Mike Klonsky's Blog: 15 years later, CPS reclaims Duncan's AUSL 'turnaround schools'.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: 15 years later, CPS reclaims Duncan's AUSL 'turnaround schools'.

15 years later, CPS reclaims Duncan's AUSL 'turnaround schools'

"Yet for all the public attention, AUSL's results have been mixed; many students have made considerable progress, but as a group they still lag well behind district averages ... with many ending up on par or even below comparable neighborhood schools." -- Chicago Tribune, 2/6/2012

Yesterday, CPS announced that it was reclaiming the so-called "turnaround schools" which were handed over to the private management and teacher training company, the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL) in 2006. 

All I can say about this break from Arne Duncan's privatization "reforms" carried out under the banner of Renaissance 2010 and then rebranded as Race to the Top during his term as Sec. of Education, is -- it's about time. 

Lacking any research base and built on the false premise that private companies, hedge funders, and power philanthropists could best operate public institutions, AUSL's school takeover turned out to be an expensive and dismal flop.

AUSL was founded and run by Chicago venture capitalist Martin Koldyke, who used his connections and big campaign donations to become a powerhouse in the school turnaround business. Koldyke, a golf buddy of then-Mayor Daley, decided he could save the public school system by running it like a business. Koldyke's company, Frontenac, had been a big investor in for-profit colleges like DeVry and Rasmussen College.

Despite AUSL schools ranking at or near the bottom of the system, the company benefited from CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: 15 years later, CPS reclaims Duncan's AUSL 'turnaround schools'.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Capitalism 2.0. Is the lion really lying down with the lamb?

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Capitalism 2.0. Is the lion really lying down with the lamb?

Capitalism 2.0. Is the lion really lying down with the lamb?

What's going on here? Corporate America, Hollywood, and NFL owners all rebranding and advertising Black Lives Matter themes, doling out billions in philanthropic grants to left and progressive organizations, and even heaping faint praise on socialists. 

From watching the TV ads, one would think that the Fortune 500 corporations had all joined BLM, that the NFL had made things right with Colin Kaepernick, and that the Golden Globes weren't being awarded by a white-only board. 

In this vein, two recent articles in Crain's Chicago Business caught my attention this week. The first, "City Council's socialists see themselves as an antidote to the status quo", by reporter A.D. Quig, is surprisingly praiseful of a "socialist bloc" of aldermen, elected to the Council in the 2019 anti-machine wave that included the landslide election of Mayor Lori Lightfoot. 

Quig writes: 

Their legislative scoreboard isn't terribly impressive, and they've rankled some of CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: Capitalism 2.0. Is the lion really lying down with the lamb?

Mike Klonsky's Blog: The good ones are leaving us too soon.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: The good ones are leaving us too soon.

The good ones are leaving us too soon.

As everyone has heard by now, former CTU Pres. Karen Lewis passed yesterday, leaving a tear in my eye but also great memories for me to hold on to. Some of my fondest include our (Susan and my) occasional breakfast meetings at Meli's on Wells Street just to touch base and have a few laughs. 

Another was from an event we held for Jonathan Kozol back in 2012. Kozol had the crowd on its feet, applauding as he talked about the inspiring effect the Chicago teachers' strike was having on teachers and supporters across the country. Kozol said he first heard news of the strike at a book tour event in Los Angeles. When a teacher in the audience announced that teachers in Chicago had walked out, “the roar of the crowd delayed the program for several minutes.”

But the loudest prolonged ovation that evening was reserved for Karen Lewis. It broke out spontaneously as she entered the sold-out Thorne Auditorium and Northwestern Univ. Law School. Karen spoke briefly, introduced Kozol, and then embraced the author in a show of unity. 

Jonathan and Karen at Maggiano's in 2012

After the event, a group of us went out with Jonathan and Karen to CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: The good ones are leaving us too soon.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Parkland

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Parkland

Parkland

I was in Parkland two days after the massacre in 2018. I did some interviews with parents, educators, and students at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, all shaken with anger and despair, feelings that in the following months would inspire the energy behind a movement for gun control. It was a movement led by the students themselves, that would sweep the nation and play a critical role in the political shift towards Democrats in the last election.

Like most of the country, I cheered on the dozens of students who boarded the buses to Tallahassee that day to offer their "reasonable" gun control proposals to the state legislature only to be ignored and insulted by state pols.

Now three years later, some of those feelings of grief and anger have returned as I watch video of gun-toting white-supremacist, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene berating anti-gun student leaders and mocking news of the massacre that killed 17 people at MSD and wounded 17 others and still no significant gun laws on the books. 

Rep. Greene is easy to hate unless you're one of the thousands of north Georgia Republicans CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: Parkland

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Big changes needed if we are to control the global pandemic and open schools here.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Big changes needed if we are to control the global pandemic and open schools here.

Big changes needed if we are to control the global pandemic and open schools here

As we head into the new year, I'm thinking like everyone else, good riddance to Trump and 2020. I've had the words to the old Merle Haggard song, If We Make It Through December, buzzing through my brain. But by yesterday afternoon, I've had reset my expectations to... if we make it through the '20s... 

NBC reports that Pence's so-called Operation Warp Speed is moving at such a crawl that adequately vaccinating Americans will take 10 years at the current pace. Unless things change quickly, that will wreak havoc on global pandemic recovery, including school openings here in the U.S. 

Sorry to sound so gloomy at the start of a new year. I'm really not. Unlike some of my lefty friends who think the history of progress ended with Bernie's primary loss, I am bouyed by  CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: Big changes needed if we are to control the global pandemic and open schools here.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: The path towards safe school reopenings

Mike Klonsky's Blog: The path towards safe school reopenings

The path towards safe school reopenings

I don't see any pathway to safe urban school reopenings without first classifying teachers and school staff as essential, frontline workers, and putting them near the top of the vaccine priority list. This should be part of a national campaign championed by the incoming Sec. of Education. Schools should also become centers for mass community inoculation. 

Chicago has plans for a phased school reopening starting in January if the spread of the virus stabilizes, but the local teachers’ union says cases remain too high. Credit...Taylor Glascock for The New York Times

Two things are clear to me. Schools can't open without support from a critical mass of teachers and teachers aren't going to be bullied back into the classroom without evidence that those classrooms are reasonably safe. 

The nation’s roughly three million full-time teachers are already considered essential workers by the C.D.C., which means that in states that follow federal recommendations, they are already eligible to receive the vaccine after hospital employees and nursing home residents.

But, says the New York Times...

The essential worker group is huge — some 87 million Americans — and states will have flexibility in how they prioritize within that population. Many more people work in schools than just teachers, including nurses, janitors, and cafeteria workers, and it is unclear how many of them would be included on the high-priority list.

Last month, more than 10 educational organizations, including the nation’s two largest CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: The path towards safe school reopenings

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Epstein's poke at Dr. Jill Biden backfires.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Epstein's poke at Dr. Jill Biden backfires.

Epstein's poke at Dr. Jill Biden backfires.

Whatever the purpose of Joseph Epstein's WSJ screed... it surely failed. I think his poke at Dr. Jill Biden for professionally using 'DR.' in front of her name had less to do with educational leadership titles and Dr. Biden's personal achievements (which are notable) and more with discrediting the Biden/Harris election victory. 

The best honorific for Dr. Biden might be "Teacher". 

Whatever his intent, it most certainly backfired. The negative response on social media has been over the top. While the relatively-unknown Epstein may be the current hero in MAGAland's war on "identity politics",  in the education community he has become just another symbol of Trumpian anti-educator, misogyny. 

If anything, I'm sure he's driven even more white, educated, suburban women from DT's base. That being a demographic shift that helped put Biden over the top in several swing states. Thanks for that, Epstein.

Other reactions: 

Northwestern University said in a statement on Saturday that it disagrees with the "misogynistic views" of Joseph Epstein, an author and former professor at the Illinois school who wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Friday that Biden should drop the "Dr." because it "sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic."

He also compared Biden’s doctoral credentials to an honorary degree that requires no academic CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: Epstein's poke at Dr. Jill Biden backfires.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: The shame of a nation.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: The shame of a nation.

The shame of a nation.

My blood is boiling after seeing news and videos of violent American fascists ("Proud Boys) being turned loose on mask wearers and counter-protesters in D.C. yesterday. 

This follows by days 126 Republican congressmen and 17 red-state attorneys general signing on to the Texas lawsuit aimed at disenfranchising millions of voters, especially voters of color. As expected, the Supreme Court on Friday rejected the suit -- with only wingnut justices Alito and Thomas mumbling their dissent -- but not before more than 60% of House Republicans had signed onto the effort. This group of election deniers reached beyond Trump’s staunchest allies and included powerful figures such as the chamber’s top two officials and the leaders of influential committees, all of whom put their official stamp on this fascist measure. 

This from the New York Times:

“Since election night, a lot of people have been confusing voters by spinning Kenyan birther-type, ‘Chavez rigged the election from the grave’ conspiracy theories,” said Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska. “But every American who cares about the rule of law should take comfort that the Supreme Court — including all three of President Trump’s picks — closed the book on the nonsense.”

With all due respect to Sen. Sasse, I take little comfort in the decision. The Supremes did what they needed to do to regain any semblance of their lost credibility. Nor should we believe that it "closed the book on the nonsense." Its authors are only in the middle of Chapter I. 

The point here is that Trumpism (neo-fascism) has now become a permanent fixture, a violent CONTINUE RADING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: The shame of a nation.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: The first thing Biden promised to do...

Mike Klonsky's Blog: The first thing Biden promised to do...

The first thing Biden promised to do...

Biden was at a candidates event in Houston with National Education Association members in July 2019 when he said: “First thing, as president of United States — not a joke — first thing I will do is make sure that the secretary of education is not Betsy DeVos. It is a teacher. A teacher. Promise.” -- WaPO

Biden's cabinet is filling up fast. So far, once you get past all the chatter about a "second Obama presidency"; or about slipping a disgraced Rahm Emanuel in through the back door (NO, NO, NO please), or even about appointing Trump Republicans as opposed to anyone from the left, the process has been pretty transparent and necessarily fast-moving. 

But we're still waiting for more than whispers about his pick for Secretary of Education. This may be the most important pick of all given that most school districts remain in limbo or possibly on the brink of collapse because of the pandemic and Trump/DeVos's disastrous response. But even under the new administration, plans for a necessary, safe reopening are CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: The first thing Biden promised to do...

Mike Klonsky's Blog: New Deal for Education needed if schools are to reopen safely

Mike Klonsky's Blog: New Deal for Education needed if schools are to reopen safely

New Deal for Education needed if schools are to reopen safely

Chicago daycares and private schools report 495 Covid cases, but numbers don’t tell the whole story: “From April 1 through mid-October, the city has tracked 267 cases in child care centers, 207 in private and charter schools that offer some in-person instruction, and 21 at in-person park district camps. Most of those cases, though, involved adults — 90 cases in daycares, 145 cases in schools, and five at camps involved students,” reports Chalkbeat Chicago’s Mila Koumpilova.

The Illinois Department of Public Health on Tuesday reported 79 new deaths and 12,623 new confirmed and probable cases of the coronavirus disease. That’s a total of 10,289 deaths and 511,183 cases in Illinois. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from Nov. 3 through 9 is 12.0 percent. Chicago’s positivity rate is at 13 percent.

Despite these numbers, it looks like the Chicago School Board is moving ahead with its plan for hybrid-opening. While Mayor Lightfoot and city health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady haven't set a return date, planning for in-person schooling is clearly underway.

I'm all in favor of planning now for an eventual opening of schools, but strongly opposed to school openings at a time like this, with new Covid cases at record levels. The risks are just too great.

Schools here and around the country, public and private, should open gradually only when outside conditions improve (ie. a vaccine) and only then when their facilities are deemed safe with policies in place to ensure student, teacher, and staff safety. That is certainly not the case CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: New Deal for Education needed if schools are to reopen safely

Mike Klonsky's Blog: SNCC: Danny Lyon's new film.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: SNCC: Danny Lyon's new film.

SNCC: Danny Lyon's new film.

https://vimeo.com/461037507

A note from Danny Lyon: 

This is an open link to my new film SNCC. Anyone can see it. It is free.

I welcome comments on the Vimeo site. Please share this with anyone you want.

Thanks

Danny

https://vimeo.com/461037507

Radical artists from the movement are creating a mural of John Lewis being in Rochester New York. John was a powerful stump speaker, an inspiration. The 3000 square foot wall that will display John’s picture is across the street from where Fredrick Douglas gave his July 4th speech.

I urge you to contribute to this effort by Darius Dennis, an amazing
artist who has taken pictures of the movement made them one hundred
feet high, and turned them into an inspiration for the Black Lives Matter movement. One is already up in Chicago and another up in Louisville. A true synthesis of two grass roots struggles bridging sixty years of
time. A great accomplishment. 

Danny Lyon

Goggle: GoFundMe, John Lewis Mural
gofundme.com/f/john-lewis-mural

https://vimeo.com/461037507

Mike Klonsky's Blog: SNCC: Danny Lyon's new film.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: I'm missing live radio

Mike Klonsky's Blog: I'm missing live radio

I'm missing live radio

CORONA BLUES...I'm badly missing doing live, in-studio radio. Hitting Left With the Klonsky Brothers has been on hiatus since June and we've been out of the studio since March. Brother Fred and I did podcast two months' worth of shows from home but it wasn't the same. 

No Friday morning planning meetings at Bridgeport Coffee and no live connection with the studio crew at Lumpen Radio. Doing the show over Zoom left us feeling empty, similar in a way to how many teachers I know are feeling doing remote teaching. 

All three years of archived shows are available and still getting lots of downloads at Mixcloud, Libsyn.com, and wherever else you get your podcasts. 

The clouds lifted a little last night when I got a chance to talk ed/politics live on The Rick Smith Show. Thanks, Rick. 

Rick wanted my take on why, with public education teetering on the brink, there's so little campaign debate over ed issues? Why especially aren't Biden and Harris taking it to Trump and his ed secretary, DeVos for the way they have diverted billions in public education funding to CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: I'm missing live radio