Ayers On Offense
"Oftentimes Chicago students are involved in a desperate march from one mediocre school to another," said John Ayers, vice president for strategic partnerships at the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, in a speech to about 25 people Wednesday night in Annenberg Hall.
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Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 3:07 PM
Ayers On Offense
John is such a great connector! He has helped the choice schools movement in Chicago immensely!
Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 8:31 PM
Ayers On Offense
White supremacist BS is what that was, but since the brainwash has been in effect and the facts are being erased from both memory and history, the Johnny Ayers version has lots of supporters -- everything but the facts.
Basically, the lies Johnny Ayers told his little audience needed to be refuted then and there. But the children sitting at his feet had been taken out of the history that had been created in their lifetimes and taught a different version of reality. I'm sure the same thing happened the last time "separate but equal" was dogma and corporate people were buying up a segment of Black America.
Each statement in the Ayers' talk was a slander against someone or some groups in CPS -- from those who didn't know true "reform" until after 1995 to the greedy engineers that kept schools closed so they couldn't have after school programs.
I'd love to see Ayers on a panel where the facts got equal time, but that's not going to happen because they are on message, even if the message is a racist distortion of history, and Chicago's schools.
And for the minority children at Northwestern University who are going to save the world, at least someone should have asked Ayers how the schools that were "America's Worst" (according to the Tribune and William Bennett) got that way just as Harold Washington became mayor, Manford Byrd became Superintendent of Schools, and Jackie Vaughn was president of the teachers' union.
The Ayers project (and he's been right there with corporate Chicago since he was with LQE back when Daley first became dictator) has been to wipe out two generations of African American leadership in the city and schools. The objective has been to replace even the history of both the people and the struggles with a whitewashed version of history and reality that has given us Paul Vallas, then Arne Duncan, and now the preposterous nonsense that Ayers can mouth unchallenged to his captive audience.
Anytime Johnny wants to debate, I'll be there, wearing a suit and this year's edition of those power ties. Equal time. Facts first. Starting with the history of the School Finance Authority (1980, brokered by among others Salomon Brothers before John Madigan moved into the executive offices of the Tribune and began steering it even more rabidly against Chicago's public schools and all those black teachers, principals, and other leaders). The School Finance Authority was managed (and sabotaged black leadership) by Ayers's corporate buddies, sponaors, and paymasters (including members of his own family). That will be fun.
But I suspect we'll continue to get the whitewashed history, and the white supremacist version of reality that leaves out every leader of the 1980s and puts "school reform" as something that had to be done when wealthy white guys took over the schools after sludging the historical records with Bennett's bilge and the Ayers versions of "reality."
Basically, the lies Johnny Ayers told his little audience needed to be refuted then and there. But the children sitting at his feet had been taken out of the history that had been created in their lifetimes and taught a different version of reality. I'm sure the same thing happened the last time "separate but equal" was dogma and corporate people were buying up a segment of Black America.
Each statement in the Ayers' talk was a slander against someone or some groups in CPS -- from those who didn't know true "reform" until after 1995 to the greedy engineers that kept schools closed so they couldn't have after school programs.
I'd love to see Ayers on a panel where the facts got equal time, but that's not going to happen because they are on message, even if the message is a racist distortion of history, and Chicago's schools.
And for the minority children at Northwestern University who are going to save the world, at least someone should have asked Ayers how the schools that were "America's Worst" (according to the Tribune and William Bennett) got that way just as Harold Washington became mayor, Manford Byrd became Superintendent of Schools, and Jackie Vaughn was president of the teachers' union.
The Ayers project (and he's been right there with corporate Chicago since he was with LQE back when Daley first became dictator) has been to wipe out two generations of African American leadership in the city and schools. The objective has been to replace even the history of both the people and the struggles with a whitewashed version of history and reality that has given us Paul Vallas, then Arne Duncan, and now the preposterous nonsense that Ayers can mouth unchallenged to his captive audience.
Anytime Johnny wants to debate, I'll be there, wearing a suit and this year's edition of those power ties. Equal time. Facts first. Starting with the history of the School Finance Authority (1980, brokered by among others Salomon Brothers before John Madigan moved into the executive offices of the Tribune and began steering it even more rabidly against Chicago's public schools and all those black teachers, principals, and other leaders). The School Finance Authority was managed (and sabotaged black leadership) by Ayers's corporate buddies, sponaors, and paymasters (including members of his own family). That will be fun.
But I suspect we'll continue to get the whitewashed history, and the white supremacist version of reality that leaves out every leader of the 1980s and puts "school reform" as something that had to be done when wealthy white guys took over the schools after sludging the historical records with Bennett's bilge and the Ayers versions of "reality."
Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 10:47 AM
Ayers On Offense
Wow, I totally believe that endorsement, Mr. Ayers.
Almost as valuable as the ones PG&E gave Californians that they hadn't poisoned their water for years.
Or from Enron brass assuring their workforce that their pension money was safe.
Makers of Vioxx, Celebrex, Avandia...(insert the self-serving liar of your choice
Almost as valuable as the ones PG&E gave Californians that they hadn't poisoned their water for years.
Or from Enron brass assuring their workforce that their pension money was safe.
Makers of Vioxx, Celebrex, Avandia...(insert the self-serving liar of your choice
Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 8:06 PM
Ayers On Offense
As Alexander's posting notes, Chicago has some of the worst public schools in the United States. Thanks to John's hard work, we now have school choice within the city and some schools are working.
I don't quite get the Charles and Dupe's ramblings about US corporations. What I do get is that low-income people deserve to be able to send their kids to schools that will allow their kids to break out of the cycle of poverty.
I've noticed that when people take on the establishment as John has, the people guarding the status quo (i.e. lousy performing schools run by adults that are more concerned about keeping their jobs than truly putting kids on the college track) get vocal and fundamentally don't make much sense. School choice works. Get over it and start making your school better.
I don't quite get the Charles and Dupe's ramblings about US corporations. What I do get is that low-income people deserve to be able to send their kids to schools that will allow their kids to break out of the cycle of poverty.
I've noticed that when people take on the establishment as John has, the people guarding the status quo (i.e. lousy performing schools run by adults that are more concerned about keeping their jobs than truly putting kids on the college track) get vocal and fundamentally don't make much sense. School choice works. Get over it and start making your school better.
Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 9:52 PM
Ayers On Offense
The arrogance of some charter school advocates is amazing. Even if Chicago has "some of the worst public schools in the United States," that doesn't mean that NONE of the schools were working prior to St. John's arrival on the scene. My school is a regular neighborhood school on the westside. It has made AYP, and it’s not on probation. It’s not the only neighborhood school for which that is true.
Also, according to published data, the VAST majority of students in charter schools are not from the "lousy performing" schools closed by Renaissance 2010. So, the choice St. John is offering is not a choice most of the "neediest" students are accepting. Why is that? Stop singing your own praises and figure out why you’re not solving the very problem you were created to address? Until you answer that question, you’re simply living off the system.
Also, according to published data, the VAST majority of students in charter schools are not from the "lousy performing" schools closed by Renaissance 2010. So, the choice St. John is offering is not a choice most of the "neediest" students are accepting. Why is that? Stop singing your own praises and figure out why you’re not solving the very problem you were created to address? Until you answer that question, you’re simply living off the system.
Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 10:18 PM
Ayers On Offense
All parents should be given a choice: the school that Mac is working at, other schools that are not doing well, charter schools that are doing well, charter schools that are doing ok. Mac's school should get more students because it is performing well. Choice is good.
Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 3:35 AM
Ayers On Offense
To say that John Ayers is "taking on the establishment" is like saying that George W. Bush has been "taking on the establishment." John Ayers is part of a group that decided to replace the public schools of Chicago with as many charter schools as quickly as possible before they got caught.
New Orleans is an even bigger crime against democracy. Thanks to Hurricane Katrina, they were also able to do the same thing they'd been doing incrementally in Chicago all at once in New Orleans. And they did it in an even more ugly way than they have been doing it in Chicago.
In one speech, Ayers referred to post-Katrina New Orleans as "Greenspace" (meaning, a land without people, to be cultivated anew) to be developed according to the will of the wealthy and powerful according to the dictates of their "market" idology.
This has all been done (it didn't "just happen") after Katrina wiped out large parts of the communities housing the poor. The Bush administration made certain the poor couldn't get back to their homes (enforcing that with National Guard, other military, and Blackwater), and Bush & Co. worked with the racists in Baton Rouge to destroy the public schools of New Orleans replacing them primarily with selective enrollment charter schools.
Greg Richmond, John Ayers, and a numbr of the other "Chicago boys" (and girls) from the charter authorizers (and some other groups, like UNO) went to New Orleans to offer their Chicago-based expertise at wiping out public schools ("greenspace") and replacing them with non-union, deregulated, rarely inspected charters.
The destruction of public education in New Orleans, the firing of the public school teachers of New Orleans after Katrina, the destruction of the most powerful (and most African-American) union in Louisiana, and the current wave of hypocritical apologetics for the application of the Shock Doctrine to public education in New Orleans are part of the Chicago legacy in New Orleans, and John Ayers is a big part of all that. Just as his father before him was a major mover of the "Chicago 21 Plan" which has finally succeeded -- in getting rid of most of the poor black people within two miles of Lake Mighican.
Only after the past decade of mendacity could anyone outside of Bedlam have referred to John Ayers as "anti-establishment."
There may be a handful of people in Chicago who are less establishment than the Ayerses, but they are very few. Despite the fact that the current ruling class narrative insists on portraying these guys as "anti establishment," they are as "anti-establishment" as George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. When the historical day of reckoning comes and the books are rewritten by people not under their thumbs, they will stand out like the estbalishment con men and women who oversaw the dirty work of re-segregating the South after Plessy v. Ferguson, while others (often in their employe) did the night riding against democracy and American ideas of justice, equity, and public schools.
New Orleans is an even bigger crime against democracy. Thanks to Hurricane Katrina, they were also able to do the same thing they'd been doing incrementally in Chicago all at once in New Orleans. And they did it in an even more ugly way than they have been doing it in Chicago.
In one speech, Ayers referred to post-Katrina New Orleans as "Greenspace" (meaning, a land without people, to be cultivated anew) to be developed according to the will of the wealthy and powerful according to the dictates of their "market" idology.
This has all been done (it didn't "just happen") after Katrina wiped out large parts of the communities housing the poor. The Bush administration made certain the poor couldn't get back to their homes (enforcing that with National Guard, other military, and Blackwater), and Bush & Co. worked with the racists in Baton Rouge to destroy the public schools of New Orleans replacing them primarily with selective enrollment charter schools.
Greg Richmond, John Ayers, and a numbr of the other "Chicago boys" (and girls) from the charter authorizers (and some other groups, like UNO) went to New Orleans to offer their Chicago-based expertise at wiping out public schools ("greenspace") and replacing them with non-union, deregulated, rarely inspected charters.
The destruction of public education in New Orleans, the firing of the public school teachers of New Orleans after Katrina, the destruction of the most powerful (and most African-American) union in Louisiana, and the current wave of hypocritical apologetics for the application of the Shock Doctrine to public education in New Orleans are part of the Chicago legacy in New Orleans, and John Ayers is a big part of all that. Just as his father before him was a major mover of the "Chicago 21 Plan" which has finally succeeded -- in getting rid of most of the poor black people within two miles of Lake Mighican.
Only after the past decade of mendacity could anyone outside of Bedlam have referred to John Ayers as "anti-establishment."
There may be a handful of people in Chicago who are less establishment than the Ayerses, but they are very few. Despite the fact that the current ruling class narrative insists on portraying these guys as "anti establishment," they are as "anti-establishment" as George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. When the historical day of reckoning comes and the books are rewritten by people not under their thumbs, they will stand out like the estbalishment con men and women who oversaw the dirty work of re-segregating the South after Plessy v. Ferguson, while others (often in their employe) did the night riding against democracy and American ideas of justice, equity, and public schools.
Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 4:47 AM
Ayers On Offense
>>>
Thanks to John's hard work, we now have school choice within the city and some schools are working.
>>>
The belief that private schools are the answer to our educational problems is disturbing. How about this example -- earlier this year there was the announcement that High Tech High in Redwood, CA was closing up. This was one of the vaunted charter schools by the Gates Foundation.
The earlier posts referring to corporations were simply examples of companies using lies to bolster their public statements, something I think a also behind the push to privatize schools. It's the mainstream media that keeps repeating public services, like education, are riddled with faults and that it's the private corporations that are the shining examples of efficiency. For the past thirty years or so, I've been employed by small companies, large ones, nonprofits, and now doing contract work for a CPS school. I've never been anywhere that was problem-free. The human factor is everywhere -- there are examples of laziness, gaps in communication, whatever, no matter you go.
You can drink the corporate Kool-Aid that charter schools are the answer to giving low income education problems, but outside of the mainstream media, where's the proof of that? Sure choice would be great, all things equal, but they are most certainly not. Public education is part of the basic foundation of our society, giving every child the opportunity to go to school should never be an 'if' question, and the two-tiered educational system pushed on us since the 70s is a horrible tool that has been dividing this country ever since. School choice does NOT work, it gives an arbitrary push to some kids, at the expense of the rest.
So for the person who posted anonymously, no I will not, "Get over it." The public school system is too important to ignore, and people like you who think private schools are the answer should stop watching Fox news and step back to take a look at the big picture.
Thanks to John's hard work, we now have school choice within the city and some schools are working.
>>>
The belief that private schools are the answer to our educational problems is disturbing. How about this example -- earlier this year there was the announcement that High Tech High in Redwood, CA was closing up. This was one of the vaunted charter schools by the Gates Foundation.
The earlier posts referring to corporations were simply examples of companies using lies to bolster their public statements, something I think a also behind the push to privatize schools. It's the mainstream media that keeps repeating public services, like education, are riddled with faults and that it's the private corporations that are the shining examples of efficiency. For the past thirty years or so, I've been employed by small companies, large ones, nonprofits, and now doing contract work for a CPS school. I've never been anywhere that was problem-free. The human factor is everywhere -- there are examples of laziness, gaps in communication, whatever, no matter you go.
You can drink the corporate Kool-Aid that charter schools are the answer to giving low income education problems, but outside of the mainstream media, where's the proof of that? Sure choice would be great, all things equal, but they are most certainly not. Public education is part of the basic foundation of our society, giving every child the opportunity to go to school should never be an 'if' question, and the two-tiered educational system pushed on us since the 70s is a horrible tool that has been dividing this country ever since. School choice does NOT work, it gives an arbitrary push to some kids, at the expense of the rest.
So for the person who posted anonymously, no I will not, "Get over it." The public school system is too important to ignore, and people like you who think private schools are the answer should stop watching Fox news and step back to take a look at the big picture.
Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 9:12 AM
Ayers On Offense
This Ayers guy sounds evil. What next? He'll be accused of bomb throwing. . . Oh! Wait, that was his more enlightened brother, Bill!!!!
Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 11:58 AM
Ayers On Offense
Charter public schools are PUBLIC schools, created by a PUBLIC School District. The conspiracy theorists really should at least try and get their facts slightly accurate. The instructional professionals in charter public schools are there by choice and because they have a strong commitment to education public school students. Charters can not create entry screens and can not charge tuition; hallmarks of public schools. Our communities need a much wider range of approaches, entry points for students and genuine accountability structures. Charter PUBLIC schools are one such tool to make sure EVERY public school student has an excellent education.
Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 1:10 PM
Ayers On Offense
Charter Schools, not individually but as an educational movement are the precursors of private school vouchers. Once private school vouchers become the the central path to publicly funded education in the US then we are close to the end of public education as we have known it.
This is because the market will allow better functioning private schools to charge more, the vouchers provided to the poor will not allow them access to these better schools. In end the poor will have far worse schools under a mass voucher system. Once Illinois gets vouchers most charter schools will go out of business.
This is because the market will allow better functioning private schools to charge more, the vouchers provided to the poor will not allow them access to these better schools. In end the poor will have far worse schools under a mass voucher system. Once Illinois gets vouchers most charter schools will go out of business.
Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 1:51 PM
Ayers On Offense
This argument has been made for ~ 10 years.
Perhaps it's the other way around. Instead of Charters being the precursor for vouchers, I would argue that the "threat" of vouchers has been the precursor for massive charterization.
Perhaps it's the other way around. Instead of Charters being the precursor for vouchers, I would argue that the "threat" of vouchers has been the precursor for massive charterization.
Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 3:30 PM
Ayers On Offense
1:51 we will see, I assume charters as a whole will found in 10 years to be performing about the same a regular public schools and costing alot too. Therefore, Mr. Ayers and many others will move on to the next great hope for education reform, vouchers and real market discipline driven by comsumer choice. Ayers, was once a great supporter of LSCs and community control of schools as a path to reform. He will get on board the voucher train before it leaves the station. Like the first poster said he is such a great connector.
Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 4:58 PM
Ayers On Offense
I think everyone on this thread has given way too much credit to Ayers. Ayers and the bunch are talkers, not doers!
Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 10:04 PM
Ayers On Offense
I run a charter school and I don't agree with vouchers. Parents of all income levels deserve choice and they can get it in the public education system and the can get it with charters. The more public choices the better.
Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 10:15 PM
Ayers On Offense
Charles, what are you doing saying nonsense about Ayers and Richmond. They insure that charter school authorizors are doing an even better job. I know that you care about kids and so do they. They care so much that they help charter school authorizors hold their charters accountable. I know that you care about kids and kids in charter schools deserve a great education. These men are making sure that this happens. I think that this is an important job.
Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 11:42 PM
Ayers On Offense
George, how can you possibly defend the New Orleans public school system before Katrina? It WAS the worst system in the US, far worse than Chicago, with practically single digit graduation rates, a completely dsyfunctional and paralyzed bureaucracy, and completely broken. You may not agree with charter public schools, but you can't credibly defend the New Orleans public school system as something worth saving without massive overhaul and reform.
As for Ayers, the man most of these post describe/decry is so far removed from the man I know. Ayers is no monster -- he truly is working hard for poor children of color to have the same access to high quality education that their white suburban counterparts take for granted. As for his former support of LSCs, like many of us he is disappointed that the LSC movement produced such lackluster improvement in the vast majority of schools and ended up investing local control only among a handful of parents, at best (and in the principal, at worse). So like any rational person, he moves on from ideas that don't work and continues to look for ideas that do, rather than be stuck on the same single note reform idea that fails to live up to its original promise. Ayers is the first to say that charters do not solve all of the problems, but they have certainly produced far more promising results than LSCs.
As for Ayers, the man most of these post describe/decry is so far removed from the man I know. Ayers is no monster -- he truly is working hard for poor children of color to have the same access to high quality education that their white suburban counterparts take for granted. As for his former support of LSCs, like many of us he is disappointed that the LSC movement produced such lackluster improvement in the vast majority of schools and ended up investing local control only among a handful of parents, at best (and in the principal, at worse). So like any rational person, he moves on from ideas that don't work and continues to look for ideas that do, rather than be stuck on the same single note reform idea that fails to live up to its original promise. Ayers is the first to say that charters do not solve all of the problems, but they have certainly produced far more promising results than LSCs.
Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 2:23 AM
Ayers On Offense
This is about John Ayers, not Bill Ayers. And for now I'll just focus on the public schools of New Orleans. As anyone who bothered to look knew, prior to Katrina, the public schools of New Orleans were very similar to those of Chicago -- triaged, with some very good schools (for the middle class, and the few white people who attended public schools), a kind of muddled middle, and a large underfunded group of schools (in New Orleans, about 50 percent of all the schools) serving the poorest children in some of the most segregated wards and communities in the USA. The segregated communities in New Orleans were not as large or vast as Chicago's 25 miles contiguous black ghetto, but they were large and completely segregated. As in all-black.
The teachers and principals of New Orleans were one of the best organized groups in town, and most of them African-Americans.
The "America's Worst" school system claim has been made against every school system targeted for mayoral takeovers (or, in the case of New Orleans, state takeover). Chicago was first (courtesy of Wiliam Bennett and Bush I). But if you looked around, you generally heard that before a school system became a dictatorship (usually under the mayor) it was also called "worst in the nation" (or "worst" somewhere based on something). Cleveland; Baltimore; Philadelphia; Detroit; even for goshsakes Oakland, California. The mayor of Los Angeles tried the same trick, but got caught with his pants down (literally) before he could take over the city's public schools.
The people who have done the defining have used "worst" as a kind of racist code word. Once a large urban school system has a majority of black kids and a majority of black teachers and (usually) a majority of black administrators suddenly it becomes the "worst."
Stop talking nonsense. Like all of the other public school districts targeted for deregulation and privatization, New Orleans, before it was destroyed (not by Katrina, but by the majority white Louisiana legislature) was a center of power of unionized black people. That's what Ayers, Richmond and their buddies have collaborated in destroying in New Orleans, just as they worked to dstroy it in Chicago.
All that prattle about charters being "public" schools is BS, pure and simple. They are exclusive schools, excluding most families at the door (thanks to the application and other policies) and then excluding some by kicking them out the door (after the children have been in the schools) for any deviation from the party line.
A public school is one that is accountable to the public and welcomes anyone who lives in the district into the school. Not one of the New Orleans charters (not one of the Chicago charters) has been taking children for the past ten weeks, while the true public schools have been taking children as they arrived. That's what public schools do. The day a charter school (in Chicago or New Orleans) does that for two consecutive years, I'll engage in some of the other points the "choice" people here are making.
The objective of all these people is to place the "market" into a system that should be required to be a public service, available to all with services for all supported by all.
The teachers and principals of New Orleans were one of the best organized groups in town, and most of them African-Americans.
The "America's Worst" school system claim has been made against every school system targeted for mayoral takeovers (or, in the case of New Orleans, state takeover). Chicago was first (courtesy of Wiliam Bennett and Bush I). But if you looked around, you generally heard that before a school system became a dictatorship (usually under the mayor) it was also called "worst in the nation" (or "worst" somewhere based on something). Cleveland; Baltimore; Philadelphia; Detroit; even for goshsakes Oakland, California. The mayor of Los Angeles tried the same trick, but got caught with his pants down (literally) before he could take over the city's public schools.
The people who have done the defining have used "worst" as a kind of racist code word. Once a large urban school system has a majority of black kids and a majority of black teachers and (usually) a majority of black administrators suddenly it becomes the "worst."
Stop talking nonsense. Like all of the other public school districts targeted for deregulation and privatization, New Orleans, before it was destroyed (not by Katrina, but by the majority white Louisiana legislature) was a center of power of unionized black people. That's what Ayers, Richmond and their buddies have collaborated in destroying in New Orleans, just as they worked to dstroy it in Chicago.
All that prattle about charters being "public" schools is BS, pure and simple. They are exclusive schools, excluding most families at the door (thanks to the application and other policies) and then excluding some by kicking them out the door (after the children have been in the schools) for any deviation from the party line.
A public school is one that is accountable to the public and welcomes anyone who lives in the district into the school. Not one of the New Orleans charters (not one of the Chicago charters) has been taking children for the past ten weeks, while the true public schools have been taking children as they arrived. That's what public schools do. The day a charter school (in Chicago or New Orleans) does that for two consecutive years, I'll engage in some of the other points the "choice" people here are making.
The objective of all these people is to place the "market" into a system that should be required to be a public service, available to all with services for all supported by all.
Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 9:25 AM
Ayers On Offense
The logic on the justifcation for allowing looting and gutting of the public school system by charter and voucher interests like saying that because your sick child is has been ill and not been provided proper nutrition and care, it deserves to be euthanized.
You are effectively saying that the victim is to blame for its own abuse and neglect by government and the business interests who meddle all they can in school affairs in order to avoid paying taxes and and supporting the district in all the ways they are supposed to in order to be allowed to do business in Chicago.
Instead, the city sleeps with WalMart and their ilk, providing endless tax breaks to them in exchange for an increasingly impoverished job base.
As was highlighted last week in the Reader, the city also siphons off tax revenues through TIF schemes to redirect them to pet projects, virtually none of which are of benefit to schools, although they are the ones who suffer.
null
In other school districts, such as Oak Park, the school boards have demanded that funding lost through TIF skimming be restored to the school district. That can never happen here in Chicago because Duncan and all the other business interests owe their allegiance, compliance and silence to Daley.
You are effectively saying that the victim is to blame for its own abuse and neglect by government and the business interests who meddle all they can in school affairs in order to avoid paying taxes and and supporting the district in all the ways they are supposed to in order to be allowed to do business in Chicago.
Instead, the city sleeps with WalMart and their ilk, providing endless tax breaks to them in exchange for an increasingly impoverished job base.
As was highlighted last week in the Reader, the city also siphons off tax revenues through TIF schemes to redirect them to pet projects, virtually none of which are of benefit to schools, although they are the ones who suffer.
null
In other school districts, such as Oak Park, the school boards have demanded that funding lost through TIF skimming be restored to the school district. That can never happen here in Chicago because Duncan and all the other business interests owe their allegiance, compliance and silence to Daley.
Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 9:27 AM
Ayers On Offense
Link button did not work -
http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/politics/2007/11/15/tif-tax-revealed/
http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/politics/2007/11/15/tif-tax-revealed/
Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 10:16 AM
Ayers On Offense
"Ayers is the first to say that charters do not solve all of the problems, but they have certainly produced far more promising results than LSCs."
They have? Let's see, nearly all the research on charters says that they do not outperform regular neighborhood schools in educating similar students, and in many cases they do worse.
The research on LSCs (Consortium on Chicago School Research, Anthony Bryk, and Designs for Change, e.g.) consistently shows that they are associated with major improvements compared with other reforms.
Not only that, LSCs are actually majority African-American, Latino, and low-income, unlike the leaders of the charter movement like my friend John Ayers.
They have? Let's see, nearly all the research on charters says that they do not outperform regular neighborhood schools in educating similar students, and in many cases they do worse.
The research on LSCs (Consortium on Chicago School Research, Anthony Bryk, and Designs for Change, e.g.) consistently shows that they are associated with major improvements compared with other reforms.
Not only that, LSCs are actually majority African-American, Latino, and low-income, unlike the leaders of the charter movement like my friend John Ayers.
Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 10:40 AM
Ayers On Offense
Excuse me Julie, but the last time you looked in the mirror, you were neither black, hispanic or low-income. Stop speaking for us!
Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 12:13 PM
Ayers On Offense
Problem here is that you have two sets of rah-rah boys going at each other. Ayers and Richmond are supposed to be authorizers of charters. Instead they are patrons. They are supposed to be critical friends instead of the sweethearts they are. Ayers lumps all charters as one beautiful flower and pits them against the malodorous "public schools.:
Schmidt on the other side, sees himself as a relentless class warrior, the charicature of a Marxist ideologue who sees everything and everyone as part of the great and historic proletarian revolution. You're either with us or agin us--no middle ground, no room form complexity or self-doubt. The great white hope for minorities but ironically, a rooter for the police who are brutalizing black and hispanic kids and packing the jails with 10,000 CPS students each year. Confusing yes, but not to George.
While Ayers pumps the charters (good and bad alike), Schmidt wants to return to the good old days of the '80 and pre-Katrina New Orleans. All schools are simply bound by their demographics.
Isn't there a third route we can take?
Schmidt on the other side, sees himself as a relentless class warrior, the charicature of a Marxist ideologue who sees everything and everyone as part of the great and historic proletarian revolution. You're either with us or agin us--no middle ground, no room form complexity or self-doubt. The great white hope for minorities but ironically, a rooter for the police who are brutalizing black and hispanic kids and packing the jails with 10,000 CPS students each year. Confusing yes, but not to George.
While Ayers pumps the charters (good and bad alike), Schmidt wants to return to the good old days of the '80 and pre-Katrina New Orleans. All schools are simply bound by their demographics.
Isn't there a third route we can take?
Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 3:03 PM
Ayers On Offense
I think a third way might note that what is offensive about the New Orleans school situation is not that they introduced Charters, but that they kept the most needy students out of those Charters, instead redirecting them to the Recovery district which had the worst of everything and even had difficulty hiring teachers as the best teachers were steered off to the Charter system also, and then used the resulting scores to "prove" that the Charter schools had outperformed the Recovery district schools so that was the way to go. The problem isn't that the schools pre-Katrina were good so it was a shame they tore it down, the problem was that most people simply had no choice.
Locally, the same problem can be seen in Austin. If a student wants to attend high school in his neighborhood, he has no option but a Charter school. Not that Austin was all that great, it wasn't but surely each neighborhood ought to have a general high school.
I'm a Charter school fan because I like choice and I like public schools. I do think the Authorizers ought to be hard-nosed SOBs though, because they're the defender keeping the nonsense that has been seen in the Arizona and Florida Charter systems from coming to Chicago.
Locally, the same problem can be seen in Austin. If a student wants to attend high school in his neighborhood, he has no option but a Charter school. Not that Austin was all that great, it wasn't but surely each neighborhood ought to have a general high school.
I'm a Charter school fan because I like choice and I like public schools. I do think the Authorizers ought to be hard-nosed SOBs though, because they're the defender keeping the nonsense that has been seen in the Arizona and Florida Charter systems from coming to Chicago.
Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 6:37 PM
Ayers On Offense
As I have posted before, I think if being freed from state guidelines is such a good idea, regular public schools should be given that option.
At the same time, the argument that if the hospital isn't working you euthanize the patient is silly. A more apt description would be to say that the hospital isn't working (killing patients) so you close the hospital and open smaller health centers and turn away some of the most needy.
We have to be open and honest about some of the issues, not just platitutes and/or references to Stalinization.
Give those "failing" schools a chance to reform themselves, let them know they are not bound by edicts from the state. If they fail, or choose not to, well, then look at the change, but give them the chance first.
At the same time, the argument that if the hospital isn't working you euthanize the patient is silly. A more apt description would be to say that the hospital isn't working (killing patients) so you close the hospital and open smaller health centers and turn away some of the most needy.
We have to be open and honest about some of the issues, not just platitutes and/or references to Stalinization.
Give those "failing" schools a chance to reform themselves, let them know they are not bound by edicts from the state. If they fail, or choose not to, well, then look at the change, but give them the chance first.
Sun Nov 25, 2007 at 3:19 AM
Ayers On Offense
One of the things that the Ayers group can't be doing much of is checking even the most basic information about the Chicago charter schools they love so much -- and claim as a model for the rest of the USA. Even on the level of the most basic facts, the claims don't hold up.
Anyone can take a virtual tour of Chicago's charters linking through the CPS website. Go to the charter websites. This is the season to do so, because they're all launching their application and "lottery" processes.
It's a hoot. One of the most visionary of the current charters is advising parents who are interested in their school to attend an informational meeting on January 17.
So?
The January 17 is question is January 17, 2006. The announcement wa still up there November 24, 2007.
If your charter school is touting its "technology" training for ghetto kids, you'd think the least it could do is maintain a credible website. Do they think the parents won't be able to get on the Internet anyway?
If anyone but a handful of us bothered to take a closer look at Chicago's charters -- all of them,not just the dog and pony shows -- the Chicago Charter School Ponzi scheme would replace Drew Peterson on Page One.
Instead, we get Ayers hype, charter adulation, and another dozen or so charter approvals during the last two Chicago Board of Education meetings (new "campuses" plus "pre-approvals" for these already successful "vendors").
As time goes on, Chicago's charters are reflecting the realities that face all inner city schools. The only way to avoid the realities that come when those test score numbers are in is some kind of con that doesn't stand up to audit: (A) KIPP the game (i.e., get rid of the low scoring kids incrementally year after year) or (B) engage in some other simple minded frauds.
Which brings us to the operators. Wouldn't you love to know some resume and vitae information? ("None of your business" is the standard CPS answer to this question). How many of these "educational entrepreneurs" were hyping their "dot.com" startups eight years ago? Will the next generation of them be from New Century Financial and Countrywide Mortgage? Let's look at their executive staff. The poor teachers are the marks in this game.
As long as nobody's taking a closer look, however, the Chicago charter dog and pony shows, the Mission Statements, the rapturous expressions of "Vision", and the marketing claims are out there to lull in the inexperienced, the dreamers, the gullible, and the hopefuls.
Sadly, it's getting easy to predict a charter implosion, and not just at a couple of those CICS "campuses", Aspira, or the mess last year at the Austin "Entrepreneur" academy thingy run by AQS.
FNG teaching staff.
Even Noble Street is facing problems by trying to maintain a young (naive; inexperienced; visionary; underpaid; whatever) staff of teachers in the face of some very challenging student populations.
But as long as nobody is out there interviewing the parents, talking to the children, or catching up with the teachers who quit when the fraud becomes clear, the miracle stories continue on and on and on and on...
Anyone can take a virtual tour of Chicago's charters linking through the CPS website. Go to the charter websites. This is the season to do so, because they're all launching their application and "lottery" processes.
It's a hoot. One of the most visionary of the current charters is advising parents who are interested in their school to attend an informational meeting on January 17.
So?
The January 17 is question is January 17, 2006. The announcement wa still up there November 24, 2007.
If your charter school is touting its "technology" training for ghetto kids, you'd think the least it could do is maintain a credible website. Do they think the parents won't be able to get on the Internet anyway?
If anyone but a handful of us bothered to take a closer look at Chicago's charters -- all of them,not just the dog and pony shows -- the Chicago Charter School Ponzi scheme would replace Drew Peterson on Page One.
Instead, we get Ayers hype, charter adulation, and another dozen or so charter approvals during the last two Chicago Board of Education meetings (new "campuses" plus "pre-approvals" for these already successful "vendors").
As time goes on, Chicago's charters are reflecting the realities that face all inner city schools. The only way to avoid the realities that come when those test score numbers are in is some kind of con that doesn't stand up to audit: (A) KIPP the game (i.e., get rid of the low scoring kids incrementally year after year) or (B) engage in some other simple minded frauds.
Which brings us to the operators. Wouldn't you love to know some resume and vitae information? ("None of your business" is the standard CPS answer to this question). How many of these "educational entrepreneurs" were hyping their "dot.com" startups eight years ago? Will the next generation of them be from New Century Financial and Countrywide Mortgage? Let's look at their executive staff. The poor teachers are the marks in this game.
As long as nobody's taking a closer look, however, the Chicago charter dog and pony shows, the Mission Statements, the rapturous expressions of "Vision", and the marketing claims are out there to lull in the inexperienced, the dreamers, the gullible, and the hopefuls.
Sadly, it's getting easy to predict a charter implosion, and not just at a couple of those CICS "campuses", Aspira, or the mess last year at the Austin "Entrepreneur" academy thingy run by AQS.
FNG teaching staff.
Even Noble Street is facing problems by trying to maintain a young (naive; inexperienced; visionary; underpaid; whatever) staff of teachers in the face of some very challenging student populations.
But as long as nobody is out there interviewing the parents, talking to the children, or catching up with the teachers who quit when the fraud becomes clear, the miracle stories continue on and on and on and on...
Sun Nov 25, 2007 at 10:20 PM
Ayers On Offense
I want to point out that George's claims about at least two charter schools in the above post are not based on data. Show us the data that you are basing these judgements on, George!
Mon Nov 26, 2007 at 3:46 AM
Ayers On Offense
He said schools are 'not based on data'? Really? What does that even mean?
Even funnier is your challenge for George to show that data...on which his judgements are not based...?
Even funnier is your challenge for George to show that data...on which his judgements are not based...?
