PARENT ENGAGEMENT

CPS parent volunteers

Latest from CPS -- All parent school volunteers will now be required to be fingerprinted. Accurate Biometrics has been given the $650,000 contract (no board approval required) to do the fingerprinting and parents will have to travel to one of their four centers in the city to have it done. 

According to Brother Fred, 

Accurate Biometrics' President is Peggy Critchfield. Her previous experience in security work was running the ice pro shop at Marshall Fields. She was Marshall Field's crystal buyer before that. Her other major client is Teach for America.

When asked if parents would also be required to assume the position and take the perp walk? CPS Liar-in-Chief Becky Carroll offered no comment.

ELECTION NOTES

Yes, election victories are possible even in this era of Citizens United, ALEC, the Koch Bros. and Bloomberg billions. Aside from the de Blasio landslide victory in New York, there was the victory of the grassroots school board campaign in Bridgeport. The campaign, led by the Working Families Party, won out over the corporate-backed forces who were pushing a horrific school privatization and corporate reform initiative.

Vallas is toast in Bridgeport

The victory means that the nine-member school board will now have a five-member voting bloc that opposes charter-hustling, union-busting Supt. Paul Vallas.  The election victory should pave the way to finally get rid of Vallas much in the way the D.C. mayoral election got rid of Michelle Rhee in 2010. The bad side is that he may decide to return to Chicago. That's probably only fair since we sicked him on the rest of the country in the first place.

An election-day stumble took place in Colorado where Amendment 66, a ballot initiative to fully fund public education, reduce class size and institute full-day kindergarten, went down to defeat.

Ironically, the measure was supported by Bill Gates, and Michael Bloomberg and opposed by the Koch Bros. Corporate contradictions. Yes they exist and are worth noting.

BELAFONTE

Harry Belafonte

Speaking of the Koch Bros., despite their gazillions, they may have bitten off more than they can chew when they attacked veteran civil rights hero Harry Belafonte. Harry spoke truth to power, as usual, and called out the Brothers Koch on the final Sunday of the N.Y. mayoral campaign. The Koch's poured money into the campaign of de Blasio's opponent, whatshisname.

“They make up the heart and the thinking in the minds of those who would belong to the Ku Klux Klan. They are white supremacists. They are men of evil. They have names. They are flooding our country with money.

Perfect.

The Koch Bros. flack, Rob Tappan responds:

 “It is unfortunate that he and others choose to make such false comments about Charles Koch and David Koch, who have devoted their lives to advancing tolerance and a free society — where every individual is judged on his or her individual merits and they are free to make decisions about their lives.”

Hilarious.