WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Xian Barrett protests Chicago school closings. He was one of 2,100 teachers and staff fired Friday. CPS called his mother to tell her, son has been fired from his job.  

Fired Chicago teacher Xian Barrett

“The fact that there’s a script and it has in it, 'Thank you for the service to the kids’ but no details — the fact that it’s always done this impersonally. It’s not just about firing. It’s how CPS treats their students. They’re interchangeable, and the relationships in their lives are interchangeable.” -- Sun-Times

UIC Prof, Dick Simpson

“Many people know one of the fired school employees. They were fired — not because they weren’t doing their jobs, but because of how school finances were handled... Rahm Emanuel is losing the African-American vote. And independent voters are gonna be swayed by school closings and bond ratings.” -- Sun-Times 

Princeton Prof, Douglas Massey

"Unlike cities such as Chicago or Philadelphia, where segregation produced disinvestment in certain neighborhoods, the nature of segregation in Detroit meant that the entire city suffered disinvestment." -- Auto troubles, race at root of Detroit collapse 

New York teacher, Katie Lapham

The new Common Core state tests have left me despairing of the future of public education in both NYC and throughout the country.  -- WaPo, Teacher: Why the last school year was ‘crushing’

Retired Detroit worker, Vera Proctor

“Where’s the nearest street corner where I can sell bottles of water? That’s what it’s going to come down to. We’re not going to have anything.” -- NYT, Cries of Betrayal as Detroit Plans to Cut Pensions