The Chicago Board of Education and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who controls the board, have a plan. They want to close down many public schools and open many charter schools. As many as 193 elementary schools may close. One advantage of the plan from the mayor’s perspective, is that the closing schools are unionized but the charters are not.
One of the schools on the potential closing list is the elementary school attended by Michelle Obama.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“the charters are not”
Hey! 14 of us are!
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Which charter schools and where was that reported? Please provide a link with a list of the 14 charter schools to be closed.
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No, 14 of the charter schools are unionized, I meant.
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Thanks for the clarification. It’s good to see that charter teachers organized and sought union representation despite employer resistance.
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Is it weak? Many charters have such high turnover that the union has little traction.
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I don’t understand how Rahm & Company is getting away with this! Weren’t blatant, crude, obvious union-busting tactics of this sort made illegal years ago?
How are they able to do this now? And like the owners of businesses that would pull this kind of scheme years ago, don’t they realize that they’re mainly hurting the surrounding community that directly benefits from this neighborhood institution.
Indeed, in some neighborhoods, the local school is the building that belongs to everyone—from the grandparents who learned to read and write there, to the babies not yet born who will connect each other’s families and reinforce the stability of this vital community resource.
This is a very transparent maneuver on Emanuel’s part. And very shameful. Why would he want to align himself with the enemies of public education and organized labor?
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No, 14 of the charter schools are unionized, I meant.
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Dangit, responded to the wrong post.
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Rahm Emanuel ought to know better. They don’t seem to realize they are playing with the enemy. Schools should only be run by teachers.
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They know exactly what they are doing. Rahm showed his true colors in the way he treated Karen Lewis.
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What a crook.
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I am pretty sure Rahm just hates teachers. I am positive he was always far smarter than any teacher he ever had when he was a student. His days as mayor of Chicago are numbered. Where he will go next? He fancies himself President of the United States of America.
Yes. Crook. When the teachers are at home after school building teaching units, correcting & checking student work, digesting the new Core Curriculum standards & planning instruction, Rahm is out to dinner downtown. We are fools.
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And he went to one of the most prestigious, Illinois high schools, New Trier.
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2 old2tch – New Trier is a great example of what for me, is a quasi private – public school. It’s open to people who live in a very affluent suburban area. Highly segregated by income. I keep waiting for Diane and others to question whether these really are “public” schools since they are not truly open to all kinds of people.
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School funding in Illinois is particularly problematic since the state has almost abrogated their responsibility. The burden falls on the individual taxpayer to fund their local district. The New Trier district is home to a lot of wealthy people. Believe it or not, though, we do have people relying on social service agencies for basic needs and not everyone lives in a mansion or owns their own home. Universally, though, people support a strong public education system; that is a major reason why people move here. I agree with you that the inequity is glaring, but the solution is not obvious.
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2 old…do you agree that there should not be more than a 5-10% difference in funding per pupil, district to district? Do you agree that schools serving high percentages of low income and limited English speaking families should receive extra funds?
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