Rahm Emanuel: Protests over school closings ‘noise associated with change’
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com February 23, 2012 2:34PM
Mayor Rahm Emanuel visited with preschoolers at Metropolitan Family Services at 3249 N. Central Ave. L-r: Yeasbeth Ortiz, Serena Reyes and Izabella Lagunas-Hernandez. | Al Podgorski~Chicago Sun-Times
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Updated: February 24, 2012 2:24AM
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday he’s sensitive to the “noise associated with change” caused by the decision to close or turn around 17 underperforming schools, but he said he’s more concerned about the deafening “silence of failure.”
The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis denounced the school board’s actions as “educational apartheid,” noting that the overwhelming majority of students impacted are black and brown.
On Thursday, Emanuel countered the racism charge with a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that’s also a