At a budget hearing last night, Dyett protesters swarmed the stage, and police removed Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
“SOUTH SHORE — Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s second of three citywide public budget forums descended in chaos Wednesday night when Dyett High School protesters took the stage, and police had to hustle the mayor off the stage.
“Just over an hour into the hearing at the South Shore Cultural Center, Emanuel was rushed out by Chicago Police, including Supt. Garry McCarthy, after protesters rushed the stage chanting that they wanted an answer from the mayor on Dyett, “Right now!”
“The meeting did not resume.
“The mayor has been collecting public feedback on ideas to trim costs and raise revenues ahead of his 2016 budget address Sept. 22, when he’ll submit his proposed budget to the City Council.”
Protesters chanted, “We want Dyett!,” “Save Dyett!,” and “We are all Dyett!”
The Dyett hunger strike has the Mayor’s attention now.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
What more does the mayor need to hear? He is out of touch and I support the teachers/parents.
The City Club of Chicago had a forum to debate whether they should keep the unelected school board it currently has, or return to an elected school board. On the panel were the then-CEO of Chicago Public Schools Jesse Ruiz—who favors privatizing schools and keeping the board appointed, and not elected—and (future hunger striker) Jitu Brown, a community activist who favors an elected school board, and is against turning over schools to privately-run charters.
At one point in this forum, Ruiz claims that keeping the board appointed also keeps forces from “inserting more politics” into Board operations, and prevents union-backed candidates from having influence on contracts. Jesse insists, “I don’t have to raise a dime from anybody. I don’t have to worry about my next campaign…” to get elected or re-elected.
Jitu Brown, a community activist, and proponent of having an elected school board, counters this, referencing the cushy no-bid contracts, where school buildings / annual school budgets are turned over to the Charter Management Organizations like the “Academy for Urban School Leadership” (AUSL), while former/future AUSL officials are serving on the board.
Can you say “conflict of interest”?
Jitu also references the community’s grassroots fight to keep open Dyett High School, the only remaining traditional (non-charter) public high school (“open-enrollment”) in the Bronzeville neighborhood.
( 30:24 – 31:42 )
( 30:24 – 31:42 )
JITI BROWN: “I got a question for you, though, Jesse.”
JESSE RUIZ: “Yes?”
JITI BROWN: “How could it be any more ‘POLITICAL’ than it is RIGHT NOW?? I mean HONESTLY! You have the Chief Operations Officer for Chicago Public Schools who’s the former CEO of ‘The Academy of Urban School Leadership.’ (AUSL charter chain)
“You have the Board President of the Chicago Board of Education, who is the former Board President of ‘The Academy of Urban School Leadership’ . They (AUSL) get schools (turned over to them) with no-bid contracts. They (AUSL) just—and despite the fact that they (AUSL) have (failed initially and) had to turn around THEIR OWN turn-arounds at two high schools TWICE! They (AUSL) have had to restart Phillips (High School) TWICE! They (AUSL) have had to restart Orr (High School) TWICE! How could it be more… (political)’?
“Right now, right now, the mayor of Chicago… was… this morning was at (Chater School organization) LITTLE BLACK PEARL, which is a politically-connected arts organization when we have been fighting like wet cats for (to save) Dyett High School (as a traditional non-charter school), in Bronzeville, saying that we don’t want to loser our last open-enrollment neighborhood high school, and the mayor is getting a political endorsement at (from) an (privately-run charter) organization that is submitting an application for (taking over) Dyett (High School)???!!!
“Do you ACTUALLY THINK that we that this is FAIR??!!
“How could it possibly be MORE ‘political’?
“You just had a (CPS) board member (Deborah Quazzo, was later forced to resign over this) who was caught taking profits, her company taking profits. So how can it be more ‘POLITICAL’ than it is right now???!! I mean, HONESTLY!!”
One more thing… Ruiz’s reply to future hunger striker Jitu Brown defies belief. He promulgates the whole idea that, with an appointed school board, you can save money—i.e. money incurred from the expenses that go with having elections.
(Notice how Jesse doesn’t address a single one of the facts or points that Brown makes… presumably conceding them.)
Instead, Jesse then counters Brown by saying that he doesn’t want Chiago’s CPS to be like (Los Angeles’) LAUSD, where it is expensive to run a board that manages lots of schools, and has a messy, expensive election process, with money outside the city coming in from New York billionaires. (Hey, I don’t like that either, but the fact remains that the pro-public education forces still beat the privatizers, despite all their spending… Mike Bloomberg alone wrote Steve Zimmer’s opponent a $1 million check.)
(31:42 – )
(31:42 – )
JESSE RUIZ: “If we want to be like Los Angeles (i.e. have an elected school board… Ruiz cites the negatives of money impacting elections)…I’d rather not see that happen for my city and our schools.”
(Jesse, a messy democracy is better than no democracy, which is what you have in Chicago. When the people in Los Angeles had a choice, the corporate privatization candidates lost, even though they outspent to pro-traditional schools candidates 3-to-1, or 5-to-1, or in one case 42-to-1.
Brief recap of LAUSD elections:
In 2011, 30-year teacher Bennett Kayser won, despite being outspent 5-to-1 by the corporate privatizers.
In 2013, 17-year teacher Steve Zimmer won, despite being outspent 5-to-1 by the corporate privatizers.
In 2013, 13-year teacher Monica Ratliff won, despite being outspent 42-to-1 by the corporate privatizers.
In 2014, teacher & principal George McKenna won, despite being outspent 5-to-1 by the corporate privatizers.
In 2015, teacher & principal Scott Schmerelson won, despite being outspent 5-to-1 by the corporate privatizers.
Jesse knows that, just as they did in Los Angeles, that his side—the corporate privaters’ backed by money-motivated, predatory billionaires—would lose at the polls if the public had the opportunity to choose a school board.
SIDE NOTE: undaunted at all his candidates losing, Billionaire Eli Broad others announced that he was pumping $1 billion dollars into charter expansion in Los Angeles… even though the voters have vehemently rejected this:
Just like in Chicago, the arrogant attitude of Broad, Gates, the Waltons, etc. is… “We don’t give a sh#% what the citizens, the parents, and the taxpayers want. If we can’t buy control of the the board via the election process, we’re still gonna shove money-motivated privatization and charterization down the public’s throats whether they want it or not. So those unwashed masses should just shut up and accept it!”)
Back to Jesse Ruiz….
Corporate stooge Jesse Ruiz makes the laughable argument that an electoral system “costs millions” of dollars that “could be used to educate kids.” You could say the same exact thing about the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Reps, State Senates, State Assemblies… and multi-million-dollar elections for who would serve on them:
“Hey, think of the money that we could save if the President / Governor appointed the members of the Senate, or appointed the House of Reps, or the State Senate, or the State Assemblies. We could then use that money saved to go towards public works that benefit citizens.”
Asinine!!! Boy that argument really “un-pleases” me!!! (O.K., that was the last “un-pleases” joke)
Brown, no-dummy-he, fires back a Ruiz.
While noting the messiness of democracy, with unions and special interests participating, Brown cites LAUSD’s accomplishments:
(32:20 – 32-45)
(32:20 – 32-45)
JITU BROWN: “But what you CAN say is that Los Angeles (LAUSD’s school board) has passed some of the most progressive (school board) legislation in this country. Their ‘A-thru-G’ legislation that says that where that child goes to school, they have to have curriculum that prepares them for college…. They (LAUSD officials) have it, and are addressing it (college requirements). But (in Chicago), we (instead) are addressing it by closing schools, and by displacing families.”
HOW PUBLIC SCHOOL GOVERNANCE WORKS IN CHICAGO:
Jesse Ruiz, a current appointee to Chicago’s unelected School Board, appeared at a forum held at the City Club of Chicago last February 2, 2015. It was a discussion about whether Chicago should keep its appointed (by the mayor) school board, or return to the old system of having citizens elect a board. The return to an elected board was overwhelmingly endorsed by Chicago’s citizens in a non-binding vote last spring.
In defending the unelected Chicago School Board upon which he sits, Jesse opened his mouth and made some “WTF-did-he-just-say?!” statements that were, thankfully, captured for posterity on video.
NOTE: Earlier this summer, Jesse was also briefly the interim Chicago Schools CEO (not Superintendent… schools are a business in Chi-town) when the then-CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett had to resign after prosecutors announced an investigation of her conflict-of-interests in spearheading a multi-million-dollar contract to a principals’ training organization that she had ties to… but that’s another story.
Anyway, back to Jesse Ruiz, who, years ago, was also appointed to the Illinois’ State Board of Ed, where he served for several years. At Ruiz’ aforementioned appearance at a City Club of Chicago forum, Jesse started talking about how hundreds of school districts in Illinois had elected boards, and while serving on the Illinois board, he got along well with the members of those elected boards—he calls them his “colleagues”.
However, Ruiz nevertheless argues that Chicago must not have an elected school board, and made the following justification: (here’s the video.. go to about 06:58 – 07:35)
(06:59 – 07:35)
JESSE RUIZ, Chicago Board of Ed.: “But for our city, I honestly do believe that it would be best left as it is, as an appointed school board, because it’s an incredibly complicated and diverse district. There are very difficult decisions to be made, and sometimes they’re not very popular decisions, and I would have to—I WOULD HATE to have to worry about my next election when making a vote.
“I NEVER worry about that. I’ve NEVER HAD TO worry about that, or worry about WHO, WHO… uhhh… I am pleasing, or un-pleasing with my vote. All I worry about is what’s best for the students in the city of Chicago. And so therefore, that’s the system that I prefer.”
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I don’t know about you, Peter, but Jesse’s really “un-pleasing” me with his justification for the 20-years-and-counting cancellation of popular democracy in the governance of Chicago’s public schools, and where the corporate reformers and profiteers that bankrolled Rahm Emanuel’s election now drive the policy… and not Chicago’s citizens.
How about you, Peter? Are you as “un-pleased” with then-CEO and
But seriously, istn’t that how democracy works?
When some policy implementation is unpopular and “un-pleasing” with the citizen-taxpayers—no matter how much Board Member Ruiz, or any elected official is desirous of such implementation—that fear of being removed from office in an upcoming election is a necessary check-and-balance, one that reins in Ruiz and his fellow Board members from doing something that the voters—his ultimate “bosses” in a democracy—do not want to happen. The will of the people will prevail in this scenario… theoretically, at least.
This was particularly relevant when Ruiz and his un-elected Board closed 50 traditional public schools—with them replaced by privately-run charters—despite overwhelming polling saying that the tax-paying citizens of Chicago would be very “un-pleased” by this. (I know, I’m beating the “un-pleased” joke to death… that was the last one.)
At the very least, these schools being closed had elected Local Schoolsite Councils (LSC’s) made up of parents and community members, with albeit minimal decision-making power. The privately-managed charters that are currently in the process of replacing them, however, have no such LSC’s, and thus, the parents have ZERO input. Parents are barred from the meetings of that board, which are held in secret, and chaired by businessmen who have ZERO experience as teachers and/or administrators.
MORE ON…”Board Member Ruiz” in my next post.
This Hispanic Jimmy Fallon-look-alike Jesse Ruiz is not the pleasant, engaging, and mild mannered politico that he presents himself as in the ABOVE video. Again, here’s the link:
To contrast this, see how Ruiz behaves when the cameras are off, according an account of activist principal Troy LaRiviere in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS).
Laraviere is a proponent of having and elected school board, and who backed Chuy Garcia, Emanuel’s opponent and Ruiz’ boss in the recent election.
BELOW is LaRaviere’s first-hand account. In the story that follows, Laraviere put his job on the line, and boldly confronted Ruiz at principals’ budget meeting, days before Ruiz was replaced as Interim CEO of CPS. Laraviere took Ruiz to task about how Ruiz and his unelected board diverted $2 billion dollars of school funds to organizations who had backed Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s successful re-election bid.
(NOTE: Years ago, Mayor Emanuel had appointed Ruiz to the Board, and also appointed Ruize to briefly lead the board as its interim CEO earlier this summer.)
In a real mano-a-mano confrontation, Ruiz clumsily attempted to refute Laraviere’s contentions, but eventually became flustered and gave up, calling Ruiz a “loud-mouthed principal.”
All very entertaining stuff… read on…
This is an enlightening look into how zero free speech and non-democracy reigns with an unelected school board.
http://troylaraviere.net/2015/07/16/adding-insult-to-injury-a-look-inside-a-cps-principals-budget-meeting/
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Outspoken Principal Troy Laraviere goes at Chicago Public Schools CEO Jesse Ruiz one-on-one: (days before Ruiz was replaced)
Just before this excerpt begins, Laraviere has been asking to have to floor, and speak at the principals’ budget meeting, when…
———-
TROY LARAVIERE:
At that point, interim CEO Jesse Ruiz stood up, projected his voice, and with a somewhat stern and agitated tone stated, “You can get your question addressed outside in the hall with me.”
Once again, a CPS official was stating, “Everyone will hear us, but no one will hear you, and no one will hear our response to you.”
His standing up was a bold move, seemingly intended to either intimidate me, or to make other principals think twice about seconding my question.
“My question needs to be addressed right here with the principals in this room,” I replied.
“YOU are disrupting this meeting,” he said.
“And YOU are insulting the intelligence of everyone in this meeting,” I countered.
At that point, my network chief asked that I accept the CEO’s offer to step outside the meeting; so I did. As I left I told principals, “If anyone else is interested in his answer to the question, we’ll be right outside the door.”
TROY LARAVIERE: (continued)
No principal took me up on my offer. When we got into the hallway, we began to engage in what I can only describe as a testosterone-driven, back-and-forth aimed at little else except besting the other’s last comment.
I’m sure there is quite a bit I’ve left out due to the limitations of my own memory, but here is—to the best of that memory—how it went once we left the auditorium.
LARAVIERE: “That political propaganda had no place in a principal’s budget meeting.”
RUIZ: “If you’re so unhappy with CPS, why do YOU stay in it?”
LARAVIERE: “To save it from people like YOU.”
RUIZ: [I can’t remember his exact words, but it had something to do with the budget]
LARIVIERE: “Your mayor has diverted over $2 billion tax payer dollars to his campaign contributors.”
RUIZ: “He’s YOUR mayor, too.”
At this point Ruiz launched into an extended critique of my involvement in the Chuy Garcia campaign.
(NOTE: Garcia was Mayor Emanuel’s opponent, who made history by being the first non-machine candidate to force the machine incumbent into a run-off. Garcia backs keeping traditional public schools—not closing them and replacing them with charters, and also backs going back to an elected school board. JACK)
LARAVIERE: “Please. Don’t lecture me on the ethics of principals being involved in election campaigns, when you work for a mayor who repeatedly pulled CPS principals out of their buildings during work hours to stand on stage with him at his campaign events. Let’s get back to the point. Your mayor diverted $2 billion taxpayer dollars to his campaign contributors (both Daley and Emanuel).”
RUIZ: “And what is your source for that?”
LARAVIERE: “Forbes Magazine.”
RUIZ: “Well, I’m sure they didn’t cite any evidence.”
LARAVIERE: “They cited about a decade of receipts from City Hall’s vendor checkbook.”
RUIZ: “You’re nothing but a loud-mouthed principal!”
“Did the CEO of CPS just resort to name-calling?” I thought. The exchange had already sunk low enough. I wasn’t about to sink to name-calling—especially with my boss. I will tell my boss a truth he doesn’t want to hear, and raise questions he doesn’t want to answer, but I’m not calling him names.
It was after the “loud-mouthed principal” comment that I decided to end the exchange.
LARAVIERE: “It’s obvious I’m not going to get my question answered here so I’m going back in to listen to rest of this nonsense propaganda.”
RUIZ: “If you think it’s nonsense, why would you sit through it? I would not sit through nonsense.”
LARAVIERE: “That’s because you’re too busy dishing it out.”
[I walked away and returned to the auditorium]
We had left the auditorium because Ruiz invited me into the hallway with the understanding that he would address a question I posed about CPS’s reckless spending. However, the exchange we had outside that room quickly degenerated into a chest pounding stand-off, much of which had nothing to do with my question about CPS spending.
I had allowed him to lure me into a verbal cockfight. The CEO of Chicago Pubic Schools and one of its most successful principals were going toe-to-toe like two overstimulated teenaged jocks—in public. It was certainly not my proudest moment, and I doubt it made Ruiz’s top ten list.
IMPEACH HIM. What are they waiting for? Read your Constitution. Article II Section IV. Look at state law. Do you have Recall for a Mayor? What vehicle do you have to remove this criminal. USE IT and USE IT NOW!!!
LIKE!
“What vehicle do you have to remove this criminal. USE IT and USE IT NOW!!!”
I’ve got a 98 Tercel, just let me know where the drop is.
Chicago citizens, IMPEACH is right. Rahm is a really BAD person.
Well, yes, but being a bad person isn’t an impeachable offense. The people of Chicago knew who he was when they elected him the first time and they knew it even better when the re-elected him a few months ago. Rahm even did well in predominantly black precincts – only the predominantly Latino precincts voted strongly for Chuy. Chicago doesn’t have a recall, but even if we did, Rahm would survive easily.
Good for the protesters! Rahm is finally getting some of the aggressive push-back he deserves. The attack dog gets barked at. Let’s hope Andrew Cuomo oversteps and gets bitten! 😉
Unfortunately, even in the public schools that are still standing, sincere teachers are being forced. It’s not just the testing obsession, horrible as that is. There are also the observations, too often, in the past, a source of discouragement rather than support, but now turned, via the drive-by observations and the use or misuse of things such as the “Danielson Framework”, have now become yet another means of getting rid of teachers, even those whose students do fairly in the tests.
Here in New York City, our schools Chancellor, is against the overemphasis on tests. That is good. But she is a true believer in the power of “P.D.”. After 28 years of exposure to “professional development”, increasingly relentless and dogmatic, I have serious doubts about its efficacy, to put it very mildly. What is worse, she is intent, as some administrators are, on identifying the “bad” or “weak” teachers and getting rid of or “improving” them.
That might sound good if one buys into the hypothesis (on which most of the reforms have been based) that it’s the quality of teaching and teachers that are significant causes of the malfunctioning of the “troubled” schools. But if one questions that hypothesis and one begins to look at the consequences of such an attitude on the morale and the intellectual diversity and creativity of the teachers, one sees an ongoing and worsening tragedy. Of course, the students will suffer from this, as they have from the testing craze.
Be all that as it may, here’s to the protesters in Chicago, and our salute to and solidarity with the parents and grandparents who have been on hunger strike to reopen Dyett High School in Chicago!
With apologies, I am making, below, a few CAPITALIZED typographical corrections, for two paragraphs in the comment, :
Unfortunately, even in the public schools that are still standing, sincere teachers are being forced OUT. It’s not just the testing obsession, horrible as that is. There are also the observations, too often, in the past, a source of discouragement rather than support, but now turned, via the drive-by observations and the use or misuse of things such as the “Danielson Framework”, INTO yet another means of getting rid of teachers, even those whose students do fairly in the tests.
Here in New York City, our schools Chancellor, CARMEN FARIÑA, is against the overemphasis on tests. That is good. But she is a true believer in the power of “P.D.”. After 28 years of exposure to “professional development”, increasingly relentless and dogmatic, I have serious doubts about its efficacy, to put it very mildly. What is worse, she is intent, as some administrators are, on identifying the “bad” or “weak” teachers and getting rid of or “improving” them.
“The mayor has been collecting public feedback”
Sounds good doesn’t it—that he actually cares what people thing but when we look at his actions and do not pay attention to this crap, he reveals who he really is. Collecting public feedback is his phony way to make it look like he cares. He doesn’t. Before he became mayor the first time, he had his walking orders from one or more RheeFormer oligarchs.
Rahm is a tool that belongs to the autocratics and nothing more.
I don’t understand why everyone can open a school in Chicago except the people who live there. With as much as they’ve spent on ed reform experiments, why so much resistance to this one school plan? How many charter schools has he opened since he took office? Are they all getting a super-duper return on investment?
I love how they take the sharp pencils out when someone tries to open a public school. It’s a whole different, MUCH more rigorous analysis, apparently!
Because corporations don’t share. They obliterate the opposition.
http://www.brettdickerson.net/investors-still-ready-liquidate-public-schools/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork
I can’t believe this didn’t happen sooner. It is only a matter of time before people start to realize we are the many. Stand together or fall apart. I don’t live in Chicago proper but I support CPS, because as goes Chicago, so goes the rest of the state.
Maybe now the national news will notice. No one I know has heard of the Dyett hunger strike.
Bravo! Sadly, this is the only way we can now restore democracy. It’s messy. But our political and legal structures have been so corrupted that there is no other choice. How sad.