4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: CHICAGO SCHOOLS: DEMOCRACY DENIED \ LAS ESCUELAS DE CHICAGO: UNA DEMOCRACIA DENEGADA

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: CHICAGO SCHOOLS: DEMOCRACY DENIED \ LAS ESCUELAS DE CHICAGO: UNA DEMOCRACIA DENEGADA:

CHICAGO SCHOOLS: DEMOCRACY DENIED \ LAS ESCUELAS DE CHICAGO: UNA DEMOCRACIA DENEGADA

BY WILLIAM H. WATKINS PH.D. | TRUBUNO DEL PUEBLO (CHICAGO) | HTTP://BIT.LY/URXLOV

September | October 2012 :: Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is a vast network of pre-school, elementary, secondary, military, charter and disability schools. 92% of its students are of color. Beyond education, it feeds, nurses and counsels children. It is the second largest employer in Chicago. It is the third largest school system in the United States. It has a budget exceeding $5.7 billion. It employs over 43,000 people. It is like a small city.
In this city, nobody gets to VOTE. It is a dictatorship.
For well over 100 years local school boards in America have been elected by the people. In the 1980s corporate sponsored reports, for example, Nation at Risk, began blaming public schools for America’s economic problems. Instead of looking at corporate greed, mortgage schemes and derivative gambling, big business deflected the spotlight to “declining” schools and waning test scores,