Turning the neediest overcrowded Chicago schools into beggars

BBB calls parent protest a "knee-jerk reaction" to overcrowding

The Mayor runs the schools the way he runs the city. It's a two-tier system with wealthiest and politically-connected getting the lion's share of the resources while the poorest neighborhoods and schools go begging. As a result, his hand-picked, rubber-stamp school board has become the regular target of protests by parents who want equal  treatment for their children and their neighborhood schools.

Parents whose children attend overcrowded Chicago schools stood up and let their voices be heard once again at yesterday's meeting, making it clear that their buildings deserve improvements just as much as an elementary school in the affluent Lincoln Park neighborhood that is in line for a $20 million annex.

According to the Tribune:

Sun-Times

Parents from Prieto Math and Science Academy in the Northwest Side Hanson Park neighborhood — which is more overcrowded than Lincoln, according to Chicago Public Schools figures — said one fourth-grade class overflows with 60 students while eighth-graders are taking lessons in a hallway.

"Wealthier communities that ask for more resources to expand their schools, they are listened to," said Edilia Correa, who has a prekindergartner and a fifth-grader at Prieto. "We feel happy for their parents, but we are angry at CPS for denying those same resources to our low-income communities."

Byrd-Bennett responded in her usual fashion -- chastising the parents for not coming to the board with "a plan rather than a knee-jerk reaction to the overcrowding."

The arrogance of power.