Lewis and the CTU have been leading the charge against the mayor's massive school closing plan and have organized a 3-Day March of thousands, starting tomorrow.
The two civil rights suits filed by the union on Wednesday, along with today's revolt by the Council's black aldermen, plus a swift kick in the ass yesterday by Toni Prekwinkle, has a battered Rahm retreating on school closings like the little Napoleon he is. But as the Board vote on the closings draws near, the Sun-Times is reporting that some of the 53 Chicago Public Schools targeted for closing could be dropped from the list before Wednesday.
Remember, it was just a week ago, after a group of Rahm-appointed judges rejected the mass closing plan and named 13 schools they wanted left open, that Rahm nixed the idea and said he would make no compromises or negotiate any further.
But today the City Council’s Black Caucus demanded that the Mayor and his handpicked school board follow the judges' recommendations. To do otherwise, Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) claimed, would be to “render the whole proceeding a joke” when Emanuel is the one who set it up.
The funniest S-T quotes come from "unnamed sources" who try and convince reporters Spielman and Fitpatrick that Rahm's backtracking has nothing to do with the Black Caucus revolt or with Preckwinkle. Then there's CPS Liar-in-Chief Becky Carroll who "wouldn’t confirm or deny the predictions, calling them rumors. "
I will confirm them.
This is all very wonderful news (although not unexpected) and I suppose I should just sit back and enjoy it, but this "unnamed sources" thing still just gets my goat. When is there ever going to be a journalist with the backbone to tell administration* toadies that if they want to be quoted, they need to put their name on it?
ReplyDelete*any administration - Rahm's, Obama's, Quinn's, whatever. No government official should ever be quoted anonymously when they're just parroting the officially sanctioned administration lines.
--Dienne
Don't buy into the attitude that it is some kind of victory if they take 13 schools off the closure list. This is a favorite Broad Foundation tactic.
ReplyDeleteJust like in labor negotiations, management will propose drastic measure and then, to the relief of the rank and file, compromise in the final offer. Having been terrorized with the original proposal, the rank and file celebrates a victory, but doesn't realize until later what they gave up in the final settlement.
With school closures, there will be no relief for the communities whose schools are closed. There should be NO school closures and a demand that there be full funding to provide whatever it takes to fix the broken schools.
They aren't going to spare 13 schools, Anon. More like 4 or 5. But for the parents and students and schools like Manierre, it feels like a victory. No, they won't concede that the resistance movement in the community forced them to back off a few schools. But it's true, nevertheless. But dropping a handful of schools from the list isn't going to make it. The people can see through these deceitful tactics.
ReplyDelete