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Thursday Morning News, Part 2
Gay-friendly high school may open here in 2010 Chicago Sun Times
A "gay-friendly'' Chicago public high school that will weave gay and lesbian "heroes" -- from James Baldwin to Gertrude Stein -- into its curriculum was among 20 new school proposals unveiled Wednesday.
Dear 'Ol Gay School High... CLTV
Chicago may soon become a new model for tolerance in high school.
City leaders to recommend approval of gay high schoolTribune
Pointing to studies showing that gay high school students are at greater risk of dropping out because of stigma and fear of violence, Chicago Public Schools leaders said Wednesday that they will recommend opening a campus aimed at these students.
District Backs Union-Designed High SchoolWBEZ
The Illinois Federation of Teachers and Service Employees International Union Local 73 have formed a nonprofit group to run the school.
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Thu Oct 9, 2008 at 1:42 PM
Thursday Morning News, Part 2
When Whitney Young opened years ago, it seemed that lots of gay teens attended the school as an alternative to their neighborhood option. The demand for a gay-friendly high school is likely still high.
Thu Oct 9, 2008 at 5:02 PM
Thursday Morning News, Part 2
I agree with those from the gay/lesbian/trans community that spoke in opposition to this school. The question that CPS needs to deal with is enforcing hate crime laws within existing high schools, not trying to create one safe school for these students. Can you imagine how many of the boys attending this school will be jumped and beat while waiting for buses? Does every one out their recall the CPS teacher who had her car set on fire for being the sponsor of a gay straight club only about 10 years ago? I think her name was Beacock.
CPD does very little to protect high school students on their way home from school, I would not send my son to this school. It is like putting a target on his back. Can you imagine the reception this high school's boys basketball team will recieve when they play at Crane? Maybe Arne can do security for that game.
CPD does very little to protect high school students on their way home from school, I would not send my son to this school. It is like putting a target on his back. Can you imagine the reception this high school's boys basketball team will recieve when they play at Crane? Maybe Arne can do security for that game.
Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 1:09 AM
Thursday Morning News, Part 2
The bigger stories at Wednesday's privatization unveilings were many, but one that needs very very careful attention is Arne Duncan's announcement that he will subject 12 more schools to "Turnaround."
When I asked him how he could proclaim that "Turnaround" is a sure fire success, he claimed that "Turnaround" (the AUSL variety) had been "proven" at Dodge. The details of Dodge are simple, and it's no miracle, despite all the talking points and Orwellian histories. Dodge was closed in June 2002 and the kids scattered across the West Side. By the time Dodge was reopened in September 2003, most of the kids that had been going to Dodge (especially the most at risk ones) were in other schools (many of which would also be closed, like Grant).
But since 2004, the official narrative has proclaimed that (a) "Dodge is a miracle" of renaissance and (b) AUSL is responsible for the miracle.
All Arne and AUSL did at Dodge was get rid of the lowest kids (the ones from the most impoverished families; the ones with the greatest discipline problems; etc) and then proclaim the "new" school was the work of their miraculous leadership, rather than what it really is...
An example of ethnic cleansing where black and poor children are forced out.
For the historical record, "Turnaround" became the CPS policy last December, and began officially in June 2008 when the faculties of Harper and Orr high schools and Copernicus, Fulton, Howe, and Morton elementary schools were fired by Arne Duncan and reconstituted under the aegis of AUSL and Barbara Eason Watkins.
The newbie teachers and principals at Orr, Harper, Copernicus, Fulton, Howe and Morton have been turnarounding those schools (with the help of millions of extra dollars, some of it from that $9 million Gates Foundation grant announced at Sherman last January) for a total of six weeks as of today.
But, heck, when you're selling snake oil and a miracle show, when have the facts mattered. Ask Arne's fellow CEOs how it's done. "Turnaround" is just another one of those expensive corporate shell games.
This mindless CEO and corporate stuff is going down in flames everywhere now, except maybe in "school reform" in Chicago. Example: "Everybody" (except Waren Buffet, a group of regulators who were silenced by Bill Clinton and then fired by George W. Bush, and some of us -- yes, we told you so) knew that derivatives were the BEST THING EVER -- except a couple of people. Until they collapsed the world's economy.
"Turnaround" is just another fraud pushed out the door by Arne Duncan and his corporate buddies, with millions of corporate and CSP dollars behind it. But in a world of lies like the CPS and City Hall "school reform" spinworld, where does the truth go to be heard?
When I asked him how he could proclaim that "Turnaround" is a sure fire success, he claimed that "Turnaround" (the AUSL variety) had been "proven" at Dodge. The details of Dodge are simple, and it's no miracle, despite all the talking points and Orwellian histories. Dodge was closed in June 2002 and the kids scattered across the West Side. By the time Dodge was reopened in September 2003, most of the kids that had been going to Dodge (especially the most at risk ones) were in other schools (many of which would also be closed, like Grant).
But since 2004, the official narrative has proclaimed that (a) "Dodge is a miracle" of renaissance and (b) AUSL is responsible for the miracle.
All Arne and AUSL did at Dodge was get rid of the lowest kids (the ones from the most impoverished families; the ones with the greatest discipline problems; etc) and then proclaim the "new" school was the work of their miraculous leadership, rather than what it really is...
An example of ethnic cleansing where black and poor children are forced out.
For the historical record, "Turnaround" became the CPS policy last December, and began officially in June 2008 when the faculties of Harper and Orr high schools and Copernicus, Fulton, Howe, and Morton elementary schools were fired by Arne Duncan and reconstituted under the aegis of AUSL and Barbara Eason Watkins.
The newbie teachers and principals at Orr, Harper, Copernicus, Fulton, Howe and Morton have been turnarounding those schools (with the help of millions of extra dollars, some of it from that $9 million Gates Foundation grant announced at Sherman last January) for a total of six weeks as of today.
But, heck, when you're selling snake oil and a miracle show, when have the facts mattered. Ask Arne's fellow CEOs how it's done. "Turnaround" is just another one of those expensive corporate shell games.
This mindless CEO and corporate stuff is going down in flames everywhere now, except maybe in "school reform" in Chicago. Example: "Everybody" (except Waren Buffet, a group of regulators who were silenced by Bill Clinton and then fired by George W. Bush, and some of us -- yes, we told you so) knew that derivatives were the BEST THING EVER -- except a couple of people. Until they collapsed the world's economy.
"Turnaround" is just another fraud pushed out the door by Arne Duncan and his corporate buddies, with millions of corporate and CSP dollars behind it. But in a world of lies like the CPS and City Hall "school reform" spinworld, where does the truth go to be heard?
Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 5:45 PM
Thursday Morning News, Part 2
Has anyone seen the 07-08 test scores for Harvard School of Excellence? That school will probably provide a more accurate assessment of the success of the AUSL turnaround model.
