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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Sacramento closes nine schools - Substance News

Sacramento closes nine schools - Substance News:

California city gets the usual barrage of verbiage about 'budget deficits' and 'underutilization' crises... Parents file lawsuit on behalf of poor families as Sacramento closes seven elementary schools following the neo-liberal attack on public schools with seven closings

Sacramento California, where the school board is elected, joined the neoliberal racist attack real public school serving children who live in poverty with a vote to close nine of the city's real public schools. Last week, a group representing the children who will be affected by the closings filed a lawsuit challenging the school board's decision. Despite the fact that both of their careers have been challenged for corruption, Michelle Rhee and her husband, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, were given the time for an appearance on the "Commonwealth Club" on national public radio. During the appearance, they used their time to trash real public schools, promote charter schools, and repeat their neo-liberal talking points with very little criticism from the questions that were allowed from the audience.The "First Lady" of Sacramento is Michelle Rhee, the former chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public schools who currently heads "Students First," one of the main astroturf groups promoting attacks on public education.
Rhee married Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson in 2011. Johnson's two terms as mayor of Sacramento have been marked by scandal at the charter school he operates ("St. HOPE"), including allegations of sexual misconduct and a financial scandal that resulted in St HOPE repaying nearly a half million dollars to AmeriCorps. Rhee and Johnson devote time to promoting charter schools and denigrating real public schools according to the usual