Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog:
Schooling in the Ownership Society
Schooling in the Ownership Society
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk
Schooling in the Ownership Society
Bridging Differences
Last night at the sit-in at Gresham Elementary
Ollie ClementsJitu Brown (Center)Principal Diedrus Brown supports her parents
YESTERDAY
It's the new, improved Rahm. 'Doesn't believe in personal insults...'
Here's Blaine Principal Troy LaRaviere laying it all out on Chicago Tonight.PARTY LINE...You can always tell when the line comes down from the 5th floor at City Hall. It's picked up quickly and echoed down the halls and through the cubicles at Clark Street -- "That LaRaviere guy and those other principals are in league with Karen Lewis and the teachers union."But by the time flack Sarah
MAY 15
Rahm's attack dog, Kupper is on the loose
No sooner had Rahm tried to reinvent himself as a gentle, warm and caring ("I welcome principals' concerns and ideas") mayor, than his CPS plantation ignited once more. The arsonist this time was Rahm's own attack dog, John Kupper who in one single mouth-fart, attacked both the Sun-Times for giving too much play to the mayor's critics and Chicago Principals Assoc. Clarice Berry, for bein
Good News! Judge Belz's Injunction and the New ('All-Ears') Rahm
GOOD NEWS...Circuit Judge John Belz has issued a temporary restraining order blocking the implementation of the new state pension-robbing law, SB-1.“I do think it has led to great confusion … almost across-the-board confusion,” Belz said in a Sangamon County courtroom as he issued a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction blocking implementation of the law until further action of th
MAY 14
Independent movement carries Ras Baraka to victory in Newark
Speaking to the crowd, Baraka wished his mother a happy Mother's Day and said he knew his father, who died in January, was "in the room tonight." He urged the crowd to "be the mayor" and work for positive change, a reference to one of his campaign slogans, "When I become mayor, we become mayor." -- AP WireYesterday's historic victory of Ras Baraka over corporate-backe
MAY 13
At today's all-hands-on-deck meeting...
Byrd-Bennett's response to the CPS principals revolt is to call an "all-hands-on-deck" meeting for this afternoon. I don't know what her agenda is, but I picture her doing her best James Cagney from the film Mr. Roberts:Alright who did it, whooo did it. You are going to stay sweating at you're posts until I find out who did it.
The CPS principals revolt: A single spark can start a prairie fire
She [Byrd-Bennett] can't "get to the bottom" of it when the culprit is at the top. -- Principal Troy LaRaviereA SMALLTALK SALUTE goes out to Blaine Principal Troy LaRaviere for standing up and speaking truth to power. His May 9th letter in the Sun-Times, "Under Emanuel, principals have no voice", has sparked a firestorm and has Rahm and CEO Byrd-Bennett, once again running for
MAY 12
Weekend Quotables
Principal Troy LaRaviereSo when people ask me, “Aren’t you afraid of losing your job if you speak out?” this is my answer: I did not travel across an ocean and risk my life to defend American freedoms only to return and relinquish those freedoms to an elected official and his appointed board of education. -- Sun-TimesValerie Leonard, N. Lawndale community activist "It's depressing. What we're
MAY 10
How many polls do you need?
Hey Preckwinkle, Fioretti, Bozo the Clown...somebody. What the hell are you waiting for?Only one in five Chicago voters credit Mayor Rahm Emanuel with doing a better job of running the city than Richard M. Daley did, and only 29 percent would support him if the mayoral election were held today. -- Early & OftenCarpe Diem!
The great $660 billion public pension rip-off
Edward Siedle is president of Benchmark Financial Services and is a former investigator with the Security and Exchange Commission's Division of Investment Management. He writes in Sunday's New York Times:Nearly a quarter of all state and local public pension assets have disappeared -- $660 billion in state workers’ retirement savings taken off the radar and swept into high-cost hedge, private equi
MAY 09
Duncan ignored his own I.G.'s warnings on charter fraud
The purpose of this report is to echo the warning issued by the OIG and to inform the public and lawmakers of the mounting risk that an inadequately regulated charter industry presents to our communities and taxpayers. NEW REPORT ON CHARTERS...“Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud And Abuse,” authored by the Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education, echoes a warning from t