Lincoln Yards, Amazon and the Gilded Age of Corporate Power
We live in an era where the biggest and wealthiest corporations and CEOs in history continue to demand lucrative taxpayer handouts in return for jobs and investment. The recent $6 billion boondoggle for Lincoln Yards, . . .
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CTU wants to elect 'freedom fighter' Jay Travis to the Illinois General Assembly
On February 24th, of 2009, I camped out in front of the Chicago Board of Education to protest school closings. The temperature was below zero, bitterly cold and there were few people willing to brave . . .
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TAKE BACK CHICAGO event at UIC Forum October 15, six p.m.
If there is one event in October 2013 that everyone concerned about Chicago's public schools should be at, it's "Take Back Chicago" at the University of Illinois Forum. With major events looming, including elections, a . . .
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Great Britain's National Union of Teachers (NUT)... Saving Our Schools on Both Side of the Atlantic
The opposition to the attack on public schools is alive and well in both London and Chicago. On July 20, 2010 hundreds of teachers, students and parents joined the National Union of Teachers to protest . . .
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Another charter school privatization ripoff... 'Venture capitalist' Bruce Rauner sees opportunity in Chicago charters to gain possession of public school buildings through privatization
Chicago Teachers Union members and citizens concerned about the future of public education in Chicago should check out a recent article in Crain's Chicago Business that outlines plans by a major Chicago venture capitalist to . . .
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CORE co-chair criticizes Sun-Times 'Fire the teachers' editorial
July 7, 2010 In the editorial “Teachers’ performance counts more than years,” [June 27] the Sun-Times weighs in on the controversial topic of teacher evaluations. Unfortunately, the piece is very one-sided. The paper accepts without . . .
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Professor gives critique of corporate school reform at King High School meeting... Speaker encourages teachers to fight back against neoliberalism and build a democratic union movement
Nearly 90 people packed into the front rows of King High School’s auditorium to hear Lois Weiner, professor of education at New Jersey City University, talk about the global attacks on teachers and their unions. . . .
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Rumors refuted? Runcie, Alderman Ed Smith, give Marconi and Tilton elementary schools false hope?
On Thursday, March 11, 2010, the Chicago Public Schools Chief Administrative Officer, Robert Runcie, officially took Marconi Arts Magnet School (a Chicago Elementary School) off the list of schools to be consolidated — for the . . .
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Bradwell vows continues fight against 'turnaround' opposing AUSL at packed March 15 hearing
The first of four hearings on March 15, 2010, was attended by a 96 percent African American audience; primarily teachers, students and parents from Bradwell elementary. After the Chicago Board of Education voted at its . . .
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Mayor's Office Passes The Buck
On Wednesday, February 24, 2010, twenty five members of the Bradwell, Marshal and JN Thorpe school communities, with allies from the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) and Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), stormed Mayor . . .
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CORE stepping into the fray... CORE fundraiser opens school year
It was a good night after a hard first week at school. More than 50 members and supporters of the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) swarmed Andre’s Sports Bar on the 1800 west . . .
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Chicago Schools Budget Hearings 2009:.. TIF 'surplus' could erase CPS 'deficit'... Budget must disclose TIF districts' costs to CPS
[The following remarks were provided by Jackson Potter to SubstanceNews from the notes he spoke from at the August 19, 2009, CPS budget hearing at the Black Magnet School in Chicago. Although CPS officials promised . . .
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A Slam for Duncan... Arne Duncan pushes 'achievement gap' and teacher bashing at Operation PUSH
At Operation Push’s annual convention on June 29th, 2009, in Chicago, the audience was filled with college students working for the city college system. Two of these students who told me that they were getting . . .
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Board of Education members, CEO should read and think about 'The Money Myth' and the problems with a 'Bottom Line' approach
Board meeting testimony 06/24/09
Jackson Potter
In 2003 several regulatory agencies in the Bush administration and lobbyists from the banking industry were shown with chainsaws and garden shears cutting away the nation’s remaining financial . . .
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How hard did CTU lobby for the moratorium? The Chicago Teachers Union's imaginary lobbying for the 'Soto Bill'
During the last six months, the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) and our coalition partners in the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) have been working tirelessly to stop the closure, consolidation, phase-out and . . .
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PURE debunks CPS 'new schools' claims
According to Julie Woestehoeff of Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE), Chicago’s Renaissance 2010 schools severely limit parent influence in their buildings. In a separate report, PURE also challenges claims by CPS that the “Sherman . . .
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Perspectives and Urban Prep charter schools dump 'failing' students back into public high schools?
Parent LaTanya Jones has tried just about everything to keep her son, Tyrone Taylor, at Perspectives Charter School in the South Loop. She repeatedly pushed to enroll him in a comprehensive tutoring program at the . . .
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Conference puts ending high-stakes tests on union agenda
Rafael Feliciano president of the Puerto Rican teachers federation spoke forcefully in his keynote address on April 19th, 2008, the second day of the 8th trinational conference. He stated without equivocation that “a union without . . .
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LSCs under attack — Community members, parents, politicians and educators respond to the threat
“Every school district in the state of Illinois other than CPS is elected. One of the biggest problems in Chicago and CPS is that the Board isn’t elected.” – Anthony Travis, Kenwood and Washington . . .
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Teachers Beware! New tutoring program hides its disastrous agenda... 'Tough Choices' and the National Center on Education and the Economy
On March 20, 2008, the Chicago Tribune ran a front page story that rained accolades upon ‘America’s Choice’, a program that pays 1,000 high school freshmen, from six Chicago Public Schools, to tutor elementary school . . .
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Parent promotes plan that fired teachers after CPS security was the main problem...Harvard Elementary School Mom praises CPS 'turnaround', admits poor security hurt old school
Madeleine Maraldi, the Director of New Schools Development for elementary schools, walked parent and local school council member Catonya Withers to the podium to be one of the first speakers at the February 27 meeting . . .
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The "Chandler Resolution" revisited... Will Ald.Flores revive City Council resolution on school closings?
In a videotaped interview outside the Chicago Board of Education meeting, Wednesday February 27th, First Ward Alderman Manuel Flores said that he would be willing to revive the “Chandler Resolution” on public school closings and . . .
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Years of pressure finally get some results... CPS finally tweaks military recruiting policy
The Chicago Board of Education approved a more restrictive policy governing military recruitment in the schools at its monthly meeting on Wednesday January 23, 2008.
The CPS legal department was pushed to adopt . . .
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Continuing the Tradition of Racial Exclusion through the Schools, from Manufacturing to Militarization
“The majority of employers are paying for the time spent in school. This leaves a good feeling on the part of the boy and girl toward the school, and encourages them to think that the . . .
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In These Times forum features researcher Paul Street... Talking about racial injustice in the 'Global Metropolis'
On Monday, October 15, 2007, scholar and former research director for the Chicago Urban League, Paul Street, laid bare his arguments from a new book ‘Racial oppression in the Global Metropolis” at the Open University . . .
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Interview with 'Renaissance' inventor R. Eden Martin
Interview with R. Eden Martin. R. Eden Martin is a director at AON insurance and the President of the very influential Commercial Club of Chicago and its Civic Committee. The Civic Committee is well known . . .
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Duncan dodges questions August 6th... How much do new schools cost? Who is served by them?
Arne Duncan wants the City of Chicago to believe that the budget woes for the Chicago Public Schools is a problem that exists in Springfield not at 125 S. Clark. I have my doubts. This . . .
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The 'rebirth' of Englewood or a bureaucratic shell game? Was Englewood closing necessary?
For the fall of 2007, two new schools are scheduled to open at Englewood High School, Urban Prep and TEAM Englewood Community Academy.
Those of us who are still working at . . .
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Social Justice Student Fair
On May 18th, 2007 more than 250 students from over ten area high schools and grammar schools came together for the first annual student social justice exposition. For a first time event of its size . . .
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