Partnership Principal
Stephanie Moore

Listen to Stephanie!

    
    Uplift Community High School is only three years old, but its roots go back more than 25 years when community members in the Uptown area of Chicago started a movement to give their students a world class education. They became involved in their children’s schools, formed committees, joined local school councils, and educated themselves so they could demand the best for their children. One result of those efforts is Uplift. Uplift opened as a performance school in 2005 as one of the 20 new schools created by the Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) Renaissance 2010 plan. It now has 502 sixth through 11th graders and will expand into the 12th grade next year. Principal Stephanie Moore has been at the helm from the start.
  
    “We offer a college preparatory program connected to the community and designed to develop in students a commitment to making a positive difference in their communities and the world,” explains Moore, who at one point was a fourth grade teacher at Gregory Elementary School in CPS where she once was a student.

    Serving its community population, rather than having selective enrollment, Uplift’s student body is 75 percent African American and 20 percent Hispanic with more than 95 percent qualifying for free and reduced lunches. The dedicated students and staff, including approximately 40 teachers, have already built a record of accomplishment, and Moore hopes that 100 percent of the first year graduates in 2009 will be qualified for post secondary education.

    “Our teachers help to make our school very special,” Moore reports. “The founders of the school and I hired all the teachers for the first year, but since then teachers have been highly involved in the retention and recruitment of their peers. This has led to a group of extremely dedicated teachers.

   “Teachers meet before, during and after school; eat lunch with students; and tutor youngsters before and after school. Some of our male classroom aides and security personnel serve as coaches and work with student athletes in the weight room during their lunch period and also tutor our young people.”

    Moore, who was a high school counselor before coming to Uplift, believes the school is building a real “family climate” where everyone is involved in decision-making.

   She has developed a leadership team which includes a representative from each department, counselors, the dean of students, the curriculum coordinator and herself. When CPS moves to a greater leadership team approach next year, with the creation of Instructional Leadership Teams (ILTs), to make decisions at schools next year, Uplift will be well positioned to accept that opportunity.

  Students also have a leadership team and are involved in decision-making. One of Moore’s hopes is that they don’t just offer suggestions, but they learn how change is made in keeping with the school’s social justice focus.

    “Recently, the student leadership team worked on school lunch concerns,” she explains. “They researched student attitudes through a survey, met with the lunch room manager and myself along with representatives from the central office. One result is that we received new oven equipment from CPS.

    “These students really see something that needs to be fixed and get involved to bring about positive change. They are becoming leaders.”

    Uplift students are required to take four years each of English, mathematics, science and social studies, and while that can be challenging, it’s designed to help them be prepared for post secondary education.

     Advanced placement is also becoming part of the new school. Two AP classes, Psychology and U.S. History, were added this year. Students quickly learned that they would have to apply themselves at a higher level. Next year the challenge continues when AP Statistics will also be offered.

     “Students who had taken the AP test told me they didn’t realize it was so difficult and that they would have to write as much,” Moore recalls. “It turns out this was a great learning experience. They are now spreading the word to other students that they can be successful in AP classes but it does require a commitment. If necessary, they will have another chance in their senior year to pass those AP exams.”

    Leaders at Uplift are also committed to giving students a well-round education with a growing student activities program. This year one student on the wrestling team was the city champion in the 112-lbs level. In all, three Uplift wrestlers captured regional championships and earned the chance to travel to Champaign to compete in the state tournament.

     The school has nine basketball teams for girls and boys from the sixth grade through varsity levels, two levels of football teams, along with soccer, softball, track and field and girls volleyball teams. This year a baseball team was added.

     Fine arts also receives attention with choir and instrumental programs. This year Uplift won first place in a CPS marching band competition in its first year of existence. The band was second in another competition for schools throughout the metropolitan Chicago area, where its drum line captured first place.

   While dedication is resulting in a quality education program at Uplift, Moore has found that being a principal can challenge her home life.

   “It’s tough finding the right balance between home and school. When we opened Uplift, I had a 10-year old daughter and eight-year old twins. Three years later I realized I wasn’t providing outside activities for my own children. They just had what their school offered. I was devastated as a mother and had to redesign my priorities. One of the real needs for busy principals is professional development in balancing their home life with this very demanding job.”

    One way she is being renewed is through The Principals’ Partnership.

    “I didn’t know what to expect when I went to my first Summer Institute,” she recalls. “From the moment we stepped off the plane to when we boarded the bus to go home we were treated with a high level of respect and professionalism. I came back with new ideas and resources with which to implement them. Now, when a Partnership activity is offered in Chicago, no matter how tired I am, I find time to attend. And I’m always glad I did.”

Moore can be contacted at symoore@cps.k12.il.us.

  
Past Focus Principals:

Focus- Stephen Jupe
Focus- Blanca Cavazos
Focus - Gene Haynes
Focus- Dan Besett
Focus- Rodney Matheney
Focus- Catherine Guy
Focus- Bob Rodriguez
Focus- John Brumley
Focus- Nancy York
Focus- Jerrylyn Jones
Focus- Gloria Erkins
Focus- Ron Sing
Focus- Bill Hittman
Focus- Jeanene Sampson
Focus- David Gilligan
Focus - Joy Walton
Focus- William Roberts
Focus- Franklyn Wesley
Focus- Magdalena Gutierrez
Focus- Kent Bergum
Focus- William "Rick" Johnson
Focus- Ken Ball
Focus- Dan Tenuta
Focus- Charlesetta Deason
Focus- Rene Posey
Focus- Stuart Baker
Focus- Paul Smith
Focus- Christie Gestvang
Focus- John A. Butterfield
Focus- Janie Hill Hatton
Focus- Steve Warmack
Focus- Glen Clark
Focus- Kittie D. Weston-Knauer
Focus- William Dunn
Focus - Richard Pemberton
Focus- Dr. Anthony Spivey
Focus - John Weigel