Two mothers meet at a rally to protest the school closings in Chicago. One mother shows the other her cell phone. It has pictures of children on it. It is a Facebook page.
The second mother explains, these children will be killed if they cross the line into another neighborhood. That’s my son’s picture. He has been marked to die.
She went to the police. They turned her away. She went to school authorities. No one could help her.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Since most politicians are tone deaf to what happens in schools, this is not surprising. We’ve had similar neighborhood issues when schools in DC have closed, merged, etc. People in the central office are also surprised and amazed that this is an issue. “We didn’t know or were aware is the usual refrain.
Today, social media has upped the stakes. If I’m not mistaken these concerns were raised at the public meetings. I cringe, parents cringe, but the pols. Well. Chicagoland has a serious homicide problem that Rahm can’t or won’t solve. It’s only going to get worse.
If this FB postings doesn’t change things, then nothing will. I hope that the closings will be rescinded. If not, the news won’t be pretty.
Heartbreaking.
Too many buttons of victims of urban violence.
Rahm Emanuel, Arne Duncan, and President Obama should be ashamed.
The poor children continue to be the victims of this public school reform. The rich continue to send their children to private schools where academics, arts, and sports prevail while the poor sit in classrooms preparing for tests and taking tests that grnerally do not correspond to their levels of achievement. There is something very wrong with our American Education system that appears to best serve the haves not the have nots!
Agree!
I agree,
Sadly, our news media reporters are too lazy to learn about the underlying problems connected with public schools being shut down nationwide. I read and hear on TV and radio these men and women of the media only repeating ad nauseum that the demographics are the cause (as last night on ABC re Chicago), not a word about the privatization issues. These news media folks seem to have virtually no ability for critical thinking, no energy to delve into the overall problem, but only repeat each other in reporting false and misleading “facts” that under-inform and mis-inform the public.
It seems that the only way to get real info is online.
It is only online with liberal organizations like Truthout, etc., that we can read what is actually happening. And also on the education blogs. Of course when Rupert Murdoch owns most of the media worldwide, this kind of news will always be slanted.
We also have a lazy American public which prefers watching idiot TV to delving into real hard issues that affect us all, such as the Death of the American Public School System.
“Does anyone care?” Given the corporate reformers are missing the empathy and caring genes, I doubt it. I am amazed that anyone believes these sociopaths who proclaim with a straight face that closing schools and its subsequent destructive outcomes is for our own good. We live in a culture of cruelty.
How about that Time magazine cover?
This is all a part of their total destruction plan to create the New World Order for their personal profit and power. They should not be shamed but prosecuted. They should be shamed not venerated. Obama is really a right wing republican. As a friends grandfather taught him “I hear real good, but I see a whole lot better.” All that matters is not what they say but what they do. They are doing real bad for us, in fact, they are purposely destroying the average citizen.
Very Well Said
This is off task, but how does one email Diane a story?
Google her. You will find what you need.
go to dianeravitch.com
I hope Karen Lewis, the union, and the parents come together for a great solution. I really believe they can do it.
Hard to believe this is reality. What is to be done?
Excuse me, but why don’t those concerned parents get together, pool their money, and hire some of those now out-of-work teachers as “private tutors” to teach their kids? I bet they could use the basements of the local libraries, or churches. There’s no legal limit on how many students a private tutor can teach at one time.
–Leslie < Fish
No one cares because the children involved are black. FYI- that particular school is now being left alone and those kids will not have to cross the gang line. But too many others will still have to.
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/16651-noam-chomsky-on-democracy-and-education-in-the-21st-century-and-beyond
Please read Noam Chomsky – often interviewed in Truth-Out.org. He also takes a stand against testing and “dumbing down” – one of the most dangerous and insidious threats in 21st. Cent. education in the US.