Mayor's Office Passes The Buck
On Wednesday, February 24, 2010, twenty five members of the Bradwell, Marshal and JN Thorpe school communities, with allies from the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) and Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), stormed Mayor Daley’s office on the fifth floor of Chicago's City Hall.
Above, the Office of the Mayor of the City of Chicago on the fifth floor of City Hall is often the scene of protests. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.Once there, the group waited for nearly twenty minutes before being allowed to speak with the Mayor’s 'Education Assistant' for close to one hour. The group was told that the Mayor defers to his appointed experts at the Board of Education to inform his decisions. I responded that, as a teacher, when I receive permission to go on a field trip from my principal and someone gets hurt, then the school leader is held accountable. In this case, we hold the Mayor accountable for poor choices made by the Board of Education and demand an immediate explanation directly from the Mayor himself to representatives from the fourteen school communities originally slated for turnaround, phase out, consolidation and closure. This meeting did not happen over night, there was a bit of history involved.
Approximately two weeks ago a similar group made up of parents and teachers from Guggenheim elementary school approached the Mayor’s assistant Press Secretary, Lance Lewis, and demanded a meeting with Daley within seven days.
When no one was contacted us, a group of nearly 300 parents, teachers and students from McCorkel Elementary, Phillips and Marshal High Schools approached Mr. Lewis again on Monday, February 22nd, to demand that he honor his promise. Lewis claimed that he did not remember making such a promise. Although Lewis reached out and made an effort to connect us to the right people in the Mayor’s Office, no meeting had been arranged by the time the Board of Education was poised to decide the fate of ten schools. Therefore, we made the third trip. We gave the Mayor’s Office one last demand, get us a meeting within seven days, or we’ll be back! Stay tuned.
