Another CPS four-letter word -- 'Transparency'

 “The most open, accountable, and transparent government that the City of Chicago has ever seen.” -- Rahm Emanuel

“Chicago Public Schools is committed to a culture of transparency, especially when it comes to spending taxpayer money on contracts.” -- CPS Liar-in-Chief Bill McCaffrey

Raise You Hand's Cassie Cresswell

Then where's the vendors list? asks S-T reporter Lauren Fitzpatrick. Raise Your Hand's Cassie Cresswell wants to know too. Now, so does Inspector General Nick Schuler. Me too. After all, without a scorecard, how are we supposed to know which of Rahm's campaign donors or Gary Soloman/SUPES hustlers, are bellying up to the $5-billion CPS trough?

Remember, the system is supposedly broke -- on the verge of bankruptcy. They're blaming it all on the CTU and on all those greedy retirees trying to hang on to their meager pensions.

CPS has just laid off a thousand people (including SpEd teachers and aides) meaning class size is about to jump, the central office staff is in chaos and totally demoralized and everything but the "essentials" is supposedly on the cutting board.

But which of the vendors are "essential" and which are not?

For example, didn't we just see a report showing that teacher professional development run out of central office, ie. Learning Hub, was a bust -- a waste of time and money? Or how about the millions going to feed Gov. Rauner's favorite, Phyllis Lockett's LEAP Innovations?

So where's the vendors list, Forrest Claypool? It was on the CPS website July 28th but Cresswell says it's gone now.

“I see that site all the time to look up various companies,” she said. “You can never tell with CPS whether it’s weird random incompetence [or] whether it’s someone trying to hide anything.”

Cassie, there's one thing I can tell you about Claypool -- he's competent. And there's another thing I can tell you about CPS -- they're trying to hide things.

McCaffrey says that the vendor lists were removed last year from CPS’ revamped website and never re-linked and that the list "isn't being maintained". But he doesn't say why.

My guess is that this has something to do the current grand jury hearings and the Byrd-Bennett investigation. Someone please tell me I'm wrong.