May 13 'All Hands' Meeting of CPS executives for damage control?... Rahm's Revenge? CPS 'Chief Executive Officer' has scheduled meetings for all administrators for May 13 -- Reportedly to read all of them (and principals) the Rahm riot act?
When is a meeting of the highest paid public officials in Chicago not a public meeting? Well, one of those will be taking place as the headquarters of Chicago Public Schools on May 13, 2014. This morning, Ohio-based CPS "Chief Executive Officer" Barbara Byrd Bennett has demanded that all of her top executives be present for "All Hands on Deck" meetings.
Apparently Chicago Public Schools "Chief Executive Officer" Barbara Byrd Bennett will have to spend fewer of her weekends flying at public expense to her Ohio residence and be around when heck breaks loose in the pages of the local newspapers. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel was reportedly furious when he read the Op Ed by Blaine Elementary School's principal in the Sunday Chicago Sun-Times. Byrd Bennett, fighting off the fate of her slavishly loyal predecessor Jean-Claude Brizard, has reportedly been warned to be "on top" of challenges to the Mayor of Chicagoland. Above, Byrd Bennet angrily eyeing press photographers during the March 26, 2014 Board of Education meeting after she had ordered Board security to arrest anyone from the press who refused to cover the Board stories from assigned seats. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.Many CPS officials are suspecting that the reason for the meeting is to threaten them back into line following the principals' manifesto. On Saturday, May 10, Troy A. LaRaviere, the principal of Blaine Elementary School, published a lengthy critique of CPS in the pages of the Chicago Sun-Times. The URL for the Substance report on this important event is: http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=4972�ion=Article
Chicago Public Schools officials and Mayor Rahm Emanuel were caught napping when the Chicago Sun-Times published, on the weekend, a courageous column by the Blaine school principal declaring it's time to stand up and be counted against the cuts and lies of the Emanuel administration at CPS.
As usual, Barbara Byrd Bennett was not available (in Chicago at least) to respond to media questions. And the mayor -- whom more and more people are calling the "Emperor of Chicagoland" in honor of his fictive identify courtesy of his Hollywood buddies -- was likewise dodging the challenges to his lies that is now public.
But....
On Monday, May 12, CPS administrators received orders to attend what will amount to private meetings with Barbara Byrd Bennett and Tim Cawley to get them back in line before the mutiny expands.
May 13, 2014
Dear CPS Team,
Former CPS Budget Director (and Pritzker functionary) Beth Swanson (above right) began monitoring CPS activities and Board of Education meetings for Rahm Emanuel as soon as the mayor took office in May 2011. Above, Swanson was photographed during the July 2011 meeting of the Board. Shortly thereafter, she stopped sitting in the Board Chambers and continued monitoring the meetings from off-stage. Swanson is expected to be monitoring the "All Hands on Deck" meetings called by Barbara Byrd Bennett on May 13, 2014 because most of Byrd Bennett's top executive appointees are from out-of-town and are no longer trusted by the administration to know what's really going on in the city's 600 public school. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.Please join CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett on Tuesday, May 13th, for a CPS "All Hands" meeting. The meeting will last approximately 15 minutes. In order to accommodate all central office staff, we will host three separate sessions by department. Please review the schedule below to obtain your designated time and location. The meetings will begin promptly at the scheduled time.
10:45 - Teaching and Learning, Office of College and Career Success, Office of Diverse Learner Supports and Services - Room 1550
11:15 - Chief Administrative Office - Board Chambers
11:45 - Office of Accountability, Office of Strategic School Support Services, Board Office, Talent, CEO's Office, Office of Network Supports, Innovation and Incubation, Public and External Affairs, Family and Community Engagement, Communications, Law - Room 1550
Thank you,
Signed: Bob
Chicago's Hollywood scripted mayor will not be at the "All Hands" meeting of some of his highest servants, but rumors are that the meetings will be overseen not only by his "Chief Executive Officer" at CPS but by his chief liaison for City Hall, Beth Swanson. Swanson, the former CPS budget director and Pritzker family functionary, is currently a City Official who monitors stuff for Rahm at CPS. Ironically, she once served on the LSC at Blaine.
Rahm, of course, has better things to do. On Tuesday, March 13, according to the 'Mayor's Press Office," Rahm will be in Chinatown, one of the places he gets the most smiling faces, and then conniving with the Public Building Commission to further do whatever he wants with dwindling city capital dollars:
FOR PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY
May 12, 2014
CONTACT: Mayor�s Press Office. 312.744.3334. press@cityofchicago.org
The Public Schedule for Mayor Rahm Emanuel � May 13, 2014
Mayor Rahm Emanuel will be joined by Commissioner Brian Bannon and community leaders from the Chinatown neighborhood to break ground on the new Chicago Public Library Chinatown Branch.
Time: 10:45 AM
Location: 2100 South Wentworth Avenue, Chicago, IL*
*There will be no media availability following. Mayor Emanuel will attend a meeting of the Public Building Commission.
Time: 2:30 PM
Location: Richard J. Daley Center. 2nd Floor, 50 West Washington Street, Chicago, IL*
*There will be no media availability following.
Comments:
By: Richard Biegaj
CPS censorship
CPS brass gets completely bent out of shape when any employee speaks directly to the media. All comments need to go through the Office of Communications to be vetted and sanitized. Of course, that wasn't really an option for Troy LaRaviere,was it? Not likely anything he said would get past the CPS censors. I give the man credit for having the courage to do what he did.
By: Valerie F.Leonard
Thanks Again, George!
George I want to thank you and the Substance News corps, for shedding light on the dirty deeds of CPS. But for Substance, most of these issues would never get covered or resolved. Keep up the great work.