More BBB sleight of hand

Damn! No sooner had I posted about Byrd-Bennett's school-closing trickery, then she came up with another bit of Three-Card Monte. She's really good.

BBB's enigma, wrapped in a riddle, surrounded by mystery, goes like this: When is a moratorium not really a moratorium? Answer -- when BBB calls it a turnaround, instead of a closing. Sure, you're firing all the school's teachers and replacing them with lower-paid, non-union newbies. Sure you're handing the school over to private charter operators. But that's not exactly the same as closing -- is it? And finally, the post-moratorium closings aren't about "right-sizing," says CPS liar-in-chief Becky Carrol. They will be done for "academic reasons." Get it?

Thanks to PURE's Julie Woestehoff for finding the pea under the middle card.

She says a “turnaround’’ has the same affect of a “closure” on adults in a school. “This seems to be more evidence to suggest that this is a phony moratorium. It’s a moratorium whose details are TBA. How can people sign on to support something when the details seem to change from hour to hour? It sounds like a moratorium of convenience and nothing that can be trusted or supported by Chicago parents.’’

The editorial in yesterday's Sun-Times said it best:

A five-year moratorium on Chicago school closures proposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel sure sounds good — as long as you don’t think too hard about it.

Also watching the cards move, were union V.P. Jesse Sharkey and Catalyst reporter Rebecca Harris who were interviewed last night by Elizabeth Brackett on Chicago Tonight.