WEEKEND QUOTABLES

 "I believe this was when I was telling the press I was embarrassed as a Jewish woman to have a Jewish mayor experimenting on black children after listening to a bunch of board members say that black parents don't know how to raise their children." -- Wendy Katten, RYH

Oklahoma teacher, Jennifer Simonds

"The children were asking why a train was coming through the school.The next thing we knew, the entire roof of the building was torn off and we were being pelted with all this stuff. I laid myself over my students to protect them, and I remember praying that God be with us and keep us safe, and asking please — let it be me who dies if something happens — and not any of the kids.” -- Sun-Times

NEA Pres. Dennis Van Roekel

What is a "safe passage route"? Google the term and you'll find essentially two definitions: It either refers to the designated routes Palestinians may use to travel from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, or it refers to special routes created by the city of Chicago so children can more safely navigate through gang territory to get to their new schools. -- Huffington Post

CTU V.P. Jesse Sharkey

“We must derive truth from facts here, so … we need the Board of Education to commit that you will not lose any students, that is to say, you should be able to account in one year’s time for where every student went. We need you to commit that you will own up to the declines in academic progress that will happen.” -- Sun-Times

Jitu Brown of KOCO

“There’s a legislative strategy and a street strategy. We are organizing in our communities to stand up for our children, to stand against disinvestment — which is what this is.” -- Curtis Black, Newstips

 Erica Clark, Parents For Teachers

“I don’t think anybody thinks this is the end.” -- Curtis Black, Newstips

 Anthony Cody

A few months back, Chicagoans discovered the Broad Foundation actually had published a detailed guide explaining how to go about closing schools in your community. -- EdWeek