About Drummond School
Drummond Montessori Magnet School, a public pre-K through 8th grade school in Chicago’s vibrant Bucktown neighborhood, is undergoing a transformation. Last year, the school’s reading and math scores on the Illinois State Assessment Test rose by an astounding 30 and 35 percent respectively. At a news conference last summer, Mayor Daley singled out Drummond for its remarkable achievement. Drummond’s 3rd through 8th graders now rank at 71.3 percent of national norms.
Improved reading and math scores are only part of the story of the renaissance at Drummond. In late 2007 Drummond begins conversion of its 65,000-square-foot asphalt playground and parking lot into a beautiful green space to be known as the Drummond Campus Park. Bucktown landscape architect Greg Raymond, working pro bono, designed a space that will include a new playground, performing arts areas and a park that the whole community can enjoy.
Friends of Drummond’s Cinco de Mayo benefit last year jump-started the fundraising for the new park, raising $24,000 from individuals, community leaders and businesses. Additional funding for the $700,000 project followed shortly thereafter from the City of Chicago, and then from Hideout and Lotties Pub, two Bucktown businesses that held their own own fundraisers to benefit Drummond.
This year Friends of Drummond turns its greening impulse inside. The 2007 Tango for Drummond event proceeds will go toward some basic but critical improvements for the 114-year-old school building. Among the items on the school’s wish list are a new air conditioner to cool the gymnasium, which is on the top floor of the building (as a year-round school, Drummond pupils are in class in June and August). In addition, air conditioners in three classrooms and a teacher planning room need to be replaced. New tiles for parts of the school and a fresh paint job also are in the works. Such items, which often are neglected in cash-strapped public urban schools, are nevertheless important not only for the health but the morale of pupils.
In 2005 Chicago Public Schools launched an ambitious recycling program, and Drummond students eagerly embraced the challenge to recycle, winning a citywide award for their recycling participation. In that spirit of conservation and in keeping with the Montessori philosophy of “care for the environment,” whenever possible, event proceeds will be used to purchase environmentally sound products and supplies, such as high-efficiency air conditioners and non-toxic paints.
