?
It's too bad the IHSA doesn't regulate this.
It is not true that students in Chicago can go to any school they please. schools like Simeon and Whitney Young are selective enrollment high schools, which means the student must have good elementary school grades, test scores, and discipline. the selective enrollment high schools are funded alot better than the other 50 high schools. therefore the selective enrollment high schools get better coaches. the reason why only 5 schools out of 60 cps schools go down state and dominate because not all cps schools have funding for the resources necessary to become a good team. Chicago is flooding with untapped talent in all sports but lack the the funding to expose it. coaches in suburban schools get paid alot better than cps coaches and suburban kids get alot more resources. so if there is an investigation needed, someone needs to investigate why these kids arent getting the money the need to become successful student athletes
Brandon,
There are some things that are true about your statement, and some that are not.
Simeon is not a selective enrollment school.
Selective enrollment schools are not funded better than any other CPS school. I am a coach at Whitney Young. We have to fund raise and have a pay to play policy. The only thing the School pays for is transportation, meals, and lodging to the IHSA State Competitions.
All CPS coaches are paid poorly. They are paid union scale, which in the case of a basketball coach is roughly $21/hour and you only get paid for 240 hours total weather or not the coach works more than 240 hours. In the case of Cross Country (which I coach) we get paid for 60 hours. Our season started in August, and I had worked my 60 hours before labor day (when school starts).
Unfortunately, many coaches only feel obligated to work the 240 hours and not an hour more.
I think that the selective enrollment schools do better because of the type of kid that goes there. They are taught to excel at home and carry it onto the playing field.
Simeon is a select enrollment school. Students must apply in order to attend. It is not a neighborhood school. Whitney Young is a select enrollment school whereas students are tested; Simeon is a select enrollment school whereas students are not test!