Troy LaRaviere is principal of Blaine Elementary School in Chicago, which has received many honors.
Troy could rest on his laurels, but instead he keeps speaking out against the injustices done to the children of Chicago by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor Bruce Rauner. He filmed a tape on behalf of Rahm’s opponent, Chuy Garcia. He has written numerous articles protesting budget cuts and unfair treatment of teachers and students.
Recently, the Chicago station WGN interviewed Troy about his beliefs, his candor, and his personal history. Despite the stellar record of his school, Troy LaRaviere was warned by the Chicago Board of Education that he was on thin ice. He seems to revel in skating on thin ice. He wants a city that is better for the children of Chicago, including his own son.
There have been persistent rumors that he might run against Rahm Emanuel in the next election. That is a long way off, and it is hard to see how he can compete with the banks and lawyers that support Emanuel. But it would be one interesting contest.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
He has been warned that he is on thin ice. Isn’t that something?
The previous principal at Blaine, who served many many years there, was one of the most corrupt administrators in the system and was the darling of Rahmand Daley administrations. I served on the LSC there for two terms and she was untouchable. I only wish I could have served with Troy. Blaine is a better place today for him being there and CPS needs more principals like him.
The power of money would have to increase by several orders of magnitude for Rahm to have any chance at all of beating Troy, that’s just how good of a candidate (and then mayor!) he would be. In many ways, he would be an even more formidable candidate than Karen Lewis, and I take nothing away from her by saying so.
This is good to know. I’m a big Karen Lewis fan.
Can Rahm Emanuel point to any actual achievements in Chicago? I don’t live there but his terms as a mayor seem like a complete disaster as far as “progress” on …really anything.
It’s just terrifying how he’s been treated as this tough-guy managerial genius for all these years and the whole narrative seems to be based completely on powerful people promoting other powerful people. Why do they admire him so much? What is that based on? He’s not particularly honest or ethical and he doesn’t seem to be effective either. He’s basically a poor to mediocre manager with a bad temper. There are tens of thousands of those.
Troy is being fired