Mayor Rahm Expands Corporate Footprint on Chicago Children and Parents
by Jim Horn
Well, it worked like it was supposed to work: the mayor’s appointed stooges on the “Board of Education” voted to close 50 Chicago public schools to make way for corporate charter reform schools. Never mind that communities barely held together will lose their lifelines, never mind that violence is almost guaranteed to increase (as it did when Duncan shuttered schools), and never mind that many professional teachers will be replaced by uncertified white corporate missionaries.
But Mayor Rahm must accept the political repercussions for his callous acts. Today starts the Voter Registration Drive in Chicago to make sure public school dictatorship ends there and that Rahm is sent back to Washington to become an official corporate lobbyist, rather than one on the public dole pretending to act in the public interest. From NPR in Chicago:
. . . . The fight over school closings is part of a political showdown
Nashville KIPP Caught Dumping Problem Students at Test Time
by Jim Horn
We have known for a long time that what is fondly recalled by former students as the Kids in Prison Program (KIPP) has used various machinations to reach those high test scores–from a menacing management styles, to constant test prep, longer hours, behavioral sterilization, burning through teachers who leave with mental and physical health problems, to dumping problem students and replacing them with high scorers-or not replacing them at all. In what is truly unique to American media, here is a solid piece of TV reporting here from Nashville’s NBC affiliate on what has been happening for years but has never been reported, as far as I know:
href=”http://www.wsmv.com” title=”WSMV Channel 4 “>WSMV Channel 4
