President Obama is pushing charter schools... 'Overall, Congress has spent $3,352,841,281 to create and expand charter schools...' Who is watching their 'performance'...While most attention to the federal government's education plans has focused on the renewal of the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the reduction, according to some, of the penalties of "No Child Left Behind," . . . | Article | |  |
Legislation in Illinois to abolish Charter School Commission passes House Education Committee, HB3754 goes to full HouseOn March 6, 2014, the Illinois House Education Committee approved legislation to abolish the state's so-called "Charter Schools Commission." The Commission, which was established six years ago based on legislation proposed by ALEC, was given . . . | Article | |  |
'Noah Webster Academy ... nothing but a clever scheme to get public money for children who are already being educated by their parents -- at home...'Al Shanker broke with the so-called 'Charter School Movement' by 1994 after learning the early examples of charter school corruptionDuring the early years of America's so-called "Charter School Movement," one of the movements most important supporters was Albert Shanker, President of the American Federation of Teachers. Shanker, who had taken some of the criticisms . . . | Article | |  |
Billionaire James Crown gives $10 million to University of Chicago to expand charter school 'model,' other 'Urban Education' thrustsChicago billionaire James Crown and his wife Paula announced on October 15, 2013 that they were donating $10 million to the University of Chicago's Center for Urban Education, according to a university press release. One . . . | Article | |  |
One teacher aide paid $94,000 because of family ties, while most are paid $30,000... New Jersey profiteering as privatization sweeps through schools for children with disabilities[Editor's Note: The following article from Diane Ravitch's must-read blog exposes another sad example of why Chicago is such a dismal place for news. The Newark Star-Ledger has completed a major investigation showing how much . . . | Article | |  |
Charter backer Whitney Tilson, however, is 'shorting' K12 stock as troubles mount... Thanks to Diane Ravitch for this hoot of a story... Idaho 'virtual' charter school has outsourced its essay scoring to IndiaWith the Chicago Board of Education poised to run sloppily through another round of charter school expansion at the cost of the city's real public schools (this year it's because we need -- only charters . . . | Article | |  |
MEDIA WATCH: Special ed children pushed out of New York's clout heavy charter school... New York Daily News exposes 'Harlem Success Academy'... 'has for years used a 'zero tolerance' disciplinary policy to suspend, push out, discharge or demote...' kids who would lower scoresIt seems that the formula for a supersuccessful charter school in New York, as in Chicago, is to dump the kids who might lower the school's scores before the next test, then ignore the violations . . . | Article | |  |
Chris Whittle's latest scam aimed at the richest strivers in Manhattan... Instead of a Pump-And-Dump like EDSN, the founder of Edison Schools, Inc. and 'Channel One' is going where the really big bucks are: Parents too rich and too dumb to know what money can't buy -- and who hate public schools...There is was, a quarter century after the first Chris Whittle hype. Another story in The New York Times about another scheme from a guy who has pioneered the scams and schemes of the education . . . | Article | |  |
UNO whistle blower's lawsuit to go to a jury trial in federal court... UNO fired a teacher after he reported a locker room sexual assault, then reinstated the student assailantsA federal judge has ruled that a Civil Rights lawsuit filed by a former UNO charter school teacher should go to a jury trial following more than three years of litigation on the matter. According . . . | Article | |
Bears player again promotes privatization and union busting via robo-calling for Saturday's 'New Schools Expo'Once again this year, every parent of a CPS student is getting a robo-call from CPS featuring a pitch by Israel Idonoje of the Chicago Bears that we go to the "New Schools Expo" promoting . . . | |  |
CLOSING FAILING CHARTERS MIGHT BE A BEGINNING: How to help the CPS 'budget crisis'... By all means, Chicago should close 'failing' schools — starting with half the charters. And get full 'market' rent (finally) for all of them!This part is going to be fun. Every ruling class lie we've protested from Substance the past decade and through CORE the past five years (and some of us have dealt with the past dozen . . . | Article | |
UNO's Juan Rangal to be at City Club of Chicago August 29. Pickets planned?The City Clubs of Chicago has announced that Juan Rangel, CEO of United Neighborhood Organization (UNO) will be at the City Club public policy luncheon on Wednesday August 29, 2012 for the noon luncheon. The . . . | Article | |  |
CTU research debunks charter school claims about low financing, challenges charter mendacity, opacity and overhead[Editor's introduction. The Chicago Teachers Union presented research testimony against the claims by Chicago's charter schools that the charters are "underfunded" and should be receiving even more money from CPS. The following is the May . . . | Article | |  |
Anti-union, privatization groups pushed the fifth annual 'New Schools Expo' January 28 at Soldier FieldAfter months of Robo calls and public service announcements and a week of preliminary “news” reports announcing the event, Chicago Public Schools finally held its “New Schools Expo” at Soldier Field’s United Airlines room on . . . | Article | |  |
How to waste another $2 million... Despite protests, at its December 14, 2011 meeting, the Chicago Board of Education approved wasting another $2 million on 'virtual' schools even after two months of investigative exposes, including a major story on the front page of The New York TimesWhen all was said and done after the protests that postponed the business of the Chicago Board of Education at its December 14, 2011 meeting, the Board voted to waste several million dollars of the . . . | Article | |  |
MEDIA WATCH: Chicago Mayor to host charter school publicity stunt at Noble Street charter 'Pritzker Campus,' a school which routinely dumps dozens of kids from its rolls in January, while keeping the dollars it has been allocated in OctoberChicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to stage another publicity stunt in a school on the morning of December 16, 2011. Following a vote by his hand-picked Board of Education to continue expanding the city's charter . . . | Article | |  |
Two, three many Penn States in Chicago's charter schools 'portfolio'?... As CPS moves again to expand unregulated charter schools, it's time to take another long look at Josef Nurek, the sex criminal who was principal of Chicago International Charter School's 'Belden Campus'One of the reasons why public schools have to remain strictly regulated is that public school teachers and other workers are in control of children of all ages, and in an enormous position of trust . . . | Article | |  |
This Thursday, another CPS scam straight out of the Duncan Days... Charter schools' 'forums' at CPS October 6, 2011 are not 'hearings' and will not listen to public criticism... Three more charter schools rushed ahead by CPS administrationThe Chicago Board of Education, almost in secret, has scheduled hearings on three new charter schools to be established by next school year. The hearings, which were noted on the CPS website (www.cps.edu) mark the . . . | Article | |  |
MEDIA WATCH: 'They put me in a closet...' Bloomberg Business Week exposes hypocrisy of Oprah charter school... Special needs kids excluded in investigation that shows broader pattern of charter schools' disriminationOnce again, Bloomberg Business Week is providing some of the most interesting reporting in the USA, with the following story (posted September 23, 2011 on line). According to the story, the New Orleans charter school . . . | Article | |  |
Pennsylvania charter schools under investigation for cheating... Two of Pa's largest charters part of test score probe[Editor's Note: The following article first ran on July 21, 2011, in the Notebook (Philadelphia) as 'Two of Pa.'s largest charters part of test score probe.' (Jul 21 2011, by Benjamin Herold, for the Notebook/NewsWorks) . . . | Article | |
