Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: BBB'S HEARING PROBLEM

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: BBB'S HEARING PROBLEM:

BBB'S HEARING PROBLEM

by Mike Klonsky

Schools CEO Byrd-Bennett has a hearing problem. After 20,000 people turned up at neighborhood community meetings to voice their anger over proposed school closings, BBB heard it this way.

"Everybody got it that we really needed to close schools..."

Then when one parent after another got up at Tuesday's press conference voicing concerns about their children's safety, passing through dangerous neighborhoods to get to their receiving school,BBB responded by saying she no time for adults who use the"excuse of gangs to keep children trapped in failing schools."

When civil rights advocates insisted that school closing policies targeting black neighborhood schools violated