EDITORIAL: Lawsuit exposed not only violations of the rights of students, but the incompetence of Chicago's out of town administrators

The ongoing lawsuit against Chicago Public Schools for rushing the closing of the largest number of schools in U.S. history has revealed the indifference of CPS officials as well as their out-of-town incompetence. . . .

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EDITORIAL: 'Right sizing,' wrong sizing, and Rahmsizing

It was only an ironic coincidence that the date on the confidential CPS memo on school closings that was exposed in the December 19 Chicago Tribune was September 10, 2012 — which turned out to . . .

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EDITORIAL: Sun-Times version of Barbara Byrd-Bennett's 'Rebuilding Trust' — lies, hypocrisy, deceptions and cynical conflicts of interest?

It's been a little over a month since once again Chicago's corporate media proclaimed the latest version of the corporate school reform "miracle" following the abrupt (but golden parachuted) dumping of Jean-Claude Brizard and the . . .

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The November 5, 2012 Sun-Times editorial gave credit to Barbara Byrd Bennett for 'rebuilding trust' just when she was beginning a campaign of hypocrisy, lies, and deceptions.

EDITORIAL: Not all 'strikes' involving Chicago's public schools are 'illegal'... Rahm orders illegal bureaucrats' strike against the Facilities Law by former Detroit (and Cleveland) school official Barbara Byrd-Bennett and leading CPS bureaucrats

As the hearings before the City Council's committee on education made clear within an hour, the elected legislative leaders of Chicago are facing a strike by some of the highest-paid bureaucrats of the nation's third . . .

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The most recent

EDITORIAL: Why a 'Yes' vote is the only serious union vote on October 2 in Chicago

Between September 24, 2012 and September 28, 2012, the officers of the Chicago Teachers Union held five informational meetings after school regarding the proposed contract. During that same time, the union, on its Web site, . . .

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Six hours before the picket lines began forming at more than 600 real public schools across the third largest city in the USA, pickets began round-the-clock picketing at midnight at CPS headquarters in Chicago's Loop. Less than 24 hours after the above photograph was taken shortly after midnight on September 10, 2012 (the first day of the strike) tens of thousands of strikers and supporters were gathered at the same location for the first of the daily rallies that were a feature of the first Chicago Teachers Union strike in a quarter century. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.

EDITORIAL: A YES vote is the only way to continue strengthening the Chicago Teachers Union and the movement for better public schools for all children... A lesson in recent history may help clarify why a 'Yes' vote by regular CTU members on October 2 is a very good idea

Between September 24, 2012 and September 28, 2012, the officers of the Chicago Teachers Union held five informational meetings after school regarding the proposed contract. During that same time, the union, on its Web site, . . .

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Depending upon whose counting you believe, between 10,000 and 50,000 teachers and their families and supporters filled Chicago's Loop for the rally and march on the first day of the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012. The rallies during the strike (and before it, as far back as May 23 following the CTU rally at the Auditorium Theatre) were the largest union protests sustained over more than a week in the history of Chicago. Above, some of the marchers who filled Clark St. from City Hall to the Federal Reserves Bank on the afternoon of September 20, 2012. Substance photo by Kati Gilson.

EDITORIAL: Spin, Spin, Spin... CPS announces 'Tele Town Hall' on a budget nobody can find after hearings where CPS has left the transcripts in the covered up folder

As the lies of Chicago Public Schools top officials during the Reign of Rahm continue to escalate, CPS robo called every CPS parent on July 17 to announce that on July 18 the school system . . .

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Chicago Public Schools

EDITORIAL: 'ACCOUNTABILITY' TIME? When does Chicago hold its pundits and plutocratic party line preachers accountable for the simplest facts?... How is a 'strike authorization' different from a strike?

So once again, the Tribune's editors and the Sun-Times owners get an "F" on school news. No teacher in Chicago is surprised, since teacher bashing and union busting has been the official version of reality . . .

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Contrary to the Alice in Wonderland version of history and reality pushed by the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune (above, the May 24, 2012 Tribune editorial), Chicago teachers have been aware for a year of the necessity of a strike. The first demand for a strike came when the newly appointed Board of Education lied and claimed it was facing a

EDITORIAL: 'Quick! Monetize that Asset Before We Get Caught...' While 'progressives' fume about the religious right, the real heretics come from the cult of monetizing every human activity

Happy May Day. Six years ago, Chicago saw the largest May Day march in the history of May Day (which, as history buffs know, began in Chicago). May Day is celebrated the world over in . . .

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Even the most careful consumer cannot buy a one-pound or two-pound package of Cheerios in the USA in 2012. Why? Because General Foods has reduced the amount of cereal in its packages over the past ten years while keeping prices roughly the same. Most workers are too busy to notice that what was once 16 ounces is now less than 13 ounces.

EDITORIAL: Heartless School Closings Affect Us All... A closer look at Casals Elementary School

It is virtually impossible these days to avoid the tragedy of school closings and ruptured communities. As a teacher in the public schools, I speak every week with substitute teachers who were full-time teachers that . . .

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EDITORIAL: Chicago's traditional McCarthyism roars back as Tribune's makeover leaves more 'news' space for teacher bashing, red baiting, union busting attacks on public schools

The "news" story that appeared in the June 30, 2011, editions of the Chicago Tribune was amazing, even by the corporate standards of Chicago Tribune's propaganda departments. The story, a half page long, was a . . .

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The Tribune has simply been returning to its classical red baiting and racist roots with its massive

EDITORIAL: How millionaire heiresses and the toadies of billionaires become the only Chicago 'stakeholders' in the Orwellian world of Chicago's corporate school reform... Brizard announces process lengthening school day by ignoring the law and thousands of elected parents and teachers (the LSCs)

Although he was not a visible presence at the media event that accompanied the signing of SB 7 in Maywood on June 13, 2011, Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Jean Claude Brizard was looming . . .

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Millionaire heiress Robin Steans (above, while speaking during the June 13, 2011 signing of SB7) has been the loudest voice for corporate

ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW ON MADISON: 'Saving the middle class' could mean saving white people from the poor and most of the working class

Below is the counterfeit slogan that comes from the San Diego Labor Council, a rally to "save the middle class." It comes from recent union activities in California, where I live and work, some in . . .

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Putting the Obama presidency in perspective... On the right where he and it belong

Editor's Note: The following is reprinted from Socialist Worker which has a reciprocity agreement with Substance. Originally, the editorial was entitled "Obama and the budget-cutting bandwagon
Democrats say they want to "meet the Republicans in . . .

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GUEST EDITORIAL: Why I’m Right About Raising Taxes on the Very Rich

[Editor's note. The following article came to us via Portside and is being reprinted here as part of our plan to publish more materials on the tax structure and how it is being manipulated . . .

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Substance cartoon by retired Chicago school teacher Sandra Gordon, February 2011.

EDITORIAL: Substance comments should be signed in full or remain in generalities

On Sunday, September 19, 2010, a spammer who signed his e-mail address with an obscenity, tried to fill 'Comments' at the substancenews.net reports on Whittier with invectives against Michael Shields, the Chicago Board of Education's . . .

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EDITORIAL: Huberman's body count of veteran teachers rising, while media hypocrisy and ignorance in Chicago seem to know no limits

During the final week of June 2010 and the opening of July, the body count of veteran teachers who were being dumped from their jobs in Chicago — usually after decades, repeat DECADES — of . . .

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More than 200 teachers, students, parents, and community supporters turned out on the night of February 10, 2010, to protest the planned

Editorial commentary: In the 'No Excuses' bubble, is death a valid excuse?

[Editor's Note: The following was submitted to Substance on October 7,2009, but we didn't get to post it until October 13, 2009, because of the business here and about this topic. We're sorry for the . . .

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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder (above, at podium) spoke carefully regarding the brutal murder of Fenger High School student Derrion Albert and 'youth violence' in general during the heavily attended press conference at Chicago's City Hall on October 7, 2009. Holder was one of three individuals who spoke and answered questions from the nearly 100 reporters and camera crews from around the world that jammed into the stuffy room for the media event. The other two were U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (second from left, above) and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley (to the right of Holder, above). Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.

Editorial: Huberman's 'Jobs for Jerks' program is typical of 'data driven' insanities

The first week of September 2009 was heartbreaking for hundreds of Chicago teachers and school security workers. Between August 31 and September 4, those teachers and school security staff who didn't get the word during . . .

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Editorial: Marilyn Stewart begins 2009 - 2010 sellout early (again)

Between August 17, 2009, at Amundsen High School and August 21, 2009 at St. Augustine College on 25th St. (almost in the shadow of Cook County Jail), dozens of members of the Chicago Teachers Union . . .

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On August 17, August 18, and August 19, 2009, the Chicago Board of Education held hearings on a proposed 2009 - 2010 budget that promises a