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Madigan's boys run wild in Springfield

Madigan and Mapes

When Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan announced in February 2018 that he had fired Kevin Quinn, the brother of Madigan’s alderman and political general, he said he’d done so because of Quinn’s “inappropriate conduct” with Alaina Hampton, whom he called a “courageous woman.”

Party boss Mike Madigan's boys are out of control down in Springfield. Have been for years. It's all about the old white boys club which is the IL State Democratic Party machine and wielding power over others, especially women.

IL Playbook's Shia Kapos and Adrienne Hurst report:

A new report detailing complaints of bullying, sexual harassment, intimidation and inappropriate behavior in state government memorializes what many of us already know.

The IG report was issued by Atty. Maggie Hickey, which appears to me to be revealing a little to hide a lot. The 201-page report details dizzying instances of “intimidation,” “hazing-like experiences,” “unclear hierarchy,” “pressure to volunteer,” “favoritism” and “demeaning assignments.”

Hickey uncovered “a purported culture of negative treatment that faced people who were perceived to challenge Speaker Madigan on any issue.” She found "that the fear of retaliation that could arise in unforeseen and unprovable ways was a major — if not the major — concern.”

Chief among the bullies (and sexual harassers) named in the report is Madigan's former chief of staff Tim Mapes. But he is not alone. The IG's report let some of Madigan's boys off the hook, like Rep. Lou Lang...

The report also concludes that there was not sufficient evidence to corroborate Democratic state Rep. Kelly Cassidy’s claims of retaliation by Madigan, Mapes and Democratic state Rep. Bob Rita for Cassidy speaking out about how Madigan’s team handled harassment allegations.

...I believe Cassidy.

Mapes' response couldn't be any worse..

"The recent criticisms made against me do not truly appreciate the size of the responsibility of my position.”

The size of his what??? And then comes the classic...

If my demeanor or approach to my job did not instill trust and a healthy work environment, I apologize.”

That's not much of an "IF".

As for Boss Madigan, who serves as chairman of the state party and is the longest serving statehouse speaker in the U.S., his phony self-crit may be even worse. It's that old, "I didn't do enough of the right thing to change the world." And after all, who among us has?

“I take responsibility for not doing enough previously to prevent issues in my office, and continue to believe that we, collectively, need to do more in the Capitol to improve our workplace culture and protect the women and men who work here who want to make a difference in the world.” 

Which brings me to the case of Alaina Hampton. 

She was one of Mike Madigan’s longtime political operatives who questioned the powerful House speaker’s actions in a federal lawsuit that also alleged retaliation, and for months criticized his handling of sexual harassment claims.

Madigan & Hampton

But Hampton has paid a heavy price. She's been blackballed and unable to work in her chosen profession anywhere within Madigan's reach. In February, 2018, she outlined accusations against Madigan aide Kevin Quinn — a younger brother of Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) — claiming he sent her barrages of unwanted text messages and phone calls in pursuit of a romantic and sexual relationship.

As part of the retaliation, Hampton alleged the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), under pressure from Madigan, refused hire her to help with a political campaign, and the union is refusing to provide documents she claims may prove retaliation was at play.

Hampton said she and teachers union lobbyist D’Javan Conway exchanged text messages in which Conway indicated the union was “eager and ready” to have Hampton work with them on Johnae Strong’s campaign for state representative of the Fifth Legislative District in the 2018 election. The union and United Working Families, a grassroots political group, endorsed Strong for the seat.

However, Hampton said Conway eventually told Hampton union officials had learned she was “on the outs” with Marty Quinn, the suit said. Hampton said the union then ended communications with her.

Hampton subpoenaed documents, including copies of texts, from Conway, union vice president Stacy Davis Gates and Emma Tai, who is executive director of United Working Families, to support her retaliation claim.

According to the Cook County Record:

The union officials and Tai have balked, with their attorney, Josiah Groff, saying the subpoena requests would be burdensome to satisfy and seek irrelevant and private information. In particular, the requested information involves political strategy discussions that need to be kept under wraps, according to the suit. 

Rep. Carol Ammons, vice chair of the women’s caucus, told Playbook in a statement:

“Alaina Hampton’s story is unfortunately a common one. I hope that the due process taking place results in truth and justice. Her determination gives other women hope for a future where these kind of incidents are uncommon and eventually nonexistent.”

According to Capitol Fax's Rich Miller:

 Madigan may have expressed public contrition in 2018, but I know for a fact (because I’ve argued this point with them) that some members of his organization have privately never forgiven Hampton for coming forward. She, in some minds, is the disloyal one for airing Madigan’s dirty laundry in public.

 Now if this story of political intrigue and retaliation is getting too complicated to follow (it is for me, at times), we will try and sort it all out this Friday on Hitting Left with the Klonsky Bros. when Alaina and Joanna Klonsky will be our in-studio guests.

Tune in Friday from 11-noon CT to WLPN 105.5 FM in Chicago and streaming live at www.lumpenradio.com. 

1968 Revisited

68 Vets  [Bob Black photo]

What fun! I got to relive the "Battle of Michigan Avenue" and more '68 action over the past few days with some of my favorites from back-in-the-day.

On Sunday, Susan Klonsky and I were guides on a trolley tour of '68 protest sights (what's left of 'em), including battle grounds in Lincoln and Grant Park (Gen. Logan's Statue), the Hilton, the Amphitheatre, Panther office (a Walgreens), SDS office (a parking lot), Young Lord's Peoples Church (Walgreens) and more.

The tour was sponsored by Chicago History Museum and Illinois Humanities. It sold out in the first few hours after it was announced. I think we could have filled up 3 more trolleys. Everyone said they liked it and one guy even tried to tip me 10 bucks. I gave it to the driver.

Susan Klonsky & Mary Scott-Boria at Girl Talk last night. 

Yesterday, I spoke on a panel at UIC put on the Great Cities Institute, called "The World is Still Watching. On the panel with me were veteran Chicago activists, Don Rose (Mobilization Committee Against the War in Vietnam), Marilyn Katz (SDS), Cha-Cha Jimenez (Young Lords), Che Brooks and Mary Scott-Boria (Black Panthers), and our soon-to-be Congressman, Chuy Garcia (was only 14 in '68).

And then last night at the Hideout, Susan and Mary did an amazing tag-team talk at The Girl Talk.

We also got some good ink. Check out this story in the NY Times.

You can also tune in to www.lumpenradio.com at 11 a.m. CDT Friday, to hear a repeat of our '68+50 show with Marilyn, Mary, Mike James (Rising Up Angry), and Omar Lopez (YLO).

SEIU does the right thing. Gives Boardman the boot from Local #73

Readers may remember back in 2014 when I tangled with Local #73 Pres. Christine Boardman. At the time I was reacting to Boardman's sellout of CPS janitors and custodians by agreeing to Rahm's $340 million sub-contracting deal with Aramark and SodexoMagic ("magic" my ass). It was one of the largest privatization moves of any school district in the nation, leaving custodians out of work, schools filthy, and principals in revolt.

Boardman's threatening letter.

Boardman then put icing on her sell-out with a $25,000 contribution to Rahm's campaign war chest. Local #73 also tried to put the kibosh on other locals' support for Rahm's opponent, Chuy Garcia. 

"Ugh!", I wrote. "She's dirtier than a CPS bathroom" for "signing on" to the deal. I had searched in vain, including on the Local 73 website, for any sign of protest or public resistance.

Boardman flipped out, tried to bully me and even threatened to take me to court over my hyperbolic blog post. Her lawyer's letter to me argued that she never actually "signed off" on the deal and that in fact, she was not "dirtier than a CPS bathroom".

After consulting with my own attorneys at Pro, Bono & Plead, and having made my point, I retracted both statements. I had no hard evidence that Boardman had literally signed an acutal piece of paper on the Aramark/Sodexo deal or that she was indeed, dirtier than a CPS bathroom (a pretty high bar for dirtiness, I admit).

Other observers, like the Reader's Ben Joravsky, possibly fearing the bully's wrath, also chose their words carefully.

Among union activists, Local 73 is known as the mayor's—well, let's just say union activists aren't too thrilled with Local 73.

My brother Fred tooned it.

Now, nearly two years later -- too late perhaps for the local's 14,000 city employees or for students wallowing in filthy schools -- the chickens have come home to roost at Local #73. SEIU trustees have stepped in and put the local in receivership. Boardman, the bully, has been given the boot.

According to the union's statement on the takeover:

This time, it stems from “incessant fighting” between union president Christine Boardman and secretary-treasurer Matt Brandon that apparently “reached a boiling point and seriously disrupted the operations and functioning of the Local, putting members’ interests at risk.” 

 Boardman and Brandon “each challenge the basic legitimacy of the other’s authority to hold office or lead the Local,” resulting in a “debilitating dysfunction of the Local’s governance process as well as causing instability and confusion within the Local and its membership,” 

Now the local has a chance to regroup, get organized and become a voice for the workers who need them the most.

Please don't sue me for saying this Christine, but good riddance to bad garbage.

Tune in this evening for my SOS webinar with Jonathan Kozol

Save Our Schools Coalition Webinar 

Jonathan Kozol

Guest Moderator Mike Klonsky 

June 1, 2016  

8 PM Eastern Daylight Time [EDT] 

JONATHAN KOZOL received the National Book Award for Death at an Early Age, the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for Rachel and Her Children, and countless other honors for Savage Inequalities, Amazing Grace, The Shame of the Nation, and Fire in the Ashes. He has been working with children in inner-city schools for nearly fifty years. His newest book is The Theft of Memory: Losing My Father, One Day at a Time.

Tune in. Ask questions. Spread the word. 

Please Join Us!

WEBINAR REGISTRATION 

SUPPORT THE The People’s March for Public Education and Social Justice

July 8th in Washington, DC&The SOS Coalition Activists Conference July 9th at Howard University

The youth movement

This, from yesterday's New York Times:

PARIS — A revolt over proposed labor-law reforms in France has set off an uprising among French youth, fed up, they say, over their government’s failure to tackle a host of problems and thus robbing them of their future. Calling itself Nuit Debout — roughly translatable as “Standing Up at Night” — the movement recalls Spain’s 2011 anti-austerity Indignados movement and the Occupy movement in the United States. But there are also echoes of France’s own history of popular revolt, including the student-led protests of May 1968.

The '68 French youth uprising left an indelible impression on me and many other young activists here in the U.S. The war in Vietnam and austerity in the colonial mother countries was at odds with the vision millions of young people had for the future of the world in which they hoped to live.

Whether in the Arab Spring or Occupy, or Paris' Nuit Debout, the youth movement lights the spark. But it becomes a real threat to the power of the 1%ers when it connects with labor movement (often a little slower on the uptake) and the freedom movements of the most oppressed sectors of society as it did in Paris 48 years ago.

This would make for a great discussion topic today at RIOTcon in Chicago where I'm doing a lunch chat, along with my brother Fred. Come join us.

But you can call off the spies, Mr. Mayor. RIOT in this case, is simply an acronym for Raging Issues of Today. The conference is sponsored by the Chicago Theological Seminary. Your citadel is still secure, for now.

According to CTS:

These two days feature a dynamic program and training schedule, including three keynote addresses, panel discussions and workshops led by the brightest minds of today.

Thank you. Thank you.

On the so-called 'failure' of the small schools movement

Holy Cross prof, Jack Schneider, writing at EdWeek, makes a pretty fair assessment of the small schools movement.

In the eyes of Gates and company, the problem was with small schools as a particular policy fix rather than with the thinking behind the fix. Collective faith in silver bullets—in finding "what works" and "taking it to scale"—remained absolute. Never mind the obvious disregard for the importance of context or inescapable complexity of improving schools. The backers declared small schools a failure and moved on.

But while the modern small schools movement, which began as a teacher-led movement in East Harlem, for social-justice and democratic education and met its death when it was trampled by the top-down, corporate-style reform wave of the past two decades, was never envisioned as a panacea or a technical reform for ailing schools. Rather it was seen by us early educator/activists as a way to drive change from below. Small, was about far more than the size of buildings or even school population. It was a metaphor that gave us a way to confront anonymity and talk about schooling in personalized, human terms.

Gates money, translated into Gates' takeover and proved to be the irresistible kiss of death, as many of us suspected it would be.

Writes Schneider:

As it turns out, small schools do exactly what you might expect. Smallness can create more opportunities for young people to be known, both by one another and by the adults in the building. The relative intimacy of small schools can foster trusting, caring, and attentive relationships. Deborah Meier, the godmother of the small-schools movement, consistently made this argument in the 1980s and 1990s when explaining the importance of size. As she put it in a 1989 op-ed essay, small schools offer young people better opportunities to learn forms of participation" necessary to becoming a member of a democratic society." But they are, at best, only one piece of a complex puzzle. And early proponents of small schools were clear about that. As Meier, who also writes an opinion blog for Education Week , prudently observed: "Small schools are not the answer, but without them none of the proposed answers stand a chance."

For more on the life and death of the small schools movement, read our book, "Small Schools: Public School Reform Meets the Ownership Society." Maybe it's time to reopen the conversation on small schools.

Our Panel Saturday at NPE

I hope to see you at this weekend's NPE 2015 Conference at the Drake Hotel in Chicago. Featured speakers, include Yong Zhao, Diane Ravitch, Lily Eskelson Garcia, Randi Weingarten and Chicago’s own Karen Lewis and Jitu Brown.

Don't miss our panel, Saturday afternoon from 2:45-4:00: Educating Our Kids While We Fight Back.

Carlos Rosa, Jay Travis, Larry Miller and Fred Klonsky

I will be moderating a great group of education activists which includes: Ed Blogger and union activist Fred Klonsky; newly-elected, progressive Chicago Alderman, Carlos Rosa; community activist, Jay Travis, and Milwaukee School Board member and Rethinking Schools editor, Larry Miller.

You can register for the NPE Conference here.

What's a nice kid like you doing in a place like this?

Kamryn (left) and her pal Delaney. 

A SMALL TALK SALUTE goes out to Caprock Charter School third-grader Kamryn Renfro who had shaved her head over the weekend to show support for good friend 11-year-old Delaney Clements who lost her hair from chemotherapy. The charter board in its wisdom, voted to kick her out of school until her hair grew back. It seems that baldness violates their school dress code. But Kamryn and her family hung tough, raised hell, got overwhelming public support, a social-media firestorm erupted and the family won a reversal of the ruling allowing her to take her rightful seat back. My only question is, what's a nice kid like Kamryn doing in a charter school run by such creeps? One board member even voted again to expel her.

Prof. JVH

MY FAVORITE UT PROF Julian Vasquez Heilig recalls our appearance on Rag Radio last month in Austin and somehow links me and host Thorne Dreyer to hippie-dom and the beat generation (Fighting for Public Education with the Activist Hippies, the Original Hipsters). He's only partially right. See my comments at the end. But thanks for all you do, Prof. JVH.

FURNITURE MATH...CPS plans to back up the truck at Staples and spend a cool $10 million on furniture for their new digs at the Sears flagship store at Dearborn & Madison. I can't say too much about that since I just bought my own "ergonomic" desk chair at Staples for about 200 bucks. But $10 million? I mean, that's furniture for about 1,200 central office bureaucrats. I'm no mathematician but that comes out to $8,333.33 per crat. OK, I realize that Byrd-Bennett, Col. Tim Tyrell and other top bosses will get nicer, more expensive stuff, but still.

BBB's current office chair obviously won't do.

While I have my calculator out, if they would just spend $5M on new furniture and use the other 5 for classroom needs, that comes out to hiring back  about 100 teachers, librarians & social workers.

For those who don't follow such things, Staples Inc. started with backing from private equity firms including Bain Capital and Bain co-founder Mitt Romney served on the company's board of directors for the next 15 years, helping shape their business model. In 1996, Staples became a member of the Fortune 500 companies as sales surpassed $3 billion.

I take solace in the fact that I'm sitting in a Staples ergo-chair trying my hardest to keep neighborhood schools open and improving, while BBB will be parked in a plush rich Corinthian leather chair behind her new brass-plated desk (I'm sure it won't come from the Staples catalog) plotting how to close them.

Stern crawls out from under his rock to attack Ravitch

I haven't heard much from ’60s ultra-radical turned far-right think-tanker Sol Stern since 2008 when he tried to paint Barack Obama as a commie symp and make Bill Ayers the focus of the presidential election debate. He used to write me letters, trying to befriend me. He says he went to the same summer camp as me as a kid but I can't believe that Kinderland would ever turn out a creep like Stern. He even offered to take me to a Yankee game (yuck, I was born with Brooklyn Dodger blue in my veins)  if I would only give him some inside dope about Ayers for a book he was working on.

Last I heard, he had fled the country and was living in Israel. Now I see he's crawled out from under his rock once again, to attack think-tank apostate Diane Ravitch whose new book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools, has his and other former fellows' shorts in a twist.

Back in '08, Stern worked for the right-wing Manhattan Institute (he obviously still does) and raged against progressive and social-justice education, calling it akin to "Stalinism." Stern's job at the Institute included hunting down and “exposing” social-justice teachers, whom he accused of “trashing the American system.” In another post Stern, responding to the UFT's Leo Casey, called the teachers union "a shill for Obama" and referred to me as a "good friend of the UFT" (which I think I am).

As for Ravitch, Stern attacks her as a "crude" turncoat, accusing her of "surrendering abjectly to [Deborah] Meier, champion of social-justice teaching and other progressive fads."

He calls her blog "a propaganda hub for the national anti–corporate reform coalition."

This past Labor Day, for example, Ravitch posted the words of militant union songs like “Joe Hill” and “Which Side Are You On?” and lamented that teacher unions don’t have enough power or influence in America.

Stern adds to his list of charges:

Ravitch uses her blog to publicize and organize support for antireform school board candidates from Rochester to Los Angeles. She recently wrote an impassioned endorsement of Bill de Blasio, the most radical of the Democrats running in the New York mayoral primary and the eventual winner. 

Sol Stern

He even accuses Ravitch of apparently agreeing with the progressive-ed icon [his tongue burns and he sputters as he says his name] Jean Piaget.

But as you might expect, Stern's coup de grace is exposing Ravitch's friendship with Ayers and the Klonsky's.

Thus, she has praised the former Weather Underground terrorist and radical educator William Ayers for his contributions to the anticorporate insurgency. (She concedes that Ayers made some political “mistakes” in the sixties.) Ravitch has also had kind words for leftist education activist and onetime Ayers ally Mike Klonsky. On her blog, she recounted visiting two universities in Chicago in 2010, with Klonsky as her host. “For me, the fallen-away conservative, it was a trip getting to know Mike, because he had long ago been a leader of the SDS, which was a radical group in the 1960s that I did not admire. So meeting him and discovering that he and his wife Susan were thoughtful, caring, and kind people was an experience in itself.” 

According to Stern, I "spent several years in China during the horrific Cultural Revolution, attending state dinners with the Great Helmsman." Pure bullshit. He made that part up. That's okay. The legend grows.

All I can really say in response to Stern's diatribe is, thanks for everything you do, Diane. The very things that make you big, make them small.

Right-wing Loony Tunes

EAG's Kyle Olson always appears on FOX in front of a faux bookcase. As if...

Right-wing loony Kyle Olson is at it again. You might remember Kyle as a guy who has made a career out of stalking teacher union activists, like my brother. You might also remember him and his EAG group for backing Rahm during the teachers' strike. Olson is a shade to the right of Rush Limbaugh, but his EAG group has a close affinity for Democrat Rahm's brand of union bashing. They even featured Rahm in one of their movies.

So what's Olson up to now? His latest "expose" produces a list of some of the many Chicagoans who signed on to a "letter of allegation" sent by The Midwest Coalition for Human Rights to the U.N.'s High Commission on Human Rights, asking the Geneva-based organization to watch for “potential domestic and international human rights violations” in Chicago when school starts this year.

The letter –- penned by University of Chicago law professor Sital Kalantry -- explains that school closures will force children to attend far-away schools, where they will have to travel through violent, gang-ridden communities. The letter suggests the school closings breach principles required in a number of international treaties signed by the U.S. It argues the closings violate the right to equality and non-discrimination in education, as they disproportionately affect minority students and students with disabilities and will result in lower-quality education for those affected.

The action comes alongside two federal lawsuits seeking injunctions to block the closure of the institutions by the nation’s third-largest public school district before the new school year begins.

The letter seems to have given Olson and his crew painful wedgies. His team of ace investigators (Did NSA or  Booz Allen help?) went right to work scanning the list of signers for any known rads, unionists, or civil rights leaders. And lo and behold, they came up with some of the usual suspects.

Among the signees: The Chicago Teachers Union, Action Now (formerly known as ACORN), domestic terrorist-turned-professor Bill Ayers, former Students for a Democratic Society leader-turned-professor Michael Klonsky, and retired professor and Barack Obama hero Timuel Black.

Great undercover work, Kyle. But let me just say that I'm proud to be in such esteemed company. And I don't mean yours.

The struggle continues

Fred Klonsky

The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”  -- William Faulkner 

Yesterday will go down as a day of infamy in U.S. history.

The Supreme Court ruling, gutting the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the failure of Congress to respond, sets back the struggle for racial equality in this country by some 50 years. The decision will stand, along with previous rulings like Dred Scott, Plessy and Plessy v. Ferguson as another official tribute to institutionalized white supremacy protected faithfully, if inconsistently, by the highest court in the land.

“I think what the court did today is stab the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in its very heart," Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat who was with President Johnson when he signed the law and who was beaten at Selma, said on the MSNBC program “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”

 Julian Bond, who helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, said on MSNBC that the chances were “slim to none” that Congress would agree on a way forward for the law.

I'm interviewed at the protest

I was at the rally against school closings at Lakeview High School yesterday. Before the march to the mayor's house, I was interviewed by Chicago Tonight's Elizabeth Brackett.
 

Rahm still thinks there's a "miracle" down in Texas

"The data shows that the longer you stay in the classroom learning,  you'll learn more..." -- Rahm Emanuel

While you mull that one over, I want to know who the genius was that told Chicago mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel that Houston schools were really great? It must have been one of the billionaire experts on the corporate-reform education team. David Vitale? Penny Pritzker? Or maybe Emanuel ran into former ed secretary Rod Paige back in D.C., who told him there was a "Texas Miracle." That b.s. story actually propelled former Texas Governor George Bush into the White House in 2000 along with former Houston superintendent Paige as his ed secretary. In any case, everywhere Rahm goes these days, whenever anyone asks him for an example of what he wants to do with Chicago schools, he answers, "Uh, Texas--Houston, Texas."

At yesterday's forum at Malcolm X College students got to ask questions of the next mayor about how he'll be different from outgoing Mayor Daley and how he plans to improve the city's dropout rate. Obviously prepped by one of his experts, Rahm offered his now-stock answers--charter schools, merit pay, and a longer school day. He also threw in principals, who he calls the "franchisee owner of the school building."

In Houston, says Rahm, "if you start in the Chicago Public School system in kindergarten and your cousin lives in Houston, and you both go all the way through high school, the cousin in Houston spends three more years in the classroom."

My god! Is this true? Three years more in the classroom? That cousin must be a genius (or bored out of their freakin' mind). Well, at least his or her ACT score may be a wee bit higher, if -- and this is a big if-- they're not poor. The average ACT score for Houston's public high school students is 19.7, compared with 17.3 for Chicago, writes Trib columnist Eric Zorn. But that 2.4 difference doesn't seem like much of a miracle, does it, considering the three years of extra time in the classroom. Besides, who is this "average" Houston student they keep talking about anyway? Whose cousin is it? I've always wanted to meet them.

What I do know is the gap between white students in Houston and the district's students of color is about the same as those in Chicago. Not only that, but HISD schools have failed to make AYP under No Child Left Behind standards, for three years in a row. Funny, Rahm failed to mention that.

Zorn adds that, "87 percent of Chicago's pupils are classified as 'low income,' compared with 79 percent of pupils in Houston labeled 'economically disadvantaged.'"

Maybe Rahm's experts should have thought of that. Get 8 percent fewer poor kids in your school and your scores will go up by a couple of points on average, that is. As Houston Supt. Terry Grier told his board of trustees last week:

"We want all of our schools to be on an upward trend. We have kids in our very best schools that need help. But I can promise you it's a lot easier to get help when you're surrounded with children with means. Our biggest challenge in our district is fighting poverty. You look at the achievement gap between free and reduced and non free and reduced. "

And it's not like anyone is actually arguing against lengthening the school day. The CTU is all for it, providing teachers get paid for the extra work. What a concept!

Chicago's elementary school day generally begins for students at 9 a.m. and ends at 2:45 p.m., with no recess and just 20 minutes for lunch. Well, there it is. Just restore recess and adequate time for play (lots of learning goes on during play, Rahm) and bodda-bing, you have your 3 more years of learning.  And I guarantee at least a 1.3 rise in ACT scores--on average that is. As for the cousin--well they've probably already dropped out. You see, Houston's dropout rate matches  Chicago.

Oh, and guess what? HISD's board just announced that they are cutting the district's summer school week down to four days as a budget-cutting measure. The reason--HISD will lose $173.6 million in state funds in 2011-12 and $217.3 million in 2012-13.

Yes, Rahm, the more time you spend learning, the more you are learning. True enough. Try it!

NCRP report shows most big ed foundations not serving the neediest kids

NCRP, a philanthropic watchdog group, has released a blockbuster report, Confronting Systemic Inequity in Education, showing how few of the ed foundations  focus their support on the neediest students. 

"If no one thinks this report is pushing the envelope and is outrageous in some way, then maybe we didn't go far enough," said Aaron Dorfman, executive director of the committee, which was founded 35 years ago to be a voice for nonprofit and marginalized communities. (Huffington)

New analyses of education grant data suggests that of 672 foundations included in the sample, only 11% devoted at least half of their education grant dollars to marginalized communities and only 2 percent devoted at least one-quarter of their education grant dollars for systemic change and social justice.

Among the biggest foundations described as "exemplary" are the Ford Foundation, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Noticeable in their absence from the list are Gates, Broad & Walton foundations.

"We're asking these philanthropies to ask themselves these tough questions," said report author, Kevin Welner, an education policy research professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, adding that he was surprised by how few foundations were engaged in tackling inequity.

 *****

The report's release coincides with the publication of a new book, The Gates Foundation and the Future of U.S. "Public" Schools (Routledge), Edited by Philip Kovacs which includes my chapter: "“Power Philanthropy: Taking the Public Out of Public Education”

Talk about "retrograde" -- how about turning back clock to 1868

In case you've you've forgotten why the Republicans need another butt-whupping in the upcoming midterm elections (I almost have), here's a reminder. The latest GOP game plan includes the repeal of the 14th Amendment. You know, that's the one that guaranteed full and equal rights for African-American, former slaves in 1868 and overruled the Dred Scott decision, which held that black people could not be citizens of the U.S. The 14th Amendment also became the basis for Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

The Republicans' target in 2010 is no longer fugitive slaves, but rather undocumented immigrant workers. Repeal will allow laws like Arizona's SB 1070 to remain in place. While repeal has no chance of passing (unless frightened Dems decide to "reach across the aisle"), the campaign provides another wedge issue around which the party's anti-immigrant base can be mobilized for the mid-term elections. The party's brigade of racist demagogues is led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Arizona's Jon Kyl and newcomer to the cause, Lindsey Graham,

I'm watching to see if Democrats stand up or wilt on this as elections grow near.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Stewart vs. Lewis in run-off for CTU president

"You don't make radical changes in times of trouble," Stewart told the Chicago Sun-Times on Saturday.
But Lewis posed this question: "And exactly what has this experience gotten us?"

Does free speech stop when the bell rings?

"When you teach young people who are very close to voting age that the government gets to decide what they can criticize, you shouldn't be surprised that we get damaged citizens," he said. "Too many (school officials) see student expression as a problem to be managed rather than an opportunity to teach." (Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center)

"Even though I believe their voices have to be heard, they have to be disciplined for their infractions." (Joyce Kenner, principal, Whitney Young Magnet High School)

Texas school board approves new "standards"

"I have let down the students in our state," said board member Mary Helen Berlanga (D). "What we have done today is something that a classroom teacher would not even have accepted," she said, sweeping a pile of history books from her desk onto the floor. (Washington Post) 

IN THE MAILBOX

Dear Mr. Klonsky,

I am a high school senior planning to attend Northwestern next fall. I have been considering pursuing studies related to education and it is through this interest that I landed on your blog site. I am trying to understand your differences with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on the subject of charter schools and how they differ from the small school approach (other than on the issue of public vs. private). I'll continue looking at your blog. Possibly you can recommend other resources. Thank you for your time, June

Hi June.

Thanks for reading my blog and for asking such a good and provocative question. Since this is a blog, I'll try and be brief.

The early movement for smaller schools and teacher-led charters, was about empowering teachers to have more autonomy over their teaching. It was about creating pockets of innovation that could spread successful ideas and practices across the system. It was also about creating more choices for communities that had few, and engaging those communities in democratic decision-making about their schools and neighborhoods.

It was never about taking away teachers' rights to collective bargaining. It was never about excluding kids with special needs or English language learners. It was never about breaking small schools away from public systems and turning them over to chains of charter management companies. And it certainly was never about standardized testing and schools that turn teachers back into delivery clerks for a pre-packaged curriculum.

These aberrations began to take hold during the Bush years under No Child Left Behind and here in Chicago under Daley/Duncan's Renaissance 2010 plan. Unfortunately, they continue to be carried over under the current administration's Race To The Top.

Susan Klonsky & I lay it all out in our book, Small Schools: Public School Reform Meets the Ownership Society. I hope you get a chance to read it.

Best of luck at Northwestern and hopefully in your teaching career.

Quotables

The "turnaround" business

“States will have lots of money they have to spend quickly,” he said. “Providers could just hang out their shingles, rename their existing staff, and call themselves turnaround partners.” (William E. Guenther, president of Mass Insight)

Metaphors for change--Stab 'em or beat 'em

“You need to have an accurate diagnosis of why each of those 5,000 schools are failing,” he said. “It’s crucial. Sometimes you need a two-by-four to get change. Other times you need a scalpel.” (New Visions President Robert Hughes)

Klonsky quote

Huberman’s biggest challenge, however, will likely come as he tries to adapt performance management to a practice as subjective and heavy with variables as teaching children. Many educators, unconvinced by Duncan’s data-reliant efforts and aggravated by the testing-dependent federal No Child Left Behind law, remain skeptical. “You end up missing, devaluing the role of teachers. You’re turning teachers into delivery clerks,” warns Mike Klonsky, an education professor at DePaul and the director of the Small Schools Workshop, a consulting group. ("Numbers Man" by Ryan Blitstein in Chicago Mag)

Limbaugh: Obama's a 'Maoist'

Republican Party boss says ed plan is "Bolshevik, Maoist, Klonsky-ist, Ayers-ist"

For those of you are concerned that Obama's education policies may be drifting rightward, Limbaugh will straighten you out.

A March 12 entry (subscription required) on Limbaugh's website, he stated that Obama's policies are "about 'social justice.' " It continued: "His education plan is Maoist (no surprise given the Ayers/Klonsky influence), and he is otherwise a Bolshevik. I'm also quite sure, given his character traits, that he would be a Stalinist if he thought he could get away with it ... and he's working on that, too. I wonder what the country will look like in his 10th or 15th year as president?" (Media Matters)