A reader (Mom/Speducator) has an idea for President Obama. Instead of going to Mooresville, North Carolina, to talk up the high-tech classroom, she says, how about this:
“Shouldn’t he have instead traveled to Chicago to offer support to the thousands of families whose lives will be in upheaval in a matter of months.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
No kidding. He already missed out on a chance to “put on his comfortable shoes and join them on the picket line,” as he famously promised. Jon Pelto even sent him a nice pair, if I remember correctly.
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Ouch! Excellent point! Has President Obama said anything about the schhol closings in the city that he loves so much?
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*school
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He has said absolutely nothing.
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For Obama to side with Karen Lewis, the union, the teachers, kids and families would mean abandoning his “team” of Rahm Emanuel and billionaire Penny Pritzker. He raised populist hopes only to win in ’08 and began lowering expectations as soon as the electoral count was confirmed, appointing the same Wall Street crowd to the Treasury Dept. Truth is, Chicago teachers and parents can win without Obama if they take the fight farther against the closings, boycotting the move to other schools, and especially if teachers in other cities also stop cooperating.
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Obama raised populist hopes while existing as anything but a populist.
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Ira, there is a Twitter hashtag called #onetermmayor. Watch CTU take the lead in a sustained voter registration drive, especially in those communities that were hurt most by the school closings.
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Unfortunately, children don’t come first for big business and therefore politicians. It is very frustrating and seemingly impossible to change.
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Look at Obama’s priorities. They have nothing to do with the people just the billionaires and fascists. This is why they are destroying our schools and taking away our rights and money all at the same time and under the last two democratic presidents on top of it. Totally sold out. Democrats are supposed to be for the people not the billionaires. Republicans represent them now both do. We have to do it ourselves while we still have the vote.
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You never go back to the scene of an educational crime.
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Nah! Where’s the money in that?
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What could he possibly have to say? It would be like rubbing salt in the wounds.
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Exactly. If he did have something to say on the matter, it would probably echo the Tribune editorial that blamed the teachers for it.
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Ira Shor
Thank you for mentioning Penny Pritzker.
Penny Pritzker’s Chicago education reform efforts at Rahm Emanuel’s side play just a small role in Pritzker’s loathsome activities.
Get the big picture here,
http://www.nationofchange.org/senators-swoon-over-billionaire-pritzker-1370526845
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Now, now, I’m sure Congress means to question Penny Packer, er. Pritzker rather thoroughly about her tax-avoidance schemes. Y’know, in camera, sub rosa, by way of getting a few choice tips.
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Interesting and made me think
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Have you seen this Dianne?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/06/07/superintendent-virginias-new-a-f-school-grading-system-will-hurt-high-poverty-districts/
How do school reformers respond to this? Are they treating (public) schools that serve disadvantaged children unfairly?
I’m so pleased to see public school districts doing their own data-driven analysis, with all the well-funded “studies” pumped out by national school reform non-profits, for-profits and lobbyists, but I think a LOCAL analysis is much more credible to people who live in these places and actually use public schools rather than something national that comes out of a reform lobby shop.
Good work by this superintendent!
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JebBush invented the A-F grading system. Of course, high poverty schools are likeliest to get the lowest grades because of the correlation between income and test scores.
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Obama is not on our side because he doesn’t need us anymore to stay in office. We were duped but let’s not be again. The people will have to stop this wide scale giive away of public schools. If not, separate and unequal will be the law of the land.
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