At 3:30 pm EST–less than one hour—Robin Hiller of the Network for Public Education will interview Jitu Brown, one of the hunger strikers at Dyett High School in Chicago. Jitu is a member of the board of NPE.
Robin has a regular radio show in Tucson. http://www.kvoi.com/live-stream/
The hunger strike has ended!
Learn what happened.
Contact: Madison Donzis, madison@fitzgibbonmedia.com, 210.488.6220
Nearly 300 Call on Chicago Mayor to Implement Green Technology Proposal for Dyett High School Immediately
Educators, Academics, and More From Across the Country Issue Letter to Rahm Emanuel on 26th Day of Hunger Strike
** See the Letter Here: http://bit.ly/1KINZcx **
Amidst the hunger strike crisis in Chicago over the fate of Dyett High School, almost 300 educators, researchers, academics, and community groups nationwide have issued a letter to Rahm Emanuel urging him to invest in the Coalition’s Global Leadership and Green Technology plan for the school. The groups and individuals applaud the decision to open Dyett as an open-enrollment school, but believe more needs to be done.
See the letter here: http://bit.ly/1KINZcx
The education advocates call on Emanuel to take the following next steps:
A curricular emphasis on green technology and to include “Green Technology” in the name of the school,
The involvement of members of the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett High School on the design team and in the selection of the principal,
An elected and fully empowered Local School Council.
“Not only is it absolutely crucial that Dyett re-open under the Coalition’s proposal, it is imperative to set a precedent for transformative community schools nationwide by ensuring that these strikers, along with students, parents, teachers and community members are engaged in an all-inclusive decision-making process,” said Keron Blair, Director of AROS.
“Though the hunger strikers have successfully fought for open-enrollment at Dyett, they are continuing to fast and stand firm in their demand for the Dyett Global Leadership and Green Technology plan. Had members of the community been actively included in the initial planning stages for the school, they would not have to now endure day 26 of their hunger strike.
“We have got to do what needs to be done to bring these folks home to their children and families. We won’t give up until Rahm Emanuel does what is right for the school, and does it now.”
Yesterday, the 15 hunger strikers visited the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) headquarters demanding a meeting with Forrest Claypool to begin the planning for the new Dyett High School.
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The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS) is a national community/labor table of organizations of parents, students, teachers and community members who are fighting for the public schools our children deserve.
Mike Klonsky passes on the Chicago chatter.
For example, J.C. Brizard bombed in Rochester and Chicago. But he’s a Broadie so he landed on his feet.
Julie Vassilatos explains what the Dyett hunger strike is about and why the 12 protestors are not giving up.
She also shows who stood with the superintendent of schools (not the Dyett 12) and who is funding them. Follow the money. Would you be surprised to learn that the people at Claypool’s side took money from the notorious Stand for Children, from Hedge funders at Democrats for Education Reform, and from the billionaire Eli Broad, who wants to privatize public schools?
“We are in every neighborhood in Chicago. We are many, and we stand with the Fight for Dyett because we believe in democracy, neighborhoods, public schools, and local community. We are of every color and every demographic. We are everywhere.
“There are, certainly, some who do not stand with the Fight for Dyett.
“They also do not stand for democratic schools, local autonomy, or elected school boards.
“They also do not oppose privatization, test-and-punish curricula, school closings, community disinvestment, unprofessional teaching staff, or manipulations and machinations of powers outside of the community upon the community and against its will.
“And these people were standing with Forrest Claypool on Thursday afternoon at the press conference where CPS declared that they had resolved the Dyett crisis.”
“Oh–you say–but–but those people at that press conference, they were–weren’t they?–black–all of them. They were black community leaders. Weren’t they? Isn’t that what the newspapers said? They would know all about the fight facing Dyett, and all public schools everywhere–right?
“Oh, they do.
“But all those people standing up there–like props–all of them have fought against their own communities, and with good reason.
“They receive large amounts of money from the very sources of the destruction of our public schools.
“Today we’ll just take the politicians that flanked Forrest.
“State Representative Christian Mitchell. He has received $127,000 from Stand for Children and $34,000 from Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), both of which are organizations dedicated to forwarding the purposes of corporate education control. He has received $12,800 from Noble Network Board Member David Weinberg (who in turn has given $10,500 to DFER, $10,000 to Stand for Children, and $10,000 to Stand for Children PAC), and $10,000 from Eli Broad, two prominent, and spectacularly wealthy, generals in the corporate ed control army.
“Just saying.
“Will Burns, who continues to insist he is and always has been for Dyett, has managed to stand in the way of the community’s every move to keep its school. Burns has received $1690 from DFER, $2,500 from the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, $7,900 from Noble Network Board member John Rowe (who has in turn given $10K to Stand for Children), $21,500 from Noble Network Board member Weinberg, and more than $51,000 from Rahm’s campaign. In addition, in May he was given the plum of chairing the Education Committee with its budget of more than $200K. Furthermore, while he has received no money from Stand for Children himself, oddly enough he has contributed over $17K to them. He’s received small campaign donations from for CPS Board of Ed members David Vitale and Andrea Zopp as well, which seems to me personally inappropriate, although it is surely legal.”
Which side are you on?
Mike Klonsky reports the latest news from Chicago.
Rahm Emanuel said that Dyett would re-open as an open-enrollment high school. This was his way of thumbing his nose at the hunger strikers, whose proposal called for a school whose theme was green technology and global leadership.
The community leaders want a voice. They will continue their hunger strike.
They are proof positive that real change happens when people act and do and put their bodies on the line.
Rahm and Andrew backed off today. Or maybe they didn’t.
Rahm decided that Dyett High School re-open as an open-enrollment school. Cuomo said the Common Core and the testing were badly bungled by the State Education Department (John King), and he needs a commission to review the mess that he (Cuomo) made.
Bear in mind that Cuomo has no constitutional authority for education. He does not appoint the state Board of Regents (the legislature does) or the state commissioner (the Regents do).
Did Rahm really back down? Did Cuomo?
Ask the experts.
Here is Mike Klonsky in Chicago.
Here is Peter Greene, calling hoax.
The Dyett hunger strike goes on. Rahm may or not be softening his opposition to giving the community the open-enrollment public school it wants.
Randi Weingarten is taking two hunger strikers to DC, either to give a letter to Arne or meet him.
Mike Klonsky reminds us that Arne ended a hunger strike when he first became school superintendent in Chicago.
What wil he do now?
Mike Klonsky has the latest update on the Dyett hunger strikers. The strike is now ending its 16th day, in which the strikers have had liquids but no solid food. Their resolve is undiminished. Apparently, so is the Mayor’s.
The post includes a link to a debate between Eve Ewing and Peter Cunningham, who used to be Arne’s flack. Ewing wrote an eloquent article about the ghosts of Dyett and what the school meant to the community.
Troy LaRaviere is one brave man. He is the principal of Blaine Elementary School in Chicago. Blaine is one of only three schools in the city singled out for praise for meeting standards set by the Mayor himself, Rahm Emanuel.
Yet LaRaviere, despite his successful leadership, has been given a warning by the board of the Chicago Public Schools. This warning may be a prelude to termination.
Read LaRivere’s response to this warning here.
He was warned first of all because he supported parents who wanted to opt their children out of the state tests. His school had an 80% opt out rate. The board said he was disobeying by refusing its orders to force the children to take the tests until the child herself refused, not the parent. He says that if parents should have choice about where to send their child to school, why not honor their request to refuse the tests?
He was warned because he asked a question at a meeting where no questions were allowed.
As he writes:
The second thing I was cited for was insubordination when I violated a “no questions” policy at a district principals budget meeting. I sat there at the meeting listening to CPS officials blame Springfield and teacher pensions for the budget woes, while they completely ignored their own well documented corrupt and reckless spending (e.g., $20 Million Supes Contract, $340 Million Aramark Contract, $10 million central office furniture purchase, etc. etc.). So I stood up and asked the question anyway, citing several questionable expenses. Then CEO, Jesse Ruiz, stood up and told me that I was being disruptive. It is a profound moment of truth and clarity when a CPS official gets up and makes it clear that he considers asking relevant questions “disruptive.” I have already written extensively about the details of this encounter in a post entitled, “Adding Insult to Injury: A Look Inside a CPS Principals Budget Meeting.” In the resolution, the board cites me for insubordination, in part, because Ruiz asked me why I worked for CPS if I were so unhappy with its leadership, and I responded, “To save it from people like you.” It is important to note that Ruiz asked me to come into the hallway where he called me a “loud-mouthed principal” and asked me that question. In essence, the board is attempting to discipline me for answering his question. If he didn’t want an honest answer, he should not have asked the question.
Another disturbing thing about this resolution is the way I was informed about it. I received an email on Monday telling me I could come in on Tuesday at 1pm to respond to the allegations on a resolution that the board would be voting on the next day. The board clearly knew that I was scheduled to speak at the City Club of Chicago’s panel on CPS Bankruptcy at that time since one of their own—Jesse Ruiz—was also on the panel. I chose to keep my appointment on the panel and thereby miss my opportunity to respond to this absurd resolution.
The CPS board accuses him of trying to “raise his profile.” LaRaviere is just trying to do what is right for the children and parents he serves.
He writes:
Yesterday, I drove by Washington Park to see if there was any organized activity at the scene of the Dyett School hunger strike. There didn’t seem to be, so I pulled away and headed toward 43rd and Vernon, about a block east of Martin Luther King Drive. The entire part of the block facing 43rd street is an empty lot on which once stood a fire-damaged slum I lived in as a child; where my brothers and I slept on floors and cots for months until the owner of Moore’s Furniture and Piano Mover’s donated a bunk bed to my mother. I go back there often to remind myself of the road I have traveled, and of the awesome responsibility I have been given. I came here from nothing. By any reasonable odds, I was not supposed to be here. And yet, here I am. I am not an overtly religious man but circumstances leave me no choice but to believe that whatever power put me on this earth—and in this position—did so for a reason. While I am here, I have a responsibility and a duty to use this position to advocate as strongly as humanly possible for the betterment of our city and its schools. That includes advocacy for sound evidence-based education policy and prudent fiscal management of district resources—the advocacy that led to the current warning resolution.
I will continue to support all of my PTAs efforts on behalf of the children and families of Blaine and I will continue to call out CPS on its reckless fiscal operational and educational mismanagement of our district at every opportunity they give me. Unfortunately, for our teachers and the students they serve, those opportunities abound.
Where does a man like Troy LaRaviere come from? Where does his courage come from? Why is he able to stand tall and be fearless when so many others quake in the face of power? Why are there not hundreds and thousands of principals and superintendents like Troy LaRaviere?
He is already on the blog’s honor roll. All I can say is “Thank you for your courage. Thank you for your integrity. Thank you for your inspiration.”
Mike Klonsky writes in his blog that Mayor Emanuel showed his hand: he will give nothing to the Dyett hunger Strikers. Klonsky says the mayor plans to sell Dyett to real estate developers, for gentrification and profit.
“Like his predecessor Daley, Rahm would sell of every foot of this city’s public space that wasn’t nailed down, if he could. And maybe he can. The erosion of public space and public decision-making has been a hallmark of the regime’s strategy of gentrifying and whitenizing the city. It’s New Orleans without the flood. A quarter-million African-American citizens have left Chicago in the past decades.
“Now it appears that the board’s RFP for a new school at Dyett was a ruse. After 11 days of surviving on liquids and with several of the hunger strikers needing medical treatment (see the warning from local health professionals) , they’ve been told by Board Pres. Frank Clark (former ComEd C.E.O), that the game is up. Rahm, Claypool, Johnson and their gaggle of always-compliant board members, are dumping the new-school proposals from all three groups, the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett (Global Leadership and Green Technology), Little Black Pearl’s contract school, and a late one solicited by the board from former Dyett Principal Charles Campbell.”
Klonsky predicts the mayor will act swiftly now that the hunger strike is getting national media attention.
Diane Ravitch's blog 