This is a school board unlike anything Chicago (or other big cities) has seen.
It consists of experienced people with a history of involvement in the lives of children and schools.
No hedge fund managers (wrong: there is one, but he was a teacher first)*! No CEOs of major corporations! No privatization devotees!
How remarkable!
*Revuluri is currently the Managing Director of Strategic Development at PEAK6 Capital Management, which leverages technology to manage risk in the options market.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane I have not seen any articles yet on the NYC schools chancellor and his anti biased training sessions blaming white p;eople for the problems of nyc schools. Any thoughts?
I’m a public school parent and I can tell you for a fact that no one is “blaming white people for the problems of NYC schools”.
I’m guessing you are watching too much Fox News telling you lies that Trump wants them to tell.
I heard that Trump supporters are demanding that senior citizens immediately give up their Medicare and instead be given $50/month to buy health insurance and all medications they need. Do you have any ideas why Trump and the Republicans keep trying to take away Medicare from senior citizens and tell them to use their $50 a month to buy their own health insurance?
That’s fantastic! For some reason I had thought that Lightfoot was the reformers’ candidate, but I was wrong.
That’s what the Chicago Teachers’ Union tried to make people believe. I was extremely disappointed by the CTU this election, especially after how radical they’ve been in recent years.
Thank you. But I’m not sure I understand — are you saying that Lightfoot was a supporter of public schools and the CTU was dishonest and intentionally mischaracterizing Lightfoot as an ed reformer?
I’m not a knee jerk defender of teachers’ unions as I don’t think the union is always right, although I think the union is doing the hard work of fighting the forces of privatization and cares far more about students than the greedy privatizers who pretend students are their only concern while they throw the most vulnerable students under the bus.
I don’t know the CTU’s intentions. I know they supported Preckwinkle because she was a former teacher. But, yes, I think they mischaracterized Lightfoot. They portrayed her as the next Rahm, the establishment candidate, and anti-public school based on some extremely short, out-of context video clipss. It was the kind of cheap maneuver the CTU would be hollering about if it were done to them. It was disappointing precisely because CTU has previously done such excellent work against the forces of privatization.
dienne77,
Thank you for your enlightening and nuanced reply. That absolutely makes sense.
But what I don’t understand is how you can be so understanding of nuance when it comes to the CTA and Lightfoot and never give the same nuanced understanding to Democrats running for President.
I think there is an excellent chance that Bernie could win the primary. But if it turns out to be Warren or Biden, or someone we can’t even imagine yet (Obama came out of the blue), and that person is not quite as progressive as Bernie, why would you not support them against Trump if they get the most votes in the primary?
While I’m slightly leaning toward Bernie right now, I have no idea whether he will end up getting my vote in the primary. I may decide I like another candidate better in 8 months.
But I am 100% certain, without a doubt, that if Bernie wins the primary, he will get my vote in the general election. And I say that even if Bernie endorses more DFER Democrats or if even if he sits down for another interview saying white people who refuse to vote for African-American candidates aren’t racist.
Any misstep Bernie makes will not change my mind. No matter who I favor in the primary, I am 100% certain to vote for Bernie Sanders if he is the Democratic candidate in the general election.
Since you are clearly someone who can see the nuance with Lightfoot’s relationship with the reprehensible Rahm, I find it hard to believe you cannot see that when it comes to an even more important election.
Oh for pity’s sake, NYCPSP, it’s awfully rich for you to talk about nuance and Democrats, especially when you constantly put words in other people’s mouths.
This right here being the perfect example: “I think there is an excellent chance that Bernie could win the primary. But if it turns out to be Warren or Biden, or someone we can’t even imagine yet (Obama came out of the blue), and that person is not quite as progressive as Bernie, why would you not support them against Trump if they get the most votes in the primary?”
Because Biden isn’t progressive AT ALL. He’s a neoliberal, which is worse than an outright conservative. Just because he says some nice things about gays or women’s rights (not that he acts on either) does not make him a progressive when his policies consistently favor the grossly rich and do great harm to the poor, working and middle classes, including and especially marginalized groups like women and LGBT people (and minorities). I’ve explained this dozens of times. Better the enemy that you know to be an enemy than an enemy that pretends to be your friend.
As for Warren, she’s not nearly as progressive as I’d like (nor is Bernie for that matter), but I’d vote for her as she does have at least some claim to the progressive label. Biden does not.
I apologize for being unclear in my post. I wasn’t trying to “put words in your mouth” any more than you were trying to put words in mine.
“when his policies consistently favor the grossly rich and do great harm to the poor, working and middle classes, including and especially marginalized groups like women and LGBT people (and minorities). I’ve explained this dozens of times. Better the enemy that you know to be an enemy than an enemy that pretends to be your friend.”
“Better the enemy that you know to be an enemy than an enemy that pretends to be your friend.”
And that says it all in a nutshell. I doubt many LGBT and minorities agree with you belief that it is “better” to have Trump appointing Supreme Court justices than a neocon like Biden, someone who only pretends to be their friend but is really their “enemy”. I haven’t heard anything that condescending to LGBT people and minorities for a long time.
The worst of the democrats have not done anywhere near the harm that the right wing has done to the poor, working and middle class. It is just astonishing you could possibly believe that their real enemy is a neocon Democrat versus a right wing Republican. By the way, LBJ would probably be called a neocon and he did quite a bit for the poor and working class in this country. So did Truman, who blithely dropped a bomb incinerating 2 cities full of civilians. Nuance. Lots of bad and good in many policies, but there is certainly a lot more bad than good in Republicans than in neocons.
Clearly there is no reasoning with you, but your anger is misdirected and you are willing to cause great harm to Americans with your threat that if the majority of democrats dare to support Biden or Harris or anyone but Bernie or Warren, then you feel no compunction to stop Trump. But you are not convincing at all when you try to argue that your concern has anything to do with how LGBT and African-American and Latinx Americans would fare under Biden. To cite them as any reason you’d refuse to help defeat Trump when they are the among the most vulnerable Americans who suffer under Trump/right wing Republican policies is really beneath you and I hope you realize it. Please stop the unbelievable claim that what happens to LGBT Americans or African-American children is one of the reasons you would refuse to support Biden over Trump.