LaRaviere still on CPAA ballot, now confirmed by Catalyst... Speculation that Emanuel wanted LaRaviere out of the race still denied... Tribune publishes Op Ed by a 'parent' against LaRaviere...
When the Board of Education announced during Spring vacation that Blaine Elementary School principal Troy LaRaviere was being moved out of the school -- no explanation -- many speculated that the reason was that Forrest Claypool, Chief Executive Officer of Chicago's public schools, wanted to be certain that Troy was not elected President of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association (CPAA). LaRaviere is one of two candidates for the position (the other is former Prosser HIgh School Principal Ken ("Buzz") Hunter.
Troy LaRaviere is still a candidate for president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association (CPAA) despite the Board of Education's removal of LaRaviere from Blaine Elementary School. Reader photo.But it was soon clear that if that was Claypool's intention, he was wrong. The Constitution of the CPAA provides that a person has to be a member in good standing at the time of the nomination. It doesn't matter whether LaRaviere is currently at Blaine or not. His name will still be on the ballot when the members vote in May by mail ballot.
And on April 28, 2016, Catalyst confirmed it. As principals association prepares to elect a new leader, LaRaviere vows to stay in the race, By Caroline Spiezio, April 28, 2016, http://catalyst-chicago.org/2016/04/as-principals-association-prepares-to-elect-a-new-leader-laraviere-vows-to-stay-in-the-race/
Supporters of outspoken Blaine Elementary Principal Troy LaRaviere suspect that the district’s ‘reassignment’ of him last week was a politically motivated effort to keep him out of the public spotlight and out of the running for a bigger role as head of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association.
If so, that plan may well have backfired.
LaRaviere, a vocal critic of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s education agenda, is still running for the presidency of the principals group. And there’s nothing in the organization’s constitution to keep him from doing so, despite the reassignment and the district’s charges against him, which include “insubordination” and “ethics violations.”
If LaRaviere is elected, he will have to leave his post at Blaine anyway—taking him out of CPS’ disciplinary jurisdiction while simultaneously giving him a more powerful public role.
“If they were that afraid of him winning, they should have left it alone,” said Clarice Berry, the current principals association president. “Now the very thing they seem to be most terrified about may be happening. They’ve given him more publicity than he ever could have bought.”
Emanuel and CPS insist the mayor had no role in the discipline action. But even the suspicion of City Hall’s involvement, given mayoral control of the city’s schools, was enough to make the news go viral and draw a response from presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who tweeted about it to his over 2 million followers and blamed “Emanuel’s unhealthy obsession with taking revenge.” LaRaviere previously appeared in a campaign ad for Sanders.
Berry, who will retire after the election, says the race between LaRaviere and his opponent, association Vice President Kenneth Hunter, appeared tight before LaRaviere’s reassignment. Ballots will be mailed out to up to 1,500 association members next week, and votes will be counted May 20. Berry has held the presidency for 12 years, under six CPS administrations.
Hunter, a retired principal from Prosser Career Academy in Belmont-Cragin, says he’s not sure whether the extra media attention on LaRaviere will lead to a larger turnout among members, which include assistant principals and other administrators along with principals.
“I’d love to get some of his publicity, but I’m not sure I want to get it the way he’s getting it,” Hunter said. “I thought, it will either make him a martyr or a pariah, and it’s done a bit of both.”
Hunter’s campaign, centered on open and increased communication between principals, CPS and state legislators, has appealed to more conservative members, according to Berry.
Because state law prohibits administrators from unionizing, Hunter says the key to getting things done is all “about the relationship we have with CPS” and a willingness to sit down and negotiate.
LaRaviere’s campaign also calls for increased communication, especially between school leaders and education-based groups such as Generation All, an initiative of The Chicago Community Trust. Under LaRaviere’s leadership, the association would become “member-driven” and link administrators with similar problems together to brainstorm solutions and create change.
LaRaviere also wants to be involved in policy and help educators “live up to our responsibility to be public advocates,” but says members would never have to participate beyond their personal comfort level.
Still, some members have expressed concern that LaRaviere’s controversial past may force administrators into an activist role that would distract them from their jobs and have a negative impact on the association’s image.
Last year, he spoke out against the PARCC exam and overtesting in public schools, leading over 50 percent of students at Blaine to opt out of the national exam, one of the reasons the district failed to meet Illinois’ requirement to test at least 95 percent of students. The state threatened punitive measures, including potential budget cuts, should CPS schools not meet the requirement again this year.
Meanwhile, LaRaviere has made one thing clear: “I was put on the ballot and I will remain on the ballot.”
TRIBUNE USING OP ED AGAINST TROY... The following Op Edu was published in the Tribune (print edition) on April 29, 2016.
Why Blaine's ousted principal shouldn't speak for our schoolchildren by Alana G. Baum
Some might applaud the reassigned Blaine Elementary School's principal, Troy LaRaviere, for taking on Chicago Public Schools. At first blush, who can blame them? After decades of underperforming schools and slashed budgets, frustration toward CPS has grown and the backdrop seems dire. Years before our state's budget stalemate, pension promises were made to teachers while funds were spent elsewhere, leaving our city and schools mired in unconscionable debt. Yet our state funding for education is one of the lowest nationwide. Of course, people are mad. So it must feel immediately gratifying to have someone rage about the frustrations so many of us experience.
Whatever one thinks of CPS, however, it's a mistake to let LaRaviere be the spokesperson for education in Chicago. As our public schools near insolvency and Gov. Bruce Rauner pushes for bankruptcy, now more than ever we need to come together to find solutions. Instead, LaRaviere is lobbing grenades.
Emanuel on fired principal Troy LaRaviere
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS chief education officer Janice Jackson talk about ouster of Blaine school principal Troy LaRaviere. April 25, 2016. (John Byrne / Chicago Tribune)
If LaRaviere is fired, the action will be seen as political revenge for taking public jabs at Mayor Rahm Emanuel. LaRaviere has repeatedly used his position as principal to flaunt his disdain and defiance of CPS policy. What company or institution would allow an employee to continually and publicly undermine it and still keep his or her job? Even if some see challenging the establishment as a noble cause, political bashing in the name of student advocacy is poisonous. As education adviser for Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, Emanuel's opponent in last year's mayoral election, LaRaviere has had a personal stake in attacking CPS.
And if challenging authoritarian control is LaRaviere's mission, why hasn't he spoken out when dissent has been silenced within the Chicago Teachers Union ranks? If dissemination of facts has been his goal, why has he dangerously denied that pensions are a real financial problem; he has been claiming that the argument is used to put down teachers.
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In support of Principal Troy LaRaviere
Blaine Elementary School Principal Troy LaRaviere was relieved of his duties April 20, 2016, at the Lakeview campus. When school resumed from spring break April 25, his backers showed their support. At a time when frustration is being used politically to incite rather than inspire, to divide rather than unite, LaRaviere is on the wrong side of a righteous cause. There must be different, better voices speaking on behalf of public education in our city — voices of teachers, parents and politicians who recognize the need for better education funding and equality, but who also understand that we must deal honestly with our financial realities and work together to change things. For sure, there needs to be honest discourse about what CPS can do better, about better transparency in decision-making and communication. But it must be constructive.
In contrast, I believe LaRaviere's views have been inflammatory.
Like or dislike Mayor Emanuel, Chicagoans cannot deny that he has taken bold actions in attempting to solve the seemingly insurmountable problems he inherited. He has lengthened school days, increased school choice and raised property taxes, all while asking the CTU to compromise so that all stakeholders have some skin in the game to save CPS. We all need to be at the table — collaboratively, reasonably — with open minds. LaRaviere isn't the guy.
[Psychologist Alana G. Baum is a CPS parent, a local school council member and adjunct professor at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.]
By: John Kugler
Talk is Cheap
We registrated our third son Mikey to a neighborhood school, Juarez Academy.
We sould abolish selective enrollment and chater schools by converting them all to open enrollment neighborhood schools. All schools need to service all students anything less is corruptive elitists neoliberal reactionary bullshit.
Nice to check where people send their children to school. It would show if they really support what they say in public.
Good to talk the game, but as educators we need to start supporting the schools we fight for!
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