The January 2012 Issue of Substance
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MEDIA WATCH: Is Hollywood Rahm ducking the media? Few 'media availabilities' since Rahm's rent-a-preacher program became a public issue (and scandal) following January 20 revelations at hearings on snowy night. Last official event was following dramatic loss of Chicago Library Commissioner
By Saturday, January 28, 2012, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel had, for the first time since his May 2011 inauguration, avoided public media events, and maintained a blackout for most of the press from his headquarters . . .
Hearings to dominate CPS agenda through early February
Hearings on the 2012 Hit List will dominate the agenda at CPS headquarters at 125 S. Clark St. in Chicago during the last week of January and through the first week of February 2012. Although . . .
SUBSCRIPT: 'Network' maps — and the whole 'Network' and 'Chiefs of Schools' notion — shows the absolute incompetence of Jean-Claude Brizard and his 'team' of overpaid and undercompetent MBAs and other mercenary bureacurats
As those who following the expensive, mercenary and Byrantine meanderings of management at America's third largest school system know, this year "Chicago Public Schools" got a new name for its subdistricts and a new kind . . .
COMMON CORE: Pooh's Little Instruction Book for Teachers
LESSON PLANS
If possible, try to find a way to write your Common Core Lesson Plans that doesn't involve going bump, bump, bump, on the back of your head. Or send a knife into your . . .
American high schools have been terrible for more than 100 years... Just ask Harvard or the 'experts'
[Editor's Note: The following, titled "Our history of dissing high school grads" was sent to the New York Post, Jan 23, 2012. It is followed by the latest from the Post on how terrible our . . .
SUBSCRIPT: Maybe is should be called 'Charter Schools Hypespo'... New Schools Expo is really featuring the anti-public school privatization schools and their supporters
The "New Schools Expo" scheduled for Saturday, January 28, 2012 (9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.), at Soldier Field has been receiving a great deal of uncritical support (including a Robocall from a Chicago Bear to . . .
Steve Jobs: Born in the USA but finally a traitor to his country, not a hero... The New York Times helps expose How Apple Computer joined a long line of American corporations who made a profit off union busting, slave labor, state capitalism, and, often, fascism
There were probably few teachers anywhere, and certainly in Chicago, when more than 20 years ago, Apple Computer featured my classroom and my students in one of their promotional booklets describing the "Macintosh Classroom" we . . .
SUBSCRIPT: Delightful website takes on most of the bigger lies of Michelle Rhee and her supporters
A delightful website about Michelle Rhee and her supporters — Rhee First — takes on most of the lies that have been told by and about Michelle Rhee since she began her union-busting and . . .
SUBSCRIPT: Last Stand for Children First lampoons turnaround with three new videos
The wonderful website "Last Stand for Children First" has released three new brief videos on CPS "turnaround" (with music) that prepare Chicago for the next round of "turnaround." As the month moves towards an . . .
A.R.T. / CORE candidates sweep Chicago Teachers Union retiree delegate elections
All 32 candidates endorsed by the Alliance of Retired Teachers, CORE, and the Chicago Teachers Union leadership won the recent election for delegates to represent the 3,700 retired members of the CTU. The vote count, . . .
Wiasconsin Governor Scott Walker facing serious recall challenge one year after launching his well-financed Koch Brothers attack on unions
Less than a full year after the massive protests in Madison Wisconsin foreshadowed the "Occupy" movements across the USA, union activists and thousands of others have successfully gathered a massive number of signatures to recall . . .
The University of Chicago should be ashamed... Geoffrey Canada is no Dr. King
Last Thursday, January 12, 2012, Superman himself landed in Chicago. Geoffrey Canada is the founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) in New York City, star of the pro-charter, edu-documentary "Waiting for Superman", and guest . . .
MEDIA WATCH: Rahm Photo Op King holiday publicity stunt doesn't even need reporters! — and you don't even have to send out a photographer!
It came out as a press release, part of the onslaught of them (on average, more then one per day) from Rahm Emanuel's personal publicity machine since Mayor One Percent was sworn in in May . . .
Civic Committee and Chicago Tribune continue attack on public worker pensions... Are We Ready for Illinois “Pension Reform” Mania Again
All we can hope for now is that Governor Quinn and Illinois legislators make an ethical and legal decision regarding their single-minded “pension reform” (as if this is the sole solution for the current state’s . . .
Thinking about Dr. King's legacy and the current state of the public schools of America's cities... It's the Socioeconomic Segregation, Stupid
In a piece for The Nation by a few days ago, Linda Darling-Hammond demolishes most of the remaining chunks of any size within the crumbling structure of corporate education’s most ironically-titled reform ever — No . . .
MEDIA WATCH: 'All The News That Fits, They'll Print...' Board of Directors of Chicago News Coop are union-busting pro-turnaround privatizers led by Martin Koldyke... Why has The New York Times outsourced Chicago news reporting to this biased bunch
More than a dozen years ago, I stood up against multi-millionaire Martin Koldyke, now the emeritus chief of the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), back when he was trying to force Bowen High School, . . .
School Reform, Chicago Style... A close look at Donald Fraynd and the Chicago School of 'Turnaround'
School Reform, Chicago Style, By Susan Ohanian, first published summer 2011. Ohanian Comment: Reading the first paragraph or so of this Wall Street Journal piece, I thought I'd be posting this item in the "Good . . .
Grim reminder about guns and schools... In the real world of real guns, the margin of errors is very very slim... Texas middle school student was killed by police when he refused to drop a lookalike airsoft pistol when ordered to
It's been 13 years since my career as a teacher, and as school security and safety coordinator at one of America's most dangerous high schools, was abruptly ended by Paul G. Vallas and Richard M. . . .
New Labor Beat Video 'What's happening in Chicago is the national model for the attack on public education...' ... 'We are the people who will save our schools!'
A new Labor Beat video out in January 2012 adds to the growing list of videos that teachers, parents, students and supporters of real public schools can draw on to educate themselves, their colleagues, and . . .
Where is the debate? Kenzo Shibata challenges corporate schools reformers on Huffington Post
The phrase "education reform" has been co-opted to mean a narrow party program advocated by the reform establishment (mainly billionaires and their designees) that includes a barrage of testing, charter schools, and taking experienced educators . . .
Occupy Oakland... The Port Shutdown and Beyond (an analysis)
[This article first appeared in Insurgent Notes, http://insurgentnotes.com] On Monday December 12, the Occupy movement shut down the major west coast ports of Oakland, Portland, Longview (Washington), and Seattle. There were partial shutdowns or support . . .
Ten Years of No Child Left Behind has set back public education
[Editor's Note: The following was released for the New Year in anticipation of the tenth anniversary January 8 of the bi-partisan signing of "No Child Left Behind." Anyone reading Substance who is not familiar with . . .
New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C. all demonstrate the failure of market-based corporate reforms and mayoral control... Whose children have been left behind?
[Editor's note: We are borrowing shamelessly from both Valerie Strauss (the Washington Post blog Follow The Answer Sheet — http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet) and Diane Ravitch herself. The following came through the Strauss blog on January 3, 2012, . . .
CTU calls on members to join and support Chicago City Hall Sit-In
Leaders of the 30,000-member Chicago Teachers Union have issued a call for the union's members to begin joining the sit-in outside the offices of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on the fifth floor of Chicago's City . . .
Chicago closing hearings begin Friday, January 6, and continue from now until February
Hearings regarding the proposals from the Brizard administration that nine schools be subjected to various kinds of closings (from "co-location" to closure) and ten schools to "turnaround" begin in Chicago on Friday January 7 and . . .
SUBSCRIPT: Brizard's bureaucrats must be fluent in Ptydepe... The secret is out. To work in the 'new' CPS administration you have to master pdydepe and pass a test on it administered by Jean-Claude Brizard...
We've finally discovered the secret to getting a top level (and highly paid) job in public education in Rahm Emanuel's Chicago in 2011 and 2012. You have to be bilingual — in Ptydepe. Rahm's been . . .
Another video on hypocrisy, corporate agenda of 'Stand for Children'
Another good You Tube video, this one mostly narrative and text, provided readers and viewers with updates on Stand for Children's corporate funding and corporate agenda. Worth watching if you are still in the market . . .
Teacher suicide blamed on bullying by local school administrators in Ford Heights Illinois
Workplace bullying and fear prevalent in Ford Heights south of Chicago? Teachers think so, and are finally speaking out — too late for one teacher. The story, typical of many that could be told, reminded . . .
Young people prefer socialism to capitalism in latest poll
Not surprisingly to anyone who has been following both the news and recent policy debates, young people who four years ago went for Barack Obama's finance capitalist version of audacious hope have turned to socialism . . .
MEDIA WATCH: Brizard to hold a love in with KOCO?... Fox News Chicago gives Brizard a half hour to spread his questionable version of reality
One New Year's Day gift to Chicago came from Fox News, which gave Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Jean-Claude Brizard a half hour show to spread his strange version of reality to the . . .
MEDIA WATCH: New York Times, Sam Dillon, launch New Year with another union bashing version of corporate school reform propaganda as 'news'
A little more than three years after he made his Page One debut as one of the most effective propagandists for corporate "school reform," New York Times pundit Sam Dillon began the New Year with . . .
More than 1,000 teachers, other staff, face Chicago Hit List
More than 1,000 Chicago teachers and other school staff are facing firing during 2012 as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and novice Chicago Schools Chief Executive Officer Jean-Claude Brizard continue the failed policy of "turnaround" into . . .
January 25, 2012 Board of Education meeting hears a large number of problems without the fireworks of the previous month
The regular monthly meeting of the Chicago Board of Education took place on Wednesday, January 25, 2012, at 125 S. Clark Street. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance at 10:41 a.m., followed by . . .
Rent A Protest stories getting into Chicago's corporate media
As the final barrage of hearings on the schools closings and turnarounds begins taking place during the week of January 23, 2012 (with a major emphasis on the Board of Education's January 25 meeting at . . .
Mayor's Town Hall... Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel tells his side of the story in an online ‘conversation,’ while elsewhere others fight school closings
Calling it a “Conversation about Education,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel held a live “Facebook Town Hall meeting” on the city’s West Side on the evening of Monday, January 23, 2012. At the same time, the . . .
Six Degrees of ALEC: Connecting the dots in the corporate “reform” agenda for education
[Editor's Introduction by Susan Ohanian. Even the name is likely to make most teachers I know roll their eyes. How can a teacher who is engulfed by the data flooding her classroom, the Rubric Queens . . .
Despite January 20 snow storm, parents, community leaders and students speak out against closing of Best Practices High School
On a snowy Friday, January 20, 2012, at 6:00 p.m. a meeting to discuss closing Best Practice High School (located at 2040 W. Adams) was held. There were 45 parents and community members at the . . .
Firing inner city teachers is still the Chicago fetish, even as (Another) study proves (again) that student socio-economic status provides most of what becomes test scores as a measure of school 'achievement'... Further 'research based' evidence of hypocrisy and cruelty of Chicago's 'turnaround' stu
Another study, published this week by the Teachers College Record of Columbia University's graduate school of education in the Teachers College Record, proves that SES (Socio Economic Status) is the primary factor in how schools . . .
SUBSCRIPT: Cold weather in Chicago in January... Who knew street crime would go down? Rahm, McCarthy take full credit for... An act of God!?
There used to be wisdom among police officers that said something like this: Don't take credit for things when they are good unless you are ready to take the blame when things go bad. In . . .
RETIREE NEWS AND CTU HISTORY: More than fifty years of activism in the Chicago Teachers Union
I was deeply gratified as I approach my 83rd birthday to hear that I was again reelected to the Chicago Teachers Union's House of Delegates as a retiree delegate. It’s hard to believe that I . . .
Bronzeville CAC rejects Brizard plans to close or 'turnaround' four Bronzeville schools, challenges illegal CPS closing activities and paid protesters who disrupted Bronzeville hearings on January 6
In a dramatic move, the "Community Action Council" (CAC) for Chicago's Bronzeville community has rejected CPS proposals for changes in four schools located in the community, and additionally challenged the manner in which the current . . .
Marquette Park march on Martin Luther King holiday challenges CPS attack and 'turnaround' proposal for Marquette Elementary School
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 16, 2012, nearly 300 people protested with the Chicago Teachers Union against the Board of Education’s plan to “turnaround” Marquette Elementary school. Students, teachers, parents, CTU officials, and . . .
More than 150 march on Martin Luther King Day against Herzl school 'turnaround'
At least 150 supporters of Herzl school spent their Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday on January 16, 2012, protesting the proposed turnaround of Herzl Elementary School on Chicago's West Side. They assembled at Dvorak Elementary . . .
The rise to power of Broad Fellow and Chicago protegé Hosanna Mahaley-Johnson-Jones... Some ugly details about the Daley - Duncan - Obama connection
(January 16, 2012) It is not my custom to spend time on an article from American Thinker, a conservative publication whose political editor brags about appearances on the Dennis Miller show, but "Unsolved Mystery: . . .
Rahm's Rent-A-Preacher and Rent-A-Protest exposed, even to elected state officials
In a reversal of fortunes, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's bullying and union busting tactics have been not only uncovered but challenged by state officials on the Illinois Educational Facilities Task Force and in other contexts. . . .
Teachers, union to commemorate Dr. King with march against turnaround at Marquette Elementary School
Led by the Chicago Teachers Union and CTU President Karen Lewis, teachers, parents, students and community leaders plan to commemorate the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday, January 16, 2012, with a march . . .
Last day of City Hall Sit-In
This is Just the Beginning! was the word. On January 9, 2012, a small group of parents, LSC Leaders, KOCO members, grandmothers, Occupy Chicago activists, and community members held the last day of the sit . . .
CATALYST: Stand for Children Illinois says (without evidence) that 'Turnarounds' are 'proven...', but they don't support Rent A Protests and Rent A Preachers
[Editor's Note: It's always interesting to us when a lawyer repeats some marketing claim and deliberately leaves out the evidence. But that's what's happening in Illinois right now, now that the new executives at "Stand . . .
CEOs say the dumbest things when they are teacher bashing and union busting... Jean-Clause Brizard on Fox News with Robin Robinson prattling on through his talking points and babbling nonsense
Substance just published the January 2012 print issue of Substance, which keeps us on schedule during our 36th year of publication. The majority of stories are focusing on the struggles against the lies of CPS, . . .
Rahm's 'Rent-A-Protest' fails to disrupt Crane closing hearing... Fraynd and CPS turnaround hacks run away escorted by CPS security at precisely 8 p.m. following their attempt to slander Crane High School
One of the most impressive points during the hearings on the proposed closing of Crane High School, held at Malcolm X College on the evening of January 6, 2012, was that Crane's supporters were able . . .
Disruption caused by multiple principals cited as undermining school... Majority at Guggenheim Elementary hearing mostly in opposition to proposed closing
On Friday, January 6, 2012 about a hundred people met in the Shiloh Baptist church, 7050 S. Racine, as part of CPS’ hearings on the closing of Guggenheim Elementary. This meeting was one of the . . .
Age discrimination lawsuit filed under Civil Rights Act against Board for 2010 teacher firings... Chicago Teachers Union hits CPS with another federal lawsuit challenging discrimination
A new federal lawsuit (11-cv-09322) was filed December 30, 2011 by terminated tenured Chicago Public Schools teachers from Ames Middle School. The lawsuit is against the Chicago Board of Education and its seven members, alleging . . .
Mayor, media ignore the writing on the walls (er., on the floors...)... Sit in at City Hall tells the story of more than a decade of sabotage of Bronzeville public schools
It's been there for more than two days, right on the cold marble floors of Chicago's City Hall, outside the office of what may be the most famous Mayor's Office in the USA — Chicago's . . .
CHICAGO CITY HALL SIT-IN DAY TWO: Mayor harasses KOCO, sit-in, by removing chairs and forcing senior citizens to sit on the floor, and continues to refuse to meet with protesters as sit-in goes into second day on January 5, 2012
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanule on January 5, 2012, continued to refuse to meet with protesters who have tried to conduct a peaceful and non-violent sit-in outside his fifth floor offices at Chicago's City Hall, adding . . .
CHICAGO CITY HALL SIT-IN DAY TWO: Sit-in resumes for second day after arrest threats force protesters out on night of January 4... police remove chairs forcing protesters to stand or sit on marble floor
The sit-in outside the office of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel resumed shortly after 8:00 a.m. on January 5, 2012, following the end of the event by 6:00 p.m. the previous night. According to participants, Chicago . . .
CHICAGO CITY HALL SIT-IN DAY ONE: Community, teachers begin sit-in outside Mayor Emanuel's City Hall office demanding an end to threatened school closings, turnarounds, phase outs and other attacks on public schools
More than 200 people ranging in age from infants to senior citizens in their 70s began a sit-in outside the fifth floor City Hall office of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel at noon on January 4, . . .
CHICAGO CITY HALL SIT-N DAY TWO: Speakers outlined demands of sit-in as the famous fifth floor of Chicago's City Hall echoed with the chants, prayers, songs and spirit of the Civil Rights and Freedom Ride eras
Between 100 and 200 teachers, parents, students, clergy and community activists stood in the hallway on the fifth floor of Chicago's City Hall outside the offices of Mayor Rahm Emanuel on the morning of January . . .
Gang problems are also political problems, but gangs are ignored while Chicago school teachers and other school workers are slated to be fired during upcoming orgy of 'turnaround' because of inner city troubles
Gangs may be a major problem in more than 100 Chicago public schools, but CPS officials will continue to blame teachers when violence breaks out. The relationship between the city's major street gangs and the . . .
SUBSCRIPT: Will Chicago's 'CompstatCPS' follow New York's lead in killing crime by 'juking' the stats?
Amid an enormous amount of fanfare, and with a cast of nearly hundreds (mostly police officers), Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Schools Chief Executive Officer Jean-Claude Brizard, and Police Supt. Gerry McCarthy hosted a December . . .
CPS Facilities Plan and so-called 'Transparency' are both nonsense, as a close look at dozens of schools shows
As usual at year's end, Chicago Public Schools issued an important document and some very important information by press release, avoiding having Chief Executive Officer Jean-Claude Brizard and members of his "team" try and explain . . .
New York building cleaners' contract averts nationwide picketing against major building owners
Thanks to a threat of solidarity from around the country and a strong stand against a dual pay system and givebacks on health insurance, the union representing thousands of New York City private building janitorial . . .
