CPS May Very Well Strike; Leo High School Treats Kids Right!

Here is the Map of Success - 2011 Leo Grads are going to school all over America!

When asked by (WLS AM Bill)Cameron whether the conditions were ripe for a strike this year, she (Teachers Union President Karen Lewis)said: “I think it’s very high. Because people are very upset and people feel disrespected.”

Chicagoist 8/15/2011 ( parentheses my own)

Earlier in the piece we find this, "she (Lewis) did not predict that teachers will ultimately go on strike, only that the probability is high that members will call for a strike vote." What's the deal? Will teachers be going on strike any time soon?"

Leo High School opens this week, but we have on-going registration. Leo High School is a Catholic college preparatory high school, often called a "pay school" by families more familiar with public education. There is tuition. Tuition is a covenant between the school and the family of the student. Picking up a financial obligation the family is assured that their student will have an opportunity to succeed in academics, participate in a glorious athletic program, be treated with attention to the student's needs. To help families meet their end of the covenant, there are thousands of Leo Alumni and the Big Shoulders Fund - a Catholic foundation dedicated solely to helping inner city families get a great Catholic education.

Leo High School had a great year last year.

1. 100% college placement

2. Leo graduates received hundreds of thousands of dollars in college scholarships

3. Leo families were helped by Leo Alumni, private and corporate foundations and generous individuals to the tune of $ 840,000

4. Leo tested and registered the largest incoming class of freshmen in twelve years, including white and Hispanic students

5. Leo 2011 graduate Eder Cruz was named a Gates Millenium Scholar

6. Leo's Track team won its sixth IHSA State Championship - Leo is the only non-public high school to win the IHSA Track Title in its 115 year history and Leo Captured Titles in both Class A and Class AA

The probability is high that Chicago Teachers Union will vote for a strike. Leo High School and all other Catholic schools will open this month an get down to the business of helping students.

Enroll, now. If you think that tuition is costly, imagine what a morale challenged public school faculty might cost your child. Leo High School has not been disrupted by violence in the school. The police officers of Gresham Sixth District only have come to the school to correct problems outside of the school that might impact on the safety of our Leo Men. The business of Leo High School is all about the student.

In fact, all summer long students have popped in to visit and ask for summer reading ideas from President Dan McGrath, chat with Principal Phil Mesina and learn some great study skills from Leo's Vice president and Gunny Mr. Frank Wilson, USMC, lift weights, shoot hoops, box in the Leo facility run by Mike Joyce, snitch candy from the Ms. Adams and Ms. Hemp in the office and pay Mrs. Townsend parcels of tuition, while Mom and Dad were at work.

Mike Holmes, Leo Director of Admissions and Leo Alumnus Mike Anderson have brought in many families seeking help for their sons who having a difficult time at other schools, or are concerned about meeting the costs of tuition.

Here is a transcript of a message left on my voice mail -" This is Pat Nolan, Class of '51. It was great seeing you guys at the Leo Golf outing. I'm sending my 21st Century (Spring Mailing) with my gift. I was little late in getting it in the mail. I hope all is well at Leo."

Pat Nolan and hundreds of other Leo Men have the kids who were here all summer, even though school was out, on their minds and in their hearts.

The teachers have been back since last week. The Maintenance( Ron Reynolds, James Crawford and Derrick De Berry) men have the place looking great. These gentlemen are solid gentlemen and great role models who do as much teaching throughout the day than many people calling themselves educators that I have encountered. They teach pride by example and respect for every task.

No Strike - Leo Treats Families Right. Take a look at the Leo High School Website

Call Mr. Mike Holmes here at Leo ( 773) 224-9600 and arrange a sit-down with any or all of us. Pop in for a visit even when school starts. Our students are our best reflection of the Leo Brand.

Leo High School
7901 S.Sangamon Street
Chicago, IL 60620

Open for business every year since 1926 - business is good!

Facta Non Verba! Deeds not Words!

Leo High School Graduation at St. Columbanus May 21, 2011

Gates Millenium Scholar Eder Cruz and Principal Phil Mesina outside of St. Columbanus Catholic Church.
Soon to be members of the Leo Alumni Association
Leo Teachers and Urban Heroes All!
The Gunny -VP Frank Wilson with Ms. Silva and Ms. Latifi
The Prize

Leo High School not only endures, it thrives. Established in 1921, Leo High School's first student registered was Francis O'Neill Class of 1930. On Sunday May 21st at Chicago's St. Columbanus Catholic Church the 82nd Class of graduates received their diplomas from Principal Phil Mesina, Vice Principal Frank Wilson and President for Institutional Advancement Dan McGrath ( Leo '68).

Chicago Tribune columnist and Wittenberg College's greatest field-goal kicker Fred Mitchell addressed the graduates - his theme " Let No One Else Define Your Life." The young men coming out of St. Columbanus with a Leo Diploma, were not defined by their freshman entrance scores, the neighborhoods where they lived, the dollars in their family accounts, or the denomination of Christian church in which they were baptized - in fact one or two young men are Muslims. In four years, they learned to meet the odds and better resourced foes. It matters not that Leo has no track, its track team left all the wealthy suburban and private schools in the dust at Friday's IHSA Track Sectional with a score of 110.3 with their nearest competition scoring 87 points. It matters not that Leo High School's facility is eighty-five years old and land locked in Gresham on 79th Street without a tree-lined campus. What happens inside this school is a miracle.

Eder Cruz 2011 is a Gates Millennium Scholar. Eder's classmates Josiah Jones and Edward Vaughan the Salutatorian and Valedictorian will both attend University of Illinois with scholarships. Denzel Tucker, one of the toughest and finest young men it has been privilege to know, will go to Ferris State College in Michigan. Denzel is one of the State Track qualifiers, a boxer, a student leader and a gentleman to the backbone.

These fine young men and their classmates were served by genuine urban heroes. The faculty of Leo High School is comprised of veteran Catholic school war-horses like the legendary Pete Doyle who served as an Irish Christian Brother in the '60's, Principal in the '90s and the new Millennium, the spiritual link of thousands of Alumni to the school's traditions and mission, Leo's utility man Mike Holmes ( Football Coach, Admissions Director, Dean of Men and community activist/broker) Bob Schablaske, Joe Check, Ed Adams, Dr. Milt Kobus and The Gunny - Vice Principal Frank Wilson, USMC (ret.) who developed Leo's Freshman Academy. There is also a maniple of young men and women who patiently and commandingly direct the studies and deportment of proud and at times 'willful' young men - Aurora Latifi, Margarita Silva, Jon Crotty, LaDonna Hill, Noah Cannon, Kaitlyn Curta, John Lattiere, Nick Masciola, Christine Meany, Melinda Monge, Robert Sills, Bill Tomaka, Gloria Jones and Velma Smith.

Two Leo Alums, Dr. Jack O'Keefe and Denny Conway came out of retirement and volunteered to coach and tutor Leo upperclassmen to improve ACT scores. The school's scores were raised by 2 full percentage points over last year thank to these men.

Supporting all of these good people are the 8,000 + Leo Alumni. The Leo Alumni pumped hard needed dollars into scholarships for Leo families and into operational costs. More importantly, Leo Men are present at every event the school hosts and our guys know who exactly is backing their efforts and who will have their backs in the years to come.

Leo High School is blessed with young men who are making the school stonger -


Meet Darnell Harris of the Class of 2014. Darnell leads the freshman class with a GPA (unofficial prior to final exams mind you) well above 3.Something, plays basketball and was Leo's Student of Month for April. He is flanked by President Dan McGrath and some guy from Little Flower.


I love doing sic and fetch for this great school and the magnificent people the school represents.

Leo High School Shareholders Rally - March 24, 2011

Leo High School has been serving Chicago since 1926. The first applicant to Leo High School is Francis O'Neill of Visitation Parish. Mr. O'Neill of the Charter Class of 1930 retired as a City of Chicago Bridge Tender and on February 26, 2011 turned one hundred years young.

Leo High School Ready for Future With or Without Father Michael Pfleger : MyFoxCHICAGO.com

Yesterday, Mr. O'Neill's younger brothers* gathered to Celebrate Leo High School - Gene Earner was the first man in the gym and had managed to arrive before the always early Frank McDermott. Decorated Vietnam Veterans Jim Farrell and Rich Doyle, retired Fire Commissioner Jim Joyce and CFD Deputy Chief Jim Corbett, Chicago Bulls officer Curtis Cooper, legendary teacher and coach Jack Fitzgerald, Professional Elevator Services President & CEO Ken Mason, Dr. Jack O'Keefe, retired Boeing Corp. officer Rich Finn, retired Secret Service agent Larry Lynch, Larry Banamann, Bernie Pepping, Mike Anderson - black and white Lions all - mingled and greeted students Hakim Chatman, Keith Harris, Thomas Finezzy, Lawrence Littlejohn, Eder Cruz, Jovan Lewis, Jeremy Stewart, and Alumni faculty Noah Cannon, Bill Tomaka, Mike Holmes, and President Dan McGrath and our Superintendent of Catholic Schools Sister Mary Paul McCaughey, our parents, and Alumni parents like the great Lloyd Fuller N.B. Mr. Fuller is one of the leading black contractors in Chicago and Leo gets in Lloyd's wallet almost as often as it gets him to drive vans and buses for out of town basketball games.

Many thanks to the officers of the Sixth District, especially Sgt. Parker! The Sarge keeps an eye on the young Lions, as well as all the over-tasked officers of the Fighting Sixth!

Let it be known that Leo Advisory Board Member, attorney, journalist and Fox TV legl analyst Tamara Holder was the first to push for this rally. Tamara Holder wanted Leo's great work to eclipse any bad press,

Eighty Five years of success is taken one day at a time. Deeds not Words ( Facta Non Verba) is Leo's Motto. The Lion Roars!

* I will miss some great Leo Man - remember, I am but a Little Flower Lancer, a worker-bee, and an epic-ly flawed individual.

Leo High School and God's Works - How He Goes About It? Get A Load of a Platypus

The bizarre appearance of this egg-laying, venomous, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists when they first encountered it, with some considering it an elaborate fraud. It is one of the few venomous mammals; the male platypus has a spur on the hind foot that delivers a venom capable of causing severe pain to humans. The unique features of the platypus make it an important subject in the study of evolutionary biology and a recognisable and iconic symbol of Australia; it has appeared as a mascot at national events and is featured on the reverse of the Australian 20 cent coin. The platypus is the animal emblem of the state of New South Wales.

Until the early 20th century it was hunted for its fur, but it is now protected throughout its range. Although captive breeding programmes have had only limited success and the platypus is vulnerable to the effects of pollution, it is not under any immediate threat

Platypus -Wikipedia

Lord Have Mercy! There be some strange things.

We had an Advisory Board sub-Committee meeting here at Leo High School last night. The seven Leo Alumni and Principal Phil Mesina and I, talked for hours about recent college admissions of Leo seniors to Marquette, University of Illinois,Valparaiso, Ripon, Iowa, De Paul and twenty other great schools, the testing of the largest incoming freshmen class including white and Hispanic students, new patrons, and engaging the great Leo Latz - the absolute best friend maker and institutional advancement wizard in America.

As Al Swearingen, CEO and President of Gem Saloon and Cat House in Deadwood remarked, "announcing your plans is a good way to hear God laugh." We are not tipping our hands at all. God has plans for Leo High School that reach back to Chicago's greatest Archbishop - Cardinal Mundelein. That far-sighted German-American ordered that a Catholic high school for boys be established at 79th & Sangamon. It is and it is here to stay.

God works 24/7. I work because I enjoy it. What I accomplish often looks like the dog's dinner, or has an emetic effect on many people. Trying does not get it done and you do not get atta-boys for doing your job.

Thanks to the great Bob Foster and the wildly great hearted Leo Alumni, Leo survived the wrecking ball of Hennighan Demolition that took down the Irish Christian Brother Monastery on the west side of Sangamon Street. Leo became the fortress for success to African American young men like Lt. Mario Bullock, USA ( West Point Grad), Lonnie Newman, head pipe-fitter at O'Hare Airport, Jelani Clay, rocket scientist, and hundreds of others. Leo High School held its ground.

Now, Leo High School is bolting out of the blocks and down a bright path behind President Dan McGrath. I love the work!

God's plans are worked out somehow by the fat fingers of mopes like me following the vision, authority and concern of many people aiming at the same goal. We will see this work through according to God's Will.

God's Will includes many strange sights along the bright path to His Kingdom. Get a load of the platypus - it is there for a reason, beyond eating crayfish, worms and other Australian goodies.

NFL Hall of Fame Legend Gale Sayers Visits Leo High School

Leo President for Institutional Advancement Dan McGrath, Illinois State Rep. John O'Sullivan and NFL Hall Fame Legend Gale Sayers


On Wednesday October 13, 2010, Worth Township Committeeman and Illinois State Representative John O'Sullivan brought his friend Hall of Fame NFL legend Gale Sayers ( Bears # 40) for a visit to the students of Leo High School.

Gale Sayers met with President for Institutional Advancement and Morgan Park native Dan McGrath and talked to Leo Students about sacrifice and achievement.

The Kansas Comet* spent the morning meeting with Dan McGrath, Principal Phil Mesina and the staff of Leo High School.

In Leo Legend and former Principal Pete Doyle's science class a good number of Leo Lions football players were treated to serious lesson about the realities of playing sports beyond high school. Gale Sayers played 68 games in the NFL and cautioned student athletes that when you prepare for football one must also prepare for life well beyond the game. That means developing skills and interests well beyond the fields or the hardwood floors.

The soft spoken sports legend encouraged the Leo Lions to prepare themselves as men of character, family obligations and civic responsibilities.

The Leo Family thanks Illinois State Representative John O'Sullivan for inviting Gale Sayers out for one of what could be many more visits to Leo High School.


*

Like a twisting tornado on the Kansas plains from whence he came, the Chicago Bears' Gale Sayers swirled onto the National Football League scene in 1965, wreaking fearful havoc and destruction on every opposition defense that stood his way. The fluid, will-of-the wisp ball-carrying thrusts of the mercurial Sayers dazzled the pro football world in a manner that it had not experienced for a full 40 years, not since another whirling dervish runner, the fabled Red Grange, flashed into action, also as a Chicago Bear. There is no telling what the "Kansas Comet" might have attained not fate stepped in to neutralize the flashing feet that no defense could adequately contain. A right knee injury in the ninth game of the 1968 season was a foreshadow of things to come. Yet, more determined than ever, Gale underwent a tortuous rehabilitation program, and in 1969, rushed for his second 1,000 yard season and won universal NFL Comeback of the Year honors.

But a left knee injury sustained in the 1970 season effectively put a stop to the glittering career after just four-and-one-half seasons of full-time activity.

Even though he was named the top halfback in the NFL's first 50 years in 1969, there was concern for a time that Sayers' comparatively short playing span might prevent his eventual election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But the Hall's Selection Committee never wavered in its resolve at the 1977 meeting, the first one in which Gale was eligible for consideration. The Committee's vote was unanimous and its summation simple: "There never was another to compare with him. What else is there to say!"

On July 30, 1977, Sayers joined his fellow 1977 enshrinees, Bart Starr, Bill Willis, Frank Gifford and Forest Gregg, in receiving the impressive induction rites on the front steps of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

From the time he first handled a football as a youngster, Sayers was a sensation. Born May 30, 1943, in Wichita, Kansas, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska, with his family in his early years. There he became an all-state football and track star at Omaha Central high school.

Heavily recruited by numerous colleges, Sayers picked the University of Kansas, where he enjoyed a sensational three-year career under Coach Jack Mitchell. While setting Big Eight records, Gale rushed for 2,675 yards, caught passes for 408 yards and added 835 yards on kick returns.

Sayers loomed as one of the top prizes in the raging AFL-NFL war in the mid 1960's. One of three first round draft picks of the Bears, Gale was also the No.1 choice of the Kansas City Chiefs. While Kansas City was closer to home, Gale opted for the NFL because he felt the older league could offer a better showcase for his exceptional talents.

Incredibly, it now seems, more than a few pro scouts questioned whether Gale could make it in the pros. Everyone recognized the Jayhawk all-America's natural abilities but some doubted that the 6-0, 200 pound speedster could stand the pounding that he was sure to face. Otto Graham, the 1965 College all-star coach, suspecting that Gale had exaggerated a practice injury, even declined to play him in the summer classic in Chicago.

Bears coach George Halas, more understanding of Gale's injury problems, opted to bring him along slowly to build his confidence as well as to heal his aches and pains. Sayers saw his first action in the third pre-season contest and started for the first time in regular season Game No. 3. Almost immediately, he flashed the comet-like form that soon was to shake up the entire NFL.

Against the Los Angeles Rams in pre-season, he scampered 77 yards on a punt return, 93 yards on a kickoff return and then surprised everyone with a 25-yard left handed pass for a touchdown as the Bears won, 28-14.

In his starting debut, Gale scored both Chicago touchdowns in a 23-14 loss to Green Bay. A week later against the Rams, he ran 80 yards with a screen pass and threw another touchdown pass as the Bears won, 31-6.

Rosey Grier, the Rams' great tackle, answered the skeptics who doubted the Kansas Comet could make it in the NFL. Speaking of hid 80-yard run, Grier pondered: "I hit him so hard. I thought my shoulder must have busted him in two. I heard a roar from the crowd and figured he fumbled. Then there he was, 15 yards away and going for the score."

Seven days later, Sayers scored four touchdowns as the Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 45-37. The game breaker was Gale's 96-yard kickoff return.

Still the best was to come!

On December 12, the next-to-last week of the season, playing on a muddy field that might have stalled most runners, Sayers scored a record-tying six touchdowns as the Bears annihilated the San Francisco 49ers, 61-20. His TDs came on an 80-yard pass reception, rushes of 21, 7, 50, and 1 yards, and an 85-yard punt return. For the day, the Bears ace amassed 336 combined yards.

"It was the greatest performance I have ever seen on the football field," an exuberant Halas, who had been watching NFL play for 46 seasons, proclaimed.

Sayers' rookie-season totals were staggering. He amassed 2,272 combined net yards and scored a record 22 touchdowns. A year later, he increased his combined net yards figure to a record 2,440 yards and led the NFL in rushing with 1,231 yards.

He continued to sizzle in 1967 and well into the 1968 campaign until, in the ninth game against, ironically, the same 49ers team that he had decimated as a rookie, Sayers suffered the first crippling injury of a series that would eventually end his career. On one of his familiar burst around end, Gale's right knee buckled as Kermit Alexander applied a clean, but crushing tackle. Massive ligament damage required immediate operation.

Gale, with almost complete intensity, undertook a strenuous leg-building program, determined that he would once again run as the Sayers of old. His pace in 1969 was slow at first but he finished with a rush and wound up with his second NFL rushing title with a 1,032-yard total. On a Chicago team that only won one game in 14, Sayers went over 100 yards four times, scored eight touchdowns and won a carload of "most courageous" type awards.

Much like the baseball pitcher who must perfect new deliveries after his first ball has waned, the Sayers of 1969 was still one of the NFL's most effective running backs but he no longer was the game-breaker that had startled the league such a short time ago.

As the Chicago Daily News observed, "Gone are that instant acceleration from medium to top speed and the incomparable ability to change directions on a dime without hesitation or loss of speed."

Backing up the News' Contention was the 1969 NFL record book which showed that Gale's longest rush was for only 28 yards. He did return one kickoff 52 yards, but he didn't score.

Still, the familiar No. 40 had enjoyed a remarkable season and it was not unreasonable to expect that he might improve even more in another season.

But fate struck again with cruel suddenness in a summer-season game against St. Louis Cardinals in 1970. Hit viciously hard by an eager Cardinal rookie on the kickoff team, Sayers suffered severe ligament damage once again, this time in his left knee.

Sayers delayed an operation and tried to play but could manage only 52 yards on 23 carries in two games. In mid-October and again in February, 1971, he underwent surgery to repair the damage.

Still determined, he tried once again in 1971 but could play only two games. Finally, after a desperate comeback attempt in the 1972 pre-season, Sayers reluctantly called it quits. By this time he had foot and ankle aliments to go along with the injured knees and the old magic had simply vanished.

But the marks he left behind will never vanish! In four-and-one-half heavy-duty campaigns, Gale totaled 9,435 combined net yards, 4,956 yards rushing and he scored 336 points. He still ranks as the NFL career leader in kickoff returns. He was named all-NFL five straight years from 1965 to 1969 and he played in four Pro Bowls. In three of them, he won Offensive Player of the Game honors!

Sayers at 34 is the youngest person ever elected in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His term of effective playing time is also the shortest of any Hall of Famers. Those facts stand out as two very strong testimonials to the gridiron greatness that came so quickly to Gale Sayers

The Men of Leo High School Thank Chicago Police District 6

Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Divine Power of God -
cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Amen and twice on a Good Day.

The other morning, one of the incoming freshmen taking the Leo High School Summer Immersion classes that prepares the students for Catholic education and Leo Traditions of courage and commitment was attacked by three thugs.

6Th District Commander Eddie Johnson, Officer Armstrong and Detectives Slaughter and Hills (Leo '99) of the 6th Police District (Gresham)were on the case and continue to serve and protect.

The the young guys braving gang-bangers and thugs and dressing like gentlemen in tribute to the Choice in School that they and their parents have made and the caring professionals of Chicago Police Department are sending a signal to the Thug Life - They will not be intimidated.

The young guys know that the heroes in the Blue and White SUVs and patrol cars are there for them, just like Leo Alumni who pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into their educations.

God Bless all who watch over our Young Lions! May St. Michael the Archangel Guide and Protect you! Thank you, Officers!

6th District - Gresham


Eddie Johnson, Commander

7808 South Halsted Street
Chicago, IL 60620
CAPS006District@chicagopolice.org
Phone: 312-745-3610
Fax: 312-745-3649
TTY: 312-745-3639