Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog:
Schooling in the Ownership Society
Schooling in the Ownership Society
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk
Schooling in the Ownership Society
Lesson from Teachout: It won't be as easy for Rahm to buy the next election
You've really got to go back to Bloomberg's narrow escape in his 2009 victory in the NY mayor's race over relative unknown, Bill Thompson. Bloomberg poured $90 million of his own fortune into the race, a sum without equal in the history of municipal politics that gave him a 14-to-1 advantage in campaign spending. He won by only 5%.Without Bloomberg's billions in the race, money wasn't a big factor
SEP 11
Byrd-Bennett promised not to close any more schools. But that doesn't mean she can't militarize them.
Study war no more...?The Sun-Times reports:No teachers teach in this school. No students are enrolled. It has nearly no budget. The principal sits miles away in another school’s office. Yet, Chicago Public Schools insists that the Marine Math and Science Academy High School isn’t closed, so it hasn’t violated any state laws or reversed a promise not to close more schools by merging Marine’s studen
A ray of hope in Chicago
While the mayor and his City Council minions argue over which IG should investigate their own bad behavior, it's pretty clear now that there will be two viable, progressive opponents running against Rahm and his machine in next year's election -- CTU President Karen Lewis and the council's Progressive Caucus leader Bob Fioretti.The Ward Room's Erin Carlson writes:Should both Lewis and Fioretti cha
SEP 09
A real-estate and hedge-fund concern that happens to have a college attached
Annie Lowrey writes in NY Mag:There's an old line about how the United States government is an insurance conglomerate protected by an army. Harvard is a real-estate and hedge-fund concern that happens to have a college attached. It has a $32 billion endowment. It charges its rich students — and they are mostly from rich families, with many destined to be rich themselves — hundreds of millions of d
SEP 08
Weekend Quotables
Mary MitchellThe way Mayor Rahm Emanuel reacted publicly to misconduct allegations against Chicago Police Cmdr. Glenn Evans shows he doesn’t have a clue about what it will take to rebuild trust between cops and the black community. -- Sun-TimesRep. Luis Gutierrez"Well, first of all it's clear that playing it safe is what is going on at the White House and among Democratic circles. And playing
SEP 05
Our neighborhood rally with Karen Lewis
Karen at El Cid. THE DELUGE...This afternoon's rally at the monument in Logan Square, was drowned by a deluge as a series of storms rolled across the city. Karen Lewis and some brave souls made a run for El Cid up the block and set up camp there to discuss the issues at hand. Even great organizing by the Logan Sq. Neighborhood Assoc. couldn't roll back the storm.What fun!
Chicago principals: If you want poor performing, filthy schools, privatize
Chicago principals don't think so.If you want schools that dominate the bottom quartile, privatize their management. And if you want dirty, filthy schools, privatize their custodial services. That seems to be what Chicago principals are saying.Ace Catalyst reporter Sara Karp writes:The $340 million privatization of the district’s custodial services has led to filthier buildings and fewer custodian