Rahm Love and the Mess at CPS

GOOD READ...And at home I found a separate culture of intellectual achievement. This is the tradition of Carter G. Woodson, Frederick Douglass, and Malcolm X. It argues for education not simply as credentialism or certification, but as a profound act of auto-liberation. This was the culture of my childhood and it gave me some of the greatest thrills of my youth. -- Ta-Nehisi Coates, "Acting French"

RAHMLOVE...If you're an alderman looking to win Rahm's love, the Reader's Ben Joravsky shows you the way. All you have to do is kiss his ass and answer all the questions right on (former CPS liar-in-chief) Becky Carroll's Chicago Forward questionnaire.

Chicago Forward is run by my old pal Becky Carroll, who used to be the mayor's chief spokeswoman at the Chicago Public Schools. In the last few months, it's raised more than $1 million from some of the mayor's closest and richest chums, including Michael Sacks, Kenneth Griffin, and other gazillionaires.

THE MESS AT CPS..."Aramark’s top priority is to make sure that CPS students, faculty and staff have clean, comfortable learning environments." -- Company spokesperson Karen Cutler

One way to win RahmLove is to shut up about the whole filthy mess at CPS caused by the mayor's privatization of custodial services, including the firing of hundreds of janitors. Principals and parents are outraged by the conditions schools are in. After hiding under his desk for a week and leaving the hemming and hawing over the privatization deal to Byrd-Bennett, Rahm is all of a sudden talking tough  to his buddies at Aramark, the company he funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to in his privatization frenzy (like he played tough guy for a day or two with Chicago Parking Meters LLC). He tells them, "if you don't clean up that mess by next month, why I'll, I'll, I'll..." What?

Aramark can't keep the schools clean because their custodians are spread too thin. Only real solution is to end the contract with Aramark and SodexoMAGIC ("Magic my ass" as I call them), apologize to the fired workers and rehire them. Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis,says the privatization isn’t working, and that both contractors, Aramark and SodexoMAGIC, should be fired.

There it is.