Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
Another day, another false claim by CPS and Rahm Emanuel.
“Chicago Public Schools administrators are backtracking after making some misleading claims about the school district’s graduation rate,” ABC7 Chicago reports.
Well, that’s progress. Backtracking is better is than the typical CPS strategy of repeating a lie enough times that it becomes the de facto truth.
Posted on May 29, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“The embattled United Neighborhood Organization announced steps Tuesday its leaders hope will win the resumption of tens of millions of dollars in state funding for construction of a charter high school on the Southwest Side,” the Sun-Times reports.
“Juan Rangel, UNO’s $250,000-a-year chief executive officer, said he is stepping down from the boards that oversee UNO and its charter-school network, which is the biggest in Illinois, but will stay on as CEO.”
So he’s still in charge.
Posted on May 28, 2013
By Natasha Julius
Oh yeah, beachgoers in Chicago are hooked the fuck up this weekend.
Market Update: A Cautionary Tale
If all you think about is money, you’ll lose touch with what really matters. Before long, you’ll be selling Grandma’s wedding ring just to “get by.”
Posted on May 25, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
More on school closings to come. For now, let’s catch up with parking privatization for a change of pace.
Meter Madness, Money And Mara
“Former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s staff was aware of major problems with the city’s parking-meter privatization deal in 2010 – a year and a half before the costly issues publicly surfaced, according to hundreds of pages of documents released Wednesday by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration,” the Sun-Times reported on Thursday.
“The documents detail behind-the-scenes sparring between City Hall – under Daley and Emanuel – and Chicago Parking Meters LLC before Emanuel struck a deal last month with the meter company.”
Posted on May 24, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
I feel like I’ve been letting readers down this week by not putting out full columns every day, but I’ve had a lot of real-life concerns to attend to. I’ve also been spending an inordinate amount of time on Twitter because the #cpsclosings fiasco has inspired so much rich material – while making a lot of us heartsick at the same time.
I told a friend last night at Rainbo that I wasn’t sure if I’d ever seen such a steaming pile of bullshit in all my years as a reporter as I’ve seen coming out of CPS and City Hall on this. I know it’s a cliche to say, but I’m moved to recite the exceedingly wise observation that we’re all entitled to our own opinions, but not to our own facts. CPS has conducted a war on facts that is all the more shameful coming from an organization whose mission is to educate children. Karen Lewis is right: It’s a shonda.
Additionally, the performance by the school board yesterday was one of the most horrid things I’ve seen by a public body. Yes, the city council is often a self-parodying joke; go back and look at the floor speeches when they passed the parking meter deal.
Posted on May 23, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“Two months ago, CPS leaders announced their intention to close 54 schools, co-locate 11 and hand over six to the Academy of Urban School Leadership to be turned around,” Sarah Karp writes for Catalyst.
“The end result of the school actions is that traditional, district-run neighborhood schools will become scarcer. Schools to which students have to apply and those run by private organizations will continue to take over, casting an ever-bigger shadow over the district.”
Click through – Karp also reviews CPS’s most dubious claims.
Posted on May 22, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
Difficult week to get columns out so far. But still good stuff elsewhere on the site:
* CPS 9-Year-Old 1, Rahm 0.
Maybe it’s the mayor’s office that should be closed due to poor performance.
Posted on May 21, 2013
By Natasha Julius
At least we know what our mayor might be smoking soon.
Market Update
You know, for a second there, the Navy Pier renovations seemed like a bargain. Then we realized the $110 price tag was a typo.
Posted on May 18, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“Making the case to close Ericson Academy on the West Side, Chicago Public Schools officials stressed that it would cost $9.6 million to fix the 51-year-old building. What they didn’t point out in materials provided to parents was that they planned to spend nearly as much this summer on repairs to Sumner Elementary, where Ericson students would be reassigned,” the Tribune reports.
“District officials said one downside of Calhoun Elementary, also slated for closing, was its lack of air conditioning in every classroom. Yet records that were not part of the district’s presentation on closings show the designated replacement school, Cather Elementary, would require the installation of 33 window units to bring cooling to every room.
“Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s controversial push to close 53 elementary schools, set to be voted on by the school board next week, has been accompanied by a blizzard of numbers and assertions aimed at demonstrating the cutbacks are prudently crafted and financially wise for a system in fiscal distress.
“But a Tribune review of documents related to the closings raises questions about how CPS used information to promote and defend its plan. In many cases, the district appears to have selectively highlighted data to stress shortcomings at schools to be closed, while not pointing out what was lacking at the receiving schools.
“In fact, total renovations to several of the schools slated to take in students would cost millions of dollars more than the estimated cost of fixing up the buildings where those children are currently enrolled, records show.”
Posted on May 17, 2013
