WEEKEND QUOTABLES

North Shore Dist. 112 picketers

Wave of teacher strikes

"Obviously, CPS set a precedent," said Sandy Randles, a parent in Crystal Lake-based Prairie Grove Consolidated School District 46. -- Chicago Tribune, "Why sudden crop of teacher strikes?"

 Amy Wilkins, Gates-defunded group leader 

"Gates was such a big part of the funding. That made some of the partners and other funders nervous. How do you look like an independent actor? You have to show broad public support so you're not seen as a phony-baloney front for Gates. People criticized the organization for that and they didn't move closer to shaking that label." -- L.A. Times, "Gates Foundation-funded education-reform group to close"

Mark LaMont Hill

"Since 2001 2,000 troops have died in Afghanistan while 5,000 have died in Chicago." -- Huffpost Live

Rahm Emanuel

"Chicago's  crime strategy is working."  -- Huffington Post

Ben Joravsky

“I don’t like using standardized tests as a benchmark. But since the charter school advocates are using them as benchmarks and feel no compulsion to be accurate in the use of these scores, I had to weigh in. And the reality is that unionized schools in Chicago by and large are outperforming charter schools. You have to go through forty unionized schools before you reach a charter school in the ranking of these test scores. So I feel the public has been misled into believing that charter schools have a magical formula because they fire teachers.” -- Chicago Newsroom