BOARDWATCH: Milkie's frauds at Noble charter schools have been exposed long ago, and still the Board and Rahm push the Milkie myths...
Mayors come and mayors go, but as long as Chicago has a school board appointed by its mayor, fraudulent outfits like the "Noble Network of Charter Schools" will be receiving preferential treatment from the Board of Education. Reported in the Substance report by Marybeth Foley on the February 25, 2015 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education, David Vitale, the President of the unelected Chicago Board of Education, was again giving praise to Michael Milkie. Henry Bienen, one of the Board members, added to that praise at the end of the meeting. Milkie runs the Noble Street Charter Schools, and according to Vitale, it's all about Milkie's �dedication to education.�
Michael Milkie crossing a picket line at Gladstone Elementary School. Gladstone was closed, and the building now houses the Noble "UIC Campus" charter school. Substance photo by David Vance. A lot as usual is left out.
Not mentioned is that the 16 Noble Charter schools (actually, the "campuses") have the highest expulsion rate of any school in Chicago. Oh, but they don't expel students: they are just advised to leave the Noble schools because they can't live up to the Noble standards and all that "Be Noble" stuff.
Also not mentioned is that there is no union to represent the teachers and staff and no Local School Council for parent and community voices. This is ironic because Milkie profited from having union representation when he was a union teacher at Wells High School. Of course, Milkie always tried to maneuver to get rid of the "bad" kids from his math classes and the "bad" courses from his program -- no matter what happened to the rest of the school. So when Milkie began his nobility by dropping out as a union teacher at Wellls, he tried to take the best kids with him, and then began his habit, a decade ago, of dumping the "bad" kids from his charter school bad to Wells.
Also not mentioned are the parent/teacher protests that occurred at many schools closed and given to Noble by CPS. Examples- Bowen High school parents and staff protested in the spring of 2013 when Noble was given half of their building space, the new section. The Child Toddler Community Center was supposed to be in this section. Now there are three high schools in South Chicago, two charter and one public.
Another example: In the spring of 2008, Gladstone Elementary School (Damen near Roosevelt) with over 300 children was closed and one week later flipped into a Noble Charter school, for their "University of Illinois" campus. In the packed school gym, parents begged and students sang their school song. They recited their school mantra a poem with tears in their eyes. They said, �Gladstone Pride of the Westside.�
But the Board voted (a) to close Gladstone because it was "underutilized," then (b) give the building to Milkie and the Noble charter schools.
Gladstone became a target for Noble officials with the help of CPS because of its proximity to the medical buildings; a valuable historic building where they could remake with profit. (Both Milkie and his wife are now administrators of the "Noble Network", the family making more than $300,000 per year in total).
Some things never change. Before there was Rahm Emanuel, Richard Daley was mayor, and the Board of Education was pushing more Noble Street charter schools.
Back during the Daley years, the school closer for CPS was David Pickens -- nicknamed the �hatchet man.� Mayor Daley wanted privatization, but they called it �parental choice�. Teachers said that when Pickens came to your school something bad was going to happen. He told the students and staff at Gladstone to �find another school.�
Years since, and Noble Street charters is still expanding, but now with the support of another mayor, Rahm Emanuel, and another school board, this time headed by David Vitale, is still promoting charter schools.
