Board plays 'bait and switch' on timing of capital budget hearing at Chicago Teacher Academy, while also avoiding discussion of a real capital improvement plan
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis criticized the Chicago Board of Education's proposed "capital" budget at the August 17, 2016 hearing at Chicago Teachers Academy.Despite public announcements that the Chicago Board of Education's August 17, 2016 budget hearings, the Board of Education's budget team began the actual hearings early. One result was that a number of reporters, including Substance reporter Jean Schwab, arrived "late." Also as a result, the Board's credibility again was undermined, with officials hosting a budget hearing that was supposed to begin at six p.m. beginning much earlier, for reasons unknown to the public.
Testimony at the hearing at Chicago Teachers Academy, a public school, began some time after five in the afternoon, when "sign in" was supposed to be from five to six, with the actual hearings beginning at six.
As of press time, Substance does not know whether the hearings at the other locations (Bridge Elementary on the North Side and Kennedy High School on the South Side) also jumped the gun on the beginning.