All articles by George N. Schmidt

[ Union History ] CORE Cult-like New Age mystical nonsense begins to dominate CTU Executive Board soirees instead of attention to the functional groups represented by most of the Board's 'vice presidents'

We will be reposting past stories so that there is no confusion or revisionist history. CORE has always been a fake democracy that uses manipulation tactics to convince people they have a voice. Every move . . .

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[republished] Did Chicago Board of Education give away the Byrd school building to a Catholic school for $1 a year?

[original publish date October 1, 2010] While the Illinois Facilities Task Force is trying to figure out how to make Chicago Public Schools more "transparent" in its facilities planning, less than two miles from the . . .

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Songs about working class and unions

[The following piece by George Schmidt was originally published on Labor Day, 2011.]

Thanks to The Nation magazine and YouTube, there is now a chance to get a complete medley of some of . . .

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A 'Labor Day' reminder... from 'The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd'-- 'some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen...'

[Published on Labor Day, 2014.]

I wasn't able to make the Labor Day activities in Chicago's historic Pullman district on Labor Day 2014. But throughout the day while doing other things (including the last . . .

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John Dewey's Educational Creed (posted on Substance, Jan. 11, 2018)

It's been years since the logo of the Chicago Union Teacher newspaper (now a magazine) included words from John Dewey, and there was never an explanation of why those words were removed.
But as . . .

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Union busting by CTU leadership a bad reality in the post-Janus era...

While the majority of working class leaders in July 2018 are going to work hard to build (and in some cases rebuilt) unions for both the public and private sectors, a radical problem (or "issue" . . .

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Inspector General's latest report shows more about the corruption of Rahm's CPS administration under 'BBB'...

The corruptions of the administration of Barbara Byrd Bennett, the second "Chief Executive Officer" of Chicago Public Schools appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, has been further exposed in a report by the CPS Inspector General, . . .

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Test sanity increases as University of Chicago drops SAT and ACT as an application requirement...

Some of the biggest news to hit the Education in the USA in June 2018 is that the University of Chicago is eliminating the requirement that students applying for admission to the College of the . . .

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Substance back issues now go to nearly the beginning of the 21st Century...

On line back issues of Substance can be found to almost the beginning of the 21st Century, even though the Substance print edition was suspended in September 2014. Substance has been published continuously since 1975, . . .

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Chicago Teachers Pension Fund to elect teacher and retiree trustees in coming months

Two important elections will be held in October and November 2018, as the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund (CTPF) elects two teacher trustees and one pensioner trustee to its 12-member board. Any teacher member who qualifies . . .

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Despite Vallas's claims, be left behind corruption and financial wreck in Philadelphia...

Despite claims by Paul Vallas and his cheerleaders at the Chicago Tribune, Vallas left behind a wreck when he was forced out of his job at the top of the nation's fourth largest schools system. . . .

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Gangs in Chicago. 'South C's' still in business in 'South Chicago'...

A small article in the May 8 Chicago Sun-Times reminded me that most of the work of Chicago's drug gangs continues, business as usual, into this, now their fourth generation. Back in the 1990s, when . . .

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CTU BUDGET REVIEWS I... As union delegates take a close look at the CTU's proposed budget, questions about double dipping and other problems with the current leadership grow... Does the CTU need a retired teacher as a 'manager of managers' at nearly $100,000 per year?...

In a return to times when the Chicago Teachers Union was a crony patronage operation the current CORE leadership led by Karen Lewis and Jesse Sharkey is back to its old habits of double dipping . . .

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Philadelphia learns the hard way about Aspira charter schools, it's deja deja again as Phildelphia's auditor exposes corruption at the city's Aspira charter schools...

A recent note from Philadelphia shows that the "Chicago Model" for corporate school reform should be avoided at all costs. Philadelphia is now learning the hard way that Aspira charter schools are corrupt and bad . . .

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Labor Beat's Larry Duncan has passed away...

"First Leo. Now Larry" was my first sentence after reading that Labor Beat's Larry Duncan had died. Rather than share all of those memories here now, it's more appropriate that we here at Substance simply . . .

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Did CTU officers and staff violate union rules -- and the union's budget resolution -- by spending ALL of the $1.4 million allocated for various activities on the Chuy campaign 'loan'?...

In what can only be described as equivocation, Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey, at the April 2018 meeting of the union's House of Delegates, tried to dodge a specific question about the spending . . .

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Memorial for Leo Gorenstein scheduled to 'celebrate the life'... at the Hideout Saturday afternoon, April 28, 2018...

There will be a remembrance for Leo Gorenstein on Saturday at the Hideout. Leo's family and friends urge everyone to join them between one and five in the afternoon of April 28, 2018, to "celebrate . . .

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Mayoral ally moves to privatize substitute teachers in Chicago...

After having blocked legislation to establish an elected school board for Chicago, Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, a Democrat, has moved to fast track a bill in Springfield to privatize substitute teachers in Chicago, a . . .

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Leo Gorenstein, fierce partisan for unions, teaching, public education and equal rights, dies of Lou Gehrig's disease...

Leo Gorenstein, one of Chicago's fiercest partisans for public education and equal rights, died on Monday, April 2, 2018, after a lengthy battle with Amyotrophic-Lateral-Sclerosis-ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease). During his career of . . .

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HISTORY: CORE and Labor Beat joined up to give a history of Chicago teachers' strike prior to the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012...

A great deal of history is available at substancenews.net (and if you can get there, at substancenews.com), including the work CTU. CORE, Substance and others did to build for the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012. . . .

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Substance to consider adding staff during March to improve coverage of Chicago's schools...

By the time the Substance staff meets as usual on the third Sunday of the month (March 19 this month), we hope to be adding staff as the amount of coverage of major issues facing . . .

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History still available despite censorship tries... Substance's BACK ISSUES feature powerful stories by CTU leaders, including Potter and Sharkey, from ten years ago...

Despite recent orders from Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis that union staff members not report for Substance (even if they do so on their own time and at their own expense), Substance's "BACK ISSUES" . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union and allies vow to continue the fights against school closings despite February 28 Board of Education vote to close Robeson now and three other schools in a few years...

The Chicago Teachers Union and a group of allies vowed to continue the fight against Chicago school closings following the vote of the Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, to close Robeson . . .

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Substance back issue story shows how the 'Better Government Association' and other ruling class outposts attack public worker pensions...

One of the reasons why early voters in the Democratic Party primary need to question whether they should support Dan Biss can be found by going to Google -- or by searching BACK ISSUES at . . .

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BACK ISSUES Substance feature. An April 2012 feature story showed how the Better Government Association and others were trying to reduce teachers pensions behind a smokescreen about fiscal probity...

On April 10, 2012, Substance ran the article below warning our readers that the continued attacks on teacher (and other public worker) pensions were going to continue from the ranks of the "good government" types. . . .

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West Virginia teachers strike continues despite union leaders' attempts to cut a political deal with governor selling out the rank and file...

The state-wide strike of teachers in West Virginia continued into what will soon be its third week on March 5, 2018, despite continued attempts by some union leaders to do a partial deal behind the . . .

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West Virginia teachers declare victory after statewide strike...

Striking West Virginia teachers declared victory on March 6, 2018 and returned to work on March 7. The strike, the first in more than two decades, won improved pay and health benefits (which officials had . . .

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'Race Science' tries to return in Trump era... Echoes of Henry Ford, Charles Lindberg, and the U.S. Supreme Court...

It was probably inevitable in an era when some are trying to deny the scientific basis for climate change and Neo-Nazis are marching with partial approval from the President of the United States that disgraced . . .

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Teacher unions issue guidelines and support for Wednesday's national student walkouts...

The Chicago Teachers Union and the American Federation of Teachers have issued guidelines so that union members can be in support of students walking out of schools across the United States against gun violence on . . .

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UNION NEWS: Even though the next round of collective bargaining isn't until next year, many in CTU begin talking about contract demands and a possible strike as disappointment with recent contract compromises grows in the rank and file...

It will be more than a year before the current Chicago Teachers Union contract expires, but already in some circles within the union -- including the leadership of CORE -- discussion has begun about what . . .

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CTU celebrates vote to merge charter schools into CTU, despite the fact that fewer than half the union's members voted in favor of the deal...

The Chicago Teachers Union and its allied "labor" supporters have been celebrating the vote to change the union's Constitution and By-Laws to allows charter school teachers to become CTU members. The controversies around the decision . . .

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CTU retiree election results posted, with glaring contradictions still unresolved... Voters were told to vote for 33 candidates, while only 29 could legally be seated...Invention of 'alternate delegates'...

The numerical results of the controversial election for Chicago Teachers Union retiree delegates were finally posted on February 5, 2018. The results, which include a claim that the union was only electing 29 retiree delegates, . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union criticizes Iris Martinez for charter school support and honoring Betsey DeVos...

The Chicago Teachers Union in a February 20, 2018 press release, detailed its critique of the work of State Senator Iris Martinez, the latest of which is Martinez's support for charter school proliferation and hosting . . .

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UNION NEWS: Cult-like New Age mystical nonsense begins to dominate CTU Executive Board soirees instead of attention to the functional groups represented by most of the Board's 'vice presidents'...

Despite all the talk about how the old Chicago Teachers Union calendar date book was "too expensive" for the union's supposedly increasingly fragile budget to endure, other reasons for withholding basic information from the membership . . .

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West Virginia teachers on strike statewide... 'I'm here for a reason... I don't want to leave my state...'

Unions on strike in West Virginia are not a novelty, as anyone who once lived in coal country (I spent two years in Western Pennsylvania, Wesmoreland County) or has bothered to watch the film Matewan . . .

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AFT video, Weingarten email describe Janus stakes as Supreme Court continues reactionary moves against unions, democracy...

The day after oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court on the Illinois-based "Janus" case, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten emailed a message to all union members (of which this reporter is one) . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union history not easily available on the CTU's own website, but BACK ISSUES at Substance have a lot of it...

Members of the 25,000-member Chicago Teachers Union may be able to learn a great deal about Teachers for Social Justice and the current problems in Honduras from their union, but one of the things we . . .

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CTU FOUNDATION? The officers of the Chicago Teachers Union Foundation are the same as the officers of the Chicago Teachers Union, but their answer when asked by CTU delegates and members about Foundation business is 'none of your business'...

This is the first of what will be several articles to be published at Substance explaining, reporting and analyzing the questions that are arising from the nearly secret existence of the "Chicago Teachers Union Foundation." . . .

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CTU FOUNDATION? Grants from the CTU Foundation have totaled millions since 2013, without any review by the union's delegates or members...

Since the Chicago Teachers Union Foundation became an official 501(c)(3) charitable foundation three years ago, the Foundation has given away millions of dollars, as required by federal law governing such legal entities. A lengthy list . . .

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Retirees may have federal legal recourse if the retiree election is not held in a legal manner...

As the debate over whether the Chicago Teachers Union election for retiree delegates should be held over, given the number of mistakes in the election currently being held by mail ballot, CTU members should note . . .

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John Dewey's Educational Creed

It's been years since the logo of the Chicago Union Teacher newspaper (now a magazine) included words from John Dewey, and there was never an explanation of why those words were removed. But as the . . .

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Members First January meeting tonight (January 16) at Connie's... CORE is now purging members and demanding loyalty oaths from CORE members while ignoring CORE leaders' violations of core CORE policies principles, and even by-laws...

The January 2018 meeting of "Members First," a group discussing politics and policies within the Chicago Teachers Union, will be held on. While widespread discussion is now being held among CTU members about the referendum(s) . . .

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'Stronger together' may be the lie as measured against recent contract sellouts...Chicago Teachers Union members growing in doubts about the huge changes being demanded by the leadership in the CTU Constitution and By-Laws...

The prolonged debate within the 25,000-member Chicago Teachers Union over whether the union should approve a massive set of changes in the union's Constitution and By-Laws continues into December 2017, despite repeated attempts by the . . .

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Trump's endorsement on British Nazis continues his -- and his family's -- fascination with fascism...

The most recent controversy created by Donald Trump's Tweets has exposed another example of the U.S. President's endorsement of fascism -- and in many cases of outright Nazis. Although Trump and his family have long . . .

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Teachers, parents and students to march and speak against CPS list of school closings...

The Chicago Board of Education's meeting of December 6, 2017, promises to hear from a large number of teachers, parents, and students who will be denouncing the latest "Hit List" of schools to be closed . . .

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What (really) Happened? Hillary and the Democrats had long sold out on education policy and continued into the 2016 election campaign, as new revelations show...

How much teacher bashing, school privatization, charterization and other right wing attacks on public education and the unions went into the debacle of Hillary Clinton's failed 2016 election campaign? A lot more than we knew . . .

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'Fire Claypool immediately!' is the call of many -- including the school system's Inspector General -- at the December 2017 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education... Despite Claypool's lies and ethics violations, Emanuel sticks by the man he made 'Chief Executive Officer' of CPS in 2015...

While the mayor of Chicago and the seven members of the Chicago Board of Education (all appointed by that mayor, Rahm Emanuel) stubbornly stick by their choice for "Chief Executive Officer" of Chicago's public schools, . . .

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Inspector General's remarks to the December 2017 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education...

As the week ended, it became clear that despite efforts by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to end public discussion of the corruption of his appointed schools chief, Forrest Claypool, the public discussion will continue. Editorials . . .

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Claypool and Claypool's policies and cronies must all be gone for a true clean up to begin... CTU statement reminds leaders that the job of cleaning up the mess after Claypool has barely begun and Chicago needs the elected school board...

Every teacher fighting against principals' pressures to pass everyone to sustain the silly "Sophomore on Track" (SOT) version of reality to goose the statistics in Chicago's public schools can barely be cheering now that the . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Crain's Chicago Business calls Claypool press conference what is was...'That 4 p.m. 'press conference' turned out to be any thing but — a classless exercise in ignoring reality as much as humanly possible...'

While the editors of the Chicago Tribune continued to ignore reality as they editorially praised outgoing CPS CEO Forrest Claypool, more and more Chicago reporters and media got it right. Among the most interesting to . . .

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A 'Claypool level' of hypocrisy?...Chicago Teachers Union leaders tout so-called 'member driven endorsement' while evading most members' questions about political action, PAC contributions, and the finances of the CTU Foundation...

Less than one day after Mayor Rahm Emanuel and outgoing CPS CEO Forrest Claypool -- aided and abetted by a group of preacher patronage beneficiaries -- gave Chicago a loud example of smarmy hypocrisy, the . . .

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'Claypool Cronies' hang in with $200,000 per year jobs, even as lawyer Robert Marmer joins Forrest Claypool at the Exit door from Chicago Public Schools...

With the December 12, 2017 announcement that Robert Marmer would be leaving his job as "Chief Counsel" (the top lawyer) at Chicago Public Schools, it can be said that the first of the "Claypool Cronies" . . .

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Controversial 'Chicago Teachers Union Foundation' giving millions of dollars to friendly community organizations and individuals with no oversight by the CTU House of Delegates or membership...

While a major debate will be taking place within the ranks of the 25,000-member Chicago Teachers Union between now and the end of January as to whether the union should make unprecedented changes in its . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Sun-Times gets 'Claypool costs' a little right, while the Tribune and others ignore the huge pricetag cost to children and schools from their favorite 'reformer'...

The Christmas Day story (below) in the Chicago Sun-Times reporting the cost of corruption due to Forrest Claypool's attempted cover up of the scandal involving his buddy is at least part of the bill the . . .

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Major changes facing Chicago Teachers Union as House of Delegates meets to consider several amendments to the union Constitution...

Several major changes are being proposed by the union's leadership as the CTU House of Delegates meetings on November 1, 2017, with amendments to the union's Constitution and By-Laws the major items on the HOD . . .

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Chicago violence continues even as most youngsters enjoy Halloween

Gun violence -- most of it the result of rivalries among Chicago's major drug gangs -- continued in certain parts of the city, even as most youngsters enjoyed a Halloween. The city had clear, albeit . . .

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Two of three pension trustee elections cancelled because they are uncontested... Only retirees will be voting this year...

Elections for two of three categories of elected trustees to the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund (CTPF) have been cancelled because there is no contest in the election. Two teacher trustees are running unopposed, as is . . .

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CTU leadership fails to bring home a vote for massive changes to the union Constitution and By-Laws at November 1, 2017 meeting... Quorum call ends meeting and postpones major vote at least until January...

Despite massive preparation that included rehearsals at the union's Executive Board meeting, the leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union were unable to bring in a "yes" vote on a list of massive changes to the . . .

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A history curriculum worth following... Civil War books recommended by The Atlantic and by Substance...

When the President of the United States and the White House Chief of Staff both push lies about our own history -- the history of the United States of America -- it's time for teachers . . .

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Two new faces on pension board of trustees following recent election... Rodriguez returned to pension board defeating incumbent Bob Bures...

There will be two new faces on the Pension Board of Trustees following the recent election for trustees. Although the contests for teacher and principal trustees were uncontested (two candidates for the teacher spots; one . . .

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Cullerton blocks elected school board bill...

Illinois Senate President John Cullerton has effectively blocked legislation that was supposed to provide Chicago with an elected school board within three years. According to a November 10 press release from Raise Your Hand:
. . .

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History lesson about Trump's forebears goes viral -- 'A Night At The Garden' shows American Nazis in 1939 in New York City...

Those who have followed closely the racist history of the family of Donald Trump back through his father Fred Trump know already that the Trump's have long been on the far out far right of . . .

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Members First monthly meeting tomorrow, November 21, 2017, after school at Connie's... Leadership refusing to explain why there is a big rush to make the greatest changes in the CTU Constitution in history...

The monthly meeting of the "Members First" group within the Chicago Teachers Union will take place tomorrow, November 21, 2017, at Connie's Pizza after school. As usual the group will be discussing some of the . . .

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Election results were 'good news' for Democrats, but a warning must be issued to the Ed Deformers in the Democratic Party leadership....

If Hillary Clinton really wants to know "What Happened" a year ago on Election Day, she has to go no further than the mirror. But just to make sure that the neoliberal leadership of the . . .

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Controversies continue to swirl as Chicago Teachers Union leadership attempts to consolidate its 'anti transparency' regime via proposed changes in the union's Constitution and By-Laws...

Significant and in some cases unprecedented controversies continued to swirl within the Chicago Teachers Union as the union leadership (mainly, officers and staff) continued to spend union dollars without approval by the House of Delegates . . .

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SQRT III or IV... Readers reminded that the original 'School Quality Rating Policy' by Barbara Byrd Bennett & Co. was supposed to solve all the problems...

Now that, once again, the Chicago ruling class is insisting that we get historical amnesia, readers who want to know how big the joke is can read -- exclusively in Substance's BACK ISSUES -- the . . .

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CTU officers forced to post NLRB notice after CTU loses an unfair labor practice complaint from its own workers...

[img=9883]As the leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union move towards consolidating a corporate-style reign over the union's 25,000 members, other anti-union aspects of the CTU's current regime are becoming more transparent (even as the union's . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union leaders preoccupied with deviant 'social justice' agendas while Chicago's general high schools and neighborhood elementary schools are screwed -- again -- during the opening weeks of school...

Once again, Chicago's general high schools have been forced to open for the 2017 - 2018 school year without enough teachers to staff the classrooms of all the students who have been arriving. Once again, . . .

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Members First to meet Tuesday at Connie's Pizza...

The "Members First" group of Chicago Teachers Union members announced that it will hold its October meeting on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17 AT 5:30 PM at Connie's Pizza, 2373 South Archer Avenue. Chicago, IL 60616. CTU . . .

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'Spitting' lies still loom large in Ken Burns's 'Vietnam'... History as written, in part, by the cowards like Sylvester Stallone ('Rambo') and others who lived the 'Draft Dodger Rag'...

Aware that a Ken Burns video about a part of our history is likely to become a major piece of the curriculum by means of which American children (including my own) learn the "lessons" of . . .

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Secret plans to reduce special ed programs revealed by WBEZ... City Council's Progressive Caucus demands that Claypool testify before the Council...

Following an explosive investigative report on Chicago's WBEZ radio, critics of the Chicago Board of Education and the administration of CEO Forrest Claypool have become even more active. One result of the revelation that Claypool . . .

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CPS ordered to release scab list from the CTU one-day so-called 'strike' of April Fool's Day...

The Illinois Attorney General's office has ordered the Chicago Public Schools to release the list of all teachers who "worked" on April 1, 2016, the day of the one-day so-called "strike" called by the Chicago . . .

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Pocket calendar eliminated after more than a half century?...Chicago Teachers Union members facing more unpleasant surprises about the union leadership's lies and sellouts as another new school year begins...

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union returned to work on August 29, 2017, to learn that their union leaders still have not provided them with a printed book copy of the contract under which they . . .

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Labor Day Update: 'Right to work' laws expanding... Right wing alliance prepares broad attack on public worker unions...

While there were still a number of Labor Day events across the USA actually featuring "Labor" (meaning unions), the main features of the current era are the continuing attacks on unions by right wing activists . . .

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Next in line for 'balance' will be Hitler, whose intention were 'good' according to the Burns balancing act... Historians and activists weigh in against Ken Burns's lies about America in Vietnam...

One of the greatest lies of all is that tyrants did their deeds for the "best intentions" -- and that is precisely what Ken Burns is peddling in his latest foray into history, his Vietnam . . .

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Vietnam thoughts after Trump, the rich draft dodger, Tweets to a standoff against the NFL while forgetting the days when he was a coward who didn't want to fight the NLF...?

Just when many of us were vowing to try and ignore the demented nonsense spewing out of the White House and from the mouth (and little finger tweeting) of the President of the United States, . . .

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CTU members demanding to know why 'chief of staff' position must be added to the union's bureaucracy after the budget was cut claiming that the union is 'broke'...

Does the Chicago Teachers Union, which is supposedly "broke" financially, really need to continue to follow corporate America in its activities by adding an expensive position called "Chief of Staff" to the Office of the . . .

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Lewis, Sharkey and their allies make a move to give Chicago Teachers Union a dictatorship of the President, officers, and appointed 'staff'...

Should the President of the Chicago Teachers Union be given the constitutional power to do whatever she decides, without bothering to consult the union's House of Delegates -- which is the elected body representing the . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union excludes 3,000 members from the new 'Member Link' system...

The Chicago Teachers Union has told union members that they can get copies of the proposed Constitutional changes by going to a thing called "Member Link." But in order to register for "Member Link" a . . .

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Emanuel continues TIF abuses after Crain's investigative expose of Navy Pier deal...

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel showed only the contrition he has become known for -- the contrition of a guy who is caught being unfaithful (again) -- following a dramatic and detailed revelation by Crain's Chicago . . .

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'Members First' grouping in Chicago Teachers Union continues to grow while CTU rank and file demand transparency from the 'rank and file' caucus -- CORE...

July 1, 2017 came and went, and despite the fact that the 27,000 members of the shrinking Chicago Teachers Union had entered the third year of the four-year contract railroaded by the union's leadership in . . .

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Gulf of Tonkin resolution anniversary marked as U.S. moves towards

Whether the U.S. ruling class every learns from its mistakes is almost always an open question. This week marks the anniversary of the (then called) "Gulf of Tonkin Incident" which provided then U.S. President Lyndon . . .

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Second Korea War looms as Trump and American reactionaries replay scripts from the Trump-supported McCarthy years against 'North Korea'...

Let's call it what is is and has been, the "Second Korea War", just as we should have called the American phase of the Vietnam War the "Second Indochina War". Must more accurate historically in . . .

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Chicago home of the 'Union League' was never going to name schools or parks or other public places after the defenders of slavery and secession...Dozens of Chicago schools, parks, and communities are named after heroes of the fight to end slavery and begin the Freedom Road to freedom...

Most Chicagoans have never looked closely at the naming of Chicago's public schools or parks, but as the controversies over the residue of slavey continue to rumble across the USA it's important to note that . . .

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Rahm DeVos? Betsy Emanuel? CTU opposing what it claims are Chicago mayor's plans for school vouchers...

On August 22, 2017, the Chicago Teachers Union issued the following press release. The union expressed its shock that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is considering joining the Trump administration's education policies by supporting a form . . .

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Corporate media push for 'pension reform' as part of attack on teachers in Chicago's real public schools...

As Illinois entered its third year without a state budget and the prospect of the state becoming the first ever to have its bond ratings reduced to "junk" status, corporate media in Chicago continued to . . .

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South Loop school plans show that Jim Crow is business-as-usual in Chicago's public schools...

The President of the Chicago Board of Education no longer shouts "Get those communists out of here now!" as police beat protesters during Board meetings, and the Board is now rather diverse, as are top . . .

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National Education Association comes out against the 'failed experiment' of charter schools...

One of the most important resolutions approved at the annual Representative Assembly of the National Education Association (NEA) brings the organization, the larger of the nation's two teacher unions, out against the further expansion of . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: John Kass's puerile attacks on Illinois budget deal undermines his history as an anti-union and anti-public schools scab...

On July 7, 2017, several friends of ours noted with outrage the (generally false) claims by some pundits that the deal which finally gave Illinois a budget was a bad one for working people. One . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union files federal lawsuit on behalf of Sarah Chambers, 'special ed whistleblower'...

The Chicago Teachers Union has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of teacher Sarah Chambers, who was fired by Chicago Public Schools following her years of advocacy on behalf of special education students and for . . .

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Elected school board for Chicago? Legislative update from the CTU also notes legislation to provide better funding for CPS and other districts serving poor children...

Chicago has come closer than ever to finally getting an elected school board, now that both houses of the Illinois Legislature in Springfield have voted in support of the idea. Note, however, that there are . . .

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CTU leaders ignore vast expense of new high schools while discussing possible racism in the closing of schools in Englewood...

While both the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union claiming they are broke (or, "Broke on Purpose"), the leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union took an unusual path to criticizing the proposal by . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union opposes new high school in Englewood, releases new study of segregation in Chicago...

The Chicago Teachers Union has finally issued a challenge to some of the expensive proposed new high school construction in Chicago, issuing on June 15 a study of segregation and a critique of the new . . .

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Emanuel and Claypool help gangs' summer building plans by cutting public baseball coaching, field maintenance, and teams in the parks and through the schools!... Hypocrisy begins with 'austerity' proclamations and continues with cheap publicity stunts rather than sustained programs for kids...

Is there a direct relationship between the politics of austerity as practiced by both the right wing Democrats (like Forrest Claypool and Rahm Emanuel and Hillary Clinton) and the expansion of drug gangs in places . . .

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New name, same segregation game... How corporate 'school reform' has turned racism into a virtue in Chicago as Chicago Public Schools plans to spend a quarter billion dollars on segregated schools...

Chicago's schools may be either "broke" or (to quote the Chicago Teachers Union) "Broke on Purpose," but as it has for nearly a century, Chicago can always find dollars to sustain or expand racial segregation, . . .

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Retired CTU officers and officials are among Chicago teacher pensioners making more than $100,000 per year, according to Chicago Teachers Pension Fund...

Several former now retired officers of the Chicago Teachers Union join retired Chicago Public Schools administrators among those currently receiving pensions of more than $100,000 per year. The facts are according to the most recent . . .

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Debate flares over Chicago Teachers Union leadership as Lewis explains (sort of) her support for Barbara Byrd Bennett while failing to provide support for the union's local leaders...

Some might say it was a long time coming, but the debate within the Chicago Teachers Union over the priorities of the union leadership began flaring into the open around May Day 2017 after CTU . . .

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HISTORY LESSON III: Chicago Teachers Union leaders not only supported Barbara Byrd Bennett, but also praised the patronage imports from out of town who became the cabinet and enablers of 'BBB'...

As of May 8, 2017, the president and other officers of the Chicago Teachers Union still have not explained what CTU president Karen Lewis and two others were doing in federal court in support of . . .

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CTU leadership's betrayal of unionism goes deep, including directing the union's field reps to hob nob with principals against delegates and the 'rank and file'...

As attendance at the meetings of the Chicago Teachers Union's House of Delegates continues to drop, one of the main reasons why delegates are either leaving as soon as they arrive or boycotting the meetings . . .

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Gang violence along with assaults -- sometimes vicious -- on teachers and staff are increasing in and around Chicago's schools while CTU leadership refuses to deal with the roots of the problems and joins some others in blaming law enforcement for the city's plague of 'violence'...

Organized drug gang violence has been increasing in Chicago's public schools this school year, as the leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union looks the other way or -- worse -- declares that students who engage . . .

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NIX THE NETWORKS! Analysis of CPS 'Position File' shows that Claypool has been increasing bureaucracy through his own cronyism and by pushing the patronage jobs out into the so-called 'Networks'...

Because the current leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union refuses to maintain an independent research capacity that analyzes the finances of the Chicago Board of Education, for more than two years the union's 26,000 members . . .

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CTU members poised to reject May 1 so-called 'strike' by huge majority... If the rank and file actually get to vote on the question!

On the first anniversary of the first-ever one-day so-called "strike" (that was on April 1, 2016) by the Chicago Teachers Union, members across Chicago are poised to reject the call by the union's leaders for . . .

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Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech against the Vietnam War was delivered on April 4, 1967... Let's remember it as things look nasty in 2017...

Today is an important anniversary for those of us who try and struggle for justice and peace. Fifty years ago Martin Luther King Jr. broke with most of America's liberals to oppose the Vietnam War, . . .

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CPS FINANCE FACTS: Network costs increasing despite Claypool claims that he's 'reduced administration' to the bone (and beyond beyond...)...

Despite claims by Chicago Public Schools "Chief Executive Officer" Forrest Claypool that under his administration the costs of the administrative bureaucracy has been reduced to the lowest possible levels, the facts based on a close . . .

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CTU president announces no May 1 'strike' even before the House of Delegates meeting...

Despite the fact that the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates will not be meeting until the evening of April 7, 2017, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis told reporters from the Chicago Sun-Times and . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union officially announces that there will not be a May 1 one-day 'strike'... union's members still awaiting the actual contract while living in a contractual haze over questions like whether 'furlough days' are a contract violation!...

Following weeks of tense discussions in the schools and on line, the leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union decided at the union's House of Delegates meeting on April 5, 2017 that the union would not . . .

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CPS attempt to fire Sarah Chambers prompts nationwide petition in support of the Chicago leader in Opt Out movement...

Less than a day after Chicago Public Schools officials informed Saucedo elementary school teacher Sarah Chambers that she was being removed from the school and facing trial that could end her teaching job, the attack . . .

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Federal prosecutors seek seven years in prison for Rahm's corrupt former schools 'Chief Executive Officer' Barbara Byrd Bennett... while Tribune still supports Rahm's power over the public schools against an elected school board!...

By April 7, 2017, nearly two years after she was ousted as "Chief Executive Officer" of Chicago's public schools, former CEO Barbara Byrd Bennett was finally facing her federal prison term. On April 7 news . . .

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Fight to keep Sarah Chambers in the classroom and on the front lines for justice grows as DNA Info puts together a major story about the latest CPS purges...

The fight to keep Saucedo Elementary School special education teacher Sarah Chambers in the classroom and on the front lines in the struggle for educational justice in Chicago continued to grow in strength during the . . .

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PARCC heading to the dustbin of history despite Chicago administrators' tenacious hold on another failed high-stakes test...

Just in time for Easter and the end of Passover, word is coming in -- again -- about the demise of the infamous PARCC test. Despite claims by some ignorant Chicago public schools administrators as . . .

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Illinois Association of Administrators of Special Education (IAASE) threatens 'copyright infringement' lawsuit in order to shut down criticism of the group's position on current special education legislation in Springfield...

Once again a powerful group is attempting to utilize a claim about federal copyright law to stifle a full debate over public education policy in Illinois. Since the beginning of April, the Illinois Association of . . .

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'Let Sarah teach!' rally scheduled for April 18 at Saucedo, Saucedo Academy, 2850 W 24th Blvd in Chicago in protest against CPS suspension of the leader in the fight for special education and against high-stakes testing...

Supporters of Sarah Chambers including students, former students, parents, and CTU members, are expected to gather at Saucedo Elementary School on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, after school at four p.m. in a "Let Sarah teach!" . . .

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When silence is not golden... While City Council members explode about CPS finance lies, Chicago Teachers Union and Karen Lewis are conspicuously silent as a result of their partnership with CPS on financial obfuscations...

The news from Chicago's City Council was explosive on April 18, 2017, as members of the Council exploded publicly demanding to know why officials of the Chicago Public Schools are refusing to provide the Council . . .

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Barbara Byrd Bennett gets four and a half years in federal prison in CPS corruption case... CTU officials mum on major example of budget finagling...

While at least one major Chicago Teachers Union official and many others sat in the courtroom of the Dirksen federal building in Chicago, a federal judge sentenced former Chicago Public Schools "Chief Executive Officer" Barbara . . .

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'Schools will remain open until June 20...' Claypool states after judge calls his bluff by rejecting discrimination claim against State of Illinois...

Within hours after a state court rejected the claim by the Chicago Board of Education that the State of Illinois was discriminating against CPS because of "racism," Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool sent a message . . .

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BOARDWATCH: Since Arne Duncan left CPS in 2009, the administrations have been reduced by more than 200 percent!... Alternative facts are not just the spoutings of the Trumps... Latest CAFR shows that additional money to CPS has not been going to school teachers or PSRPs...

The main result of the decision by the leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union to eliminate their own independent analysis of the finances of Chicago Public Schools is that the most ridiculous stuff gets said . . .

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Despite officers' claims and manipulative pre-House of Delegates press conference, majority of CTU members are opposing another one day so-called 'strike'...

Despite claims by the officers of the Chicago Teachers Union that the one-day so-called "strike" on April 1, 2016 won great victories for the city's public schools and the union's members, calls by the union's . . .

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Despite what the Trump administration is claiming, human-caused Climate Change is real and a real danger... Kim Scipes speaking at Open University of the Left in Lincoln Park on March 18...

Anyone near DePaul University's Lincoln Park campus who wishes to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in a very interesting way should make sure to be at the Lincoln Park library next Saturday, March 18, 2017, for . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: The New York Times discovers that the University of Chicago's neighborhood of Hyde Park is really 'ghetto' and then spins a corporate school reform version of reality out of Kenwood High School...

Does anyone in Chicago seriously believe that the area around 51st and Lake Park is part of the "Englewood Ghetto"? Probably not, and that number would include any reporter who has covered Chicago for more . . .

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Trumpcare will leave tens of thousands, including children, to suffer and die... Six ways Trumpcare makes healthcare worse... And one way to make It better...

Anyone who has been blessed to have had decent affordable health insurance during the past several years can easily point to the dozens of ways in which American medicine is very very good. But as . . .

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Donald Trump paid minimum taxes in 2005, leaked tax return pages show...

Leaked pages from Donald Trump's 2005 federal income tax returns show that in that year he paid the minimum amount of federal income taxes on income of 150 million dollars. "The documents show Trump and . . .

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Elected school board bill begins another journey through the Illinois House of Representatives...

The bill that would give Chicago its first truly elected school board in history will begin its latest journey through the Illinois legislative process on March 15, when the bill, proposed by State Rep. Rob . . .

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Elected school board bill for Chicago passes out of House committee by overwhelming bi-partisan vote... Will Cullerton and Rahm Emanuel continue to block it in the Illinois Senate?...

The 2017 version of the bill that when it becomes law will give Chicago its first elected school board in history passed easily out of the Illinois House of Representatives committee on March 15, 2017, . . .

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Majority of Chicago Teachers Union rank-and-file are saying a loud 'No!' to leadership's proposal for another one-day so-called 'strike'...

As the time narrows before the April meeting of the Chicago Teachers Union's 800-member House of Delegates, it has become clear that the majority of the union's 27,000 members (about 24,000 of whom are active . . .

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UNION NEWS: Carpenters union leader sucks up to Trump, leaving most unions wondering it it's time for a repeat of the founding punch of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) during the early New Deal...

For those who have studied "Labor History," the photograph of some of the leaders of the nation's building trades unions sitting and smiling with President Donald Trump at the White House was cause for a . . .

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'Teacher turnover in high poverty schools'... Proving the obvious as it's been for the past 50 years...

[Editor's Note: For the past 50 years, since I began teaching at Attucks Elementary School shortly after I graduated from the University of Chicago in 1969, I've written about the problems facing teachers in "high . . .

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Trump administration's 'illegal immigrant' guidelines will make enforcement of anti-gang rules even more difficult for Chicago Public Schools... Chicago's drug gangs will find it even easier to operate under the Trump administration's attacks on immigrant communities...

Here is a prediction from an expert on gang crimes in Chicago schools who has been blacklisted by Chicago's corporate media for years and years (me): For more than 25 years, I have been one . . .

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Trump pushing daily fundraising to protect what he calls 'our movement' from those he calls the elites (Hollywood, media, etc.)...

No sooner had Donald Trump been inaugurated President of the United States than he proclaimed that he will be running again in 2020 and established his campaign fund for that election. As a result, his . . .

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Gang power in Chicago politics and Illinois prisons... Marching, prayers and tears won't identify Chicago's drug gang murder problems and therefore won't solve them... Whether evasions of corruption, ignoring the PEOPLE and the FOLKs leads to the same results!

Anyone who worked directly against Chicago's sophisticated, well-organized, and very profitable drug gangs (as I did, see my biography at the end of this article) knows that certain types of marches, prayer meetings, and emotional . . .

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BOOK REVIEW ESSAY... Building Global Labor Solidarity in a Time of Accelerating Globalization, by Kim Scipes... How in 2017 the working class needs strong working class unions and internationalism as well as massive protests and resistance to reactionary laws and leaders...

This is one of those "let's read this book and then gather to discuss it" book reviews. When Donald Trump becomes President of the United States later this week, the challenge to the working class . . .

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The racist history of school vouchers is one of the main reasons for everyone to oppose Donald Trump's attempt to elevate ultra-reactionary Betsy DoVos to the post of U.S. Secretary of Education....

While much of the debate about the attempt by President-elect Donald Trump to elevate billionaire reactionary Betsy DeVos to the post of U.S. Secretary of Education has focused on her ultra-conservative Christian push for vouchers, . . .

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Donald Trump's first 24 hours as President of the United States brings global protests, with one of the largest in the world in Chicago...

It looks like tens of millions of Americans are not ready to "get over it." The supporters of Donald Trump may be trying to chant "get over it, you lost!" but across the planet protests . . .

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The Democrats, specifically Barack Obama and his two education secretaries (Duncan and King), paved the way for Betsey DeVos... So it's time for an examination of the policies of the Democratic Party as leaders whine about DeVos...

Now that Donald Trump is in the White House and the Obama family is moving into their new home, it is high time that many of us began discussing how and how much "we" lost . . .

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Has President Trump already given grounds for his impeachment?... Travel ban from 'Muslim' countries only affects those nations where Trump has no businesses, but exempts those where he has his businesses... A violation of the 'emoluments clause'?...

You can either be President of the United States of an international billionaire businessman, but you can't do both if your decisions as President assist your business profits to the detriment of U.S. foreign policy. . . .

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Trump's 'Shock and Awe' campaign against American democracy is being blocked by mass protests and legal action... but it's only the beginning of a long fight... Be ready for Trump's Reichstag Fire stunt next (based on his model from a previous era of the same stuff)...

Once again, a draft dodging coward and hypocrite is trying to push the United States into a war against a 1984-style "enemy" while trying to mobilize a faction of the American people into a 1984-style . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union's new 'Executive Team' destroys thousands of pages of union history in move from the Merchandise Mart to 1901 W. Carroll St...

The leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union -- a small group now referring to itself as the "Executive Team" -- ordered union staff to throw our or destroy thousands of documents and photographs pertaining to . . .

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BOARDWATCH: Claypool, Emanuel continue termination of public meetings as Chicago Board of Education evades holding a November meeting!...

The Chicago Board of Education under "Chief Executive Officer" Forrest Claypool and President Frank Clark successfully continued their attack on public participation in public events by refusing to even hold a meeting of the Board . . .

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DeVos record in Michigan shows she wants as much charter corruption as possible by keeping charters free of regulation and accountability...

As the day draws nearer when Donald Trump will be legally able to make Betsy DeVos U.S. Secretary of Education, more and more information becomes available about the corrupt history of DeVos's involvement in public . . .

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Elected School Board for Chicago in jeopardy? Activists file federal and state lawsuits to end bottleneck against Chicago's elected school board while Chicago Teachers Union officers and lobbyists remain silent on challenge to Illinois discrimination against Chicago citizens and children...

While most public attention was focused elsewhere in Springfield, Chicago education activists filed two lawsuits on November 30, 2016 asking state and federal courts to order an elected school board for the City of Chicago. . . .

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UNION NEWS... Lewis and the CTU 'Executive Team' now blaming the delegates and members for the weak contract they brought in shackling the members until 2019...

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis and the other seven members of her newly created so-called "Executive Team" began the process at the union's December 7, 2016 House of Delegates meeting of blaming the union's . . .

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CTU NEWS: Debate becomes more heated as CTU leadership continues to cover up use of money from PAC and the 'CTU Foundation'...

Now that the 26,000 - member Chicago Teachers Union has agreed to a four-year contract which (as I've reported earlier) is the worst in the 50 year history of CTU collective bargaining, a new and . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union leadership begins lengthy admissions about how many loopholes are in the new contract....CPS officials brag about how they tricked the union on the eve of a strike...

The announcement had barely been made that the dwindling number of members of the Chicago Teachers Union had voted "Yes" on the proposed contract (which was being referred to as a "TA" in the growing . . .

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ELECTION NEWS: American Federation of Teachers has a video, 'The Trump Effect', about bullying resulting from the odious campaign of Donald Trump for President of the United States of America...

[With less than 72 hours until the votes are to be counted in the Election of 2016, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is reminding its members and decent people about "The Trump Effect," the . . .

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Officers of the 'CTU Foundation' are being paid by the Foundation in addition to their salaries as officers of the Chicago Teachers Union... Information filed with the Internal Revenue Services reveals many facts the officers have refused to share with the union's delegates and members...

For the first time, the Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates was informed, during the HOD’s most recent meeting, that a large number of activties that once were funded by the union are now being . . .

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CTU Foundation made nearly $2 million in grants and donations to community groups and charitable organizations without clear and precise reporting of the decisions to the union's school delegates and the CTU members...

During the first fiscal year after it received more than $45 million in revenue from the sale of the Fewkes Tower by the Chicago Teachers Union, the Chicago Teachers Union Foundation, a separate entity, made . . .

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ELECTION NEWS: Doonesbury takes final look at Donald Trump's cowardly decision to dodge the Vietnam War draft, then proclaim in 2016 how much he 'loves' veterans...

One of the two books I have been recommending to people who wanted more information about the Donald Trump campaign has been Doonesbury's "Yuge!", which we purchased and shared here at home. The other book . . .

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RESISTANCE NEWS, AGAIN! Its time to dig out the Omega Resistance symbols from the days of resistance...

During the most disheartening days of the Vietnam War, say, after we had elected the "Anti War" candidate Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and then watched in shock while the number of American soldiers in Vietnam . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Polls showed Bernie Sanders had a better chance than Hillary Clinton of beating Trump, but media elites -- including 'Progressives' from The Nation to Kos -- said 'Ignore all that and know that Hillary has been vetted and is 'best''...

There will be a lot of post-morteming now that Donald Trump will be America's next President, and not much of it will be worth the time. However, anyone who has focused on the corporate media . . .

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NOTES OF A NATTERING NABOB OF NEGATIVISM... Protests against democracy are a bit premature, noted here by someone who faced the wrath of a vengeful federal government during an earlier period of American stress... Be ready to protests, but why not stop whining for now and see what really unfolds...

Nearly 50 years ago, after we made the mistake of electing Richard M. Nixon President of the United States, we faced nasty oppression from local, state, and federal government agencies. How we helped elect Nixon . . .

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'Sanctuary City' Chicago to continue despite Trump, Rahm Emanuel promises... Designation and its power began in 1985 under Harold Washington...

Chicago will remain a "Sanctuary City" despite threats from President Elect Donald Trump. For those who don't remember, Harold Washington designated Chicago as what has become known as a "sanctuary city" in 1985. The designation . . .

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Hillary and obtuse Democrats are blaming everyone but Hillary and obtuse Democrats for their defeat...'Put simply, Democrats knowingly chose to nominate a deeply unpopular, extremely vulnerable, scandal-plagued candidate... widely perceived to be a protector' of corruption...

[Editor's Note: With this series of reprints, we will try to share some of the most incisive analyses of the recent election as the United States reels from the election of Donald Trump as President. . . .

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Trump's Hitler and Mussolini models were there from the beginning of 'Make Germany (er., America) Great Again...' and teaching them shouldn't be censored now that Trump is 'President Elect'...

As we've noted in the pages of substancenews.net from the beginning of the Donald Trump candidacy, the slogans and methods of the now President-Elect of the United States were in many ways modeled and borrowed . . .

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Ultra-reactionary Betsy DeVos to be U.S. Secretary of Education...

President-elect Donald Trump announced on November 23, 2016 that he would be appointing Betsy DeVos, of Michigan, as U.S. Secretary of Education when he takes office in January 2017. Characterized by critics as a major . . .

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Trump continues to manipulate corporate media with a media circus at his private homes and golf courses during selection of Cabinet...

Those who had business in Chicago in late 2008 remember that President Elect Barack Obama met with prospective Cabinet members in the federal offices at Dearborn and Jackson in the Loop. Although the meetings required . . .

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Cuba and Robert Williams and the armed branch of the NAACP... 'I advocated violent self-defense because I don't really think you can have a defense against violent racists and against terrorists unless you are prepared to meet violence with violence...' Robert Williams, NAACP...

With some progressives today bemoaning the fact that the KKK, the Nazis, and others are back on the march behind the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, it's time to remember . . .

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TRUMPWATCH: How Donald Trump avoided paying federal taxes for decades... Washington Post and New York Times investigations show how Trump paid less in federal income taxes than most of his disciples (even the poorest 'white working class' Trump fans)...

First it was draft evasion by the "best sex" guy. Now it's massive tax evasion. How many ways has Donald Trump been a traitor to the USA during his lengthy spoiled brat lifetime? Many of . . .

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Strike fervor heats up among Chicago teachers as Chicago Board of Education fires another 200 union members despite growing needs in all the schools... Union House of Delegates to meet Wednesday October 5 to plan strike details...

Anger in Chicago's truly public elementary and high schools increased on October 3, 2016, when union members learned that the Chicago Board of Education's bureaucracy has been expanding while "Chief Executive Officer" Forrest Claypool fired . . .

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CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION STRIKE 2016... Chicago Teachers Union delegates still waiting for 'Scab Whistles', bug juice, and other picket line necessities...

Like most Chicago homes where our children attend public schools, our home received the phone call on October 7 from an anonymous CPS voice (the latest in an endless and well paid stream of these, . . .

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TRUMP UPDATE: Thinking back on the second 'debate,' it's clear that Trump was prepped by his fascist friends to play every obnoxious card -- including the anti-Semitism in the oft-repeated words 'Sidney Blumenthal'...

Question: Why did Donald Trump keep repeating the words "Sidney Blumenthal" during the second presidential debate? It is clear that very few people watching the debate cared who that was or understood the context Trump . . .

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A major dose of democracy now stands between CTU members and the contract they're being offered...'Not Again!' Chicago Teachers Union members begin planning protests against what more and more are calling 'The Second Karen Lewis sellout...'

No sooner had the word begun to circulate on social media around midnight on October 10 - 11, 2016 than the protests also began to grow. And by the time that members of the 28,000-member . . .

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Worst contract in CTU history? Consider the actual numbers of teacher salaries since the beginning of the 21st Century...

Rather than continue a debate over appropriate adjectives (one that has been going on in social media as some people who voted in favor of the deal expressed "hurt feelings" when their decision was challenged), . . .

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ELECTION WATCH 2016... Echoes of 'Dump the Hump' and the greatest voters suppression in Chicago history -- both of which helped elect Richard Nixon in 1968 and launch the 'Southern Strategy,' the 'War on Drugs' and massive Watergate violations of the Bill of Rights...

Listening to and reading about all of those citizens who are bemoaning the poor choices ("less evil is still evil," etc.) in the 2016 election has given me flashbacks to the mistakes millions of us . . .

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TRUMPWACHT: Ein Land! Ein Volk! Ein Fuehrer! Why are so many pundits afraid to name the original template for Trump's 'Make America Great Again!' nonsense at its roots in Germany in 1932?...

As the weeks dwindle to days in the Presidential Election of 2016, over and over well informed pundits from the mainstream and even "progressive" media come as close as possible to outlining the complete template . . .

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ELECTION NEWS... 'J. Edgar Comey' attack on Clinton comes as no surprise... Nothing really new about this latest from the 'FBI'... Maybe it should be called the 'J. Edgar Comey' regime with more history for those who've forgotten so much...

With barely one week until the end of voting in the election of 2016, another "bombshell." And this one is not from the Twitter ramblings of Donald Trump, but from the "FBI" (sort of). Suddenly . . .

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NIX THE NETWORKS: Chicago's Board of Education voted unanimously to approve Forrest Claypool's 'Final Budget' for the 2016 - 2017 school year, even though one key bit of basic math was off by about 300 percent!...

Hypocrisy? It's not hypocrisy if you have the power to lie and get away with it, and if the dominant media in Chicago look the other way while you are lying. If the members of . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union votes overwhelmingly to move towards a strike in October at September 7, 2016, House of Delegates meeting....

The 27,000-member Chicago Teachers Union moved a major step closer to an October strike when the union's House of Delegates (of which this reporter is a delegate, representing some of the 3,000 retired teachers who . . .

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'Teachers for Social Justice' group is trying to pit police against teachers with false history, damaging hysteria...

The Chicago group called "Teachers for Social Justice" has announced a program this month (and later) trying to pit teachers against police. The pitting will be based on a false history and a silly narrative . . .

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Obama and Duncan policies created the conditions for the surge in Chicago street gang and gun violence... Trump's privatization attacks on public schools is just a continuation of the policies of Obama, Duncan, and King...

We often disagree with Diane Ravitch's self-promoting blog work, but here recent compilation of documentation about how Chicago's violence is partly caused by the Obama administration's education policies is on target. But many fans of . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union members begin three-day strike authorization 'petition' as CPS finances and other issues are debated widely...

More than 25,000 members of the Chicago Teachers Union (active duty teachers and others represented in the CTU bargaining unit) begin voting on September 21, 2016, on a second strike authorization vote since the union's . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: 'Democracy' Chicago-style... Tribune's hypocritical editorial attack on the CTU gets quick response from thousands...'a democratic militant union is what they despise...'... Readers need to remember the long reactionary history of Tribune's version of 'news'...

On September 22, 2016, the Chicago Tribune — now owned by the same Rahm-buddy millionaire Michael Ferro who owns the Sun-Times — fulminated agains the latest Chicago Teachers Union strike vote. In an editorial, the . . .

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TRUMPUPDATE... Where are those tax returns, Donald? An updated anthology of writings sharing the truth about Trump...

With about 40 days to go until the November 8, 2016 election, I'm going to update once a day with the question of the campaign: Where are Donald Trump's federal income tax returns? Following the . . .

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TRUMPUPDATE: Where are those tax returns, con man? On the morning of the first debate, let's re-demand those tax returns -- and also take a look at how many ways Donald and his family business have cheated and lied to African Americans while getting richer... One story from Gary Indiana...

As the drumbeats of Trumpisms and Trumpsterish nonsense continue, on the morning of the first 2016 Presidential Debate, let's again ask (1) Where are those tax returns, Donald? and (2) How many black people have . . .

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TRUMPWACHT: Trump and his disciples are moving beyond satire, as researchers uncover Trump's eugenicist views and Rudy Guilliani continues the seventh grade schoolyard bully nonsense with his charge that Hillary is 'STUPID!'...

Anyone who thinks that Donald Trump and his dwindling number of supporters would simply go away doesn't have an appreciation for the "alternative reality" that Hillary Clinton noted about The Donald in Monday's debate. As . . .

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Financial Transaction Tax grains support on a national level, while agitation for the tax continues in Chicago...

Support for a Financial Transaction Tax grew during the summer of 2016 as proponents of the tax presented their case to the Democratic National Convention and continued, as in Chicago, to agitate for the tax . . .

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TRUMPWACHT: Donald Trump... Lousy 'businessman' kept above water by Daddy...Cheap chiseler who stiffed working people and used bankruptcy to scam others... Cowardly Vietnam draft dodger... and bully against a Gold Star family...

This article isn't about Hillary Clinton. It's about Blue Star Mothers, Gold Star Families, and histories that have been plowed under for too many years, from World War II through those of us who fought . . .

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Secret ballot eliminated for upcoming CTU strike vote?... At least some Chicago Teachers Union leaders plan to avoid secret ballot when the union's members are asked to vote -- again -- to 'authorize' a strike (despite the fact that the union voted to authorize a strike in December 2015)...

Will the Chicago Teachers Union be holding its first major vote in history without honoring the secret ballot rights of the union's 27,000 members? That's the question being asked by many of the union's members . . .

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NIX THE NETWORKS: Claypool's lies based on obfuscation of how he has shifted 'central office' expenses into the ever-growing so-called 'Networks'... or how A $150,000-per-year administrators who has never taught in Chicago becomes a 'local school instructional' person...

One of the clumsiest lies told by the latest "Chief Executive Officer" of Chicago Public Schools, Forrest Claypool, can be found by anyone who takes the time to read the lengthy "Proposed Budget" finally released . . .

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Lead list grows as more public schools are found facing 'Flint' issues ... Why is CTU leadership doing so little about toxicity and lead in Chicago's public schools?

As the Fourth of July weekend began on July 1, 2016, there were new reports of lead being found in Chicago public schools (see DNA Info story and listing below). But as the officially acknowledged . . .

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Chicago Public Schools top bureaucrats continue imbecilic and insulting talking points as principals continue exodus from America's third largest school system... Rahm's minions blame Chicago teacher pensions rather than Rahm's erratic and incompetent bureaucrats for the massive exodus...

The summer vacation for Chicago's nearly 400,000 public school children (disclosure: including two of this reporter's three sons) when top officials of the nation's third largest public school district continued their imbecilic (that's truly the . . .

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Petition against 'toxic swaps' from Grassroots Collaborative...

The campaign against so-called "toxic swaps" (variable rate government bond deals that cost millions of dollars if the rates go the wrong way -- and have) continued into July 2016, as Chicago's Grassroots Collaborative turned . . .

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Chicago or Massachusetts? Or 'other'?? Where is 'ground zero' of corporate ed reform?...

Where and how did corporate "education reform" really being, and how has it expanded during the past quarter century or so? As voters in Massachusetts prepare for a referendum on what amounts to school privatization, . . .

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TRUMPWACHT... Donald Trump's Nazi roots are exposed by historical research into Trump's own 'family values'. First question: What was Donald doing during the Vietnam War now that he's praising 'veterans' in every speech but somehow avoided the military service at the height of the Vietnam War?...

The elimination of the facts of history from many children's studies is now exploding, as the Republican candidate for President of the United States, Donald Trump (original family name, Drumpf) calls on his followers to . . .

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AFT 2016... Why I will vote for Hillary Clinton in November... Before we go on, let's make sure everyone knows where Sharon and I stand... and how history will not repeat itself in 2016 running a partial script from 1968...

As I write this, two days after Sharon Schmidt and I returned home to Chicago following the 2016 American Federation of Teachers (AFT) convention in Minneapolis, we have all experienced the witlessness of the Republican . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union's 'Read In' counters Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner's slander against Chicago teachers being 'illiterate'....

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner certainly couldn't have expected that one of his private sharings with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel about how Chicago principals were poor managers and Chicago teachers were "illiterate" would become pubic -- . . .

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Dixie Chicks are back and still not ready to make nice while 'taking the long way...'... Remembering the hypocrisy of the Republicans and their minions from 2003 through today...

For my own sons, and hopefully for many others, it's now a "teachable moment." Go back to 2003, when reactionaries were more powerful, and now update to 2016, using country music as part of the . . .

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Chicago teachers continue participation in Pride Parade on June 26... President Barack Obama proclaims Stonewall a historic site... The 2016 Pride Parade as history and as current events...

The Chicago Teachers Union will again be a major part of the groups participating in the Pride Parade on June 26, 2016. The Chicago Teachers Union will join the 47th Annual Chicago Pride Parade on . . .

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Chicago's millionaire mayor is no friend of Chicago's real neighborhood parks... Emanuel whimpering against Friends of the Parks is just another example of how out of touch Rahm is...

Before anyone add to the berating of "Friends of the Park" being orchestrated by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his propaganda team (which includes a number of local corporate media reporters) answer the following question: . . .

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New York union president hit for lying about Opt Out on eve of the American Federation of Teachers 100th anniversary convention... '...In addition to providing your members with false information, you have demonized the brave and outspoken NYC educators who have encouraged opt out...'

Few issues have been more important to building the strength of the movement against the privatization of America's public schools during the last several years than "Opt Out" -- the movement of parents, children and . . .

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Chicago City Council Progressive Caucus to hold bash celebrating years of growth and growing success...

For some it may be hard to believe that a few years ago, "progressive" in terms of a Chicago alderman in City Council was Joe Moore, the faux-progressive who deliberately misled fellow aldermen to stop . . .

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Trump University a familiar scam in the era of private for-profit 'higher education'... 'Sadly, predatory for-profit education is a scam that works so well that Donald Trump is far from the only celebrity, or politician, to invest in it...'

[Editor's Note: The following article came to us via Truthout on June 4, 2016. Its provenance is explained at the bottom of the article. It has also been published on Huffington Post. George N. Schmidt, . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Researcher Mercedes Schneider exposes latest charter school propaganda, published in the Wall Street Journal on May Day, from Nina Rees...

The paid propagandists of the corporate "school reform" movement usually are paid very well, and their works have to be known to the general public before people are gulled into believing what they write, preach, . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union pushes local revenue improvements as part of plan to improve money for the city's public schools... Two major themes ignored -- 'toxic swap' recoupment and local property tax improvements...

The Chicago Teachers Union issued a press release just prior to the union's May 4, 2016, House of Delegates meeting, calling on Mayor Rahm Emanuel to assist in improving local revenue for the city's public . . .

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CPAA growing in membership after long period of stagnation as important election looms... LaRaviere 'setup' rejected by administrators' organization's rank and file...

The attempt by the top administrators of Chicago's public schools, all of whom were appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, to silence Blaine Elementary School principal Troy La Raviere has failed. Despite the fact that "Chief . . .

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UNION NEWS: How many secret agendas and CPS financial talking points will the current leadership put out to the House of Delegates before someone asks more questions...

For the second month in a row, the most important information that was to be brought before the 800 elected members of the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates (HOD) was not on the agenda . . .

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BOARDWATCH: How many millions did the Chicago Board of Education waste on new and renewed privatization schemes at its April 27, 2016 meeting, while the Board was claiming that its problems would be solved by getting more money not from Chicago, but from Springfield?...

How many hundreds of millions was it? While the "Better Government Association" and most of Chicago's corporate media were ignoring expenses -- and a massive 250-plus page Chicago Board of Education agenda -- how many . . .

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Rauner loses... CPS is not 'bankrupt', reports ISBE investigation... CPS lies about those 'billion dollar deficit(s)' have been going on for the last five 'Chief Executive Officer(s)'...

Question: Who was the first "Chief Executive Officer" of the nation's third largest school system who proclaimed, with no evidence but some creatively arranged accounting, that CPS was facing a "billion dollar deficit"?

. . .

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Will the CTU finally begin supporting Chicago's outspoken principal and go factual against privatization?... LaRaviere, Arena and Ritter to speak at LSC 'rally' Thursday, May 12, at Schurz High School...

What looks like a simple meeting organized by the local alderman and featuring some of the best informed people in Chicago to discuss the current state of things in the city's public schools may turn . . .

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Teach for America booted out of San Francisco's real public schools... Corporate America's attack on veteran inner city teachers facing more and more close scrutiny despite TFA's media hype...

Despite heavy subsidies from America's billionaires, massive press coverage from the corporate media, and regular support from the President of the United States (and members of his Cabinet), the controversial Teach for America program is . . .

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Zopp's back... Rahm sustains the 'community leader' who helped close 50 schools and backed every corrupt move of Barbara Byrd Bennett while a Board of Education member from 2011 to 2015...

The City of Chicago may be broke, and the Chicago Board of Education may be more broke, but neither fact stopped Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel from appointing one of his most loyal cronies to the . . .

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LaRaviere's decisive victory adds to challenges facing the Emanuel administration... And will raise questions about the Chicago Teachers Union's research and political activities...

The decisive victory of Blaine Elementary School Principal Troy LaRaviere in the election to head the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association (CPAA) not only comes as a stunning blow against the reactionary education policies of . . .

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LaRaviere statement on his election...

The following statement was distributed to the members of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association (CPAA) by president-elect Troy LaRaviere following the announcement that he had been elected the organization's president. On May 19, 2016, . . .

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Chicago Principals and Administrators Association (CPAA) membership declined as the organization surrendered power to CPS administrations since the 1990s...

The outgoing President of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, Clarice Berry, may have told some reporters that she was embarrassed by the conflicts between her soon-to-be successor, Troy LaRaviere and schools and city administrators, . . .

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Alderman notes National Police Week and notes that Chicago's debt -- including odd 'instruments' -- is subject to greater scrutiny... What has CTU to say?

The alderman of the 45th Ward, John Arena, has noted in his latest bulletin, that this is National Police Week. Alderman Arena, one of the most consistent supporters of the Chicago Teachers Union, issued the . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Sun-Times and Sneed get the fact crooked from a crooked source on the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association (CPAA) memberships... CPAA is now increasing memberships as more see reasons to stand up and speak out...

Everyone knows that a gossip columnist who has been promoting the likes of Michael Pfleger for decades -- and never asking why "violence" has been increasing despite all the sermons and prattling -- can't be . . .

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Chicago Board of Education to renew Aramark contract, further expand privatization on May 25... Aramark deal will cost CPS $260 millon (!) while Claypool will take buses to Springfield claiming that CPS will be facing huge school budget cuts without another $500 million from Illinois...

The Chicago Board of Education is preparing to approve a continuation of the controversial contract for school custodial services with Aramark corporation, and to expand or add other privatization deals as the nation's third largest . . .

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Claypool's administration... Millions being spent for new bureaucrats, while the schools become more filthy and are threatened with additional cuts...

During the last ten months, since Mayor Rahm Emanuel dubbed him to be the fourth "Chief Executive Officer" for the nation's third largest school system since Rahm's first term inauguration in May 2011, Forrest Claypool . . .

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One-day strike is not the first time in the history of the Chicago Teachers Union that a one-day strike was deemed necessary to break a political logjam... Parents and children join picket lines all over Chicago despite media claims to the contrary before April 1...

More than once over the thousands of years of recorded history it's been said that those who do not know and understand history are doomed to repeat it, so perhaps it's even more true in . . .

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RAHMWATCH: As thousands of teachers and their supporters picket across Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel issues a press release -- spouting corporate propaganda for Ulta!...

Despite thousands of marchers who have been demanding that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel resign from his job, partly because of the Laquan McDonald video, Chicago's mayor continued in office on April 1, 2016. And just . . .

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Next stop Springfield... Progressive revenue a main point of April 1 actions...

Now that the April 1, 2016 action has been completed and tens of thousands of teachers, students, and others have done a one-day strike and marched at dozens of locations across Chicago, the next phase . . .

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SCAB SNACKS! Your last Oreo? Oreos join Twinkies on everyone's list of SCAB SNACKS... After getting the usual millions of dollars in tax breaks from Chicago and Illinois, our 'corporate neighbors' are moving the jobs and production to a place with 'cheaper labor'...

When the makers of Twinkies broke the unions representing workers at Hostess, it was time to stop buying and eating Twinkies -- and to teacher our children a new term: SCAB SNACKS. Now, sadly (for . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Opt Out freak out in New York's corporate media... New York Daily News is the silliest, saying, 'Parents, you've been heard. Now have your kids take the damn tests!'...

While Chicago teachers and others working for public education in Chicago were busy organizing and executing the coordinated days of action on April 1, 2016, some (including the children of this reporter) were also doing . . .

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Opt Out debates increase across the USA as many corporate media try to denigrate, downplay, or deceive the Opt Out movement... Divisions within the 'Opt Out Movement' are major...

As the 2016 era of so-called "standardized" testing expands, America's corporate media has been trying to denigrate the Opt Out movement, while publishing news and analysis that attempt to downplay the expanding Opt Out movement, . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union approves major Opt Out plan... PARCC test challenged for lacking validity or reliability... 'It's not only a bad test, it's a stupid waste of time...'...

The Chicago Teachers Union has approved a major policy that will include many more of the city's teachers in the Opt Out movement, and also position the union to support teachers, students and parents who . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union leadership swept into third term when nobody files to oppose Lewis, Sharkey and the CORE team...

The current leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union was swept into a third term in office when nobody filed nominating petitions to run against Karen Lewis, Jesse Sharkey, and the CORE slate. The union's House . . .

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Former Barbara Byrd Bennett buddy now a finalist for top job in Salt Lake City... Rhonda Corr-Saegert is the latest in a long line of bureaucrats who park their careers in Chicago for a few years and then move on with a lightly padded resume...

No sooner does one district (or at least a large number of activists in that district) realize that having "Chicago Public Schools" on a bureaucrat's resume is not a good recommendation than Substance hears that . . .

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Rahm Emanuel schedules April 11 media event at Whitney Young High School as he slowly emerges from hiding back into the public eyes... No longer a visible part of the 'Clinton Team,' Rahm hasn't cringed from power despite months of theatrics aimed at him...

Although Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel saw his hopes to join another Clinton administration dashed when scandals over police corruption and murders derailed his schedule, by early April 2016 Rahm was emerging from hiding. On April . . .

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Schools across Chicago 'ready to explode' as lack of security and substitute services combine to create a perfect storm of chaos at at least 100 of Chicago's real public schools (and at many of the charters as well)...

Thanks to a combination of "austerity" budgeting (often based on false claims about the size of a Chicago school budget "shortfall"), police cutbacks (and retirements), a bankrupt ideology of corporate "school reform," and mismanagement of . . .

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Another attack on those who work in the city's schools by Emanuel's appointees and Claypool's cronies ... CPS, Claypool, order another theft from CTU members -- and others working for CPS... PSRP bonus of a mere $250 ripped off...

One the eve of Spring vacation for the city's real public schools (and for most of the charter schools), Chicago Public Schools executives ordered that a contractual bonus for PSRPs be rescinded. The action by . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Is The New York Times beginning to notice that the quarter century of the corporate 'school reform' it's been championing is as bankrupt as many of the corporate economic policies now being challenged?...

It may be too soon to claim, in April 2016, that the major shifts in the nation's political winds are also going to have an impact on the official policies of test-based corporate "school reform" . . .

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Obama administration continues corporate 'school reform' attack on America's real public schools, but Senate issues a warning to Arne Duncan's successor, charter school leader John King...

While the attention of most political observers in the United States of America is focused on the antics of the Republican candidates for President, President Barack Obama continued his attacks on the nation's real public . . .

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Upcoming movie 'Schoolidarity' reviews the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012 and the Wisconsin protests against union busting of 2011...

As Chicago prepares for another teachers strike and the fight for improved revenue for schools and other public services moves to Springfield this week, a new movie will review some of the origins of the . . .

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Claypool ducks accountability as the CPS 'Chief Executive Officer' has subordinate order that Troy LaRaviere be removed as principal of Blaine Elementary School... CPS official Liz Kirby broke the news in a message to staff... Special meeting Monday evening at Blaine...

The current executive administration of Chicago's public schools has abruptly removed the city's most outspoken principal from his LSC approved position -- and tried to do it during the week that school is not in . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Chicago's Mayor praises 'top Chicago high schools' -- without mentioning their names or daring to go near them because their students and teachers have been leading the anti-Rahm protests!...

In one of the oddest moments in Chicago's corporate mayor's history, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued a press release on April 21, 2016, praising Chicago's seven "top" high schools (according to the latest U.S. News . . .

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Chicago 'principal in exile' Troy LaRaviere has scheduled election campaign meetings on April 25 and 26 despite attempts by Chicago Public Schools officials to gag him and silence his criticisms of Chicago's Mayor and Emanuel's appointed public schools leaders...

Reminding the members of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association (CPAA) of the potential power of the "united voice of Chicago principals and administrators," Blaine Elementary School Principal Troy LaRaviere told his main group of . . .

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RAHMWATCH: The latest from Dunbar 'Career Academy' High School!... After decades of sabotaging and privatizing vocational eduction -- now called 'CTE' -- Chicago's mayor lies in claiming he is inventing construction trades voc ed at the South Side school that once pioneered it!...

With the usual collaboration of U.S.Representative Bobby Rush and the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel engaged in one of the larger historical falsifications of his career, announcing on April 25, 2016, that the mayor . . .

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BOARDWATCH: Chicago Board of Education continues cynical manipulation of facts during its February 2016 meeting...

As usual, it was Board member Mahalia Hines who asked the "set up question" at the very end of the Board of Education meeting. Hines's question allowed CPS officials to lie in contradiction to a . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Chicago Sun-Times endorsement of Andrea Zopp ignores 99 percent of the votes Zopp did to destroy Chicago's real public schools... especially in the 'Black Community' Zopp supposedly served during her years as head of the Urban League...

Fact and fiction were in suspended animation when the editors of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote their editorial endorsing former Chicago Board of Education member Andrea Zopp for the Democratic Party nomination for the United States . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union to strike April 1 if Claypool's promise to cut the pension pickup is kept... 'Unfair Labor Practice strike' legal under labor law, says union attorney...

The Chicago Teachers Union will strike on April 1, 2016, if the Chicago Board of Education goes through with the promise, made by its latest "Chief Executive Officer" Forrest Claypool, to take away the pension . . .

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Claypool continues claims of austerity, pushes plan to demand three 'furlough' days from all union workers in CPS...

The latest "Chief Executive Officer" of Chicago's public school system, Forrest Claypool, announced on March 3, 2016 that CPS workers will face "furlough days" between now and the end of the school year. The "furlough" . . .

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SOPHISTRY AT CLAYPOOL CENTRAL... 'STRIKE!' or 'No strike...' or ... maybe strike and maybe notstrikeyet?... The real question is whether the CPS CEO has been honest and accurate about the school system's finances -- and the supposed 'financial crisis'...

On July 22, 2015, the Chicago Board of Education voted to approve Forrest Claypool as the latest of its "Chief Executive Officers." Claypool's predecessors had been Jean-Claude Brizard (hired by Mayor Rahm Emanuel after a . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Tribune editorial against the elected school board is more incoherent than its usual way of viewing the 'small folk'...

On March 7, 2016, the Chicago Tribune published a sententious editorial that seemed to oppose the plan to have an elected school board for Chicago's public schools. To read the Tribune's editorial, one would believe . . .

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Sanders support in Illinois growing -- as in Michigan -- even as some in CTU leadership were able to filibuster against a CTU endorsement... CORE endorsement still stands tall...

Despite claims that polls are showing Hillary Clinton holding what is being characterized as a "commanding lead" in Illinois, Bernie Sanders's support continues to grow as election day nears. Even as northwest side supporters of . . .

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Huge turnout expected for protests against Trump's fascism on March 11 at the University of Illinois...'Students should not have to fear coming to school because of Donald Trump's hate. That's why I'm protesting with UIC students tomorrow outside of Trump's speech...'

A huge turnout is expected for the March 11, 2016 protest against the appearance of Republican (and fascist) candidate for President of the United States at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Groups across the . . .

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'HEEERE, CHICKEE CHICKEE CHICKEE... Chicago, March 11, 2016... ' Trump and his bullies chicken out as protesters dump Trump from Chicago...

It was like a scene from a 1950s movie, a game of "Chickie". Someone was finally standing up to the Bully, and a whole city was proud. And the supposed tough guy who was going . . .

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TRUMPING OUT! The First Amendment protected Donald Trump's fascist prancings and his supporters, just as the 'Chicago Nazis' had the right to march into Skokie decades ago... So why did America's overage El Duce back away in fear in Chicago?...

Why did Donald Trump prove what most of us already knew: that like most bullies, he's a coward? And that's a big part of what happened in Chicago on March 11, 2016, when Trump himself . . .

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TRUMPING OUT: A major question on March 12, 2016 to Donald Trump is why he lied and slandered the Chicago police about his 'postponement' of the March 11 rally... FACT: Trump did not speak to the Chicago Police Department before he chickened out of going into the Pavilion...

Why did Donald Trump lie about the Chicago Police Department? Although there are many questions to ask Donald Trump following his decision to hide away from the massive protests against him in Chicago on March . . .

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Chicago Veterans for Peace launches billboard campaign to end the militarization of Chicago's schools... 'We, the Chicago Chapter of Veterans for Peace, are pursuing a many-pronged campaign to bring Peace at Home and Peace Abroad by focusing on youth and the demilitarization of public education'...

The Veterans for Peace organization announced on March 14, 2016 that it was launching a campaign to end the militarization of Chicago's public schools. Members of the group have spoken at virtually every meeting of . . .

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Willie Scott funeral and memorial arrangements... Memorial on March 19 at Simeon Vocational High School...

We were told on March 14 of the death of Willie Scott, who passed last week. Services are scheduled as follows: VIEWING: Friday, March 18, 2016 1-5 p.m. A. R. Leak & Sons Funeral Home . . .

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CHICAGO UNIONISM 101... SCABS and how we identify them in the Chicago Teachers Union... The all important 'SB' designator on the delegate's union membership list...

What is a SCAB in union terms, and how does a member of the Chicago Teachers Union know if someone is a SCAB? Most simply: A scab is a worker who crosses a union picket . . .

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CHICAGO UNIONISM 101, Chapter Two... 'The principal of reciprocal sacrifice'... SCABS -- and how we deal with them in the intimacy of the local schools... Rank and file justice... from soaked chalk to 'ratted' mailboxes and beyond...

By January 1980, virtually all of the members of the Chicago Teachers Union had been taught the hard lesson about THE BOSS. No matter what the economic reality of Chicago and the USA, the Chicago . . .

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Is the Chicago Teachers Union going 'on strike' on April Fool's Day?... Just what does that mean in terms of the union's militant history?...

While most of the public was focusing on the elections on Tuesday March 15, 2016, a great deal of discussion was taking place in Chicago's more than 600 real public schools, much of it mired . . .

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Chicago Teacher Unionism 101, Chapter Three... How the leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union surrendered slowly under Tom Reece after the January 1994 death of Jackie Vaughn... and how SCABS became 'replacement workers' according to one union officer...

By the time the Chicago Teachers Union struck for 19 days in September 1987, the Board of Education was unable to open even one Scab School, and so the nation's third largest school system settled . . .

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MEDIA WATCH... Chicago's 'automatic' property tax increase touted by the Tribune is ignoring the financial incompetence and ignorance of the Claypool Cronies Club...

On March 20, 2016, the Chicago Tribune led its front page with a lurid "news" story about how Chicago Public Schools will be forced to raise its local property taxes if the Board misses a . . .

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When a 'SCAB' became a 'replacement worker' in the eyes of an officer of the CTU... How the leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union expunged the word 'SCAB' from union discussions...

When did a SCAB become a "replacement worker"? And who ordered that Orwellian shift in the realities behind words long used in union? By the 1990s, the Chicago Teachers Union was facing major changes in . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Corporate news and editorials utilize divisions in CTU to push further divides as House of Delegates decision approaches... Corporate media praise Claypool's lawsuit against Byrd Bennett, but ignore need for litigation on toxic swaps...

Whether the members of the Chicago Teachers Union decide, through their delegates, to do a one day so-called "strike" on April 1, 2016, will not be known until after the March 23, 2016 CTU House . . .

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When is a 'Strike' not a Strike? or maybe a Strike... CTU Press release talks about the April 1 'Day of Action' -- barely about a 'strike'... As majority of teachers notice that the union's 'allies' will not be doing a strike on April 1, 2016 -- only apparently the city's teachers....

It may be further information that the attempt by Karen Lewis and a faction of the leadership of the 28,000-member Chicago Teachers Union to do a one day "strike" on April 1, 2016, is faltering. . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates approves a one-day 'unfair labor practices' strike for revenues for April 1, 2016.... The final vote was 486 in favor of the strike and 124 against...

After a lengthy debate that took place across the schools of Chicago, the Chicago Teachers Union's House of Delegates on March 23, 2016 approved doing a one-day strike on April 1, 2016. The strike, which . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: SCABUNE doesn't get it about how Chicago Teachers Union democracy works... The Chicago Tribune reminds everyone of its historical role as a union-busting scab herding reactionary entity that promotes SCABs into punditry and works to break unions...

By Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016, anyone who bothers to read the Chicago Tribune -- on line or in print -- knew that once again, the news entity that Substance used to call the SCABUNE . . .

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Dozens of actions across Chicago for Chicago Teachers Union's 'Day of Action' on April 1...

The Chicago Teachers Union and its allies announced a large number of different actions to take place across the city on April 1, 2016, the "Day of Action" approved as a one-day strike by the . . .

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Union victory for Agency Fee as Supreme Court rejects right wing arguments in 'Friedrich' case... Decision is a defeat for the so-called the 'Center for Individual Rights'....

In a very important decision for public worker unions -- and for the Chicago Teachers Union on the eve of the April 1, 2016 one-day strike -- the United States Supreme Court on March 29 . . .

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STRIKEWATCH: Will CTU officers and staff follow the CTU tradition and suspend their own pay during the strike on April 1 -- and beyond if it comes to a strike in May and June?...

History has always been a challenging reality when its "lessons" are utilized to influence or dictate current events. And so it is with the sometimes contentious but usually democratic history of the Chicago Teachers Union . . .

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Board of Education's failed 'security' policies have left the door wide open to gang feuds across Chicago, while the Board and others remain ignorant of the players in the often fatal game of drug gang violence...

While at least one faction of those promoting the April 1, 2016 "Day of Action" want to further hamstring the Chicago police, it's worth taking a closer look at the explosion (or at least increase) . . .

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As Illinois moves to the SAT, instead of the ACT, Fair Test notes that the 'New SAT' is the same as the 'Old SAT'...

While Illinois once again juggles the Big Test, replacing the ACT with the SAT as the main college ready test for Illinois high school juniors and seniors, every clear evaluation of the tests shows that . . .

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Nurses, Chicago Teachers Union, to hold press conference February 24 denouncing Chicago Public Schools decision to privatize nursing services and undermine health of CPS children...

The Chicago Teachers Union, school nurses, and others will be holding a press conference before the February 24, 2016 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education. The nurses and other professionals will denounce the continued . . .

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Rauner's budget attacks and insane ideology force Chicago State University to cancel Spring Break... 'Atlas Shrugged' has taken over the governor's mansion in the Land of Lincoln...

The struggle between the average citizens of Illinois and a governor who practices the religion embodied in Ayn Rand's absurdist novel "Atlas Shrugged" reached another level of evil in late February 2016, as Chicago State . . .

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BOARDWATCH: Board members claim that privatization contract is not depriving children of school nurses... Waiting until everyone has left the meeting before calling CTU spokesmen liars and claiming that the corporate plan is rated at '100 percent!'...

The Chicago Board of Education members waited until almost everyone had left the Board meeting of February 24, 2016 before calling Chicago Teachers Union researchers and members liars following the description of the growing crisis . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union calls for City Hall rally on February 25 to demand TIF money go to the schools to avoid pension pickup cut, layoffs proposed by Claypool and Rahm's Board of Education...

The Chicago Teachers Union late on February 24 issued a call for a march and rally at Chicago's City Hall against looming cuts in the schools. The rally, scheduled for the afternoon of February 25, . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Sun-Times Zopp endorsement ignores more than 100 attacks on unions and public schools... Approving the SUPES deal was a small small part of Zopp's betrayals of her 'community'...

In their endorsement of Andrea Zopp's bid for the Democratic Party nomination for the U.S. Senate, the Chicago Sun-Times treats Zopp's record as if her only "mistake" was approving the corrupt no-bid SUPES contract pushed . . .

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Criticisms of proposed contract grow as teachers learn more about what's behind the highly publicized 'Tentative Agreement'...

By the time the "special meeting" of CORE (the Caucus of Rank and File Educators, of which this reporter is a founding members and lifetime member) had ended late in the afternoon of January 31, . . .

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Catalyst: Well subsidized propagandists for corporate 'school reform'... Haider's promotion of a School Finance Authority is consistent with his long career as a corporate 'reform' leaders...

Whether it's finding a "teacher" (who hasn't been teaching for too long) to praise charters schools' scripted and militarized versions of instruction or locating an "expert" who is far from neutral to spout the corporate . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union rejects 'Tentative Agreement' brought by some of its leaders... Negotiations continue now according to the pre-existing time line... CTU elections to be held in May 2016...

The broad-based leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union rejected a 'Tentative Agreement' with the Chicago Board of Education is two swoop on Monday, February 1, 2016, indicating that despite earlier press reports the negotiations between . . .

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Gangs fights increasing in Chicago's schools, while CPS 'security' is deployed elsewhere and CTU ignores growing danger to union members...

With Chicago's murders for January 2016 at an all-time high, leaders of Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union are ignoring the radical increase in gang fights in Chicago's real public schools. By Friday, . . .

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EDITORIAL: Claypool claims that 'round the clock negotiations' loom... Will CTU leaders -- and Karen Lewis -- stop mischaracterizing the terms CPS has been offering?...

A large number of members of the Chicago Teachers Union -- including all of the members of the "Big Bargaining Team" -- rejected the offer made by the negotiators for the Chicago Board of Education . . .

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Rauner's 'crazy' notions get headlines, but ISBE orders will make ISBE a dangerous joke... 'It�s a lame-brain idea and a colossal waste of time...' says an anonymous Rahm aide...

Although his words still get headlines, the constant proposals by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner have remained further and further from the facts -- and the truth about public schools in Chicago (and Illinois). Factions in . . .

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'Truth for America' will stand against 'Teach for America' on the organization's 25th anniversary...

As Teacher for America plans to celebrate its 25th anniversary, a growing national movement is planning to challenge all the lies and hypocrisies of TFA with a new program: "Truth for America." As TFA approaches . . .

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Mass rally from Bank of America to Chicago's City Hall on February 4, 2016...

The Chicago Teachers Union and its allies will do a mass rally, march, and rally from the Bank of America building on Clark St. to Chicago's City Hall after school on February 4, 2016. The . . .

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Claypool's patronage cronyism yields an executive 'team' experienced in buses and subways, not schools... 'Pants on fire'?...While crying poverty, Forrest Claypool has actually preserved a huge part of the CPS bureaucracy and expanded his own private army of cronies, consultants, contractors...

For more than 40 years, Substance has been checking the facts behind the claims of CPS officials. Examples of mendacity in high places abound -- and have always abounded -- but seldom in all that . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union joins other groups for Northwest Side forum on the current situation in Chicago education... Tuesday, February 9 at the Irving Park Baptist Church, 6:30 p.m....

This coming Tuesday, the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Jobs with Justice Workers' Rights Board are hosting a community forum on the state of the CTU contract and education justice in Chicago.

The . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: How can you oppose 'guns' and 'violence' for decades and not notice the drug gangs on the blocks around St. Sabina's?... Let's take a hard look at the Pfleger Pflag Pflap and the media and Hollywood hacks who promote his phony hero narrative...

Whether anyone believes that Chicago's media hound Catholic priest, Father Michael Pfleger, really "forgot" and had the Chi-Raq flag flying at full staff when he had his staff lower the American flag to half staff, . . .

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CPS paid a debt 'penalty' higher than Puerto Rico... Bloomberg News reports on Chicago's struggles, CPS mismanagement...

Not everyone subscribes to The Bond Buyer, or to Bloomberg Business Week, but it's safe to say "The Whole World is Watching" as Chicago Public Schools plunges deeper into debt behind the radical corporate "reforms" . . .

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The forest of lies in Claypool's claims serves only his masters, Rahm and Rauner, while ignoring Reality...Principals, teachers, students and others demand to know who wrote the silly 'Dear Families' message that they were asked to distribute across Chicago in early February 2016...

From time to time newspaper editors fact check Op Eds, even those submitted by powerful and highly paid government officials. Had the Chicago Sun-Times bothered to consult with its own reporters, it would have been . . .

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Sanders, Socialism win New Hampshire Democratic Party primary while the American Federation of Teachers continues its un-democratic backing of HIllary Clinton...

More than three million American teachers and other workers in the nation's public schools will be reading this morning, February 10, 2016, that U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (and Democratic Socialism) won a decisive victory in . . .

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Scalia death probably changes Supreme Court balance on 'Friedrichs' case... unions more likely to preserve the right to collect agency fee from free loaders...

The sudden death of one of the reactionary judges on the United States Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia, on February 13, 2016, can have a major impact on teacher unions -- and other public worker unions. . . .

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Court for those arrested at Bank of America set for March 11...

The 16 teachers and others arrested during a sit-in at the Bank of American on LaSalle St. in Chicago during the recent protest will appear in court on March 11, according to some of those . . .

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Scalia death changes future for Chicago Teachers Union... Agency fees will likely continue now that the Supreme Court is split...

Although there has been a great deal written and discussed about the impact of the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on the future, there is a probable direct impact on the Chicago Teachers . . .

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Chicago 'Walk Ins' at hundreds of schools in coordination with other major cities... Parents and teachers largely ignore threats by Forrest Claypool despite letter distributed to almost everyone...

Students, teachers, parents and others participated in one of the largest mass actions in recent Chicago Public Schools history on the morning of February 17, 2016, in a coordinated effort called the "Walk In." Chicago . . .

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Chicago Newsroom show on February 18, 2016... Substance editor George Schmidt clarifies what happened when the CTU rejected the recent 'Tentative Agreement' with CPS negotiators...

It was again a pleasure to join Ken Davis and the "Chicago Newsroom" team for conversation at the new studios of CNTV (Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV) 1309 S. Wood St. Chicago, IL 60608) . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Chicago's mayor re-visits one of his pre-election 'Obama Moments' by celebrating Pullman 'anniversary' -- and praising Wal-Mart...

Anyone who believed that a couple of months of protests -- including the dramatic "Black Friday" occupation of North Michigan Ave. -- were going to persuade Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to quit his job and . . .

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Chicago Veterans for Peace escalates its campaign to rid the public schools of militarism... 'Say NO! to the military model of conflict resolution' in our public schools...

Those of us who have covered the meetings of the Chicago Board of Education have been reporting regularly that members of Veterans for Peace have been speaking out -- politely but forcefully -- against the . . .

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UNION NEWS, CHICAGO... Pressure grows inside Chicago Teachers Union to challenge union endorsement of Hillary Clinton as support for Bernie Sanders becomes more and more obvious...

With fewer than three weeks to go before the Illinois primaries (March 15), pressure is beginning to grow within the Chicago Teachers Union to have a vote on the union's candidate for the Democratic Party . . .

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Charter push outs are the same whether in Chicago (Noble Network) or New York (Success Academies)... and equally hypocritical with support from ruling class pundits and ideologues...

For more than a decade, critics of Chicago's charter schools have been reporting that every supposedly successful charter school pushes out large numbers of students every year. The result is that the schools constantly reduce . . .

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CORE votes to endorse Bernie Sanders... Caucus leading the Chicago Teachers Union rejects earlier Clinton 'endorsement' by the American Federation of Teachers leadership...

After a heated debate, the Caucus Of Rank-and-file Educators (CORE) of the Chicago Teachers Union voted at its February 22, 2016 regular meeting to endorse the candidacy of Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in the . . .

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'NETWORK CHIEFS' have often been outsiders who have no Chicago or Illinois teaching or administrative certification or experience...

Chicago is the only school district in Illinois that has a group of people whose titles are "Chief of Schools." In Chicago, a "Chief of Schools" is in charge of a "Network." Neither "Chiefs of . . .

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Democracy in the air even as 'Mayor One Percent' fights for his political life... Struggles over the rights of children, families, and teachers to have real public schools -- and democracy -- increase in Chicago...

While dozens of people were spending part of their New Year's Eve marching at Chicago's City Hall demanding that Mayor Rahm Emanuel resign, a review of the struggles of 2015 shows that even without a . . .

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RAHMWATCH: 'Nothing's colder than dead clout...' (traditional Chicago wisdom)... As New Trier's most notorious alumnus faces the termination of his years in power... The verdict is on the Democratic Party's 'reform' leaders -- and not just against the Hollywood hype and spin the helped create Rahm..

As a recent (on line only, so far) New Yorker article about Rahm Emanuel's career in power notes, Emanuel's versions of political reality have cost the Democratic Party, both locally and nationally, dearly. From NAFTA . . .

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Teachers for Social Justice holding training on the elected school board at the University of Illinois Saturday January 9...

Teachers for Social Justice has announced that it will be holding an organizing meeting for the elected school board this Saturday. The TSJ Teach-In for the 'Elected Representative School Board Campaign' will be held on . . .

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'Cheating' to get kids into selective high schools becomes a media battle cry, while Rauner's 'legal' method for his daughter to get into Payton is ignored...

The annual release of the Chicago Public Schools Inspector General report has been, as usual, a source of headlines-- and also as usual, a source of how the "truth" about CPS policies and practices is . . .

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Rahm and Frank Clark come up with another 'underutilized schools' list to scare the world...

Less than three years after the utility executive Frank Clark chaired a "commission" for Barbara Byrd Bennett to rationalize the closing of the largest number of public schools in American history, Clark is back in . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Ruling class takes a cold look at the 'Common Core' struggles... Even 'Fortune' magazine now realizes that CEOs can make big mistakes when they meddle in education policy...

Is it possible to write a "history" of the recent struggles against Common Core and leave out the millions of families that have created the "Opt Out Movement" across the USA during the past four . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union calls for resignation of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, supports legislation to recall Chicago's mayor...

At its January 6, 2016, meeting, the 800-member Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates voted unanimously in favor of a resolution calling on Chicago's mayor, Rahm Emanuel, and Cook County's State's Attorney, Anita Alvarez, to . . .

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Rahm chased away from Malcolm X College publicity stunt on January 7... Protesters plan to be at Rahm's home on January 9...

Although Rahm Emanuel was trying to re-emerge into his traditional "narrative arc," on January 7, 2016, his effort failed. Emanuel told the city's corporate media that he was going to Malcolm X College to announce . . .

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Lane Tech evacuated because of bomb scare...

Chicago's Lane Technical ("College Prep") High School was evacuated on Thursday night, January 7, 2016, because of a bomb scare. Police searched the building and declared it safe. Classes were held as usual on Friday. . . .

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CTU bulletin increases pressure on Rahm Emanuel, Board of Education regarding contract negotiations...

By the end of the first week of January, the members of the Chicago Teachers Union had completed preparations for more serious negotiations with Rahm Emanuel's Chicago Board of Education. The negotiations, which the Board . . .

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BOARDWATCH: Rahm's latest Board appointment again demonstrates the political bankruptcy of diversity politics and the fetishes of 'choice'... Jaime Guzman has been serving the reactionaries since he was 'teaching' with Teach for America...

The January 6, 2016 announcement by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emaneul that he was appointing Jaime Guzman to replace Jesse Ruiz on the seven member (appointed) Chicago Board of Education was praised by a few: After . . .

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Gene Glass's satiric month-by-month summary of 2015... It was like witnessing a multi-car crash...

[Editor's Note: The following was released on New Year's Day by Gene Glass. The satire, release by the National Education Policy Center, was developed by Professor Glass and others affiliated with the Center. George N. . . .

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NIX THE NETWORKS? No way. Claypool plans to expand mid-level bureaucracies (and secret outside consultants) while focusing end-of-the month cuts at the schools and among lowest level remaining CPS 'central' workers...

Despite the call from at least a part of Chicago's ruling class for massive cuts (or elimination) from the so-called "Networks," sources at CPS indicate that at the end of January, when second semester plans . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Rahm hosts media event to proclaim that he has invented 'Freshman Connection'...

While many across Chicago and the USA continue to believe that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is on the ropes and will be resigning the office to which he was elected in April 2015, Rahm has . . .

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'It's significantly worse since Aramark took over...' Parents and alderman protest at Sutherland Elementary School as icy sidewalks and filthy lunchroom display Aramark privatization results...

How dangerous is it for Chicago's children, now that morning temperatures are below zero (at least at wind chills) and the afternoons are little better? Has Chicago's privatization mania -- continued with a vengeance under . . .

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Sayre school fight over 'toxic culture' ... '[Sayre school]...has seen at least 35 teachers leave since 2011, according to the Chicago Teachers Union...'

The political battles over the future of Sayre Elementary School on the Northwest Side have escalated to the point where DNA Info news service reports the story. According to the Chicago Teachers Union, the current . . .

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'Thank you for you patience... your estimated wait time could exceed 30 minutes...' but actually runs to nearly two hours for CPS in January 2016...

As I write this, I've been listening to a recorded phone message from CPS since 11:20 a.m. It's now 12:50 p.m. The current owners of the CPS "Talent Office" have created what one day would . . .

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Rahm Emanuel's 'New Democrat' election strategy is dooming the Democratic Party as the Republicans work county by county, state by state and all the time...

As the race for the Republican Party nomination heats up with all the candidates vying for the most reactionary positions in order to win their party's nomination, a fight within the Democratic Party has broken . . .

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Rahm's strategy was bankrupt even before the majority of members of the Democratic Party caught on... How the Emanuels and the Clintons promoted the Big Three corporate 'Reforms' that attacked America's working class...

As the race for the Republican Party nomination heats up with all the candidates vying for the most reactionary positions in order to win their party's nomination, a fight within the Democratic Party has broken . . .

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Was Claypool bluffing about that $480 million 'budget hole' and the screaming about Springfield as a last resort?... CTU tells its members that layoffs are not coming -- yet -- despite deadlines...

Despite seven months of claims by both the Chicago Board of Education and some of the leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union that the city's public schools were in 2015 - 2016 "broke on purpose" . . .

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Rauner lieutenants in the legislature claim CPS 'bankrupt' while continuing to deny financial aid to Chicago's schools... Republican leaders introduce bill to strip Chicago of rights...

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner is trying to get the Illinois General Assembly to approve legislation that would declare Chicago's public schools "bankrupt". The plan, introduced as a bill in the Illinois General Assembly on January . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Tribune's version of history recalls the glory days of the Chicago School Finance Authority... 'News' as propaganda from the Trib repeats the traditional ruling class lie that in 1979, CPS was 'bankrupt'...

The Chicago Tribune didn't cover the breaking story about the proposal in Springfield by Bruce Rauner's allies to take over Chicago's public schools. But within a few hours, the Trib had re-oriented its perspective. In . . .

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Republicans introduce CPS 'takeover' bill in Springfield... Republicans are not pushing for (ultimately) an elected school board in Chicago!

It took four days between the time they announced they intended to do it and the day they finally got around to putting their ideas in legislative language. The two top leaders in Springfield have . . .

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Who is Angelica Alfaro? 'A Rauner Democrat' challenges a supporter of real public schools in Chicago... Charter school leader running for Illinois State Senate in Chicago as a 'reform' candidate...

Angelica Alfaro, who has been a paid organizer for the Noble Network of Charter Schools fo nearly a decade, is now running for the Illinois State Senate against the endorsed candidate of a proven friend . . .

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BOARDWATCH: Alderman makes powerful push to get CPS to rectify 'toxic swap' deals and straighten our TIF financial issues...

Although the line of public officials speaking before public participation at the beginning of the January 27, 2016 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education was shorter than usual, the one Chicago alderman who spoke . . .

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CTU responds to Rauner's 'State of the State' address...

The Chicago Teachers Union responded to Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner's "State of the State" address with a forceful reply early on January 28, 2016. One of the things the union is challenging is the false . . .

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First Ward Alderman 'Proco Joe' gives a Valentine to charter school pusher who is now running for Illinois Senate... Charter teacher's sex crimes at 'Noble' recently exposed...

Some pictures are worth more than a thousand words, and there are few as blatant as the invitation First Ward Alderman "Proco Joe" Moreno sent to his constituents at the end of January inviting them . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union 'Big Bargaining Team' to meet Saturday morning, January 30, at CTU offices.... 'Messaging' spin has misled the public about the powers of the BBT versus the union's elected House of Delegates...

Substance was informed early on January 30, 2016 that the so-called "Big Bargaining Team" of the Chicago Teachers Union has been asked to be at a meeting at the union's Merchandise Mart offices at ten . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Billions for O'Hare -- but not an extra local (or federal) cent for CPS??

Chicago's Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, proved again that he can find public money for projects he wants -- but that he wants to force Chicago Public Schools to borrow instead of utilize public money to cover . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union leaders make fierce push to get members of the so-called 'Big Bargaining Team' to push for the 'TA'...

Members of the so-called "Big Bargaining Team" (BBT) of the Chicago Teachers Union were held at the union offices for nearly six hours on January 30, 2016, while union leaders pushed through with an agenda . . .

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Would you believe it's called 'Pay for Success'... Feds trying to put privatization into special education as national mandate...

While many people were cheerleading the recent Congressional approval of the latest iteration of the "No Child Left Behind" law, those who were taking the time to read the more than 1,000 pages of the . . .

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Rahm (through his CPS minion, Forrest Claypool) announces school closing list behind the fog of the Garry McCarthy news and ongoing national attention to Chicago's police murders...

While the attention of most of the public was on the melodramatic firing of Chicago police Supt. Garry McCarthy on December 1, 2015, the mayor's minions at Chicago Public Schools were announcing a list of . . .

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Chicago leadership crisis becomes world wide news

Second only to terrorism, or to whatever the recent massacre in California is finally called, the political crisis in the leadership of the nation's third largest city has been center stage in the news, despite . . .

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Mayoral Recall bill -- House Bill 4356 --for Chicago now filed in Springfield as hundreds rally against Rahm...

On the same day that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel delivered a questionable apology at a Special Meeting of the Chicago City Council, opponents of the mayor have introduced a bill in Springfield that would allow . . .

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'Walk through' from unqualified Network wanderers constantly disrupts classrooms, while Network chieftains harass principals...

Not a week goes by when principals in most of Chicago's real public schools are harassed by Network Chiefs who are often less qualified for any education work in Chicago than those who serve the . . .

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Lindblom protesters undermine Claypool 'STEM coding' publicity stunt...

DNA Info reported that students at Lindblom protested against Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool when Claypool tried to stage a publicity stunt at the South Side selective enrollment college prep high school . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union adds powerful voice to the exposure of Chicago's attack on libraries...

The Chicago Teachers Union has added its powerful voice to the growing movement against the Chicago Board of Education's destruction of school library services. As protests against the termination of the lone school librarian at . . .

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Rahm's publicity stunt backfires as he hears 'Sixteen Shots!' even at Urban Prep...

After more than two weeks of avoiding major media events -- for the first time since his May 2011 inauguration -- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel ventured out of his "bunker" on December 16, 2015, to . . .

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National calls for Rahm to resign... Nation magazine now calls for Rahm to resign...

Calls for an end to the reign of Rahm Emanuel as Mayor of Chicago increase, even as protests in the streets of Chicago continue. The latest among those who call for Rahm's resignation is the . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Rahm returns to silly publicity stunts despite continuing and growing outcry for his resignation... 'which includes spay or neuter, immunizations, heartworm test and microchip...'

On roughly the same day that The Nation called for his resignation as mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel returned to his earlier ways by issuing, at taxpayer expense, press releases and propaganda pieces to try . . .

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RAHMWATCH: While Chicago's mayor spends a week in Cuba, Rahm's propaganda machine grinds out inanities... Now the big news is the 'national' search for a new chief for Chicago's Department of Animal Control...

Nothing but the best for Chicago's stray animals! Honest -- that's one of the latest pronouncements from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel: the city, bereft of qualified local animal controllers, is doing a national search for . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: The Chicago Sun-Times deserves a Pulitzer Prize for stupidity in its reporting on the gang thug who attacked Rahm Emanuel's son and stole the youngster's cell phone a year ago...

One of the results of the reduction in reporters (and the elimination of news photographers and copy editors with experience in Chicago) at the Chicago Sun-Times is that much of the reporting that's left get . . .

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Democracy Now discusses Chicago police murders...

[Editor's Note: The national radio show, "Democracy Now" has undertaken a major discussion of the situation in Chicago. You can find it on the Web at http://www.democracynow.org/2015/12/28/a_badge_to_kill_grief_outrage... George N. Schmidt, Editor, Substance].


. . .

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Hearings scheduled across Chicago for elected school board bill... HB 4268 has five chief sponsors in the Illinois General Assembly... 50 State Reps have signed on as co-sponsors, and work now begins in the Illinois Senate...

Following the outrageous vote of the seven appointed members of the Chicago Board of Education to expand the city's charter schools despite a supposed financial "crisis" and the massive opposition from the community to the . . .

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LEAD DINNER 2015: Karen Lewis continues to view policy as an 'appearance' in stand up to deliver one-liners... Did you hear the latest one about Bruce Rauner and Dartmouth?...

Anyone who believed that the use of the term "appearance" for the actions of Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis at the union's 2014 LEAD (Legislators Educators Appreciation Dinner) was a misplaced verb had to . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Louisiana blogger nails major error from local 'Pulitzer Prize Winner'...

[Editor's Note: The following lengthy critique was distributed on October 31, 2015 by Mercedes Schneider, who does a regular blog from Louisiana. As the debates over both Common Core and the "New Orleans Miracle" continue . . .

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AFL-CIO still in the business of reactionary foreign policy... From the CIA to the 'National Endowment for Democracy' the reactionary agendas of the U.S. ruling class go around the world, modified at different times in history...

[EDITOR'S NOTE: On another anniversary of my small book "The American Federation of Teachers and the CIA" it's nice to know that an expanding number of journalists and researchers are staying on top of the . . .

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Chicago finances. Alderman John Arena explains his vote in favor of the proposed budget submitted by Mayor Rahm Emanuel...

There have been fewer topics about which we have heard more at Substance recently than the proposed increase in Chicago property taxes. Although I was in favor of that proposal (as a first step towards . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Research challenges use of PISA test results to show how poorly students in the USA are doing...

A new study by researchers at the University of Colorado raises serious questions about the integrity of claims widely reported in the media in the United States of America that American students constantly "lad behind" . . .

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What went 'down' but really went up at Chicago Public Schools? Forrest Claypool added another million dollars worth of bureaucrats from among his outside cronies on Octobter 28, and the Board members voted to approve it all!...

Anyone who has been trying to pay attention to the statements by the mayor's office and Chicago Public School officials about the current state of Chicago's school finances might believe that the only way CPS . . .

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Rauner among 'least effective' of governors...

Diane Ravitch is reporting on her blog that Governing magazine has named Governor Bruce Rauner of Illinois as one of the two "least effective" governors in the USA. Rauner is joined in that dubious honor . . .

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Broy, Chico and King... Charter and privatization cheats to be at City Club November 18 to try and resuscitate the dying claims of corporate 'school reform', Chicago-style...

The year 2015 is a dubious anniversary for the public schools of the USA. Twenty years ago, corporate reform launched its frontal attack on the city's public schools with the passage of the Amendatory Act . . .

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Raise Your Hand challenges CPS version of why to 'Go To Springfield'... The poison pill in 'SB318' and why students and principals are being tricked about how to fix CPS finances...

For several months, while the President of the Chicago Teachers Union has refused to continue the union's independent budget analysis while Chicago Public Schools claims it is "broke," parents and others have continued to note . . .

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Claypool to be at City Club Tuesday...

The Chief Executive Officer of Chicago's public schools will be speaking at the City Club of Chicago in one week. The City Club distributed the announcement on November 10, 2015. Claypool is currently trying to . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union warns members 'Don't get on the CPS bus' Tuesday... Claypool and CPS are pushing SB318, a union busting bill during Springfield push...

An email blast to all members of the 28,000-member Chicago Teachers Union warned teachers, parents and students not to join CPS officials on Tuesday, November 17, 2015, in a bus caravan to Springfield in support . . .

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AERA says stop using 'value added' to evaluate teachers...

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) has issued a warning against the use of so-called "value added" measures for high-stakes decisions regarding teachers, other educators (like principals), and teacher preparation programs. Assessment's first rule says . . .

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BOOK REVIEW AND ANALYTICAL ESSAY: Teach for America has been a ruling class cult, creating a group of cadre to push corporate 'school reform' into government and governance...

[Editor's Note: The following essay originally was published as a review at Amazon (to date, November 13, 2015, the only review of this book. I am republishing it here, with additions, because people need to . . .

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Postal workers union endorses Sanders, notes how many Democrats have pushed privatization and other attacks on public workers...

As the rank-and-file from many of America's unions have rallied to support Bernie Sanders, for the most part the nation's largest unions, often against the rank and file, have been endorsing Hillary Clinton for the . . .

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'Short Calling' deprives city's real public schools of substitute teachers, sabotaging hundreds of classes and thousands of students every week. Why? CPS administrations are now composed mostly of people who don't know anything about the city's public schools...

'Short Calling' is back, and worse than ever. Schools facing absent teachers are not getting enough substitute teachers, while substitute teachers are being told there is no work for them. By early November 2015, the . . .

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Election for Chicago teacher pension trustees results in four of five CTU endorsed candidates returned to CTPF Board of Trustees...

The election for trustees of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund (CTPF) resulted in the election of four of the five endorsed candidates supported by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). The two teacher trustees, Lois Ashford . . .

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'Nix the Networks!' demands grow as Network intrusions, costs, and lies spread across Chicago's public schools...

From one end of the city to the other, teachers, students and even some principals have been demanding, as the school year flows on, 'Nix the Networks.' Few people in the schools can understand what . . .

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Broy, Chico and King featured... City Club hosts charter school propaganda Wednesday, November 18...

The City Club of Chicago will be hearing from three of the most prominent of the promoters of charter schools in Chicago on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 at Maggiano's Restaurant in Chicago. All three speakers, . . .

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Rahm makes Ruiz Park District chief...

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced on November 21, 2015, that he is appointing Jesse Ruiz to the Chicago Park District Board. Ruiz is a partner in a LaSalle St. law firm. Rahm Emanuel announced he . . .

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NIX THE NETWORKS: Alderman demands that Claypool replace Luis Soria as Network 8 chief....

A South Side Alderman, Raymond Lopez, wrote to Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool on November 19, 2015 asking that Luis Soria be removed a a "Network Chief" in his part of town. . . .

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Did you know your principal is one of Chicago's 'key levers'... Principals go from SUPES CELA stupidities (courtesy of Barbara Byrd Bennett and corporate greed) to 'Principal Training'

Anyone who believed that the federal investigations and felony charges against Barbara Byrd Bennett and the SUPES guys might have also believed that things would for sure change -- and for the better! How about . . .

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Thousands march on coldest November night in years to show Chicago that the Chicago Teachers Union is ready for a strike -- and that parents, students and many community leaders are supporting the CTU against the false financial claims of Claypool and Emanuel...

Thousands of Chicago Teachers Union members marched and rallied during the coldest November night in recent history in order to begin the final push towards a strike. The thousands of people in the march and . . .

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Chief Education Officer tells parents that the 'LaQuan Video' will not be shown in Chicago's schools...

In a November 24, 2015 email to CPS parents, Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson, without consulting teachers or the Chicago Teachers Union, announced that the "LaQuan video" will not be shown in Chicago's public schools. . . .

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Let's see if the average reporter knows the difference between 'People' and 'Folks' and can begin to demand to know why Hollywood, the White House, and City Hall Chicago keep trying to force complex stories into a simplistic straight jacket that ignores the reality as simplistically as possible...

By Thanksgiving Day 2015, Chicago was once again in the international news because a black young man was murdered and the usual list of pontificators was assembling to once again divert the public attention from . . .

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'Laquan Won't Have A Christmas'... Black Friday protests shut down parts of the 'Mag Mile'... Expensive stories along Chicago's 'Magnificent Mile' were blocked by protests after Laquan McDonald video showed 2014 murder by police officer...

[Editor's Note: The following articles include most of the reporting on the November 27, 2015 protests on Chicago's "Magnificent Mile". The protests escalated as more and more people came to know the details of the . . .

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Luis Soria perhaps the most controversial... Network chief surviving as complaints from parents and students to the alderman mount...

Problems with the Chicago Public Schools system of sub-districts -- today called "Networks" following the re-branding done by Barbara Byrd Bennett -- began escalating during November 2015. While a growing number of teachers have been . . .

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For the second month in a row, the Chicago Board of Education voted to spend $1 million more on outside lawyers after strangling the 'public participation' of critics of the latest special education cuts at the September 29 Chicago Board of Education meeting...

It wasn't on the public agenda distributed, as required by law, 48 hours before the September 29, 2015 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education. Nor was it discussed while Chicago's latest public education "Chief . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Wall Street Journal bids farewell to Arne Duncan, chides Obama for not privatizing everything...

The Wall Street Journal updated the world on its education agenda in an October 5, 2015 editorial about Arne Duncan's departure as U.S. Secretary of Education and John King's arrival in the Cabinet. Amazingly, given . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union and CORE leadership had a long history of credible and intense budget analysis of Chicago Public Schools -- until now

CORE was founded... . . .

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Indictment of Barbara Byrd Bennett leaves most of her cronies, co-conspirators and (Board member) enablers off the hook... Board of Education members and Byrd Bennett's cronies escape justice while BBB plans to plead guilty...

The announcement of the indictment of former Chicago Public Schools "Chief Executive Officer" Barbara Byrd Bennett on October 8, 2015, came as no surprise to most people who had been following the scandal since the . . .

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Union leaders' confusion about criminal CPS leadership continues in statement about indictment -- and guilty plea -- from Barbara Byrd Bennett... CTU President 'wishes schools chief well in continued legal battles'... CTU statement ignores three years of crooked greed at the top of CPS...

The strange sage of the soft words from some members of leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union about the tenure of Barbara Byrd Bennett, disgraced former "Chief Executive Officer" of Chicago's public schools, got even . . .

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Byrd Bennett began conniving as soon as she arrived in Chicago... That 'history' claiming that Jean-Claude Brizard was ousted as CEO of CPS because he failed to stop the 2012 strike is just another City Hall disinformation campaign, one of Rahm Emanuel's Big Lies...

As the records of the relationship between Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his hand-picked second "Chief Executive Officer" for Chicago's public schools becomes more clear thanks to investigations by the Chicago Sun-Times and Substance, one . . .

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Barbara Byrd Bennett gets seven and a half years after federal plea deal... Emanuel finally acknowledges knowledge of the SUPES deal at City Hall, while Vitale still claims that the SUPES (and CELA) deals were 'good for CPS'... as coverups continue...

The biggest news out of Chicago's federal building in early October 2015 came on October 13, 2015, when former Chicago Public Schools "Chief Executive Officer" Barbara Byrd Bennett pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges and . . .

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Detroit now reviewing contracts entered into by Barbara Byrd Bennett during her time in power there...

Within hours after former Chicago schools "Chief Executive Officer" Barbara Byrd Bennett pleaded guilty in Chicago federal court on corruption charges, the Detroit News is reporting that Detroit's school system is investigating Byrd Bennett's contracts . . .

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Vitale still claims that the SUPES deal was good for CPS, worth the money, former Board President still claims...

During the years following his appointment as President of the Chicago Board of Education, David Vitale devoted considerable time to planning how to silence critics of the Board's policies. Vitale's philosophy of debate over CPS . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Chicago's mayor dispatched more than 20 press releases during the week his schools 'CEO' pleaded guilty to federal felony charges ... and more loomed... BUT!... 'Chicago has a 292-mile bikeway network in all 50 wards...' was one important data Rahm shared with the world in October 2015...

The headlines should have been LET'S CHANGE THE SUBJECT! (yes, in all caps, Rahm screaming at the press). From his days working for former Mayor Richard M. Daley through his days working for former President . . .

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CPS gag orders strictly in place as gagging of the public grows... Veterans barred from CPS sign in a few weeks before Veterans Day... '...at 8:01 today I attempted to sign up to speak to the CPS Board and received the message 'All speaking slots filled...'

The Chicago Board of Education has blocked dozens of speakers from signing up to testify at the October 28, 2015, meeting of the Board of Education including Chicago Veterans for Peace, which tried to sign . . .

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Rally for the Elected School Board on October 21

There will be a Townhall meeting for the Elected, Representative School Board on Wednesday, Oct 21, 2015 at 6:00 PM at the Grant Memorial AME Church, 4017 South Drexel Boulevard Chicago.



. . .

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Gates family bullshit on education exposed in The Washington Post... Did you hear the Big Lie about how three 'bad teachers in a row' will ruin a poor child for life? The question is... Which three bad teachers made Bill Gates so stubbornly stupid?...

Maybe money can't buy love, as the old songs went, but it buys just about anything else, including uncritical adulation to those who push their millions and billions on behalf of causes that promote privatization . . .

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Claypool and Jackson team up to push phony budget analysis to principals and network leaders during semi-secret meetings... Claypool declares war on CTU sick day 'abuse' and continues false claims about CPS budget... Jackson repeats her support for charter schools' continued expansion...

The "Chief Executive Officer" and "Chief Education Officer" of Chicago Public Schools held meetings across the city during the week of the Barbara Byrd Bennett guilty plea to provide principals and network chiefs with the . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Education Week virtually ignores Byrd Bennett guilty plea while featuring more corporate 'reform' propaganda on its front page the week after 'BBB' pleads guilty and begins to snitch on her old cronies in Detroit (and elsewhere?)...

If you dug deep enough, you might have been able to locate a mention of the guilty plea in federal court by Barbara Byrd Bennett in the October 21, 2015, edition of Education Week. As . . .

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Zombies popular at City Colleges? Crain's exposes how Rahm's propagandists inflate 'graduation rates' at City Colleges of Chicago -- by graduating the dead... 'In 2013, City Colleges adopted a 'posthumous degree' program that made dead alums eligible for a degree or certificate'...

Just when you thought you might have heard the most outrageous story about Chicago corruption, just when the latest stories about Barbara Byrd Bennett are briefly out of the headlines, Rahm Emanuel and his team . . .

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With Barbara Byrd Bennett's last Ohio crony out, will Claypool and Emanuel push to continue the OODLSS stupidity... and the massive attacks by CPS against special education?...

As the rumor built inside CPS that Markay Winston, the last major out-of-town crony imported to Chicago by Barbara Byrd Bennett and Jean-Claude Brizard, was being ousted, a question remained: Would the nation's third largest . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: New York Times reports Obama administration flip flop on high-stakes testing -- billions of dollars Obama administration has spent pushing Common Core, high-stakes testing, and privatization attacks on public schools are still at large....

In a Saturday (October 24, 2015) article on the website of The New York Times (published on the front page of the national print edition the following day, October 25), the Times is reporting that . . .

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Claypool pushes charter expansion despite evidence that Chicago charters, like all others across the USA, are cheating their kids through push outs and widespread manipulation of 'data'...

Despite a decline in the number of students in Chicago's public schools, community protests, and growing evidence that Chicago charter schools, like others across the USA, cheat a large number of their families by creating . . .

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'Diversity' -- ruling class version... What do Arlene Ackerman, Barbara Byrd Bennett, and Beverly Hall all have in common (other than Broad Foundation sponsorship?)...

As the evidence mounts that corporate "School Reform" in the United States is educationally ethically and pedagogically bankrupt, a historical record is also being established that is worth a close look, especially by people in . . .

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Zombies expected at protest... CTU plans press conference before October 28 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education to protest charter schools expansion and other attacks on Chicago's real public schools...

Chicago Teachers Union vice president Jesse Sharkey will be one of many speakers at the nine a.m. press conference outside the headquarters of the Chicago Board of Education at 42 W. Madison St. on October . . .

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CTU research documents 'pay to play' in Noble charter schools expansions... '�The draconian social control exhibited in most Noble Street schools reveals a deep mistrust of low-income students of color and their families...'

The Chicago Teachers Union continued its critique of the Chicago Board of Education's plans to expand the city's charter schools despite the growing evidence of charter school corruption across the city and in virtually all . . .

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CTU president calls on Chicago Board of Education to overturn decisions made during corrupt years of Barbara Byrd Bennett as CEO of CPS... Latest reports say that the feds are naming other Byrd Bennett cronies for possible corrupt practices in SUPES deal -- while others should be investigated...

In a press release released one day before the October 28, 2015 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education, the President of the Chicago Teachers Union, Karen Lewis, called on the Board to undo the . . .

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CTU LEAD dinner October 30

The annual LEAD (Legislators Educators Appreciation Dinner) will be held at the Plumbers Hall 1340 W. Washington on the evening of October 30, 2015. The annual LEAD dinner, which began during the Great Depression as . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union, parents expose CPS special ed frauds while Clark and Claypool work to gag and drag out rank-and-file critics at Board meeting... '[CPS is]...obstructing or threatening parents or staff who speak out about these devastating violations of students' special education rights...'

By the end of the September 29, 2015 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education, it was clear that the Board's agenda was to undermine special education services to as many children in Chicago's real . . .

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BOARDWATCH: Clark, Claypool shut down critics, including Vets for Peace... 'We observed ... that some groups were told to select one speaker from among those who followed the Guidelines... while other groups �- especially those pro and con to Noble charter schools, were allowed many speakers...'

[Editor's Note: As Substance has been reporting for several months, the Chicago Board of Eduction has been doing its best to silence anyone who tries to speak at a Board meeting critical of Board policies. . . .

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Will 'CTA for CPS 2.0' once again 'save' Chicago's public schools? Why is the ability to schedule buses and operate subways in Chicago the key to running the nation's third largest public school system?...

By the time the latest members of the Chicago Board of Education voted to spend more than a million dollars on a bunch of people whose previous experiences in public life had been running a . . .

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Chicago Sun-Times reports a scandal when Catalyst breaks the story, but ignores the source of its stories about the Claypool bureaucracy when Substance first publishes it...

For 15 years, Chicago's corporate media has discriminated against Substance. Even though the Chicago Sun-Times dispatched a report for two full days to interview me and the people of Substance after we were sued for . . .

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TEACHER UNION HISTORY: Fatal mistake of AFT leadership was housing 'community organizations' in the D.C. national office in the late 1960s and early 1970s...

While Substance awaits the review of the important history 'Days of Rage,' I've been reviewing some of the history of teacher unions that I studied and wrote about as long as 40 years ago. One . . .

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Dyett supporter -- or agent for Rahm Emanuel? Was Randi Weingarten in Chicago to help the Dyett hunger strikers or, as she has done in Philadelphia and elsewhere, promote the ruling class's agenda behind the scenes?...

One of the more interesting photographs from the first week of the Dyett High School hunger strike in Chicago depicted American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten sitting with the hunger strikers and proclaiming her . . .

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Claypool's SCABSTITUTE 'TEACHERS'? CPS held August 27 'Recruitment Fair' not for real teachers (which are being privatized) but for $117 per day 'substitute teachers'...

One of the most expensive things that Chicago's public schools have done was pay scabs during a strike. When SEIU Local 73's leadership -- Christine Boardman and Matt Brandon at that time, with no democracy . . .

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LABOR DAY REMINDER: As Bernie Sanders notes, you can still shop for the union label -- and insist on it! -- even in 2015 in the USA...

During a time when even some union staff members think it's OK to drive an automobile that has been made (albeit in the USA) by scab (i.e., non union) workers, it's nice to hear from . . .

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Labor Day Rally for Dyett at five in the afternoon on Labor Day...

The growing movement in support of the Dyett High School green technology and global high school will be holding a Labor Day rally at Dyett on Labor Day afternoon, September 7, 2015, beginning at five . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Tribune manages to cover opening day of schools in Chicago while ignoring students, teachers, and union leaders -- while quoting ruling class touts like Terry Mazany and Robin Steans...

Anyone who wanted to write a parody of a plutocratic version of reality as the nation's third largest school system opened on September 8, 2015, couldn't have done better than the front page story in . . .

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Historical amnesia... How Chicago makes the 'trains' (er, schools) run on time... In the bizarre world of corporate 'school reform,' Chicago's mayors have known that the best people to run a city's public schools are the people who have run the city's subways and buses...

As school opens in Chicago on September 8, 2015, and about 400,000 children (incuding two of mine) return to their classes in America's third largest school system, it's worth taking a step back and demanding . . .

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Seattle teachers strike gains widespread support, as Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates votes at its September 9 meeting to back the brothers and sisters in Seattle... Seattle union members, 5,000 strong, vote unanimously to strike!...

Noting that Seattle teachers had come out in support of Chicago's teachers during the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis asked the union's 800-member House of Delegates to vote in . . .

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Lincoln Elementary School hypocrisy challenged by Dyett hunger strikes, until Rahm and Forrest retreat in the face of another public protest...

Confrontations over Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's decision to ignore the demands of the majority of people in the Bronzeville community and establish an "arts and technology" high school at Dyett High School resulted in an . . .

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A lesson in ruling class propaganda... Teach for America was always a ruling class and corporate media attack on the nation's real public school teachers, no matter how much hype about Wendy Kopp's so-called 'idealism' infects the corporate media on TFA's 25th anniversary...

Anyone who remembers the first breathless announcements that a Princeton senior had discovered the new "secret sauce" for improving America's supposedly "failing" public schools may also remember having said "WTF?!" when the sage of Wendy . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: How does The New York Times know 'news' when it smells it? When some rich guy starts a charter school and that charter school finishes its first week... At the Times, the lies begin in the 'news' columns and photo captions, as a two recent stories demonstrate...

On Sunday, September 13, 2015, the biggest story about the beginning of the 2015 - 2016 school year in what is supposedly "America's Newspaper of Record" -- The New York Times -- was a page-and-a-half . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Substance wasn't always blacklisted by corporate media... Ed Week profiled Substance in 1994, before corporate subsidies took over 'news' of schools... 'Like I said,' [editor Leo] Gorenstein says [in August 1994]... 'there's a lot of muck to rake in Chicago'...

Substance wasn't always blacklisted by Chicago's corporate media. It wasn't always the case that a Substance story would appear on August 28, as ours did, be picked up by the Chicago Sun-Times on August 30, . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: New York Times corrects error in quote from Sarah Chambers in front page article about Rahm Emanuel's problems...

On September 16, 2015, The New York Times ran a correction because it has made an error in a September 8 - 9 report on the problems facing Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel during his second . . .

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REVIEW: The new 'counter narrative' about Teach for America is still haunted by TFA and supporting TFA's nonsense... Many ex-TFAers are still stuck halfway in the cult that flattered their considerable egos when they were younger...

"Teach for America, Counter Narratives. Alumni Speak Up and Speak Out" needs a post-Jon Stewart classification: The Bullshit Book. When I decided to break a recent rule and purchase a copy of the book (despite . . .

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'...The sky is falling and the schools are failing!'... PARCC results prove that Illinois students are 'failing,' with Chicago students failing more than others, especially in failing inner city schools serving the poorest children in the most segregated communities...

"...The sky is falling and the schools are failing!" could have been the latest headlines from the latest tests that have proved that public schools are failing and privatization is the best solution for the . . .

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And now -- the PARCC! Since mayoral control and corporate 'reform' began 20 years ago, Chicago and Illinois have had lots of the most bestest, better-then-ever, sure-fire test programs... So why is the Sun-Times telling us (again) that PARCC is the really real deal this time for sure!?...

Before going on with today's analysis of corporate stupidity, I am offering a new $50 bill for the first person who can email Substance (Csubstance@aol.com) listing all of the high-stakes tests that Chicago's public schools . . .

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With Cawley gone, will CPS end the major Cawley programs -- the corrupt Aramark 'dry zamboni' school cleaning deal, and, as corrupt, the 'Free lunch for millionaires' kids (and increase Aramark's numbers!)' program...

The Friday afternoon news leak that Chicago Public Schools "Chief Administrative Officer" Tim Cawley was being removed from his $215,000-per-year job came as no surprise, given the fact that the latest CPS management, under the . . .

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Pension fund chief explains current situation... Protections taken away by mayoral control of CPS began with Jane Addams...

Charles Burbridge, executive director of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund, published an op ed about the current situation. The Tribune's publication of the essay took place on September 17, 2015. Burbridge's essay is part of . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union adds to lawsuit against AUSL, elaborating charges of racism against the 'national model' for Obama administration 'turnarounds'... Action comes after most AUSL people have been eliminated from CPS power...

On September 16, 2015, the Chicago Teachers Union added to lawsuits against the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL) charging that the organization systematically eliminated Black teachers whenever AUSL was hired by Chicago Public Schools . . .

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Board of Education meeting sign up begins Monday, September 21, 2015, for September Board meeting... Board will meet on Tuesday (September 29) instead of Wednesday because of the holy day...

The September 2015 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education will be held on Tuesday September 29, 2015, instead of the usual Wednesday, because of the holy day. The sign up for the September board . . .

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Dyett update September 20, 2015

There was new information available late on September 19, 2015, about the long-running hunger strike around the question of Chicago's Dyett High School. The hunger strike had won a partial victory when Chicago Public Schools . . .

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Duncan continues silly defenses of 'higher standards', Common Core, and corporate reform ripoffs...

Thanks to blogger Mercedes Schneider, we have the following analysis of the latest nonsense from Arne Duncan, as the PARCC and other Common Core scores come out. AS noted again, Duncan is claiming, along with . . .

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Seattle teachers win strike, demands included 'Coalition for the Schools Seattle Deserves'... credit Chicago's example for part of their victory strategy...

With the official ending of the Seattle Teachers Strike of 2015, the time has come to examine what the Seattle teachers won and lost during their strike. And one of the things that Seattle has . . .

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Dyett hunger strike officially ends with partial victory... 'The struggle continues...'

The Hunger Strikers for Dyett High School declared an end to their action at PUSH on September 19, 2015. The hunger strike, wich lasted 34 days, was to get the Chicago Board of Education to . . .

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Dyett story picked up in the context of Chicago's program of segregating Black people, destroying public schools and public housing... Left out of the narratve is the role of Black 'leaders' in the creation of segregation and the destruction of children and families within the ghetto...

In addition to drawing national attention to the struggle over Dyett High School and the public schools of Chicago's Bronzeville community, the hunger strike for Dyett, which suspended the hunger strike itself on Sunday, has . . .

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Mayor's tax increases won't go to schools as Rahm and Forrest Claypool play a game of 'chickie' with Springfield...

The City of Chicago is being asked to raise property taxes by between $500 and $600 million, as the headlines have reminded everyone. And there are splits in the Chicago City Council over whether to . . .

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Chicago City Council majority wants an end to Chicago charter school expansion...

Forty two of Chicago's 50 aldermen have announced that they support a City Council resolution opposing an expansion of the city's charter schools this year. Additionally, the Chicago Board of Education has scheduled hearings on . . .

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Broad and the 'billionaire boys club' plan 'hostile takeover' of the public schools of Los Angeles... Plutocrats demand that half of LA schools be charters....

Since 1995, when the Illinois General Assembly (controlled in both houses by Republicans) and Governor (Republican Jim Edgar) instituted the "mayoral control" model of corporate "school reform," Chicago has been a major model for the . . .

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CPS enrollment drops to lowest in nearly half a century... Was it caused by Emanuel policies? This ... will result in 262 of more than 500 schools receiving less money than anticipated. Those 262 schools will see their cumulative budgets for the year shrink by $36 million...

By the weekend of September 26, 2015, the latest administration of Chicago Public Schools announced that after ten days the number of students in the city's public schools had reached a low not seen in . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Washington Post blogger notes victories from Seattle strike included victory for students... while The New York Times continues touting for corporate 'reform'...

[Editor's Note: The analyses of the victory of Chicago teachers in the recent strike are just beginning, but one of the most powerful has been published by Valerie Strauss in The Washington Post. Meanwhile, The . . .

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SUBSTANCE ANNIVERSARY, HISTORY... Substance begins 41st year... Series of historical articles planned... to be labeled SUBSHISTORY (Date)...

With the publication of the August Home Page here at substancenews.net, Substance begins our 41st year of publication. Substance began as a mimeographed newsletter, produced on a Gestetner mimeograph machine, in August 1975. Originally, Substance . . .

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School districts continue to be suckered by Chicago executives -- Parma Ohio has hired Rhonda Corr Saegert to be its new 'interim' superintendent...

Proving again, if it needed any further proof, that there is a sucker born every minute, the Parma Ohio Board of Education has reportedly voted to hire Rhonda Corr Saegert, one of the Ohio cronies . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Sun-Times exposes hypocrisy of Board of Education members who always voted unanimously and without debate in favor of every proposal by CPS officials -- including the infamous no-bid $20.5 million SUPES contract!...

An excellent reporting job by the Chicago Sun-Times, available to print readers in a two-page spread on August 3, 2015 [see below], exposes the fact that virtually all of the members of the Chicago Board . . .

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Forum on CPS finances scheduled for August 13 at Grace Place... Forum to precede Board of Education's budget hearings...

With the hearings on the Chicago Board of Education's 2015 - 2016 budget looming, a group of local organizations and the International Socialist Organization (ISO) are hosting a panel discussion and forum on CPS finances. . . .

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'Lies, damned lies, and the 'true facts' as brought to the public by the Chicago Board of Education... Has CPS begun double censoring the 'video' of the Board meetings? Two days' look at the video of the July 22 Board meeting show that more than usual is missing...

As early as the late 1990s, Substance exposed the fact that the Chicago Board of Education was censoring video accounts of the Board meetings that were posted later each month at the CPS website. Substance . . .

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Economist wants poor children of the Third World going to school in 'shipping container' classrooms... 'Bridge International Academies ... has 400 nursery and primary schools in Kenya and Uganda which teach in standardised classrooms that look rather like stacked shipping containers...'

Although The Economist claims it will retain its editorial "independence" despite the fact that Pearson, which produces most of the standardized tests used in the USA, owns half of Pearson, there is really no need . . .

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It's not a comedy with CPS budgets, but the question 'Who's on first?' shows how the Chicago Board of Education under two mayors has been sabotaging the nation's third largest school system by destabilizing the office of Chief Financial Officer...

A question for those who think they understand what's going on in Chicago Public Schools and at the Chicago Board of Education: What to John Maiorca, Pedro Martinez, Diana Ferguson, David Wilkens, Peter Rodgers, Malanie . . .

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Board wants a strike? '... As we entered the room to resume negotiations today, CPS immediately withdrew the ... extension proposal without bothering to hear the Union�s response, and now falsely suggests that we were at impasse...' CTU responds to lies as Board of Education withdraws contract offer

In an unprecedented communication in the history of collective bargaining between the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Board of Education, the CTU on August 7 issued a press release containing the letter that the . . .

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EDITORIAL: The boss wants to steal everything, and when the bosses are crazy liars -- like Rahm Emanuel, Frank Clark, Forrest Claypool, and Janice Jackson -- workers have to get everything in an enforceable contract...

Despite the silly writings in Chicago's corporate media about the infamous career of Forrest Claypool, everyone who has paid attention from the point of view of the city's workers and the majority of Chicago communities . . .

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Dyett hearing postponed until September 15... Protests still on as scheduled at CPS headquarters on Monday, August 10 at four in the afternoon...

The scheduled hearing on the future of Dyett High School has been postponed again by the Chicago Board of Education. In a press release issued late on Friday, August 7, 2015, the CPS Office of . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: NPR again earns its nickname of 'National Propaganda Radio' with mindless support for PARCC and Common Core...

Diane Ravitch and Mercedes Schneider have shared a look at corporate media, this time National "Public" Radio (which Substance has long nicknamed "National Propaganda Radio") playing cheerleader for the PARCC and Common Core. The reporting, . . .

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Parma Ohio school board rescinds superintendent job offer to Rhonda Saegert... One of her letters of support came from Barbara Byrd Bennett...

Less than a week after a Substance report questioned the wisdom of Parma Ohio's hiring of former Chicago "Chief of Schools" Rhonda Corr Saegert as "interim Schools Superintendent," news comes out that Parma has taken . . .

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Chicago Public Schools 'Chief Executive Officer' Claypool ends 'Office of Innovation and Incubation'... Former Teach for America Jack Elsey dumped under tiny purge of central office bureaucracy, while a number of Byrd Bennett's out-of-town cronies continue in strangely named central office offices..

The Chicago Sun-Times reported on line late on August 9, 2015 and in print on August 10, 2015 that CPS Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool was purging some of the remaining out-of-town executives appointed by . . .

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Claypool continues insults to schools, teachers, parents and communities by scheduling all the budget hearings on the same night -- August 18... Budget of nearly $6 billion released to public in secret meeting with Tribune editorial board and then selected corporate reporters...

The fourth "Chief Executive Officer" of Chicago's public schools, Forrest Claypool, continued the Board of Education's suppression of public participation in the annual budget hearings by scheduling all of the hearings on the same night, . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Deborah Quazzo, the privatization fanatic, gets a glowing review from Crain's Chicago Business, with only puffball PR put into print...

No sooner is she off the Chicago Board of Education than Chicago's corporate media has begun trying to rehabilitate the reputation of corporate executive Deborah Quazzo. Quazzo's tenure on the Board included voting without discussion . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Rahm uses city resources to promote his selfies at Englewood publicity stunt... 'The urban beautification project was part of 2015 One Summer Chicago work duties in partnership with the Mayor�s Infrastructure Team...'

For the past several weeks, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has once again been utilizing the "Mayor's Press Office" and City of Chicago money to promote Rahm Emanuel. A week ago, the Chicago Sun-Times published a . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union leaders join CPS 'Office of Communications' in blacklisting of Substance?....

Apparently, the leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union have decided to join the Chicago Board of Education's "Office of Communications" in blacklisting Substance. Since the summer began, CTU officials have refused to provide Substance with . . .

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Elected School Board legislation now before Illinois General Assembly... HB 4268 has 40 co-sponsors, but some parts need a little work (including the attempt by the bill to continue discriminating against CPS workers...)...

After a two-year wait following the overwhelming vote in a Chicago referendum in favor of an elected school board for the City of Chicago, legislation is finally before the Illinois General Assembly. The bill will . . .

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When did Chicago Teachers Union members decide to go from 'No!' to 'Well... Maybe...' on the question of the demand by Rahm Emanuel and Forrest Claypool that the 'pension pickup' be ended?...

By August 13, 2014, a growing number of members of the Chicago Teachers Union was asking when the response of the CTU to the demand by the Emanuel administration and the new Chicago Public Schools . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: The Reader gets the story about the Elected School Board bill, but the Sun-Times misses it? Aren't they owned by the same guy?... As Substance used to say -- OIC!...

Back when Substance was only in print, one of our regular columnists reported as "Sister Grim" and did a monthly page called "A Grim Fairy Tale." Usually, the Grim Fairy Tale ended with the phrase . . .

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CORE meeting Monday, August 24, at Letter Carriers union hall, 39th and Wabash, at 4:30 p.m...

Amid growing questions among rank-and-file Chicago Teachers Union members about the status of the current contract negotiations and conflicting statements by union leaders about the union's positions, especially on the attempt by the Chicago Board . . .

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BUDGET WATCH 2015: The Metaphysics of Mendacity, by Forrest Claypool and Chicago's corporate media... The CPS 'Incubation and Innovation' office is still in the 2015 - 2016 Proposed budget, while the historically mendacious CEO grabbed a cheap headline by dumping its 'Chief Officer' (maybe)...

We could begin this report with a CORRECTION to a previous Substance article. But it's really only an analysis of how the new regime at Chicago's public schools is carrying on the tradition of the . . .

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BUDGET WATCH 2015 II: Claypool says he's doing it 'for the sake of the children.' But his Proposed Budget shows a large increase in lawyers -- both at CPS and as outside contractors -- while a ruthless reduction from special education takes place in the days before the budget hearings...

One question you won't see on one of the dozens of tests forced on the people of Chicago every school year in the city's public schools: What do Chicago's children need more of during the . . .

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BUDGET WATCH 2015 III: Claypool and Clark may continue the 'rebranding' of Special Education in Chicago, but the gutting of services to Chicago's disabled poor children will continue as a national disgrace, example of Chicago hypocrisy...

Like so many bad ideas that began in Chicago, the attempt by Chicago's corporate reformers to "rebrand" special education services and call it "Diverse Learners" has not succeeded in any other city. But that hasn't . . .

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Massive protest against Noble charters expected at Kelly High School August 18...

Southwest Side community, union and school leaders are expecting a huge turnout to protest the attempt by the Noble Network of Charter Schools to expand into the McKinley Park community. A meeting is scheduled for . . .

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BUDGET HEARING, SCHURZ: CPS offiicials -- including Claypool -- hear outrage from people of the Northwest Side... CPS officials smile as speaker after speaker exposes CPS strategy of sabotaging the real public schools and increasing money for privatization, especially charter schools...

Officials of Chicago Public Schools tried to shut down every speaker who breathed a word after having gotten the allocated two minutes to testify about the Proposed Budget for the 2015 - 2016 school year . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Unlike many corporate media outlets, WBEZ reports special education cuts, CPS lies, with accuracy... Schurz hearing report is accurate ... CPS tries (and fails) to manipulate interview with Access Living budget expert...

[Editor's Note: The Chicago Sun-Times ignored the annual budget hearings, and has not, as of August 21, 2015, bothered to cover the stories from the annual budget hearings or the "Proposed Budget." The Chicago Tribune . . .

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Union and CORE meetings set for August 24... 'Chicago Teacher' video and music are a reminder of our most recent roots... Protests and 'People's Board Meeting' to take place at CPS on August 26...

Chicago teachers and supporters remained militant and organized during the summer of 2012, as Chicago's billionaires and plutocracy angled for a confrontation with the Chicago Teachers Union's members and allies. Activities were escalating across the . . .

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Claypool's lies exceed expectations in letter claiming charter funding is not rigged against neighborhood schools... Sun-Times 'Letter' tries to obfuscate continued favoring of privatization and charters...

Rookie Chicago Public Schools "Chief Executive Officer" Forrest Claypool showed off his propaganda skills in a letter to the Chicago Sun-Times following a Better Government Association study that showed charter schools getting an edge over . . .

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Report shows racism underlying Chicago corporate 'school reform'... '... it is time to restore democracy to our school district and place resources back into classrooms, where they belong...'

A new report released on August 24, 2015 by the Chicago Teachers Union exhaustively demonstrates that behind the masquerade of "school reform" has been a ruthless racist agenda that undermined the city's black and Latino . . .

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Board of Education agenda continues wasteful, mindless privatization push while CPS budget looms for passage... Why does Chicago need to hire a New York corporation to do 'cash modeling' for its public schools (rather than its own Chief Financial Officer and her staff)?...

When is a "no-bid" contract not a no-bid contract? Answer: When it's part of an intergovernmental deal. Five hours before the beginning of the August 26, 2015 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education, t's . . .

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Comment by Mahalia Hines demonstrates hypocrisy of Chicago Board of Education members... 'How will Dyett get students?' remark blithely ignores Hines's five years of votes to sabotage Dyett and a hundred other real public schools...

Less than an hour after an ambulance arrived at the August 26, 2015 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education arrived to take one of the hunger strikers from Dyett High School to the hospital, . . .

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Chicago Public Schools may be 'broke', but CEO Forrest Claypool increased his bureaucracy at great cost, doubled the number of outside lawyers in contract negotiations, and forced out the Board's 'General Counsel' while maneuvering to illegally dictate the next Board Attorney despite state law!...

Less than a month after he received praise from some of Chicago's corporate media for supposedly "cutting bureaucracy," Forrest Claypool, the latest "Chief Executive Officer" of Chicago Public Schools, has increased the size and cost . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Tribune's Los Angeles Times doing 'education' stories after being financed by charter schools people...

[The following article came to us from FAIR. George N. Schmidt, Editor, Substance].

LA Times� �Independent� Education Project Bankrolled by Charter School Backers
By Molly Knefel

The Wasserman Foundation, one of the funds . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Chicago Newsroom nails it with discussion of how Illinois got into the Chicago pension mess...

[Editor's Note: Substance tries to follow all of the various news versions of the current realities swirling around the latest "crises" in Chicago and Illinois. By far the best we've yet read (and seen) has . . .

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Emanuel hosts 'budget forum' at Malcolm X while continuing to ignore Dyett hunger strikers...

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will return to an earlier playbook when he hosts a "budget forum" at Malcolm X College tonight, August 31, 2015. Emanuel held a similar event in the summer of 2011, but . . .

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Board continued to stick its finger in teachers' eyes at May and June meetings, expanding wasteful privatization expenses while screaming about the fiscal 'crisis'...

Although the Chicago Board of Education, backed by some of the city's wealthiest and most powerful people (including the editors of the Chicago Tribune, but not the reporters), continued claiming its fiscal "crisis" during April, . . .

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Board of Education pays full pension payment after lengthy game of 'Chickie' with the public on behalf of Rahm Emanuel and the world's ruling class.... Jesse Ruiz announces layoffs of 1,400 from the city's schools as the divide and conquers tactics continue...

Despite one last attempt by officials of the Chicago Board of Education and the administration of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to bully the leaders of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund (CTPF), the leaders of the . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: From 'Chicagoland' to 'The Wire', and from Rahm Emanuel to Stringer Bell.... Has Chicago's mayor been using a 'burner' cell phone to contact negotiator and evade the Freedom of Information Act? ...how 'Hillarying' Hillary Clinton...

As negotiations grew more and more intense between the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Board of Education's "team" of lawyers and administrators during June 2015, people on the union side began noting that the . . .

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Ruiz and Cawley appear before pension trustees to propose a deal... CTPF looks to approve Board plan to spread out 2016 and 2017 pension payments....

The Chicago Teachers Pension Fund (CTPF) heard from three top financial officials on the morning of July 1, 2015, following the cliffhanger payment of the full $624 million that Chicago Public Schools owed to the . . .

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Raise Your Hand schedules forum on CPS budget, 'cuts', and claims...

After the July 1, 2015 announcement by CPS officials that the public schools system will be making budget "cuts", some of which will supposedly reduce the school system's massive administrative offices (central and "networks"), the . . .

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'Broke on Purpose' charges detailed in expos� of the lies of CPS budget claims and financial priorities under both mayors Daley and Emanuel... Chicago Teachers Union budget analysis exposes CPS officials' lies about reduction in administrative costs and other financial materials...

A four-page document analyzing the massive Chicago Public Schools budget has been released by the Chicago Teachers Union. The document challenges every claim made since 2011 about the actual priorities of the city's massive public . . .

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Ruiz and Vitale 'purge' Byrd Bennett's innner circle, but CPS doesn't explain why those who hired them in the first place -- Ruiz and Vitale -- are still in power... Nor has CPS explained why only the women among BBB's cronies have been dumped....

The news about Chicago Public Schools was exploding during the days before Chicago began the Fourth of July weekend, with the Chicago Sun-Times reporting on July 3, 2015, that the CPS leadership had finally gotten . . .

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CPS PURGE SEXIST? Why did Vitale and Ruiz dump some of the women who were part of Barbara Byrd Bennett's 'inner circle' of out-of-town cronies -- but, as of the July 4 weekend, none of the guys?...

Shades of Donald Trump or some benighted Republican? Rahm Emanuel and the obsessively politically correct bunch surrounding him being male chauvinist?! Given that Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel is obsessive about making sure that every time . . .

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PARCC dumped by Ohio... The 12-state consortium is now 'down to 11'... Opt Out triumphs after revelations of Pearson's 'McDonald's style' scoring procedures...

The State of Ohio has ended its participation in PARCC. It was not reported in Chicago's corporate media, but below is the July 2, 2015, story from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the daily newspaper of . . .

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Paul Vallas resumes teacher bashing and union busting career with Crain's opinion piece...

Less than a year after he helped bring down Governor Pat Quinn's administration (a duo, actually, since Quinn made the bigger mistake), Paul G. Vallas was back in his historical union busting mode, opining in . . .

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RTAC to CTPF (and CTU) -- NO DEALS!... 'RTAC is strongly opposed to any and all plans or proposals which in any way reduces or reschedules the amount which CPS is required to contribute to CTPF...'

With a little over a week to go before the next meeting of the trustees of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund (CTPF), pressure like that on Greece continues from Chicago's plutocrats to force the CTPF . . .

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No Child Left Behind moving through Congress after House rejects amendments to support Opt Out...

Diane Ravitch reported on her blog on July 8, 2015 that the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of an updated No Child Left Behind (ESEA reauthorization) bill. The vote was largely along party . . .

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History lesson: 'Invention of the White Race' by Theodore Allen is worth discovering, then studying, and finally discussing...

When I first met Ted Allen more than 40 years ago, I was studying racial segregation in Chicago's schools and writing a series of articles for Substance called "How Chicago Segregates." Then, as now, segregation . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Every silly hagiographic touting of Arne Duncan in July 8 Washington Post article...

The Washington Post devoted a huge amount of space on July 8, 2015, to a lengthy hagiography about Arne Duncan. To read the Post puffery, Duncan is the reluctant "listener" who rose to the top . . .

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Shaw's punditry is what's bankrupt... The 'BGA' under Andy Shaw should really be called the 'PAA' -- the 'Plutocratic Apologetics Association'... CTU refutes BGA claim that Chicago needs a 'bankruptcy' to clear off the books (and screw teachers and retirees)...

Anyone who didn't already know that the smug apologist for Chicago's ruling class and corporate "school reform" -- Andy Shaw -- should have realized it before the Chicago Sun-Times ran an Andy Shaw Op Ed . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Mindless corporate media coverage of presidential politics... '...when it comes to education, policies once seen as conservative � high-stakes testing, closing public schools and replacing them with charters, weakening teacher�s unions � share a generally bipartisan consensus...'

FAIR has done a major job in covering how mindlessly corporate media -- including The New York Times and The Washington Post -- is covering the presidential election. The FAIR report notes that the cliches . . .

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Fourteen months before Democratic Party nominating convention... American Federation of Teachers Executive Council endorses Hillary Clinton!

Five years after Randi Weingarten, the national president of the 1.6 million member American Federation of Teachers (AFT) shared the stage at the union's July 2010 national convention with Bill Gates (while snubbing Gates's union . . .

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Was the AFT executive council endorsement of Hillary unanimous?

As the national news sunk in among the leaders and members of the 1.6 million-member American Federation of Teaches (AFT) on July 12, 2015, in some places the question was: Was the vote of the . . .

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Vitale gag successful on speakers for the July Board of Education meeting! Speakers 'closed' by 8:05 a.m. on July 13, as Board and mayor continue to refuse to allow public participation at public meetings of the public schools' Board...

It's 8:05 a.m. on July 13, 2015, and I was just told by the Board of Education's website (http://www.cpsboe.org/meetings/details/192) that "all speaker slots are filled" when I tried to sign up to speak at the . . .

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New York's MORE caucus denounces AFT endorsement of Hillary Clinton... '...another top down decision was made in some back-room during the middle of the summer...'

While many in the Chicago Teachers Union were still discussing a response to the national announcement that the American Federation of Teachers was endorsing Hillary Clinton's bid for the Democratic Party nomination for President of . . .

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AFT Executive Council vote for Hillary endorsements was not -- NOT -- unanimous, but AFT isn't saying who voted how...

According to a growing number of sources, the widely publicized vote by the American Federation of Teachers Executive Council to endorse Hillary Clinton more than a year before the primaries heat up was not unanimous. . . .

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Randi's Chicago 'bum's rush' and the current Hillary controversy... AFT's rush to the altar is hurting -- not helping -- Hillary's candidacy, and it will hurt more in the future...

The Randi Railroad that pushed the "American Federation of Teachers" (AFT, but not all of us) into a very VERY early "endorsement" of the candidacy of HIllary Clinton is backfiring across the USA. If Randi . . .

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The crimes of David Vitale and Jesse Ruiz... Will the investigations end with Barbara Byrd Bennett and her cronies, or will the enablers be indicted, too?... One reporter's opinion -- Vitale and the Board refused to arbitrate the 'swaps' because they were covering up the fact that they knew the risk

With the July 16, 2015 revelation (not yet made official as of this writing) that Forrest Claypool and James Clark will become the CEO and President of the Chicago Board of Education, the issue now . . .

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Cleaning up and vamping photos and the record of Andrea Zopp won't bring her any closer to becoming a candidate of the people after her four vicious years on the Chicago Board of Education...

By the time the Chicago Sun-Times and "Sneed" did their latest attempt to bully regional Democrats on behalf of Andrea Zopp, the joke was becoming too good to miss. The photo that Sneed used to . . .

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Chicago Newsroom today, tomorrow and Saturday on Chicago Cable...

The Chicago Newsroom show taped on July 16 will be available to Substance readers at CAN TV Chicago and on You Tube. It was fun talking about CPS politics the morning the city learned officially . . .

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The man who helped engineer the largest school closing in American history is now the best person to be President of the Chicago Board of Education?! Frank Clark appointment is Rahm Emanuel's latest 'F____ You!' message to Chicago teachers, parents, and children...

There is no way that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wasn't sending his latest "Fuck You!" message to the city's real public schools and the students, teachers and parents of the real public schools with the . . .

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Board agenda shows Ruiz to remain as Board Vice President, while Board continues orgy of privatization -- example, another $3.1 million for AUSL despite the supposed 'financial crisis'... Two 'meetings' scheduled for July 22, 2015, but most of the public doesn't know about the 9:30 one...

The public agenda for the Chicago Board of Education's July 22, 2015 meeting shows that at least one faction in Chicago's ruling class is digging in its heels and continuing non-stop on the course it . . .

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Board of Education continues to gag parents and teachers who want to speak in opposition to Board policies, while pushing charter schools and privatization to the top of every Board meeting agenda....

During his four years as President of the Chicago Board of Education, David Vitale did everything in his power to gag the public -- and union officials -- and to promote the massive privatization of . . .

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'Unscientific American' article retrieves aged nonsense about how students should learn and why corporate 'reform' testing is OK based on another one of those semi-fictional fairy tales about a classroom that 'works' (to raise test scores)...

Three weeks ago, when the latest issue of "Scientific American" arrived in our mailbox (we have a subscription to the print edition, as well as getting it on line), we noted but didn't read carefully . . .

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Chicago Newsroom features Troy LaRaviere... Excerpts here...

Troy LaRaviere, principal of Chicago's Blaine Elementary School, wrote on July 28, 2015: On July 23, 2015 I had the pleasure of appearing on Chicago Newsroom with Ken Davis as he covered the latest news . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Chicago Newsroom nails it with Ralph Martire discussion of how Illinois needs a sane tax policy... So why isn't this also being aired on every major TV news station?

One of the most important news shows on Chicago TV is Ken Davis's "Chicago Newsroom," which airs on Cable TV. And the most recent show, which can be found at http://chicagonewsroom.org/2015/05/29/cn-may-28-2015/ gives one of the . . .

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Byrd Bennett resigns... New documents show Emanuel and City Hall were in the middle of it all from the beginning... SUPES outfit worked with Swanson and others in the elite to pick Brizard, then Byrd Bennett...

The bombshell was not a big surprise to anyone trying to follow the machinations of Rahm Emanuel's school board since the mayor's inauguration in May 2011. On May 31, 2015, Emanuel's second "Chief Executive Officer" . . .

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RAHMWATCH: 'There will be no media availability...' Chicago's mayor will continue dodging the press even as the fire burns to his door in the Chicago Public Schools corruption scandals (yes, that's a plural)...

If anyone believed that a few journalistic scoops laying the current corruption scandals at Chicago Public Schools at the door of the Mayor's Office on the fifth floor of City Hall was going to deter . . .

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One down, fifty (or more) to go... How many 'chiefs' do Chicago's schools need?!... CPS continues wasting millions of dollars on the mercenary hirelings of Barbara Byrd Bennett... And all of them should fired immediately, since they are sucking dollars out of the education of 400,000 children...

Just how many expensive no-bid contracts did the Chicago Board of Education enter into during the years since the current Board of Education was appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in May 2011? Public attention as . . .

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Beth Purvis investigation in Springfield... Rauner's 'education' chief is actually the long-time zealot who worked tirelessly for a decade to expand Chicago charter schools... Is 'education' for the State of Illinois basically charter schools expansion?... Purvis's pay subject to investigation....

By June 5, 2015, one of the foci of Illinois political theater was on the current status of Beth Purvis, a longtime fixture in Chicago Public Schools politics because of the support she received from . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Mayor does publicity stunt about children's eyeglasses.... 'Mayor�s vision program has distributed 50,000 pairs of glasses since launch...'

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel orchestrated another publicity stunt this week, this time taking credit for the CPS eyeglasses programs that were long ago pioneered by the Chicago Teachers Union. This particular version of reality has . . .

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CHIRAQ... Gale school cancels recess because of gang shooting near the school -- ten years after I ran an all-day CTU in-service on how to purge the gangs from Gale School!... Why did the 49th (and adjacent) wards fail to eliminate drug dealing 'Disciples' from the 'Juneway Jungle'?

Ten years ago, as Director of Security and Safety for the Chicago Teachers Union, I conducted a day-long in-service for the staff at Gale Elementary School. The in-service was on how to prevent the gangs . . .

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'My win is a win for all CTU members!'... Juarez corruption exposed as delegate wins major unfair labor practice decision...

"It was a hard battle," Manuel Bermudez told Substance. "I had three goals when I started this fight, now I only have two more, but I think they will fall into place. Don't forget to . . .

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Another 'Manufactured Crisis'... Historical amnesia leads to hysterical reporting as Chicago Public Schools faces the demand to pay the pension payment by June 30...

To read the headlines and most of the "news" stories covering the fact that by month's end, the Chicago Board of Education is supposed to pay a large amount of money to the Chicago Teachers . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Cawley and Vitale should be called the 'Turnaround Twins'... Their roots are both in AUSL, Chicago's masters of education 'turnaround'... Do the Tribune's editors want their 'turnaround' sweet hearts to take over the CPS 'turnaround' now on the ruling class's agenda...

If the editors of Chicago's leading corporate newspaper are to be believed, then Chicago Public Schools already has the talent -- in house -- to do the job that needs to be done: a corporate . . .

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MOODY'S IGNORES THE 'MANUFACTURED CRISIS' AT CPS... Hysterical headlines ignore the destabilization campaign against CPS... How many 'CEOs' and 'CFOs' has CPS had since Rahm began in 2011? The sabotage of CPS administration has been the signal project of the reign of Rahm since May 2011...

When Moody's investors Services proclaimed recently that the bond rating of Chicago Public Schools had reached "junk" status, the headlines repeated the usual claims about the so-called "crisis." In addition to ignoring the fact that . . .

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Teacher bashing requires administrators who have never taught... Former Chicago administrators continue to con school boards at great cost... Rick Mills finally bought out in Sarasota, while Pedro Martinez lands in San Antonio after lucrative Nevada stint...

Now that anyone with Internet can at least get a warning that SUPES and the various "executive search" outfits run out of north suburban Wilmette should be avoided, maybe school districts and school board across . . .

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More evidence that 'VAM' is a synonym for BULLSHIT...

Nobody is going to outdo John Oliver's classic takedown of so-called "Value Added Measures" (VAM) and standardized testing as the corporate tools for evaluating teachers (and also schools and principals). But it's nice . . .

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Opting Out studies for the summer of 2015... It's time to read (or re-read and study) 'The War Against the Weak'... One book provides the most chilling and detailed background on the previous generation of America's corporate 'reformers'...

As our children graduate these weeks, our son Sam, for example from 8th grade at O.A. Thorp, the Opt Out movement now has the time to consolidate, reviews where we are, and plan for the . . .

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Movement and Congresswoman stops charter school expansion in part of Chicago's northeast side... Noble is out, but Intrinsic is still trying...

The challenge to the placement of the latest "campus" of the so-called "Noble Network of Charter Schools" on Chicago's northeast side was organized and begun long before Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky joined it, but the video . . .

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How CPS creates its 'Magic Number' claiming whatever 'deficit' they place into the Tribune's headlines... 'Open the books' is a poor slogan when many union and public leaders have stopped analysis of the expenses and revenues of CPS... the importance of credibility and the CAFR...

During the June 9 rally and march by the Chicago Teachers Union and its allies, there was a regular cry of "Open the books!" The slogan was repeated as if somehow a magical version of . . .

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'Voter Suppresson,' Rahm Emanuel style... Vitale and Ruiz again block public from participation in the June 24, 2015 Board of Education meeting... 'All slots filled' by eleven in the morning on June 15!

Chicago Board of Education President David Vitale and Vice President (and current "Interim CEO") Jesse Ruiz once again perfected their own brand of voter suppression, when the Board of Education's computers locked out citizens who . . .

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Board successfully blocks the public from 'Public Participation' for the June 24 Board meeting!... Vitale in Heaven? Ruiz Redeemed? Board members blocked public 'sign in' within five minutes of the June 15 'deadline'...

While the well-rehearsed members of the Chicago Board of Education from time to time make their scripted comments after members of the public try to bring the facts to the public, for the first time . . .

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Pension fund demands full payment as deadline of June 30 looms... and CPS continues to claim that some obligations are more important than others... pensions and retired teachers are not worthwhile to David Vitale, Jesse Ruiz, and the members of the Board of Education...

The executive director of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund (CTPF) made it clear in a public statement on June 17, 2015, that the fund expects the Chicago Board of Education to make the full payment . . .

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Board will continue to vote for massive privatization, charterization and nonsense like the 'Department of Innovation and Incubation'... cynically keeping its most monumental decisions secret from the public....

When the people of Chicago woke up on December 19, 2012, they didn't realize that they were about to create the first "Office of Innovation and Incubation" in the history of American public education. Nor . . .

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Fair Test's Hero in Education speech by Karen Lewis

The speech given by Karen Lewis at Fair Test's Hero in Education event last weekend is now available on You Tube. Karen, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, delivered a passionate talk tracing the links . . .

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Ruiz defends Aramark deal, continues to back Cawley's privatization juggernaut... 'Independent audits have shown the schools are cleaner...!' the CPS 'Interim CEO' says in June 19 letter to principals...

Anyone who believed that un-emptied waste baskets, rats, roaches and other vermin in public schools across the city were going to interfere with the Chicago Board of Eduction's plans to continue funneling public money to . . .

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CTU prepares for Sunday's Pride Parade... and history of STONEWALL as the Pride Parade approaches... A first-hand history lesson...

On June 22, 2015, the Chicago Teachers Union notified its members that the union will be among the leading contingents in the Sunday, June 28, Pride Parade (formerly the Gay Pride Parade).

. . .

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CORE meeting postponed until June 29...

The June 2015 meeting of Chicago's Caucus of Rank and File Educators is postponed for one week. A discussion within CORE demonsrtated that many teachers and others working in the schools are "very tired" as . . .

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Chicago Board of Education meeting agenda -- very possibly the longest in history at roughly 500 pages -- indicates business as usual... June 24 meeting to begin at 4:30 at Brooks High School...

The Chicago Board of Education is meeting for the second time in a year at a school, rather than at the Board's downtown Chicago headquarters. The June 24 meeting will begin at 4:30 p.m. at . . .

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Whatever happened to Steve Zrike?... Former Chicago administrator still practicing teacher bashing and union busting corporate 'school reform' after his return to Massachusetts...

As most regular readers of Substance know, Chicago Public Schools administrators and members of the Board of Education have, for the past decade, been hiring administrators from outside Chicago, promoting them, and, as the Chicago . . .

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Vitale, Ruiz cynically strangle public participation as Board hosts monthly meeting at Brooks High School... CPS leaders help charter school touts orchestrate monthly testimonials while ignoring growing scandals at virtually all of the city's charters and charter 'networks'...

The slow, hypocritical and cynical strangulation of public participation at the monthly meetings of the Chicago Board of Education by the Board's chieftains, President David Vitale and Vice President (currently "Interim CEO") Jesse Ruiz, will . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Grading the PARCC tests by Pearson's minimum wage workers is like assembling the Big Mac, according to Pearson executives in a June 23, 2015 New York Times front page story!...

Since we are always willing to give the "Sam Dillon Award" to the New York Times reporter who is in the tank with the ruling class and corporate school reform, it's sometimes nice to read . . .

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PENSION UPDATE: CTPF still demanding full payment of CPS pension money.... Board of Education approves additional hundreds of millions in charterization and privatization at its June 24 meeting, while claiming the pension is what's bankrupting Chicago schools...

After the Illinois General Assembly failed to pass a bill proposed by Chicago Rep. Barbara Flynn Curry, the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund (CTPF) reiterated its demand that the Chicago Board of Education pay in full . . .

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'Negotiations broken off!' Chicago Teachers Union announces following continuing attacks on union by Board of Education, ruling class hacks...

Less than four days after some officials of the Chicago Teachers Union were talking hopefully that the union might reach an agreement on a new contract before the June 30, 2015 expiration of the current . . .

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Charleston, the KKK, white supremacy, the Confederate flag, and the lies we were told as 'history' -- and 'literature' and art -- 'The Confederate flag is directly tied to the Confederate cause, and the Confederate cause was white supremacy...'

One of the best times I had during the years the Chicago Board of Education was firing me for heresy (publishing the ridiculous CASE tests in Substance) happened in Atlanta, Georgia, at a convention of . . .

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The 'bankruptcy' boogeyman haunts corporate media... David Vitale has been covering up the massive mismanagement of CPS borrowing by David Vitale, Arne Duncan, and the top officials of America's third-largest school system... Bankruptcy in Chicago? Another bit of ruling class nonsense...

By May and June 2015, it was obvious that the refusal of the leaders of Chicago and the Chicago Board of Education refused to request arbitration on the so-called "toxic swaps" (variable rate bonds) was . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Crain's Chicago Business finally notices how bad David Vitale's version of education management is (sort of)... and then tries to resurrect even worse by using Paul Vallas as a legitimate source instead of a discredited has-been...

Crain's Chicago Business seems to have noticed the members of the Chicago Board of Educaiton and is now paying a little more attention to them and their works. Although in general the approach has been . . .

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How Rahm Emanuel, the Pritzkers, and other ruling class movers and shakers worked behind-the-scenes with Beth Swanson to manufacture the 'pension crisis', push massive privatization (including SUPES), and bring Jean-Claude Brizard and Barbara Byrd Bennett to Chicago at taxpayers's expense....

One of the many mysteries of recent years in the nation's third largest school system is how and why the members of the Board of Education located two out-of-town school administrators, hired them to lead . . .

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Beth Swanson and how CPS and City Hall manufactured the Chicago teachers 'pension crisis'... and have gotten away with the Big Lie about the 'billion dollar deficit' for seven or eight years despite every audit proving the deficit claim was a lie...

By the April 22, 2015 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education, the narrative about the so-called "crisis" facing Chicago Public Schools because of teacher pension obligations was virtually a matter of faith for most . . .

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Supreme Court pension decision affirms Chicago Teachers Union charge that Chicago Public Schools became 'Broke on Purpose'... Years of bizarre waste on privatization schemes, TIF giveaways, and toxic swaps now land on the eve of the union contract expiration...

A close reading of the 35-page Illinois Supreme Court decision in the public worker pension case (announced on May 8, 2015) shows that the court agrees with the major charge made by the Chicago Teachers . . .

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APEDUNG? Well, you know what we really mean... As John Oliver would put it, THEY WENT APESHIT! Peter Cunningham and his well financed blog, 'Education Post' now scramble unsuccessfully to blunt the hilarious demolition of corporate school reform and high-stakes testing on John Oliver's show...

While tens of thousands of people are tuning in to the brilliant refutation against the Testocracy by John Oliver every day since it was first aired on Oliver's popular show, Arne Duncan's corporate apologists have . . .

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RAUNER BEAT: Rauner's 'Right to Work' push aimed at public worker unions... Unions that have created programs to benefit all working people...

[Editor's Note: The following article came to us from Portside. We are sharing it to add perspective to that of our brothers and sisters in Chicago and Illinois on the plans of Bruce Rauner and . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Education Week misses Michelle Rhee's role in 'Students First' as ruling class panic spreads at expansion of Opt Out...

Following the decision by The New York Times to blame "teacher unions" for the massive Opt Out movement currently sweeping the USA against corporate school reform, personified by high-stakes testing, Education Week, which is completely . . .

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CTU charge that Chicago Public Schools is 'Broke on Purpose' details challenge to official lies... Once again, CPS officials make 'billion dollar deficit' claims without providing any budget details to the public...

Every year since Rahm Emanuel announced that he was returning to Chicago to run for mayor (the announcement was made in October 2010), the Chicago Board of Education has claimed before its fiscal year began . . .

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Shades of 1979 as another 'School Finance Authority' play begins?... Moody's drops Chicago's credit rating to 'junk', claiming it's the pensions' fault....

Challenging Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's claim that he was the leader best qualified to deal with the city's financial affairs, Moody's Investors Services, one of three rating agencies, downgraded the bond rating of the City . . .

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Even The New York Times realized that Bill Gates had been completely wrong about 'small schools'... but then, when you are one of the world's richest men, you can simply buy into your next big -- even bigger -- mistake...

By the late 1990s, the gospel of corporate "school reform" promoted the notion of so-called "Small Schools." The claim was that the problem with America's high schools was singular -- they were too big. At . . .

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RAHM WATCH: Chicago has six of the top high schools in Illinois as part of our real public schools... So why did Rahm Emanuel go to a charter school to tout some questionable numbers claiming school success and ignore the state's best high schools?...

It's only been three days since U.S. News and World Report listed its top high schools in the USA, and once again several Chicago selective enrollment public high schools made the lists. Citizens are unlikely . . .

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Major push to restore Chicago teachers pension tax levy

As the official day for the close of the Illinois General Assembly approaches, the Chicago Teachers Union and other major organizations in Chicago are calling for a vote in favor of legislation that would restore . . .

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Michelle Rhee's 'Students First' outfit is bankrolling a scab teacher 'free speech' lawsuit against California teachers unions...

Even as she tries to ignore the latest scandal opening up beneath her highly publicized alliance with Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, Michelle Rhee continues to push her privatization and anti-union agenda in California. Rhee's "Students . . .

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Barbara Byrd Bennett claimed a 'homeowner-resident' tax break in Ohio for her Ohio home, while firing teachers and others for violating CPS 'Residency' rule... Board members routinely fire teachers exposed for 'residency fraud', but never asked whether their CEO was lying about her real home!...

Tax records from Ohio show that Chicago Public Schools "Chief Executive Officer" Barbara Byrd Bennett claimed a local tax reduction on her Ohio residence while enforcing rules against Chicago teachers and other CPS workers who . . .

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Blasting from Chicago's past... Vote 'most earliest and vote most oftenist'? Barbara Byrd Bennett and at least some of her Ohio (and other out-of-town) cronies may have also engaged in voter fraud... Registered to vote in Illinois, Ohio (and elsewhere?)...

It's enough to make Richard M. Nixon spin in his grave (as anyone who remembers the movie "Nixon" or the history will attest), as Chicago moves into a new phase of the old game of . . .

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MEMORIAL DAY 2015 I: Obama declares 'Birth of a Nation' one of America's great works of history, orders 'Gone with the Wind' to be part of Common Core!?... A closer look at the Vietnam history now officially part of the Obama legacy...

[Editor's Note: Gotcha on that headline, didn't we? By now, in 2015, most intelligent Americans know that the movie "Birth of a Nation" is a piece of odious racist propaganda, despite the fact that it . . .

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MEMORIAL DAY 2015 II: Lychings, race riots, and segregated military forces characterized the 'greatest generation'....The recent 'Greatest Generation' bullshit is an attack on the generation that had to clean up the racist and imperialist messes left behind by the so-called 'Greatest'....

Everyone knows that the generation that fought in the U.S. military during World War II is the "Greatest Generation", and Tom Brokaw wrote a best seller just in case you didn't know. Really? Question: How . . .

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Federal court rules that 2011 layoffs were discriminatory against African American teachers, and certifies that the CTU case on behalf of those African American teachers laid off in 2011 can move forward as a class action

In a lengthy 22-page decision which at times mocked the arguments of the Chicago Board of Education trying to defend its racist 2011 layoffs, U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur has ruled that the Chicago Teachers . . .

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Board of Education May 27 agenda continues push for charter school expansion, AUSL 'turnaround' fraud, and the further privatization of services that should be performed by CPS workers and not by private contractors...

While the Chicago Board of Education and the people of Chicago continue to await the results of the federal investigation into the corruption allegations against Chief Executive Officer Barbara Byrd Bennett and members of her . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union plans early morning protest at the Board of Education against Board plans to expand charter schools after promising it would not do so....

Members and staff of the Chicago Teachers Union will be picketing the May 27, 2015 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education at the Board's headquarters at Madison and Dearborn St. in Chicago at 6:30 . . .

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BOARDWATCH: Charter zealots pack May 27 Chicago Board of Education meeting, repeating a liturgy that's been chanted for years, but which brings smiles to the nodding members of what many are now calling the 'Chicago Board of Privatization and Corruption'...

Organized and zealous parents, students and alums from several Chicago charter schools packed the May 27, 2015 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education, demanding that the agenda further expanding the charters of Chicago be . . .

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MEMORIAL DAY 2015 IV: The hypocrisy of the propaganda for the so-called 'Greatest Generation...' ...that legacy was segregation, lynch law, and race riots from Mobile to Detroit to Los Angeles... How the Confederate Flag was raised on Okinawa before the Stars and Stripes!....

Memorial Day is May 31, 2015, despite the fact that the holiday is now marked on difference days, some as far as a week away from the actual date. But it's again time to stop . . .

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MEMORIAL DAY 2015 V: America's version of 'Kinder, K�che, Kirche' sent Rosie the Riveter to the kitchen -- or as a fender slithering model at the Auto Show... Hypocrisies of the propaganda for the so-called 'Greatest Generation' and their legacy of sexism that rivaled the Nazis 'ideal woman'...

Anyone who remembered "Rosie the Riveter" by 1956, when the Edsel was looming and I was ten years old, would have wondered why she was the smiling acolyte of male supremacy we were force fed . . .

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CORRUPTION CPS: Why is the CPS 'Chief Administrative Officer' Tim Cawley still in power? Why was the former Motorola executive ever a major city school administrator? A closer look at how the seven members of the Chicago Board of Education script and implement their corruption...

Since 2011, the so-called "Chief Administrative Officer" of the nation's third largest school system, Tim Cawley, has been behind many -- if not most -- of the most egregious attacks on public education in Chicago. . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Chicago magazine raises key questions about the integrity of the members of the Chicago Board of Education while catching up on the SUPES - CELA - SYNESI - CPEF etc., etc., etc. scandal

At least most reports on the corruption scandals involving Barbara Byrd Bennett and members of her inner circle of six-figure bureaucrats are noting that the seven members of the Chicago Board of Education voted in . . .

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OPT OUT NEWS: John Oliver brings 18 minutes of fun to the testing debate this month...

Since my two elementary-age sons began elementary school, they have been opting out of the tests. This scanned the years of the DIBELS, ISAT, and PARCC tests. During recent months, both Sam (now in eight . . .

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Better Government Association sues Intrinsic charter schools under Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Chicago's Better Government Association (BGA) has sued Intrinsic charter schools after the schools denied a BGA Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for information about the operations of the school. Below are, first, the BGA . . .

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Chuy Garcia speaks to the Chicago City Club... 'Trickle down is actually not a new policy at City Hall. They�ve been at it for a quarter of a century...'

One week before the Chicago municipal election, mayoral candidate Jesus "Chuy" Garcia gave a significant speech to the City Club of Chicago. The speech outlined the major issues facing Chicago's voters between now and April . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: New York Times does another front page pitch for Rahm Emanuel under the guise of a 'news' story...

How many times has "America's Newspaper of Record" featured one candidate in a local mayoral race (outside of New York City) on its front page? Well, on March 31, The New York Times did it . . .

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Eleven Atlanta teachers and administrators have been found guilty in the major test cheating scandal... Former 'Superintendent of the Year' Beverly Hall died before the trial of her subordinates began....

Eleven of twelve Atlanta educators were convicted of racketeering after a lengthy trial following a state investigation that exposed massive cheating in Atlanta Public Schools under the administration of Beverly Hall. One of the defendants . . .

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Defender WVON poll shows Rahm in much closer race in African American community, but Rahm is still ahead...

A recent poll of African American voters commissioned by the Chicago Defender and WVON radio shows that Rahm Emanuel's standing in the Black Community has slipped a great deal from 2011, when he won overwhelmingly . . .

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AFT President comes to Chicago Teachers Union and explains growing movement against punitive 'school reform' as Washington D.C. continues to discuss the continuation of the ESEA law... earlier she had Tweeted in support of the PARCC Opt Out...

Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, came to Chicago on April 1, 2015, to speak to the City Club at noon. Later in the afternoon, she arrived at the April meeting of . . .

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Final Four Duke University player Jahlil Okafor gives shout out to Whitney Young on his way to the NBA...

Rahm Emanuel may have devoted his four years as Chicago's mayor to teacher bashing, union busting, and an unprecedented all-out attack privatization on the city's public schools, but at least some Chicago celebrities respect their . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: ABC refuses to run a conservative group's ad that reports Rahm made $18 million on Wall Street for 'little or no work' in 'relationship banking'... Ad also notes �ber links to Rahm's brother Ari...'Rahm makes money. Rahm's family makes money. Chicago gets screwed!'...

ABC News has taken upon itself to triple "fact check" an ad to run during the next four days about the corruption of Rahm Emanuel. Despite the fact that Rahm cashed in on his government . . .

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Total paid to Neal & Leroy since Rahm's Board took office in May 2011 is at least $2.5 million... Chicago Election Commission Chief Langdon Neal's law firm received millions for vaguely defined 'legal work' from the Chicago Board of Education since Rahm Emanuel took office in May 2011....

If, as some expect, the vote totals for the April 7 mayoral election in Chicago are razor thin, the the question will arise who decides on the final vote count. As some know and many . . .

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How corrupt is Rahm?... Call him 'Mayor One Percent', 'Mayor Coverup', or 'Mayor Privatization'... note the racism and corruption of Emanuel... Activists demand that Rahm disclose secret emails with millionaire donors... Election day in Chicago and 'The whole world is (again) watching!'...

[Editor's Note: As Chicago voters and activists began turning out for a very busy day on April 7, 2015 (election day in Chicago), the scandals involving the corruptions of incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel continue pouring . . .

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Rahm Emanuel wins re-election as Mayor of Chicago with 56 percent of the vote in April 7, 2015 runoff

After an enormous six-week campaign in which he spent more than $10 million, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel won re-election on April 7, 2015, by a comfortable margin. At midnight on election night, Emanuel's challenger, Cook . . .

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Arena wins decisively in 45th Ward, thanks Chicago Teachers Union for its help... Rahm aldermen defeated in most races... Garza - Pope race still out with razor thin margin of fewer than ten votes....

While Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel won re-election by a decisive margin in the citywide elections, Emanuel's City Council opponents are still in power and promise to be even more active in the years ahead. In . . .

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LESSONS OF CHICAGO'S 2015 ELECTION: First lesson. Negative nonsense at a huge cost failed. The lesson of the 45th Ward...

By the time the votes were counted and the election results were in in the Chicago ward in which I live, my neighbor John Arena had won a decisive victory in his campaign for re-election . . .

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OPT OUT NEWS: Obama and Emanuel children get the rich peoples' Opt Out privilege -- they go to schools that eschew standardized tests like Sidwell Friends and University of Chicago Lab School...

As Chicago moves towards the next rounds of confrontations over the Common Core, high stakes testing, and the rights of public school students and their families to Opt Out of so-called "standardized" tests, the body . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Daily Show asks 'WTF Chicago?!' after Rahm buys another Chicago election victory despite the history of Rahm's first four years in power...

Anyone who may have stopped or slowed down watching The Daily Show the past couple of months (or years) needs to make one last stop there, as Jon Stewart brings us back to the good . . .

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'Students First' right wing lawsuit against agency fees hits LA teachers union, AFT and NEA... Rhee's 'Students First' continues union busting push, and the law firm handling the litigation is the same firm that did the Vergara lawsuit...

A major lawsuit has been filed against the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) by a small group of teachers who claim that their union dues are going . . .

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When did the Chicago Teachers Union vote to support a major speaker on 'standards' in support of the Common Core?.... April 14 event features an apologist for Common Core on the topic 'Equity and High Quality Education for Urban Students'....

Is the Chicago Teachers Union saying that those who oppose Common Core are racists who oppose educating "urban students"? That's at least one reading of an event being sponsored by the Chicago Teachers Union at . . .

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LAWSUIT: Rousemary Vega and family want the lifetime 'ban' by the Board of Education lifted... Couple removed from CPS meeting, barred, sue claiming free speech rights have been violated by Vitale, Ruiz and the Board....

A Chicago couple who were dragged out of a Board of Education meetings on orders of Board President David Vitale and then barred from meetings for all eternity on Vitale's orders to Board security chief . . .

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Michelle Smith wins re-election as alderman of the 43rd Ward after Vickery concedes ... After going ahead on the first day of counting of absentee ballots, Vickery fell behind in the count, which doesn't have to be completed until April 23...

Forty-third ward alderman Michelle Smith was declared the winner in one of the city's closest aldermanic races on April 14, 2015, after challenger Caroline Vickery conceded defeat. The announcement came following the beginning of the . . .

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Illinois Opt Out bill will prevent schools from forcing Opt Out students from 'Sit and Stare'.... Raise Your Hand and other supporters are asking people to call their senators and reps to support HB 306...

A major piece of legislation that may yet gather bi-partisan support in the Illinois General Assembly would establish a family's right to opt out their children from so-called "standardized" tests. The Opt Out bill, when . . .

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CTU and others sponsor 'Hands Up, Don't Test' event next Friday (April 24, 2015) after schools at SEIU Health

More Than A Score, Haymarket Books and the Chicago Teachers Union are sponsoring a forum on the resistance to standardized testing on Friday, April 24, 2015, beginning at five in the afternoon. The event will . . .

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Feds reportedly investigating Barbara Byrd Bennett over controversial no-bid 'SUPES' contract to train principals....

It was only a week after Rahm Emanuel won re-election and suddenly Chicago's news media were filling up with stories that the federal government is investigating Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Barbara Byrd Bennett, . . .

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CORRUPTION CPS: Barbara Byrd Bennett gathered buddies from other states, many (but not all) vetted by the Broad Foundation, for executive jobs at CPS, with the approval of the 'Chicago' Board of Education... Most had no Illinois credentials, but the Board members did not care or bother to check...

This part of Substance's current series of stories on CORRUPTION CPS will feature the cronyism that brought dozens of "educators" to Chicago from out of state during the years since Rahm Emanuel appointed his Board . . .

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BBB IS OUT! Barbara Byrd Bennett goes on 'leave' after desperate try to fend off corruption charges or get public legal support... Jesse Ruiz to head CPS during interim...

The 'Chief Executive Officer' of the nation's third largest school system, Chicago's Barbara Byrd Bennett, has taken a leave of absence from the Chicago Public Schools, according to informed sources. Board of Eduction Vice President . . .

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CORRUPTION CPS: Why is CPS's cloying 'Mister Cover Up,' Jesse Ruiz, now 'Interim CEO'?... A look behind the eternal smiles of the Board's Vice President... and a closer look at how CPS voted, legally, to keep the public record secret despite Freedom of Information and Open Meetings laws...

"You lie!" The words, which broke out during a meeting of the Chicago Board of Education, were clear enough: "Jesse Ruiz! You lie!" They were spoken by a mother of four who came from the . . .

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CORRUPTION CPS: When the federal grand jury questions Sherry Ulery and Tracy Martin Thompson on April 21, 2015, the questions that won't be asked -- like why are they in Chicago -- will be as important to Chicago's public schools' future as the ones that will probably be asked...

The perp walks for criminal "educators" now move from Atlanta to Chicago. Two of the highest-paid officials in Chicago's public school system go before a federal grand jury on April 21, 2015, the public must . . .

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RAHMWATCH: And will Amy change her name to 'Eleanor' as part of the Rahm makeover?.... Rahm to spend April 21, 2015 in Washington, D.C. to do a 'fireside chat' (with 'no media availability') while two out-of-town CPS officials go before Chicago's federal grand jury...

The Rahmnews today is that Rahm's doing a fireside chat in D.C. while two of the top education officials hired by his school board go before a federal grand jury... Those of us who love . . .

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CPS CORRUPTION: 'Single source' contracts (for some things) are no longer cool with Jesse and David... How the Board discover the 'Talented Ms. Saegert' (and about 60 other executives) since May and June 2011?... Not one of them was ever advertised in Education Week or the Sunday New York Times...

As Rahm Emanuel and his ilk have known and practices since his days as a fundraiser for Richard M. Daley (and then Bill Clinton), one of the tricks is to set the media agenda. And . . .

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CPS LIES: Another year, another 'billion dollar deficit',... And another bunch of 'Magic Numbers' from CPS (and, as usual, the Chicago Tribune)... But this time, they assure us, 'It's the truth... honest it is! Honest!'...

Heard the one about the 'Billion Dollar Deficit'? Right on schedule, nearly three months before the Board will even be presenting its Proposed Budget for public review, the Chicago Public Schools has presented the public . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Jon Stewart takes on the privileges of Wall Street's corruptions versus the harsh punishments of corrupt teachers... Daily Show now needs to come to Chicago and take on the Corruption CPS stories along with Rahm's obsession with 'Chiraq'....

Even though Jon Stewart is leaving the Daily Show (which some of us began watching when the middle Bush was President of the United States), he hasn't lost his edge in the years since the . . .

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LABOR BEAT EMERGENCY: Loyola trying to screw Labor Express in favor of 'contempoary music'!... 'WLUW's Station Manager Sam Israel explained that the reason was to make the station

Is Loyola University trying to silence Chicago's Labor Express show after years? Chicago's only English language labor-oriented radio show, Labor Express, has been on WLUW-FM for some twenty years, but has now been suddenly told . . .

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RUTHLESS RAUNER REGIME: McKinley Park teach-in on May 11 will explore how nasty the attack on unions and democracy in Rauner's 'Illinois Turnaround' is....

ON Monday, May 11 from 6:00 pm to 7:45 pm, McKinley Park Progressives will host a teach in on the Rauner Budget cuts. The event will take place at the Mckinley Park Branch Library, Damen . . .

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CORRUPTION CPS: Why is CPS's 'Mister Cover Up,' Jesse Ruiz, making sure the Board continues to violate the spirit (if not the technical letter) of the Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Act?

Anyone who has reported regularly on the meetings of the Chicago Board of Education and the workings of Chicago Public Schools since the onset of the mayoral control "model" of corporate school reform knows that . . .

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OPT OUT MOVEMENT 2015: PARCC isn't the only test being Opt Outed... Seattle and Palo Alto students in massive Opt Out from 'Smarter Balance...' in California and Washington...

There are two natioinal testing programs working to lock America's public schools into the Common Core straight jacket. In Chicago (and Illinois) and other states, the test is the PARCC. But in many states it . . .

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'...We've escalated to Pearson and they have confirmed that the test item is functioning as designed...' (CPS)... PARCC 8th grade math question might seem confusing to hundreds of students and teachers, but CPS says it's OK because .... Pearson says it's OK!...

Anyone who wants to know how subservient Chicago Public Schools is to corporate America can go no further than the current (secret questions) PARCC 8th grade math test. On April 28, teachers and students complained . . .

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America Federation of Teachers joins reactionary panel in support of Common Core at Ed Writers Association... 'Opt Out Movement' viewed as the enemy of so-called 'standards'! while Ed Writers broadens its blacklist of who is a 'journalist'...

Continuing its rear-guard action defending the Common Core and corporate education "reform", the American Federation of Teachers sent one of its most prominent personalities to the annual Education Writers Association conference to be on a . . .

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RAHMWATCH: 'That sludgy sea of mendacity...' since Rahm started at City Hall more than 20 years ago... The lies shift as the months pass, but Rahm's 'Mendacious Scripts' began in June 2011 -- the new 'Rahm Board of Education' began lying about its budget and stealing a raise from CPS workers...

Looking back on it after four years, it's clear that the lies of the Emanuel administration began as soon as Rahm had installed his "new" Board of Education and executive team in May and June . . .

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ALDERMANIC UPDATES: Tara Stamps demands a debate with Emma Mitts in the 37th Ward

Now that Chicago is in the home stretch in the 2015 municipal elections and most media attention will be focused on the mayoral race, it's still important to report the news from the aldermanic runoffs. . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union challenges CPS 'security' form as PARCC testing program begins against the opposition of hundreds of teachers and thousands of students and families

In the wake of the last minute decision by Chicago Public Schools officials to administer the PARCC test in all of the city's elementary schools, the Chicago Teachers Union has taken the dramatic step of . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Rahm touted Walmart on March 4 while the media showcased him at the fire house

If you listened to or watched the news on March 4, 2015, you'd have learned that Rahm Emanuel may have once drunk expensive wine with his buddy Bruce Rauner, but now he was opposed -- . . .

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OPT OUT 2015: Chicago school and principal make the pages of The Washington Post

Even the nation's major newspapers are finally noting that the PARCC tests are nonsense, and as more and more reporters (and even some editors, although not at the Chicago Tribune or Sun-Times) actually go on . . .

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OPT OUT 2015: Chicago Teachers Union declares Opt Out is a right of all parents and children!... 'The CTU reiterates its wholesale opposition to the PARCC test. This test has no educational value...'

[Editor's Note: The following information was distributed by the Chicago Teachers Union on March 6, 2015. Sadly, some principals (not all) have been trying to stop children from opting out, and threatening teachers who provide . . .

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RAHMWATCH: 'The number you have reached has been disconnected or is no longer in service...' The Star 69 call said after I received a call from Rahm's people on March 7... Is Rahm's GOTV phone operation fraudulent -- as this morning's rude interruption at our home shows....

On Saturday, March 7, 2015, we received a phone call at our home asking me whether we were going to vote for Rahm Emanuel on April 7 (now one month away). But the phone call . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: OMG! They were Rude To Rahm! After four years of Rahm's staging hundreds of media events, DNA Info fulminates against the so-called 'staging' of the mental health advocates' confrontation with Rahm in Wicker Park....

For the past four years, Substance has been reporting, on a regular basis, about the media events carefully staged by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his enormous City Hall Press Office media team -- a team . . .

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The attack on workers comp rights... 'Over the past decade, state after state has been dismantling America's workers' comp system with disastrous consequences for many of the hundreds of thousands of people who suffer serious injuries at work each year...'

[Editor's Note: We are sharing the article below from Pro Publica with our readers this morning, because the danger outlined in it is real in Illinois and Chicago. Anyone who has worked for any serious . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Since 2011, Rahm has doubled residential water (and sewer) bills. But that's not a 'tax increase', just one of those 'revenue enhancement' thingies Rahm's foisted on Chicago while scripting each chapter of 'Chicagoland'...

If you own a Chicago home, say in the "Bungalow Belt" (as I do), your water (and sewer) bill just came, and it's due next week. And if you've saved your paperwork (as we often . . .

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Momentum builds for Chuy Garcia prior to major appearance in Logan Square on Thursday, March 12. Rahm continued avoiding real reporters and the common people...'Potholes but not people' preside over Rahm's carefully controlled public events....

While Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel continues to hide from reporters and the public, his challenger in the April 7 runoff election continues to gather support across the city. Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, who . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Corporate propaganda as 'news' on Chicago's 'public' TV... Channel 11 uses Gates Foundation front group -- Teach Plus -- to claim that PARCC has teacher support, as if Teach Plus were more than propaganda for PARCC and corporate 'reform'...

As the largest Opt Out movement in Chicago and Illinois history exploded across Chicago's public schools, Chicago's "public" TV station, WTTW Channel 11, decided that propaganda from the organization called "Teach Plus" was speaking for . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Are election ethics for suckers -- and teachers!? CPS School workers are being warned not to wear 'Chuy' buttons, while Rahm's people blanket one CPS phone system with Rahm propaganda... CPS using Board phones and texts to promote Rahm's re-election!

Maybe one of the things that Rahm Emanuel learned during his years as a hatchet man for Richard M. Daley, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama is that "ethics are for suckers." (As readers here know, . . .

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Fifty protesters chase after Arne Duncan chanting against the PARCC tests... Rahm defends Common Core and PARCC as protesters greet U.S. Secretary of Education during another White House publicity stunt for Emanuel's desperate election run...

Ignoring the fact that his own high-school-age son attends a school (the University of Chicago Lab School) that does not follow Common Core or obsess so-called "standardized" testing, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel mounted a vigorous . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Privatization and profits for Board of Education members... At least during the 1930s, Al Capone's cronies didn't get sanctimonious when the public learned they were profiteering off school dollars...

Chicago ripoffs of public school dollars have taken place since the original development of the city's public schools, and under dozens of mayors (note: Chicago has always -- ALWAYS -- had a school board appointed . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Maybe we'll get a book about 'Mayor Poopypants', but... Angry mothers group led by 'Bad Ass Moms' from Rahm's closed schools to protest at Rahm's home on March 28. The visit to Rahm's front yard will take place after a march charging that Chicago's mayor is, like a loaded diaper, full of

One of the several ironies of the week that Chicago began the infamous PARCC testing program was that Dav Pilkey, a famous and beloved best selling author of books for children, was appearing at the . . .

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OPT OUT 2015: More Than A Score's Julie Fain to host informational meeting on the PARCC Opt Out in Evanston March 31, 2015....

As the Opt Out movement against the PARCC testing program explodes across the USA and shows up at at least 300 of Chicago's 600 public schools, local activists from Chicago will present in the suburbs . . .

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Chuy video traces career in photographs and song while preparing for the massive South Side St. Patrick's Day parade

A newly release music video (of sorts) about the life and career of Chuy Garcia is now on You Tube and can be heard (it's a musical) while watched with the photos taken from . . .

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SEIU backs Chuy Garcia while scab herding Local 73 president and vice president red bait their own state union while continuing their suck up to Rahm Emanuel...

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has announced that it is supporting Chuy Garcia for Mayor of Chicago in the April 7 runoff against incumbent Rahm Emanuel. One local, Local 73, not only tried to . . .

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OPT OUT NEWS: Salaries of principals and assistant principals (like those at Douglas Taylor Elementary School) are public information... The Board publishes them as part of its 'transparency' policy...

Anyone who wanted to know that William Truesdale, principal of Taylor Elementary School, is being paid $149,399 this school year didn't have to read Substance, but could simply go to the Chicago Board of Education . . .

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CTU Black Caucus curriculum fair March 28 at Westinghouse

The newly revitalized and growing Black Caucus of the Chicago Teachers Union is sponsoring what it is calling its "Heritage Curriculum Fair on Saturday, March 28, 2015, at Chicago's Westinghouse High School. Heritage Curriculum Fair . . .

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OPT OUT NEWS: Meeks continues lying in defense of corporate school reform almost as soon as Rauner makes him president of ISBE.... But Arne Duncan says feds never threatened loss of billions of dollars!...'When asked why he [Duncan] threatened to cut off federal funding, he denied it...'

Continuing what can only be described as a notorious career of mendacity and duplicity, the Rev. James Meeks has launched an enormous amount of confusion across Illinois by proclaiming, without a factual basis, that Illinois . . .

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OPT OUT NEWS: Militants to picket South Shore 'Fine Arts Academy' elementary school in Chicago on March 18 in protest against principal's bullying of Opt Out supporters among teachers, parents and students

Despite the confusion caused by the waffling of Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Barbara Byrd Bennett and the disinformation campaign currently being waged by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), the Opt Out . . .

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Teachers to picket BP in downtown Chicago on March 19 in support of striking refinery workers in Whiting Indiana...

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union will picket at 11:00 a.m. on March 19, 2015 at the offices of BP. BP is the oil company that dumped millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf . . .

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Pensions... Legislation proposed in Springfield -- House Bill 3695-- will restore the pension tax levy ... The Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund on March 20 announced support for HB 3695, sponsored by State Rep. Marcus C. Evans, Jr., and Speaker Michael J. Madigan....

The Chicago Teachers Pension Fund (CTPF.org) has issued a press release saying that the fund supports HB 3695, which would restore the pension tax levy. The tax levy, which was abolished to provide more "flexibility" . . .

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RAHMWATCH: SUBSTANCE is now looking for the best art of the day, so we'll begin with this photograph courtesy of a lifelong friend... We don't know where this creativity will end, so keep sharing your best and we'll print it daily...

One of the greatest things about a Chicago election is that it gives rise to so much creativity and even a bit of art. Rahm Emanuel's campaign, for example, has decided not only to understate . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Start election week(s) with snow, a protest against King High School's tyrants, and our newest song, Rahm's lies, from the songsters of the Southeast Side....

While we continue serving up talent every time we're in a fight, each fights brings out some really creative stuff from our side. So this year the first out of the gate comes from Chicago's . . .

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RAHMWATCH: WTF should Chuy have a 'plan' when history shows that Rahm's 2011 plan was to script his 'Chicagoland' nonsense and screw poor and working class Chicago?...

I hate to be short tempered, but for the past week I've been hearing some usually intelligent people sounding like the Winnetka and Kenilworth assholes who write editorials for the Chicago Tribune, demanding that Chuy . . .

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OPT OUT NEWS: Panel at the monthly CORE meeting shows scope of Opt Out movement and some aspects of the racist attacks on Opt Out parents (and children) by top CPS officials, including principals and 'Network' administrators...

Despite the early Spring snow, more than 70 people arrived at Chicago's Letter Carriers union hall at 39th and Wabash for the monthly meeting of CORE (the Caucus of Rank and File Educators), which was . . .

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OPT OUT NEWS: Parents and teachers join at Curie High School to protest against Curie administration's bullying -- and police lies -- about the rights of citizens to protest peacefully on the city sidewalk outside the school....

Although the majority of Chicago public schools where the Opt Out movement has taken place this year continue to treat children and families choosing to opt out in a professional way, a small handful of . . .

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BOARDWATCH: Of course you can take the PARCC with mouse turds on the computer!... Washington High School gets another 'We'll get back to you on that...' a decade after the Board first promised to fix its leaky roof and get rid of the mice, rats, and roaches infesting the building...

More than a decade after the Chicago Board of Education promised to fix the leaky roof and make other repairs on Washington High School on Chicago's far Southeast Side, parents returned to a meeting of . . .

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CTU rally on March 26... Buses leaving from six locations across the city so people don't have to pay extortionist downtown parking prices...

The Chicago Teachers Union is providing buses to its March 26, 2015 rally downtown (at the Thompson Center) from six locations across the city. Such actions have become necessary since Chicago's privatized downtown parking costs . . .

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Chicago kids face testing orgy from now until June... 'The first day of a regular school day (without a testing window being open) after Spring Break is June 15th...'

Anyone who believed that overtesting in Chicago was over after the PARCC -- and the unprecedented PARCC Opt Out -- was not only wrong, but VERY VERY WRONG. Just as last year Chicago children had . . .

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RAHM pushes shopper while campaigning inside a Target store... 'Get that thing out of your face...' mayor tells voter who is photographing his glad handing at the Target....

It was no surprise to anyone who had covered a Rahm Emanuel press conference during any of the first three years Rahm was in power. The guy was about as arrogant to reporters as anyone . . .

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Scab 'union' goes all Hollywood for Chicago's creepy mayor... RAHMLOVE theme is getting its send ups in the city of 'The Second City'... 'Listen, girlfriend, promise me you won't stay with this guy. He's just no good for you...'

As the Chicago mayoral election of 2015 goes into its final week, it's clear the mayor is getting more and more desperate. Yesterday, a guy we hadn't seen in four years, the old precinct captain . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: TRIBUNE getting it right about Rahm's lies over the school closings -- and the 'longer school day'.... Before you know it, we'll also revisit Rahm's paid protesters on behalf of closing 'What did you say this school was called'?...

To listen to Chicago's mayor talk about the past four years, an out-of-town visitor might think that Chicago's mayor since 2011 was some guy named Joe Bluffwell or Sam Storyteller. After all, we now know . . .

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Dozens of New York teacher union locals demand that NYSUT (New York State United Teachers, the AFT) support testing resistance

Despite the fact that the leadership of New York's teacher unions last July managed to vote down a resolution against Common Core from Chicago Teachers Union, the new testing season has prompted dozens of locals . . .

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HOME STRETCH ELECTION 2015: Red Friday Every Day Everywhere... It's 'Red Tuesday' (followed by Red Wednesday, Red Thursday, until April 7) to show the subtle flag of victory

Although like many Chicago Teachers Union retirees I can't work a precinct going up and down stairs and sharing family stories with neighbors while getting out the vote, I do certain family chores every day, . . .

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Bernie Sanders, Senate's only socialist, will be in Chicago Thursday to join Chuy Garcia and Sue Sadlowski Garza out in the 10th ward...

A good article from "The Hill" explains the Sanders endorsement of Chuy and Sue. One might add that if the President of the United States can come to Chicago, as Barack Obama did before the . . .

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BOARDWATCH. Squeezing out the public and the press.. Board Chambers designed as an insult to the public and the press.... 'News' coverage is forced to photograph the smiling faces of the Board members while speakers critical of the Board are only seen from the backs of their heads

While each month the seven members of the Chicago Board of Education regale the TV cameras with their scripted lessons about the "true facts" (which only they possess, no matter how precise their critics become), . . .

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RAHMWATCH: That $30 million campaign fund is apparently not enough, as Rahm uses taxpayer money to push his ever-ready image with 'Snow Command' propaganda story

Most registered voters have already received two or three mailings from the Rahm Emanuel campaign reminding us that a quarter century ago, while Chicago's 2015 mayor far away from the USA, a young alderman voted . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Progressive Democrats finally realize Rahm is a reactionary Republican wearing a donkey suit as a disguise

With three weeks to go before the all-important February 24, 2015 Chicago municipal election, the "progressive" wing of the national Democratic Party has finally broken with the reactionary corporatist wing headed by President Barack Obama. . . .

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Karen Lewis at City Club February 2 despite the blizzard... Releases new manifesto on how Chicago will be while noting full support for Chuy and readiness to continue challenging the plutocrats from Rauner and Rahm to Wall Street...

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis spoke as expected keeping her commitment to speak at the City Club on Monday, February 2, 2015, despite the blizzard. As of the morning of February 2, with the . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Rahm Emanuel is having his 'Michael Bilandic Moment'... While Rahm does photo ops at 'Snow Command' the side streets are dangerous and people will die because of Rahm's plowing and management failures

The fifth largest snow storm in Chicago history did not have to leave the mess that's confronting citizes across the city (except in the wealthiest communities). The danger that will leave some people dead has . . .

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IEA's Chicago members -- 5,000 strong -- endorse both Bob Fioretti and Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia in latest news at February 24 municipal election draws nearer

The news that the Illinois Education Association, or at least the members of that group in Chicago, was endorsing both major opponents to Rahm Emanuel arrived on February 3, 2015 as Chicago continued digging out . . .

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Oil Workers strike at several plants... Bosses now call scabs a 'work continuation plan'...

Oil Workers represented by the United Steelworkers of America have gone on strike at plants across the USA demanding better pay and benefits, and an end to the outsourcing of work at union facilities. The . . .

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'Common Core' now on the bulls eye despite continued AFT support for so-called 'standards'!... Newark mayor supports Opt Out against PARCC as national Opt Out movement grows

Resistance to the neoliberal corporate "eduction reform" agenda continues to build across the USA with the news yesterday that Newark, New Jersey mayor Raz Baraka has called for support for parents who join the Opt . . .

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How much propaganda can ISBE continue on behalf of PARCC nonsense? Raise Your Hand challenges ISBE over PARCC claims, basically calling Meeks and Koch liars

The Raise Your Hand coalition has issued a statement challenging the claims by the Illinois Board of Education (ISBE) over the PARCC claims. The "Raise Your Hand" coalition has emerged since its founding three years . . .

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ILLINOIS HISTORY MONTH: Bruce Rauner's pick to head ISBE said in 2009 that the CTU is worse than Chicago's drug gangs! 'Chicago public schools have a gang problem... The gang is not the BDs� the GD's� the Vice Lords, or the Four Corner Hustlers. The gang is the Chicago Teachers Union!'

How reactionary is James Meeks, now President of the Illinois Board of Education? And how big a hypocrite is one of Chicago's most famous preachers? As Substance readers can learn by utilizing our "Back Issues" . . .

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How do you spell 'unpaid overtime' for more than 1,500 teachers? 'Dynamic Learning Maps... 'of the 1572 educators with KITE Educator Portal accounts (the mechanism used to complete the training modules), only 220 teachers have taken and passed all seven modules. ...'

The the alphabet soup of pretentious acronyms at CPS (Chicago Public Schools) few are as pretentious and obnoxious as ODLSS -- the special education department. As most teachers and principals now know, the main criteria . . .

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Broad Foundation suspends $1-million prize for urban public school districts, claiming real public schools are a complete failure and all-charter districts are the answer

The Broad Foundation, run by 81-year-old Eli Broad, has suspended its annual "Broad Prize for Urban School Districts." The prize, which was lusted after but never won by Chicago Public Schools, was awarded to other . . .

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Quazzo's sanctimonious corruption serves as a dramatic example of the failure of Rahm's appointed Board... Ten reasons for an elected school board... Raise Your Hand outlines the reasons for the elected schools as voting begins on February 9, 2015...

As voting begins (early voting began on February 9), Chicago voters in 37 wards are able to vote in favor of the elected school board -- finally. Although the actual decision on whether Chicago eventually . . .

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Langston Hughes was more than 'a raisin in the sun'...

Better late than never, today Substance begins our Black History Month lessons for our readers to use and enjoy. And it's appropriate to begin with Langston Hughes, a great poet, activist, radical (a member of . . .

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ALDERMANIC RACES: 33rd Ward race heating up... Meegan stronger in polls as Deb Mell can't get it together

A major independent poll of the 33rd ward (Albany Park, Avondale, Ravenswood Manor) race came out yesterday and doesn't look like good news for the continuation of the Mells' four-decade reign. It should be an . . .

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RAHMWATCH: The hypocrisy of Barack Obama's support for Rahm Emanuel shows in the 'Historic Pullman' announcement as looming Rahm publicity stunt nears

The support for Rahm Emanuel by President Barack Obama in the 2011 Chicago municipal election was decisive in bringing in the vote from Chicago's African American wards for Rahm. Despite the fact that the candidacy . . .

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DFER -- 'Democrats for Education Reform' -- is pouring millions of dishonest dollars into negative campaigning against City Council progressives like 45th Ward Alderman John Arena

It's been about five years since the multi-million-dollar group calling itself "Democrats for Education Reform" (DFER) first began, and almost as many years since the group first arrived in Illinois. DFER propagandists for charter schools . . .

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Fierce and angry responses to Rauner's budget speech as Illinois's billionaire gov'nor practices droppin' his final 'g's' while tryin' to sound like just another guy...

Anyone who listened to Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner's budget speech, as it was delivered (as I did) had to want to scream at the invocation of the memory of Abraham Lincoln, and Rauner's obscene attempt . . .

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Is it time to renew the 'nature versus nurture' debate? If so, can its beginning start with a discussion of keeping score by talking about 'smart people' and others....'For better or worse, rightfully or wrongfully, �intelligence� is the elephant in the classroom...'

No one will claim that Michael Jordan or Jahil Ochafor are not "gifted" as athletes specifically at least for playing basketball. And yet when it comes to discussing whether human children are endowed by virtue . . .

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It's almost over... for the mail delivery person who will be on Workers Compensation from lugging the anti (_______, fill in the blanks) ads from the Rahm people and Rahm's clones... to the materials asking for a vote for the candidates, from ward to City Hall... February 24, 2015 is ELECTION DAY!

Everyone in Chicago knows that the weekend before an election is the key time to complete your canvass (for your candidates), prepare your GOTV workers, tell the "minuses" on your canvass that the voting is . . .

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Early voting ends today -- February 21, 2015 -- so here are the locations of the 51 early voting sites

February 21, 2015, is the final day for early voting in Chicago. Election Day is February 24, 2015 (Tuesday, as usual) and voters are able to vote early. Voters don't need a reason or excuse . . .

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The beginning of the most expensive municipal election in Chicago history... More than 50 mailings to one home in the 45th Ward during build up to the February 24 voting as Rahm and Rahm's surrogates try every slander to defeat a Progressive Caucus leader

There were days when our mailbox received four mailings on the upcoming municipal election. By February 23, after both my wife and I had voted early, our home had received 51 pieces of mail about . . .

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Rahm rejected... Chicago's mayor faces runoff despite massive corporate media and money blitzes... Mayor's millions and Hollywood propagandists fail to offset citizens' rage against 'Mayor One Percent'

Despite unprecedented support from the President of the United States and a campaign that spent more than $15 million to elect him, Chicago's neoliberal mayor, Rahm Emanuel, will face the end of his political career . . .

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CTU and community organizations celebrate victory forcing Rahm in to runoff, while preparing for April 7 defeat of Rahm and 'Rahmunism'

By the early morning hours of February 25, 2015, the Chicago Teachers Union and the majority of the others backing the candidacy of Jesus "Chuy" Garcia began preparing for the election campaign to defeat Rahm . . .

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Elected school board referendum shows 90 percent want the elected school board

Despite the tricks played by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his allies (especially Alderman Joe Moore) to block a major referendum on the elected school board in 2011, in 2015 the voting on the elected school . . .

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Barack Obama's hypocrisy -- and ignorance of Chicago and union history -- was fully exposed as Rahm Emanuel is defeated. Even with the massive support -- and even a 'Bro Hug' from Obama -- Rahm was forced into a runoff scheduled for April 7.

In no local election in American history has the President of the United States come down from his throne to tout the candidacy of one candidates as did Barack Obama during the month before the . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Mayor saves city from minor snowfall, orders all out effort to make sure every side street is plowed this time -- while making sure the TV cameras are watching him at Snow Command...

Not wanting to have the news reports once again showing that Chicago's side streets were left unplowed while the mayor's block and those of powerful city officials were cleared, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel stood on . . .

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CORE organizes to help aldermanic candidates after six CORE members running for City Council pitch their candidacies at a special caucus meeting

A special meeting of CORE, the Caucus Of Rank-and-file Educators, was held on January 12, 2015 so that CORE members could hear from aldermanic candidates who are members of CORE. CORE itself has not endorsed . . .

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SUBSCRIPT: Non-teacher 'teachers' picket Chicago Teachers Union meeting as 'Teachers for Fioretti'

While some of the most controversial issues facing the members of the Chicago Teachers Union were being debated inside the Operating Engineers union hall on January 14, 2015, outside a group of people holding signs . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union slow in reporting results of election endorsements approved -- or rejected -- at the January 14, 2015 House of Delegates meeting

Several major changes were made by the union's House of Delegates to the list of candidates receiving the CTU endorsement, but the public was still awaiting the news as the day after the meeting passed. . . .

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Democracy? Shamocracy! Some in CTU leadership block public announcement about January 14 House of Delegate aldermanic endorsements

Despite the fact that the Chicago Teachers Union's 800-member House of Delegates voted by clear majorities at the union's January 14, 2015 meeting to give the union's massive support to three candidates for alderman who . . .

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And the race now enters its final month!... CTU website completes listing of aldermanic candidates supported by the union and offers contact information

Halfway through the warmest weekend since Christmas, the website of the Chicago Teachers Union updated the political endorsements approved by the union's House of Delegates and brought the union's 28,000 members information, via a link, . . .

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RAHMWATCH: The Economist touts Rahm's 'school reforms' as part of Rahm's Rose Garden Strategy... 'Some of the toughest decisions Mr Emanuel had to make in his first term concerned schools. ..' while the Sun-Times exposes more Rahmcorruptions

As the February 24, 2015 election day draws near, Rahm Emanuel's re-election strategy becomes more and more clear - what has been called a "Rose Garden Strategy." Sit carefully while your propaganda machine portrays you . . .

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Chicago Teachers Union begins to encourage ward canvasses for those candidates supported by the union.... Election activities increase dramatically during the 'Final Four' weeks before the February 24 voting for mayor and aldermen

By the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on January 19, 2015, dozens (perhaps hundreds) of rank-and-file members of the Chicago Teachers Union began signing up to support the 23 aldermanic candidates backed by the CTU. . . .

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'Solidarity Forever', the classic union song, was written 100 years ago

"Solidarity Forever," the classic union song that is sung at the beginning of every meeting of CORE (the Caucus Of Rank-and-file Educators) is now 100 years old, while CORE members and other union activists still . . .

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ALDERMANIC UPDATES: Tara Stamps and United Working Families to host forum on violence on Wednesday, January 21 at West Side church

Tara Stamps, who is running for alderman of the 37th Ward against incumbent Emma Mitts, has announced that she will be sponsoring a public forum on violence this WEDNESDAY, January 21, 2015.... "37th Ward Community . . .

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Reader profile explains Chuy Garcia's decision to run for mayor... "Garcia offers voters a compelling personal history..."

A lengthy article in the January 22, 2015 edition of the Reader gives many Chicagoans the first in depth look at how Jesus "Chuy" Garcia decided to run for mayor of Chicago and a great . . .

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Fioretti to host pre Super Bowl party at the West Side Billy Goat's with NFL player supporters

Following the announcement that former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka was supporting Bob Fioretti's candidacy for mayor, the Fioretti campaign on January 22, 2015 announced a party with former NFL Football Players for Bob Fioretti. . . .

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ALDERMANIC RACES: 33rd Ward race heating up... Meegan gets endorsements from United Working Families and Cook County College Teachers Union, plans events all week

Tim Meegan, the Roosevelt High School history teacher running for alderman of the 33rd Ward against Deb Mell, announced on January 22, 2015 that his candidacy has received the endorsements of the Cook County College . . .

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Whence and where the PARCC in Chicago? CPS will test all students at '66 schools' on the PARCC, but the names of the schools are still Top Secret! Details of testing plans show, again, how CPS administration is now clueless about grassroots realities in Chicago

The Chicago Board of Education last week denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the names of the schools that will be testing using the PARCC test this school year. The request was . . .

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CORE slate sweeps election for retiree delegates in the Chicago Teachers Union

The 34-person slate proposed by CORE (the Caucus Of Rank-and-file Educators) swept all 34 seats for retiree delegates to the 800-member Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates. The voting, which began in December, ended in . . .

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Steve Conn now president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers

A new era began in Detroit recently with the election of Steve Conn, a teacher at Detroit's Cass Tech High School, as President of the storied Detroit Federation of Teachers. The DFT for decades had . . .

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BOARDWATCH: Hypocrisy of all seven members of Rahm's Board of Education on lurid display as the Board members circle around to defend their conflicts of interest even as Chicago voters go more than 80 percent for an elected school board!

"I pay for my own lunch, and sometimes I have to buy for others, too," Mahlia Hines stated at the end of another meeting of the Board of Education of the nation's third largest school . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Which Board meeting were you at? The Tribune's meeting was about Chuy being snubbed. But the Sun-Times was all over the 'Quazzo scandal'... But...

Thirty or forty years ago, when Substance began covering the meetings of the Chicago Board of Education and reading the Board's agendas, budgets, and (long after the damage was done) the CAFRs, coverage of the . . .

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Substance returns on line

This morning, January 10, 2015, Substance has returned on line. Over the next week, we will fill in the blanks of the five weeks since our systems "crashed" and waited for repairs. . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: 'Quazzo�s companies have gotten an additional $2.9 million in Chicago Public Schools business in the year and a half since the millionaire venture capitalist joined the board...' Quazzo scandal ignored by mayor, while ruling class digs in its heels

After media revelations that Deborah Quazzo, one of the seven members of the Chicago Board of Education appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, has massive conflicts of interest, instead of asking Quazzo to resign her post, . . .

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Opt Out movement organized by Portland teachers union

According to a local news service from Portland Oregon, the teachers union there is "quietly" organizing and opt out movement encouraging parents to opt their children out of the Portland test program. Portland school officials . . .

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MEDIA HYPOCRISY IN THE WINDY CITY: Chicago's daily newspapers weren't saying 'Je suis Charlie Hedbo' in 1999 when they called for the legal lynching of Substance after we published the odious CASE tests and the editors followed the lead of Paul Vallas

Despite the fact that Chicago newspapers are falling over themselves in January 2015 to proclaim the values of free expression and "freedom of the press," it only underscores their craven hypocrisy as avatars of corporate . . .

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'Star' CPS principal announces support for Chuy Garcia, issues five minute critique of Rahm Emanuel's education agenda

A celebrity CPS principal has issued a stinging assessment of the education agenda announced earlier in January by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Troy LaRaviere, a well-respected district principal who according to the Garcia campaign's promotional materials . . .

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City Council progressives to hold pre-Christmas party

The Progressive Caucus of the Chicago City Council will hold a pre-Christmas holiday fundraising party on December 10, 2014 at a bar at 1365 W. Fullerton. The party will begin at 6:00, and ticket will . . .

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February 24, 2015 Chicago election will not only decide who will be mayor... City Council races will feature challenge to re-elect the current members of the City Council 'Progressive Caucus' and to elect challengers who are opposing the Emanuel bloc in several of the city's wards

[Editor's Note: A shorter version of this analysis appeared at the end of November at substancenews.net. As our regular readers know, Substance begins a new "Home Page" on the first of each month. Anyone seeking . . .

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'The district has a snow plan...' Aramark executive claims, but those in the schools and wards disagree... Principals' chief, alderman challenge Aramark lies about custodial services as major winter storms will pose dangers to schools' staffs, students, parents and communities

The President of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association challenged CPS officials and executives of Aramark on the current situations facing schools since Aramark has cut custodial services in the city's public schools. And Alderman . . .

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Arena campaign office opens in 45th Ward

The campaign office for the re-election of 45th Ward Alderman John Arena will be opening this Sunday, December 7, 2014. "Last month, the CTU House of Delegates endorsed Alderman John Arena of the 45th Ward . . .

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Tara Stamps 37th Ward campaign kickoff this Saturday, December 6,

A major event helping to kick off the campaign of teacher Tara Stamps to unseat alderman Emma Mitts in the 37th Ward in Chicago will be held this Saturday, December 6, on the West Side. . . .

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BOARDWATCH: Dramatic testimony from homeless families brings reality of policies to the October 22 Board meeting

Although the members of the Chicago Board of Education regularly hear from students and parents from the city's ever growing number of charter schools and campuses in an endless procession proclaiming how a charter school . . .

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'Mayoral Candidates Forum' was held on December 16, 2010 so that union members and delegates could hear from all the mayoral candidates who were going to be on the February 2011 ballot

The year was 2010. The Chicago Teachers Union has elected the CORE slate of candidates,headed by King High School chemistry teacher Karen Lewis and Senn High School history teacher Jesse Sharkey, in a runoff election . . .

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The mayoral candidates' forum on 'Education' was held at Walter Payton High School on December 15, 2010 and Substance reported what the four candidates who attended said in detail -- including Rev. Sen. Meeks's "bad teacher" attacks....

In December 2010, the major candidates for mayor were on the stump, and one of their stops was at Walter Payton High School. There, a candidates' forum on education was held. Two candidates did . . .

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CTUd'etat the Musical? -- Comedy, tragedy or... farce... A quote from history that may be about our current realities

"Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. Caussidi�re for Danton, Louis Blanc for . . .

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...'The African-American teaching force in CPS declined from 40 percent in 2000 to 28 percent in 2011,'... 'Ongoing legal action' seeks class action certification at Seventh Circuit... Chicago Teachers Union continues litigations charging 'turnarounds' are racist

On November 3, 2014, the Chicago Teachers Union continued litigtioins charging that Chicago's "turnaround policy" is racist. The "turnarounds were begun in 2003 under former Chicago Public Schools "Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan and have . . .

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CTU against a 'parking meter type deal' on pre-K expansion

Chicago Teachers Union issued a press release on November 3, 2014 criticizing the plans for a privatization scheme to expand pre-K education in Chicago. Here is the CTU press release:




. . .

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Paul Vallas cost Pat Quinn the election

Virtually all major Illinois Democrats won their elections yesterday -- except Governor Pat Quinn. Quinn, like Jessie White, Dick Durbin, and Michael Madigan -- all Democrats -- was running for re-election. They won; Quinn lost. . . .

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'...A palace for Jabba the Hut...' wins the ZAP! award as Alderman Bob Fioretti notes just part of the odiousness of Rahm's George Lucas museum deal,..

Without even breaking his professional smile following the childish dissing he received by a small faction of the staff of the Chicago Teachers Union on Halloween (at the union's LEAD dinner), Second Ward Alderman Bob . . .

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Veterans for Peace schedules numerous 'Armistace Day' activities for November 11, while CTU and others to do 'Take Back Chicago'

Arnie Stieber has made the announcements below regarding activities of Veterans for Peace and other peace activists for next Tuesday, November 11, which is also a school holiday. Currently called "Veterans Day" in the USA, . . .

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Now that 'ABB!!' had failed as a strategy, why are some CTU leaders screaming GRR!!! and thinking it makes sense?

Everyone who cares about democracy and using our votes to get power to offset the oligarchs and plutocrats has to sit back and think today in Illinois. For the past six months or so, some . . .

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CTU current events -- 'Who is the Iago in this tragedy?'... Some union staff were 'Iagoing' since the Chuy push began... A quote resonates from Shakespeare's Othello, 'Reputation, reputation! I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself... what remains is bestial...'

One of the great ironies of the fetishization of 'informational text' as part of the corporate Common Core is that throughout the past four centuries, is that fiction in the English language, literally from Shakespeare . . .

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Tribune adds to expos� of Chicago Board of Education's bankers' deal on 'toxic swaps'... Cover up by Ruiz, Vitale and Zopp now becomes clear on the public record, despite years of stalling and FOIA violations

More than six years after Substance and some of the leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union first challenged the Chicago Board of Education's use of "toxic swaps" (variable interest rate deals on bonds issued by . . .

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Tribune's expose on variable rate bonds for Chicago Public Schools leaves out facts of history -- Substance and CORE exposed these 'toxic' deals beginning in August 2009, and continued to demand answers as late as the October 2014 Board meeting -- while CPS officials engineered their cover up!

Beginning on November 9, 2014 and continuing on November 10, 2014, the Chicago Tribune (which has returned to its roots as a definitive newspaper following a few embarrassing years when it was owned by real . . .

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Second City benefit tradition continues as CORE takes over the annual event from Substance

The annual tradition of a benefit at the world famous Second City comedy theater continued on November 10, 2014, as more than 200 CTU members and supporters showed up for the event, now sponsored by . . .

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Catalyst notes CTU involvement in work against 'toxic swaps'...'...What is really troubling to Bhatti is that CPS hired an outside firm to do an analysis of these deals to justify getting into them, rather than to consider the options for getting out of them...'

As the Chicago Tribune continues its major investigation into the use by Chicago Public Schools of variable rate bonds and other exotic "financial instruments," another publication notes the for years the Chicago Teachers Union has . . .

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Chicagoans take to the streets on Veterans Day for 'Take Back Chicago' march and rally that brings hundreds downtown

[Editor's Note: The Substance editor was busy dealing with "health issues" on Veterans Day and had to miss the "Take Back Chicago" event. After screening the various accounts of the event as of November 12, . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: In These Times declares Chuy Garcia the 'front runner' against Rahm Emanuel after a severely divided Chicago Teachers Union 'backs' the Garcia candidacy folloring what some members have called the 'Chuy Choo Choo Railroad'

IN THESE TIMES November 12, 2014 ...






Will Chicago Progressives Unite Behind Chuy Garcia, Rahm�s 11th-Hour Challenger?
BY YANA KUNICHOFF

Email
Print

(Chuy Garcia)

It�s . . .

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November 19 Chicago Board of Education meeting first time in decade the Board meets in a community... Board's risky financial policies are not just around 'toxic swaps' but extend to escalating debt and gimmicks for repaying debt...

Quiz Time. Question: When was the last time the Chicago Board of Education, which runs the nation's third largest public school system, met at a location and at a time when most working people -- . . .

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Mayor took more than $600,000 in campaign contributions from companies doing business with Chicago public pensions... Fioretti demands Rahm return campaign donations from pension investors

Continuing his energetic campaign for Mayor of Chicago, Second Ward Alderman Bob Fioretti on November 14, 2014 responded to recent press revelations about the corruption of the administration of Mayor Rahm Emanuel by demanding that . . .

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CTU NEWS: Union sets priorities weekly in email to members... Interesting what's left out and what goes in

As members of the Chicago Teachers Union know, every Friday the union issues an email bulletin to the members (including this reporter) who have provided the union with our private email addresses. It's a good . . .

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Push to get action on 'toxic swaps'

November 15, 2014

Michael:

As you know, during the September and October Board of Education meetings, four speakers, myself included, addressed what we had been calling the "toxic swaps." We were demanding that . . .

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Barack Obama's scam noted early -- by 1996

In Chicago, for instance, we�ve gotten a foretaste of the new breed of foundation-hatched black communitarian voices; one of them, a smooth Harvard lawyer with impeccable do-good credentials and vacuous-to-repressive neoliberal politics, has won a . . .

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SUBSCRIPT: Arne, as usual, was full of it when attacking another straw enemy... Research on the relative 'failure' of education training programs questioned

As every veteran Chicago teacher knows, Arne Duncan's career as an "educational leader" (with no qualifications) began with the rigging of data and various trickeries using so-called "research" to prove his political biases. The most . . .

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Union singers march on, as CORE remembers 'John Brown's Body'

While every meeting of CORE begins with the singing of "Solidarity Forever", at the October CORE meeting Chicago Teachers Union vice president Jesse Sharkey reminded the singers that the origins of the song went into . . .

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'... there isn't any one on the Safe Passages aside from the $10 per hour folks...but no one is checking that they're actually there....most times, they aren't...' Safe Passage? Mindless publicity stunt or serious safety measure?

As everyone following closely the latest Chicago Public Schools publicity stunts knows, the cynical (and preacher supported) nonsense called "Safe Passage" was supposed to make the closing of the 50 schools in 2013 OK. The . . .

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UNION NEWS: CTU poll claims 'Chuy' can beat Rahm. Press release states ...'New Poll Shows Mayor Emanuel Headed to Runoff with Jesus Chuy Garcia...'

Less than three weeks after the surprising announcement by leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union that Karen Lewis supported Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, who had served on Lewis's "exploratory committee" prior to her withdrawal from the . . .

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Chicago lawmakers call for SEC investigation into allegedly illegal campaign donors to Rahm Emanuel's mayoral campaign.... Rahm being charged with 'pay to play' on billions of pension investments

Chicago lawmakers, including Second Ward Alderman Bob Fioretti, are calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate illegal campaign contributions to the campaign funds of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The contributions, amounting to at . . .

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Union official to keynote TSJ conference... CORE to have table

Jackson Potter of the Chicago Teachers Union will deliver on of the two keynotes to the annual Teachers for Social Justice curriculum fair on Saturday, November 22, 2014. The fair will last all day. . . .

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FAIR TEST's weekly summary of news shows how the Resistance is exploding across the USA

[Editor's Note: Anyone who wants more proof that the assessment reform movement -- what for more than 15 years Substance has called 'The Resistance" -- is exploding across the nation? Check out every week's stories . . .

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SUBSCRIPT: 'Who's on First?' (without Abbot and Consello) as Chicago moves from Governor's election to municipal voting in February... Dueling pollings show proof that the only poll that matters takes place on election day

In the town that gave the world the famous "Dewey defeats Truman" headline in 1948 and other examples of wishful partisan thinking since, you'd think that supposedly sophisticated political operatives and their sub-operatives would not . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: No Tears for loss of the 'Tiers' -- but the rating policy is still nonsense... How much does the Sun-Times cover from each Board of Education meeting... and major financial challenges are ignored...

Back in the boring days before social media became the rage, the meetings of major public bodies were a regular feature in the newspapers. In Chicago, the City Council and the Board of Education were . . .

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Of course, the most dangerous AUSL fraud is still Chicago Board of Education President... One among many Chicago frauds, 'Doctor' Terrence Carter gets back into the news by suing New London because it fired him when his frauds were revealed

Thanks to Fred Klonsky for staying on top of this story, which we had stopped reporting (because, to be honest, we thought it was over when the New London school board dumped Carter following the . . .

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More Than A Score schedules December meeting to organize the 2015 Opt Out of PARCC

With the PARCC tests more controversial than ever, and the Opt Out movement in Chicago growing larger than ever, "More Than A Score" will host a meeting to organize the 2015 Opt Out against the . . .

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SUBSCRIPT: Executives get a tub and shower at the new Board offices

Barely have the executive offices of Chicago's public schools been moved into the old Sears property at Madison and Dearborn than we learn from reliable sources that the "CEO Suite" has a shower and bath . . .

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John Oliver gives a brief explanation of how ALEC works

For those of us who began watching The Daily Show during the dark days of George W, Bush's invasion of Iraq, it was difficult to believe that other shows could even improve on the model. . . .

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Illinois politicians and corporate media get an 'F' on the Constitution test... Judge's pension ruling is not complicated at all... Why is Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan appealing the verdict on SB1 and corporate 'pension reform'?

Although most public school students are still required to study and pass a test on the Illinois and U.S. constitutions, apparently some of the state's top politicians, including the state's chief law enforcement officer, should . . .

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ELECTION NEWS: Nine candidates -- in addition to the incumbent -- file in Chicago's mayor's race... Election to be held February 24, 2015.... contested aldermanic races in many of the city's 50 wards

As the deadline for filing nominating petitions to run for Mayor of Chicago was reached at 5:00 p.m. on November 24, 2014, nine candidates (in addition to the incumbent, Mayor Rahm Emanuel) had filed petitions. . . .

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Obama administration's attacks on public education escalate while country's attention is facing in other directions... Arne's new college rules to create 'perverse incentives'

Following his decades' long crusade against the nation's real public schools, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wished a "Happy Thanksgiving" to the nation's colleges by issuing federal guidelines that he claims will improve the . . .

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How many CTU members are running for alderman across the city? Many more than the two so far reported reported by some 'progressives'.... or the three endorsed so far by the CTU House of Delegates...

Just before Thanksgiving Day, there was one significant media report that two teachers (and CTU members) were running for alderman in Chicago. And since then, there has been no updated report on precisely how many . . .

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With $5 millon from Gates and other corporate lucre, Urban League maintains cash flow from the 'one percent' by loudly backing corporate school reform and Common Core

It's not only in Chicago that the Urban League has joined with the local ruling class to undermine the schools in the black community and add to the unprecedented purging of African-American teachers from the . . .

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Christine Boardman and Local 73 have contributed to Rahm's campaign fund and had the union's members to cross the teachers' 2012 picket lines, but the SEIU leader threatened to sue Klonsky so he corrected two statements

While there may be some nuance over the question of how to define a scab, generally a scab is considered to be someone who crosses a union picket line during the strike. And in September . . .

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VALLAS WATCH, PART ONE, RACISM: Series begins with the racist record of the Vallas version of 'reform' in Chicago... Pat Quinn's hypocrisy exposed as voters get to take a closer look at the racist, union busting, and privatizing career of Quinn's running mate, Paul G. Vallas

Twelve years ago, in a special edition in print and on the Web, Substance reported on the crimes of Paul Vallas against public education. At the time, in early 2002, Vallas was a candidate . . .

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VALLAS WATCH, PART TWO: How the racist attack on African American teachers and principals was orchestrated and field tested in Chicago by Paul Vallas, Richard M.Daley, and a cast of hundreds -- launched behind a smokescreen of screaming about 'standards and accountability'

By the late 1990s, it was no longer a question of whether Paul G. Vallas was purging large numbers of African American teachers and principals from the ranks of Chicago's public schools, but how many . . .

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Raise Your Hand talks about time spent on NWEA and impact of PARCC in Chicago -- as other states and even some Illinois schools leave PARCC in large numbers

On October 2, 2014, Chicago's "Raise Your Hand" published the first of what will be many clarifications regarding the hours wasted on high-stakes testing in Chicago this year. As plans already begin for an Opt . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: John Kass, the Tribune's scab pundit, is in high Tea Party dudgeon against pensions of cops, firefighters and teachers

It should have been no surprise to anyone reading the Sunday October 5, 2014 Chicago Tribune that the Trib was again attacking the pensions of public workers. After all, that's what the voice of the . . .

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Teacher strikes: Waukegan still out, Hinsdale soon

As the school year moves towards Halloween, teacher strikes in the Chicago area are ongoing or looming. Waukegan teachers are out. Hinsdale High School teachers are about to go out. In both cases, school boards . . .

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'Strike?' Unlikely... 'We are not indentured servants,' says union president Jerry Jordan... Philadelphia 'Reform Commission' abrogates union contract, imposes health care benefit cuts on teachers and other union members

In a dramatic move that demonstrates that corporate "school reform" is still on the attack against unions in the nation's largest cities, the Philadelphia "School Reform Commission" late on October 6, 2014 announced that it . . .

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RAHMSWORLD: Will a bromance with the White House win votes on February 24 (or even get signatures without paying petitioners?)... Mayor's Press Office sends out buddy photos of Rahm and Barack

In case you missed, it, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his bro Barack Obama got together for a walk around the White House grounds on Monday October 6, 2014. Rahm's "Mayor's Press Officer" photographer was . . .

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Padilla and Wohl re-elected trustees of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund

Incumbent teacher trustees Ray Wohl and Tina Padilla have been re-elected to the three-year terms. According to a press release issued on October 7, 2014 by the CTPF: Padilla and Wohl Elected Teacher Trustees. October . . .

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Fair Test again shows: Latest SAT results show that so-called 'standardized tests' do NOT measure 'college and career readiness'

While the leaders of major city school systems like the members of the Chicago Board of Education and Chicago's enormous and highly paid bureaucracy under "Chief Executive Officer" Barbara Byrd Bennett repeat the phrase "college . . .

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CTU: 'Karen Lewis underwent successful surgery.'... Sharkey will head union during Karen's recovery

The Chicago Teachers Union issued a press release prior to its October 9, 2014 press conference that state as below. No additional information was provided at the press conference. The news has been covered on . . .

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Karen Lewis get-well cards should be sent to CTU office, CTU asks... Lewis supporters continue circulating nominating petitions

The Chicago Teachers Union on behalf of Karen Lewis has asked its members and others to send Get Well cards to the CTU offices. "We will make sure that Karen gets them," CTU Vice President . . .

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What's wrong with Lindblom, King, or Brooks -- except all those black kids?... Hancock High 'conversion' another example of Chicago's racism

There has been quite a bit of hyperventilating recently abut the Board of Education's announcement that it is going to "convert" the supposedly successful Hancock High School into an academic magnet high school (like Whitney . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: 'Ailing Chicago Union head...' DID NOT 'Step Down'... Ed Week gets the story wrong (after reporting it right) with a silly (and inaccurate) headline, seconded by Chicago pundit ('District299.com') who reports on Chicago from Brooklyn

[Editor's Note: Alexander Russo corrected the error on his blog less than two hours after we published the report below]... When the facts matter most, reporters usually try to get their facts straight. But few . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Tribune's editorial on Karen Lewis showed class

One of the more interesting things about recent political events in Chicago has been an editorial comment published in the October 10, 2014 Chicago Tribune regarding Karen's health -- and then breaking with the Tribune's . . .

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'...trying to micromanage 100,000 schools from Washington is precisely what Duncan has been doing...' Arne Duncan's six years of meddling criticized from 'right' to 'left'

When the Chicago Plan for corporate "school reform" was first launched in Chicago following the passage of the 1995 Amendatory Act [to the 1988 School Reform Act] by the all-Republican Illinois state government (the Senate, . . .

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'Our work is not about one leader, one race, or one election. Our work is about building progressive power to restore participatory democracy to Chicago...' Campaign office announces that Karen Lewis will not run for mayor of Chicago

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis will not continue in her bid to unseat Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the coordinator of Lewis's "exploratory committee" announced on Monday, October 13, 2014. Lewis had been under treatment . . .

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SUBSCRIPT: Should 'Emerging Leaders' include the principals' spies who report about union meetings to the boss?

As the leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union becomes more complex over the next several months, Substance will continue reporting what some people refer to as "contradictions" over how the union and its leadership are . . .

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RAHMSWORLD: NAFTA's anniversary... Chicago's guys were a central part of the Clinton administration's NAFTA scheme -- and the other reactionary 'reforms' of the 1990s and since -- so we need to mark NAFTA's 20th anniversary accurately

One of the earliest attacks on working people and unions came during the Clinton administration, when amidst the reactionary attacks of "welfare reform" (which impoverished millions of poor children, leading the way to the worst . . .

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More segregation anyone? Should Chicago continue to cater to families who don't want to go to school with THEM? Hancock High conversion to a 'college prep magnet school' hearing scheduled for Tuesday

The public is being quietly invited to a significant hearing on whether Chicago Public Schools will continue to bow to pressure to increase racisl segregation during these years since the Board of Education of the . . .

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City Club to breathe new life into 'Advance Illinois' with November 20 featuring... Astroturf group and Robin Steans had almost disappeared from public debate because they are such shills for corporate reform and the 'one percent'

It looks like every bad idea to pass through Chicago and Illinois will be revitalized by some outpost of the ruling class between now and the next time the Illinois General Assembly meets. The City . . .

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'Wear Red For Karen' on Fridays, CTU says... 'I�ll continue to stand for the city we love and deserve; and look forward to joining you again on the battlefield...' Lewis tells union's members

Following the announcement that Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis is out of the hospital and resting at home, the Chicago Teachers Union on Thursday, October 16, issued a bulletin headlined "Wear Red For Karen" . . .

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Philadelphia students block showing of the reactionary movie 'Won't Back Down' at a meeting of the 'School Reform Commission,' while one SRC member screams that the students should be arrested and are from 'FAILING SCHOOLS'!...

Proving the even the worst ideas have eternal life once they are produced by Hollywood, the corporate "school reform" propaganda movie "Won't Back Down" was on the agenda for the meeting of the Philadelphia School . . .

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Board to meet at Westinghouse High School in November... Board to approve $13 million in privatization of 'snow removal services' and return to 'tax anticipation warrants'... Chicago Board of Education will add to massive and expensive privatization at October 22, 2014 meeting

Once again, the Chicago Board of Education will add to its expensive and controversial programs of privatization at its monthly meeting on October 22, 2014. Among the privatization deals on the agenda for the meeting . . .

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More Than A Score organizing 'Park the PARCC' meetings across Chicago

"More than a Score," a Chicago group critical of high-stakes so-called "standardized" testing programs, has been organizing a campaign called "Park The PARCC" with community meetings around Chicago. The next meeting is scheduled for October . . .

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'...the radicals were removed from the bargaining table and an agreement was reached...' Hinsdale High School teachers union wins contract with a reminder that low voter turnout can put fanatics on your elected school board

Waukegan teachers are still on strike as I write this, but high school teachers in Hinsdale were able to win a contract without a strike after they organized community support and pushed three school board . . .

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'...I feel strongly that full-scale administration of PARCC in both March and May is unwarranted at this time...' CEO tells Board. 'Park the PARCC' campaign a success as Board reduces 2014 - 2015 PARCC testing in Chicago to a 'sample'

With a citywide "Park the PARCC" campaign and an on line petition gaining momentum across Chicago, the Chicago Board of Education met on October 22, 2014 to hear the surprising announcement from "Chief Executive Officer" . . .

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SUBSCRIPT: The announcement should read, 'Chicago Teachers Union' to feature speakers who attack public pensions, back religious based charter schools, and support Common Core at annual LEAD dinner... but...

With a straight face, the current leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union announced in an October 24, 2014 email to the union's members that the featured speakers at the annual LEAD (Legislators, Educators Appreciation Dinner) . . .

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Dyett to reopen? While phase outs are proved to be a mistake -- just ask the people of the "Austins" as gang violence again increases this month

DNA info and other news outlets are reporting that the Board of Education will reopen Dyett High School a year after the current phase out ends. But instead of simply reopening it in September 2015, . . .

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West Side of Chicago eliminates gangs! That Austin High School Homecoming Dance was not cancelled because the 'associates' were 'associating' violently at each other using live ammunition ... And those popping sounds outside West Side schools ARE NOT gunshots!

What happened to the Austin High School Homecoming Dance? And while we're at it, who was rumbling at the corner of Fullerton and Central after that recent Homecoming game. And those loud popping noises that . . .

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LEAD 2014: Chicago Teachers Union to honor charter supporter, pension 'reform' leader (who cut teacher and municipal workers' pensions), and one of the nation's foremost defenders of 'Common Core' ... What 'Our legislative wins' are was left out of email promotion for the Halloween LEAD event

A little more than two years after the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012 made the current Chicago Teachers Union a feature of discussion about something new in the battles of the American working class, the . . .

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LEAD 2014: Chicago Teachers Union to honor Jesus �Chuy� Garc�a, the latest arriviste in the Chicago mayoral race while snubbing, Bob Fioretti, the candidate who has stood by the union against closings, charters, and other predations for years!

Without even bothering to ask for a vote of the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates, someone in the leadership of the CTU decided on October 29, 2014 to snub mayoral candidate Bob Fioretti (who . . .

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RAHMWATCH: Mayor of Chicago celebrates 'public art' with self serving press release and photos.... including one of Rahm as Jack in 'Lord of the Flies'...

The photo with this article is not a "Trick" from a "Trick or Treat" before Halloween. On September 29, 2014, the mayor of America's third largest city, former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: James Warren gets the 'Zoe Barnes' award for another tumescent profile of Rahm Emanuel... 'Mayor Hurt Locker' is just another puff piece by a pundit who's gone horizontal for Rahm's careful script about Rahm...

We thought the bromancing of reporters by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel had ended when CNN got stoned and released its Rahmscripted version of Chicago reality, "Chicagoland," just in time to be laughed almost out of . . .

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CTU d'etat? Chicago Teachers Union issues a press release announcing last minute mayoral candidate Chuy Garcia as 'keynote' speaker for annual LEAD dinner... without any discussion or debate within the CTU's democratically elected House of Delegates or Executive Board -- or any membership approval

Without any discussion or debate among the membership, the House of Delegates, or at the Executive Board, someone at the Chicago Teachers Union decided to issue a press release late in the day on October . . .

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Know your enemies department... Resistance has grown enormously since the Septembers of 'Waiting for Superman' and 'Won't Back Down.' But the attacks on public education continue behind a phalanx of plutocratic billions of dollars and sanctimonious astroturf groups and some Hollywood propaganda

As the 2014 - 2015 school year begins, the spread of the Resistance to the reign of corporate school reform (of which high-stakes corporate testings and single-measure "metrics" of schools' and children's success reign) has . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: Is America finally learning to reject Chicago's 'education' experts? Connecticut rids itself of AUSL's Terrence Carter a few months after ejecting Paul G. Vallas

Before we review the final chapter in the fraudulent career of "doctor" Terrence Carter, who almost got to be the superintendent of the New London, Connecticut public schools, people in Chicago should ask themselves why . . .

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A final 'Labor Day' reminder... from 'The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd'-- 'some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen...'

I wasn't able to make the Labor Day activities in Chicago's historic Pullman district on Labor Day 2014, but it wasn't for not wanting to. Some things I can do, and some I can't. But . . .

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Karen Lewis to speak in Logan Square this Friday...'a rally calling for an investment in neighborhood schools and an elected school board...'

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis will join Northwest Side residents to mark the opening of school on Friday, September 5, 2014. The event on Friday begins from four to five p.m. at the Logan . . .

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Absurdities of computer-graded 'writing' exposed by BABEL

[While a great deal of blogging is kin to the selfie -- all opinion and no reporting with little fact. That is not true, however, about several blogs devoted to education, and one of the . . .

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MEDIA WATCH: The Sun-Times never actually printed the LaRaviere analysis showing Chicago's turnarounds and charters were underperforming... Just left it on the Website

This morning (September 4, 2014), the blogger Diane Ravitch noted that the Chicago Tribune has not published Troy LaRaviere's analysis showing that Chicago's charter and turnarounds schools have failed when compared with the city's real . . .

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RAHMWATCH, BASEBALL... Rahm tries another publicity stunt on Park District baseball while park playing fields remain mud puddles and public school fields are locked to keep kids from 'damaging' the surfaces

While the majority of the baseball fields in Chicago Park District parks remain mud puddles even after a heavy dew overnight, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel continued on September 4, 2014 to try and milk what . . .

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New Orleans schools have not become a 'model for the nation.' Instead, New Orleans stands as an example of brutal corporate attacks on public education and the deep racist roots of corporate 'school reform' since the days when Paul Vallas was overseer of the New Orleans plantation

Between the Illinois race for governor and some national reporting on the opening of school, the brutal destruction of the public schools of New Orleans following the August 2005 assault on the city by Hurricane . . .

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'A school that could start out clean on Monday by Friday, if things haven�t been done, is really almost a pig sty.'... Piss on the floors and poo on the walls dramatize the lies of Tim Cawley's Aaramark Power Point

It's less than six months since David Vitale and the members of the Chicago Board of Education sat smiling benignly while "Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cawley presented the Board will his $300 million proposal . . .

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Planning for mayoral race against Rahm Emanuel... 'Conversations with Karen' move across Chicago as school year begins