Please tweet:
“2 Hours of Power”
Social Media Action Thursday, Jan. 4th
10am-12pm
#WeChoose
#RahmHatesUs
Overview; Rahm Emanuel seeks to close ALL of the high schools in the Englewood community. and a high performing neighborhood school in the south loop. ALL BLACK SCHOOLS. We have united our efforts and launching campaign targeting Rahm TOMORROW. WE NEED YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT as we will start w/ direct action @ 10am CST tomorrow.
Target tweets at:
@cnnbrk
@cnn
@msnbc
@maddow
@Suntimes
@chicagotribune
@ChicagosMayor
@mharrisperry
WE NEED EMERGENCY MEMES!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I do not tweet.
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I do, and I am horrible about it. had to post this, on behalf of that toddlin town, in my thread in which I am debating with myself about paying the 200 dollars to get my name on the Missouri primary ballot against Claire mcCaskill. I introduced it this way: “Not exactly sure what is going on with this. I doubt Claire does, either, but somebody probably told her in less than 5 words”.
One guy warned me, after I said that I would return any donations to me for my campaign, but I speculated about things beyond my contro.
Political Stiff wrote: “Buying votes now? This is illegal. I wouldn’t pay much mind to this unless you want a stretch in the state pen.” I suggested he warn me again—-like Trump would do…..if you say something that is absolutely ridiculously untrue enough times, people start believing it. I admitted, I am pretty stupid, and suggested he try it.
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Wait, we should tweet Cory Booker’s BFF Rachel Maddow – they were classmates/friends at Stanford – about the horrors of so-called school reform?
Good luck with that: she was so busy hyperventilating about Putin a few weeks ago that she couldn’t be bothered to adequately report on the revanchist tax bill which benefitted her employer, Comcast.
Oh, and for the record, my Russian control agent, Dmitri, insisted I post this comment.
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My Russian control agent is Ekatarina. I wonder if she and Dmitri know each other?
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I’m sure they do, probably via their previous incarnation as Boris Badenoff and Natasha…
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Michael,
I don’t know if you recall the story I told about Rachel Maddox. In 2010, after the publication of “Death and Life,” in which I renounced testing and choice, I was at NBC for a four-minute interview with Andrea Mitchell. I met Tachel in the Make-up room, introduced myself, and boldly said, “I want to be on your show.” She replied, “Are you the one who turned against George W. Bush?” I said yes. Pause. She said, “I love the jacket you are wearing, where did you get it?” I said, “Across the street at Saks.” End of conversation.
What happened? Friend of Booker? Friend of Eva? I don’t know.
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Yet another “progressive” unwilling to hear truth: Why is it so hard for so many who should be all over the privatizing of public schools to see their collusion in the game?
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I not only remember it, Diane, I’ve never forgotten it! As to your ???–well, yes & yes.
Problem is, Rachel can’t have it both ways. With friends like these, who needs enemies?
This is why Chris Hedges is on RT–none of the mass media would have him & he needs to be seen & heard.
(BTW, Thom Hartmann–who left The Big Picture & broadcasts on Progressive Talk Radio nationally–& Lee Camp, host of Redacted Tonight {Salon has named him “the John Oliver of RT,” except, I think that Lee’s been doing this longer than John}–have both stated that the station NEVER ONCE has told them what to broadcast, censored what they say on their shows or their guests, or interfere w/them in ANY way. And–hands down–Redacted Tonight is the best.political.humor.show.EVER. If you don’t want to watch on RT, you can see it on YouTube.)
&, no, I don’t know Ekatarina or Dmitri…& I don’t want to know them.
(BTW, Comcast used to list RT & show time slots in their guide. Now it’s “Leased Access” {Channel 103 here}, & one has to know when the programs are on {Redacted is on Friday nights at 7 & 10 PM CST; Redacted V.I.P.–Camp interviews people for 15 min., then does commentary for the last 15–is on Thursday nights either at 6 or 6:30 PM CST, & then repeated at 9 or 9:30 PM}. Lastly, George Carlin’s daughter highly praises Lee Camp as a comedian closer to her father’s political humor than anyone.)
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No, Diane, I don’t recall your relating that story, but it certainly rings true.
And, yes, she is a friend/former classmate of Booker’s, and a false hope for any kind of legitimate progressive politics.
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I understand that popular hashtags for a particular issue work better for sites like Twitter.
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This action coincides with Democratic gubernatorial primary candidate Chris Kennedy’s fairly explosive statement yesterday, which is getting a lot of attention.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/chris-kennedy-accuses-rahm-emanuel-pushing-people-color-out-chicago/
Kennedy’s staff may have briefed him on an investigative piece recently published by Chicago Reporter.
http://chicagoreporter.com/black-cps-student-migration/
The four high schools targeted in Englewood will close, and no new high school will open before 2019. It’s, well, pretty egregious.
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Also, “The City Council’s 11-member Progressive Caucus is not letting up in its drive to force a public hearing on what it calls the ‘mistreatment & cheating’ of special needs students at the Chicago Public Schools.” (Chicago Sun-Times, 1/4/18 article, “Progressive Caucus Trying Again to Force Special-Ed Hearing” by Fran Spielman, City Hall Reporter) Sorry– I am no good at linking–please search-engine the article; it’s an important one.
AND–the IL State Board of Ed. is also supposed to be investigating what CPS is NOT doing for sp.ed. students.
Finally, due to the passage of SB 1 (our “equalizer” in education bill, where there is NO
new revenue {we have a flat tax}), dedicated sp.ed. monies ($9,000/sp.ed. employee) were put into a general pool (just like in Chicago, so that has “justified” CPS non-expenditure to appropriately serve & instruct sp.ed. students), just as 25-35 other programs lost funding so that this “wonderful” bill could be passed (cutting programs such as P.E.).
So–now the entire state will be cheating special education students!
Tell me, how well is that R.T.I. (Response to Intervention) workin’ out for ya?
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“new revenue {we have a flat tax}), dedicated sp.ed. monies ($9,000/sp.ed. employee) were put into a general pool”
Prior to ESSA, SPED money could not be mixed with other funds- it was earmarked for SPED only, as were the Title monies. ESSA allowed more “flexibiltiy” for states & districts to combine all federal funding & use the money as needed. Across the country, states are ending Title programs to save SPED or cutting SPED to save general education programs.
Given the deliberate starvation of public school funds at the state & federal levels, ESSA set up SPED & Gen ed in a hunger games fight for survival. The politicians promised ‘flexibility’ but in reality gave nothing. Let’s hear it for bipartisanship.
https://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/articles/2015-12-15/every-student-succeeds-act-reflects-bipartisan-support-for-charter-schools
Bipartisanship isn’t dead after all. That’s one big lesson of last week’s passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which drew large bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress.
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Egregious? Those four schools are empty.
Harper HS: 2006 enrollment 1,301. 2016 enrollment 167. Deferred maintenance cost: Harper: $38.7 M.
Hope HS 2006 enrollment 1,015. 2016 enrollment 136. Deferred maintenance: $15.7 M.
Robeson 2006 enrollment 1,301. 2016 enrollment 151. Deferred maintenance: $35 M.
Team Engelwood 2006 enrollment 696. 2016 enrollment 160. Deferred maintenance: $26.4 M.
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So you close every school?! That was obviously the aim; otherwise, why would you systematically under-resource the schools? Why open a myriad of charter schools but to draw students away from the public schools you intended to close?
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In today’s Chicago Sun-Times: article by Patty Wetli, Page 8, under “City Beat”: “Gentrification Fears in Albany Park”–‘”We’ve lost 200 kids over the last 5 years because of gentrification,” said Scott Ahlman, principal of Hibbard Elementary…”I’ve seen a lot of families displaced, & I don’t know where they went,” he said, including 25 students whose families were evicted from a single building in 2007.”
The crux of what’s happening in Chicago so, yes, midway, egregious fits.
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