Michael Scott was brought back by Mayor Daley to serve another term as Chicago School Board president. His job-- clean up the mess left behind by Arne Duncan and Rufus Williams over school closings.He makes an effort here in a Sun-Times commentary, claiming that the latest wave of closings was done thoughtfully, with great care and concern and only after listening to voices in the community. The only problem, Scott claims, was in communicating that care and thoughtfulness to the masses. He writes:
Board of Education members poured over reams of material, but it ultimately comes down to this: How can we allow children to spend another year in a school that is failing them? How can we deny these children, who are already behind academically, access to better schools and teachers who are specifically trained to accelerate their learning?What it was that board members were pouring over those reams, Scott the ace communicator, never tells us. And how does he know that all this pouring went on, since he only recently returned to the board?
If President Scott would only do a little of his own poring, he would learn that many more than 6 of the schools proposed for closing, were indeed doing quite well. He would also learn that the hundreds of parents and kids protesting amd camping outside of his board offices, weren't demanding that "access to better schools" that he was unwilling to "deny them", even the ones staffed with all those "specifically trained" teachers. Uh uh.
They were asking only for the saving and improvement of their existing schools.
If he really wanted to show off being macho("taking power") he should have stopped the whole process, made some kind of a statement "there will be no actions until i can fully study this issue," sat on it for two months then closed all 22 schools! If scott wanted to show he was the new sheriff in town. Now he just looks like a hired lackey yelling for daley and blaming everyone else for making a mess.
ReplyDeleteHow non-impressive of an opening act. Where are these guys getting their management training? It’s neither the streets nor grad school.
John Kugler
kuglerjohn@comcast.net
Parents, students and teachers: Call – better meet with -- your State Reps and Senators to urge support of the Soto Bill HB363. Puts into law clear criteria for school closings/consolidations/turnarounds/phase outs and openings and makes the process transparent. The Soto Bill constructs a process for an educationally sound and fiscally responsible system for changing the existence or governance of our public school buildings – including brick and mortar improvements -- with COMMUNITY input for ALL schools. Don’t wait. This bill could come up as early as 3/25/09. We’re just spinning our wheels hoping the CBOE or CPS will see the light. To find your state reps, go here – all you need to know is your address. http://www.civicfootprint.org/
ReplyDeleteLiz Brown
Grassroots Education Movement