The outspoken elementary school principal Troy LaRaviere was summarily removed from his position, without explanation. He endorsed Chuy Garcia against Rahm Emanuel in the last election. He encouraged his students to opt out. He is principled and fearless. He is an outstanding educator but that was not good enough in a city with mayoral control.
Fred Klonsky comments here on LaRaviere’s abrupt ouster.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Well, that took longer than I expected. All CPS did is make LaRaviere a martyr. Keep fighting. We admire you!
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The statement from CPS references a certain July 2015 confrontation between Laraviere and then-CPS CEO Jesse Ruiz, as one of the factors that led to his firing.
At the time, LaRaviere also was accused of “insubordination directed toward the CEO” during a July 13, 2015, budget meeting in which he “asked a provocative question from the audience attempting to highlight financial missteps of the Board and demanding an answer to those missteps.”
I just dug up Laraviere’s own account of this confrontation:
See how Ruiz behaves when the cameras are off, according an account of activist principal Troy LaRaviere 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 benefit non-school construction projects related to organizations which had backed Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s successful re-election bid.
(NOTE: Years ago, Mayor Emanuel had appointed Ruiz to the Board, and also appointed Ruiz to briefly lead the board as its interim CEO in June 2015.)
In a real mano-a-mano confrontation, Ruiz clumsily attempted to refute LaRiviere’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 asked a question, and then began asking to have to floor, and speak at the principals’ budget meeting, when…
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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, in effect, stating to the audience of principals, “Everyone will hear US (CPS administration), but NO ONE will hear YOU (people not in CPS adminstration, be that the public or principals or whoever), and NO ONE will hear OUR response to YOU.”
(Ruiz’) 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,” Ruiz 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]
LARAVIERE: “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 (to the elections of 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.
Here’s a long post, where former Chicago CPS CEO Jesse Ruiz—now back to being a CPS Board member who’s now out to fire Troy LaRaviere— makes the incredible comment that he (Ruiz) is so glad there’s no elected school board in Chicago, because then he’d have to actually take into account what the public desires—and all that stress of an angry public— instead of carrying out the marching orders of his corporate privatization masters.
Yeah, he really said that.
Immediately following this—in the latter part of the post—is LaRiviere’s first-hand the confrontation he had with LaRaviere with Ruiz at a principals’ training that was full of privatization propaganda.
Here’s the post:
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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, 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? 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:
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What was the crime? Questioning the testing scheme or telling the truth about budgets and funding?
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Questioning and telling the truth are always “crimes” as far as those in charge are concerned.
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The crime, I suspect, was criticizing the mayor and his puppet board.
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not GAGA!
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I was suspecting something like this would happen one day. In the U.S., historically, it doesn’t pay to stand up for what’s right unless you have an army behind you that the oligarchs and their minions rightly should fear unless they are really stupid and too often they are stupid.
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I see,Lloyd, that you have become as cynical as I. Or, perhaps, we have both left ‘Fantesyland’ behind and succumbed to stark realism.
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Welcome our newest member,Troy LaRaviere to the Educator Challenger Club. Admittance being allowed only after one has been unwillingly forced out of a position after questioning educational malpractices that the powers that be promote.
Again, Welcome!!
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I wonder if Troy has due process rights and can take them to court for wrongful termination.
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It depends. In some states if a teacher has due process rights and becomes an administrator in the same district (as due process rights are granted by each district, at least here in MO) then, yes, he would have them. But even if a teacher has due process rights in one district, if they move to another as an administrator they lose those rights. Even as a teacher when I switched districts I had to work three years and one day (first day of 4th year) to “re-earn” those rights.
So it just depends on his own unique situation of employment history.
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I hope that Mr. LaRaviere will waive his right to a confidential hearing so that the whole charade charade in Chicago will be unveiled. These absurd firings of accomplished–and independent–educators must reach the public. The board of education would be squirming.
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You forgot to mention that Troy has been openly supporting Bernie Sanders, and Sanders spoke out against Rahm on multiple occasions. Yes, this is every bit relevant. Hillary and Rahm are cut from the same cloth, and they are the kind of people who enable each others’ corruption. Neoliberals do not stand up to other powerful neoliberals out of principle.
A vote for Hillary is a vote for more Rahm Emmanuels.
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