Friday, March 6, 2009

Thanks for everything you've done for the kids, Rito

Best wishes to Rito Martinez, the founding principal of Social Justice High School in Chicago's Little Village community, who's been forced out of his job because of the city's stupid residency requirement. I found the sensationalistic headline in the Sun-Times, "Star Principal Caught Living a Lie," to be truly disgusting, even by that paper's own sleazy standards.

Principal Martinez wasn't "living a lie." He was living the life of an urban educator, forced, like so many city teachers and principals, to make a choice between the needs of his family and the needs of his students. The paper makes it sound like he was a fugitive, on the run from the law, rather than an educational leader for some of Chicago's neediest children. Thanks Rito for helping to create one of the city's finest schools.

1 comment:

  1. For anyone looking for the anonymously posted personal screed aimed at Principal Martinez, I deleted it permanently from Small Talk. I have an extremely liberal policy regarding posts in the comments section, but I draw the line on cowardly, anonymous, personal attacks. Sorry Anon.

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