What happened when the head of the biggest charter chain in Illinois had a frank conversation with Wall Street investors?
EduShyster listened in. This is what she learned.
Archives for category: Chicago
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joined Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy at a meeting with students in Hartford, Connecticut. The main topic was school security, but at one point a student asked what could be done to cut back on excessive testing.
This was the exchange:
“Student Justin Vega said he feels as if all the time and money spent on standardized testing has compromised the quality of his education. He asked whether the money might be better spent on security.
“Both Malloy and Duncan agreed that it makes sense to find the right balance in testing. Malloy noted that Hartford schools could potentially have a 40 percent dropout rate. “We have to do everything in our power to make sure that doesn’t happen. We need a multifaceted approach which doesn’t overemphasize [testing],” Malloy said.
“Duncan agreed about balance and noted that when he was the head of Chicago schools, he cut the amount of standardized testing by 50 percent.”
The student didn’t ask Duncan about what he had done in Chicago, but what he could do now to reduce the time and money spent on testing.
Does Duncan not understand that his zeal to evaluate teachers by the scores of their students has led to more testing than at any time in the past? Why didn’t he answer Justin Vegas’ question?
Jersey Jazzman loves Karen Lewis. Me too. (Note the picture at the end of his post.)
She is a larger than life figure who is not only unbossed and unbought, but unbeaten. (I am paraphrasing Shirley Chisholm here, the first black woman to run for President).
Karen explains the importance of collaborating with parents and local communities.
She sees the union as a voice for children.
She is a force of nature.
She is fearless. She is not impressed by the wealthy patrons of corporate reform.
As a graduate of Dartmouth, she too wears the coveted green blazer. She is not intimidated by their airs.
If she went hand-to-hand with Rahm, he wouldn’t stand a chance, neither intellectually nor physically.
From a reader:
“I live in Chicago, and one of the 50 neighborhood schools slated to close is an excellent school named Miriam Canter Middle School. I like to think I came into the process with an open mind– I’m not averse to school closing, if necessary–but I was so disgusted with the town hall meeting that I made a very short video concerning the process. I would appreciate it if you reposted the video on your blog.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Irami Osei-Frimpong”
This journalist found himself in the men’s room with Mayor Emanuel, then listened to him give a speech about how his policies are improving the lives of Chicago’s poorest children.
This is what he thinks he is doing by closing dozens of neighborhood schools. Against the will of their parents, he is tearing apart their lives and communities.
Just doing what Duncan did, and it catapulted him to national office.
Will Rahm’s reforms work for him too?
Norm Scott, retired NYC teacher posted this on his website, Ed Notes Online:
We have Al Qaeda on the run but right now the biggest threat to our agenda is Karen Lewis and the Chicago Teachers Union,” said an Obama spokesperson.
“Our pal Rahm Emanuel has been forced to close 50 schools in retaliation for the strike led by Lewis and now suffers poll numbers so low they are getting close to the interest rate. He is actually being criticized for using money he saves by closing schools to put $100 million into building a new basketball arena where our president and Arne Duncan will be able to shoot hoops once their term in office is over. For that Rahm is being called the most loathsome politician in America? How dare they?”
“And some in the media have started ganging up on some of our allies like Michelle Rhee. And Arne Duncan’s poor record in running the Chicago schools for so many years has been re-examined due to the work of Karen Lewis’ union.
“And then to top it all our hand-picked crew to beat her in the election got only 20% of the vote despite being supported by our press pals at the Chicago Tribune, thus showing Chicago teachers will not go to the woodshed like the lambs being led by Randi Weingarten, our most important asset, who by the way we have supplied a military escort to protect, but let me point out that we are not using public money for Randi’s escort since Bill Gates is paying.”
“Getting Bin Laden was so much easier.”
Chicago Public Schools voted to close down dozens of public schools. As many as 40,000 children are losing their schools, many of who are children with disabilities. The vast majority of the children are African American.
Will the President and Secretary of Education speak out against this willful destruction of public schools and communities?
This is a dire situation. It is time for our leaders to defend children, communities, and schools.
There are questions of equity here that should be investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.
There is no bright side to this ugly decision.
Just saw this amazing interview and could not resist posting it in full:
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An Interview with Paul Horton : What Goes on in Chicago—Should be exposed to the world?
[Paul Horton is a History teacher at the University of Chicago Laboratory High School]
Posted by Michael Shaughnessy EducationViews Senior Columnist on May 18, 2013 in Commentaries, Daily, Editor’s Pick, Insights on Education, Teachers | 0 Comment
Michael F. Shaughnessy –
1) Paul briefly, what the hell is going on in Chicago?
54 schools are targeted for shut down and 90% are in African American communities within the city. As you may know, the public teachers in Chicago struck last year and made our mayor look bad. Most teachers think that this is payback now. Our County Commissioner, a former history teacher, just called the hearings to close the schools a charade. Our mayor has taken heavy campaign contributions from some people who are heavily invested in charter schools and they are starting to worry about the return on their investments.
Our Mayor is under heavy pressure to close schools if he wants to continue to raise money for his party and a possible future run for Illinois senator. Most political analysts are thinking that our mayor will run for President in the next cycle following a potential Clinton term.
He is very ambitious to make things happen to build a record of accomplishment. The problem is that his decisions about schools might not be the best for the kids of Chicago. He appoints Board Members for the city schools and he is their de facto dictator. He does his best to let his superintendent do the talking, though, to give the impression that he is not in charge.
The Superintendent, Barbara Byrd Bennett, is very good with handling the press. She has command of her Broad Foundation script, as she is a Broad Foundation Administrator School graduate, like her immediate predecessor and Arne Duncan. They are all well schooled in the Broad Foundation lingo:
Layered on top of this is a situation in the Woodlawn neighborhood (where I live) involving the encroachment of the University of Chicago into a neighborhood that it has an interest in gentrifying, located south of its campus. The University has purchased a lease on the best and biggest public school from the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) in the Woodlawn neighborhood, Wadsworth School.
The students from this school will be forced to attend a school five blocks to the southwest without a green space play area. The move will bring together students from three elementary schools and into a school packed as tight as sardines without adequate play space. The high school that the University is taking for its charter high school, on the other hand, has plenty of park space and several new playgrounds appropriate for elementary age kids. In another case, students will be asked to cross the most dangerous gang boundary in Chicago every morning and afternoon to accommodate a shutdown.
2) Tell us about the demonstration.
The demonstration bought together parents, teachers, and students from the neighborhood and all around the city. It was staged at a very busy intersection along the gang border where the kids next will have to cross next year to go to their new school. It was also staged after school and during the shift change of The University of Chicago Hospitals nearby. Thousands of people commute through this intersection to begin their after school commute. The apex of the protest involved students, teachers, and parents sitting down in the street with blood stained shirts to call attention to the violence potential at that intersection next year. Innocent people are often caught in gang gun battles in and around this intersection. A few months ago a two-month old child was shot and killed in gang crossfire in a child seat in a parked car near this intersection. We have a lot of worried parents who don’t like their kids crossing this intersection at any time.
3) Have you spoken off the record to any police—what do they have to say?
Most of the police I spoke to were very sympathetic to the protests because the mayor is hostile to unions in general. The only cop I talked to who did not share this opinion was the afternoon Grand Crossing Precinct Shift officer who responded with a “no comment.”
4) And our brave firefighters—what is Rahm Emmanuel proposing?
The firefighters I have talked to are upset that the safety corridor plan developed by the city to protect students making this and other commutes to new schools will move them away from their (fire) houses, and in some cases, trucks. They feel that this is a public safety issue and that it violates their contract. The firemen have suggested that the mayor hire more cops to take care of the safety corridors.
5) I heard you were interviewed. What happened?
I was picketing and representing my Union local, AFT 2063, at the protest and a TV reporter asked me for an interview, so I talked to him.
6) Do you have a link?
Here it is: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/video/8884241-police-arrest-demonstrators-protesting-school-closings/
7) What have I neglected to ask?
This is “the City of Broad Shoulders” and we aim to teach the Broad Foundation that they cannot steal our schools or harm our kids. The people of Chicago worked for a hundred years to build these buildings and the public needs to continue to invest in them. We don’t like the idea of private companies profiting from public property that we have invested in. We don’t like not having a say in how and why this happens. What we have here is classic machine politics. The aldermen will support the mayor because he controls who gets what and who doesn’t. The aldermen have been told to shut up, and with a few exceptions, they are shutting up.
Norm Scott, retired NYC teacher posted this on his website, Ed Notes Online:
We have Al Qaeda on the run but right now the biggest threat to our agenda is Karen Lewis and the Chicago Teachers Union,” said an Obama spokesperson.
“Our pal Rahm Emanuel has been forced to close 50 schools in retaliation for the strike led by Lewis and now suffers poll numbers so low they are getting close to the interest rate. He is actually being criticized for using money he saves by closing schools to put $100 million into building a new basketball arena where our president and Arne Duncan will be able to shoot hoops once their term in office is over. For that Rahm is being called the most loathsome politician in America? How dare they?”
“And some in the media have started ganging up on some of our allies like Michelle Rhee. And Arne Duncan’s poor record in running the Chicago schools for so many years has been re-examined due to the work of Karen Lewis’ union.
“And then to top it all our hand-picked crew to beat her in the election got only 20% of the vote despite being supported by our press pals at the Chicago Tribune, thus showing Chicago teachers will not go to the woodshed like the lambs being led by Randi Weingarten, our most important asset, who by the way we have supplied a military escort to protect, but let me point out that we are not using public money for Randi’s escort since Bill Gates is paying.”
“Getting Bin Laden was so much easier.”
George Buzzetti writes:
“Chicago, you must set the agenda not Emmanuel and his destruction crew. You must take back control of Chicago and the School Board. There is nothing like a politician who gets the public mad as hell at them for change. In L.A. Monica Ratliff was elected with only $44,000 against more than a million and she never took a day off work and she drives a long way to her teaching job. If you have a good mayoral candidate the chances are good to get Emanuel out and to elect sense again even if it has been a long time. Now is the time for Chicago to set the agenda in Chicago as you have been the shining example for the rest of the country concerning education and fighting for your children and society.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 