Friday Morning News
Judge: Can't punish schools for breaking silence law Chicago Sun-Times
United States District Judge Robert Gettleman said Thursday that the state school superintendent can't punish districts that don't hold a moment of silence. ...
Judge orders state schools chief not to enforce silence law
2 charged in slaying of 16-year-old Chicago Tribune
Christopher was one of 28 Chicago Public Schools students who were slain in the 2006-07 school year. The victim's mother, Stephanie Tyson, told the Tribune.CPS Rebuffs Attempt To Discourage EnlistmentWBBM
The Chicago public schools board said “thank you” but gave no encouragement to a 24-year-old Iraq war veteran who is trying to discourage
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Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 4:41 AM
Friday Morning News
I just spent two days reporting what should have been a simple story. Our of context, the story would have been that CPS withdrew a new policy on recruiter access to Chicago high schools and will consider the policy again at its December 19 meeting. But context is everything, and the bland report on Iraq War veteran Patty McCann's comments on WBBM (the Trib and Sun-Times ignored the story completely) only touches what was in play in and around the Board Wednesday.
Those of us who arrived at the Board before the official beginning of the meeting noticed that more than a dozen uniformed Marines and soldiers were standing along the walls inside the Board chambers. One of them was wearing desert combat fatigues and combat boots. Another dozen or so Marines (most in uniform) were sitting in the Board chambers near Alderman James Balcer (D-11th Ward, Bridgeport, etc), who sat a few rows behind the Press section. Seven individuals (including Balcer) were signed up to speak on military recruiting, and five of those identified themselves in the public participation agenda as members of the military (three National Guard and two Marine Corps). There were enough empty seats in the Board chambers for all of the standing Marines (and one Army person) to have seated themselves, so it was clear that they had either chosen to stand deployed around the perimeter of the room (with one at each of the entances) or had been ordered to do so (remember: these are active duty military people: they are under oders and subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice -- which is very different from the way the law works for you, me, and Arne Duncan).
By that time, there were more than 50 people seated in the "holding room" on the 19th floor watching the Board meeting on closed circuit TV, even though many of them were part of groups signed up to speak (the largest I saw was from UNO Charter Schools).
Although the opening of the public participation portion of the meeting was again delayed by various honoraria and the usual VIP speakings (Alderman Balcer was placed in front of all the other signed in speakers, as is traditional with the Board when elected officials show up), it had begun by 11:00 (when Rufus Williams called on Balcer).
Balcer didn't mention any Board Report on recruitment policy in his remarks, merely repeating what he has already made clear to the public, that he feels that his service in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War changed his life for the better, and that he is glad he was recruited.
The fifth person to speak was Patricia McCann, who was identified at being with "Iraq Veterans Against War, Coalition Against Militarization of Schools." The report on WBBM covered fairly her remaks and the comments she made to reporters (from at least five media outlets, including Channel 2 and the Tribune) in back of the Board chambers after she spoke. During both her remarks and press comments she was accompanied by two people from the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).
But by the time McCann had finished speaking, all of the uniformed military people in the room had left the Board chambers and (apparently) Board headquarters. And when they were called to speak, they weren't there. Only a young man named David Askew, wearing a suit and introducing himself as an attorney, spoke in favor of military recruting in the schools (in addition to Balcer). None of the five men identified as Marines and soldiers spoke or was present by the time they were reached on the agenda.
During the time this was taking place, I was photographing the speakers (generally) as I usually do, so I didn't even see the uniformed military people leaving. However, I did see Patrick Rocks, the Board's attorney, and he did not leave his place during that time. Two hours later, he reported that the recruiting policy would not be voted on that day.
A spokesman for the military told me later that the uniformed military people had left when they were informed that the agenda item was not going to be voted on that day. When I asked him how they could know that the item had been tabled, he said he didn't know. Who had told them the Board Report was going to be tabled before the Board Report came before the Board during the regular meeting? (Rocks had placed the item on the agenda, and the item was still on the agenda when I picked up the full agenda on the Sixth Floor early that morning).
I'm still reporting what happened and why, and am sad that I didn't turn from photographing Patricia McCann to see the Marines and soldiers leaving the Board chambers during her powerful remarks (accurately reflected in John Cody's report).
The uniformed people were clearly not available to be interviewed by the press by the time McCann completed her mini-press conference behind the Board chambers at about 11:30 a.m. Considering how dramatic their presence had been one hour earlier, it was striking that they were nowhere to be found.
The military had cleared out of the Chicago Board of Education. Just about everyone else was still catching up with that fact. At that point, there were still dozens of people up in the "holding room" on the 19th floor, while more than two dozen seats in the main chambers were empty, including all of those that had been occupied by military personnel.
One of the things I'm trying to report is why uniformed active duty military personnel had shown up at a meeting of the Chicago Board of Education in force on November 14, 2007, and why they redeployed out of the Board chambers prior to 11:30 that morning.
All of these questions are still relevant to any complete report (in context) of these matters. Men and women on active duty in the military are not free agents. They go where ordered, they leave when ordered, and they do as ordered. When they don't follow orders -- especially in something as significant as a making a very dramatic presence knows at a meeting of the Board of Education of the third largest public school system in the USA -- they can be court martialed under the UCMJ.
I've gotten some answers from spokesmen for the recruiting people in Illinois, and have received other information from others. Next week I'll continue pursuing this story, but it gets more complex as the "Why" questions (see below) are asked and given non-answers.
Since we report at Substance on a monthly cycle (and since the November Substance had gone to the printers at the time the Board was meeting), there is time for me to flesh out this report for Substance, and I will.
I haven't published the photographs from the Board meeting anywhere yet. Originally, I had told some people they would be in a Substance Web special on the Substance website at www.substancenews.net, but would rather have more of the story sourced before doing that. Like the photographs and You Tube video from the August 31 Chicago Teachers Union meeting, the visuals for this story need context.
I'd be glad to hear from anyone who knows the answer to my three main questions now. Usually, as friends know, I downplay the importance of the "Why" question in the big five for news reports. "If you've got the who, what, when and where you can leave the why to a priest or psychiatrist..."
But in the case of this story, the "Why" is the biggest questions. (That's a deliberate plural).
Why did CPS withdraw a Board Report it had placed on its public agenda and which remained on that agenda the morning of the November 14, 2007, meeting.
Why were more than a dozen active duty Marines and soldiers ordered to attend the November 14, 2007 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education and stand around the perimeter of the meeting room (when seats were available) rather than seating themselves as everyone else does?
Why did all of the uniformed military personnel at the November 14, 2007 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education retreat from the meeting during the remarks of a young woman who said that she had been recruited out of high school into the Army and had served in Iraq during the Iraq War?
One of the things I'm interested in this morning is how carefully CPS has edited the video of the meeting that will be broadcast for the larger public. As I report above, more than a dozen uniformed Marines and soldiers stood along two of the walls at in the chambers of the Chicago Board of Education at the beginning of the November 14, 2007 Board meeting, with one Marine at each of the two doors to the meeting room.
I really want to know whether those facts will get video time when the Board meeting goes out to the public today. I also want to see whether all of Patricia McCann's remarks are in the official TV version of the November Board meeting.
Those of us who arrived at the Board before the official beginning of the meeting noticed that more than a dozen uniformed Marines and soldiers were standing along the walls inside the Board chambers. One of them was wearing desert combat fatigues and combat boots. Another dozen or so Marines (most in uniform) were sitting in the Board chambers near Alderman James Balcer (D-11th Ward, Bridgeport, etc), who sat a few rows behind the Press section. Seven individuals (including Balcer) were signed up to speak on military recruiting, and five of those identified themselves in the public participation agenda as members of the military (three National Guard and two Marine Corps). There were enough empty seats in the Board chambers for all of the standing Marines (and one Army person) to have seated themselves, so it was clear that they had either chosen to stand deployed around the perimeter of the room (with one at each of the entances) or had been ordered to do so (remember: these are active duty military people: they are under oders and subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice -- which is very different from the way the law works for you, me, and Arne Duncan).
By that time, there were more than 50 people seated in the "holding room" on the 19th floor watching the Board meeting on closed circuit TV, even though many of them were part of groups signed up to speak (the largest I saw was from UNO Charter Schools).
Although the opening of the public participation portion of the meeting was again delayed by various honoraria and the usual VIP speakings (Alderman Balcer was placed in front of all the other signed in speakers, as is traditional with the Board when elected officials show up), it had begun by 11:00 (when Rufus Williams called on Balcer).
Balcer didn't mention any Board Report on recruitment policy in his remarks, merely repeating what he has already made clear to the public, that he feels that his service in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War changed his life for the better, and that he is glad he was recruited.
The fifth person to speak was Patricia McCann, who was identified at being with "Iraq Veterans Against War, Coalition Against Militarization of Schools." The report on WBBM covered fairly her remaks and the comments she made to reporters (from at least five media outlets, including Channel 2 and the Tribune) in back of the Board chambers after she spoke. During both her remarks and press comments she was accompanied by two people from the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).
But by the time McCann had finished speaking, all of the uniformed military people in the room had left the Board chambers and (apparently) Board headquarters. And when they were called to speak, they weren't there. Only a young man named David Askew, wearing a suit and introducing himself as an attorney, spoke in favor of military recruting in the schools (in addition to Balcer). None of the five men identified as Marines and soldiers spoke or was present by the time they were reached on the agenda.
During the time this was taking place, I was photographing the speakers (generally) as I usually do, so I didn't even see the uniformed military people leaving. However, I did see Patrick Rocks, the Board's attorney, and he did not leave his place during that time. Two hours later, he reported that the recruiting policy would not be voted on that day.
A spokesman for the military told me later that the uniformed military people had left when they were informed that the agenda item was not going to be voted on that day. When I asked him how they could know that the item had been tabled, he said he didn't know. Who had told them the Board Report was going to be tabled before the Board Report came before the Board during the regular meeting? (Rocks had placed the item on the agenda, and the item was still on the agenda when I picked up the full agenda on the Sixth Floor early that morning).
I'm still reporting what happened and why, and am sad that I didn't turn from photographing Patricia McCann to see the Marines and soldiers leaving the Board chambers during her powerful remarks (accurately reflected in John Cody's report).
The uniformed people were clearly not available to be interviewed by the press by the time McCann completed her mini-press conference behind the Board chambers at about 11:30 a.m. Considering how dramatic their presence had been one hour earlier, it was striking that they were nowhere to be found.
The military had cleared out of the Chicago Board of Education. Just about everyone else was still catching up with that fact. At that point, there were still dozens of people up in the "holding room" on the 19th floor, while more than two dozen seats in the main chambers were empty, including all of those that had been occupied by military personnel.
One of the things I'm trying to report is why uniformed active duty military personnel had shown up at a meeting of the Chicago Board of Education in force on November 14, 2007, and why they redeployed out of the Board chambers prior to 11:30 that morning.
All of these questions are still relevant to any complete report (in context) of these matters. Men and women on active duty in the military are not free agents. They go where ordered, they leave when ordered, and they do as ordered. When they don't follow orders -- especially in something as significant as a making a very dramatic presence knows at a meeting of the Board of Education of the third largest public school system in the USA -- they can be court martialed under the UCMJ.
I've gotten some answers from spokesmen for the recruiting people in Illinois, and have received other information from others. Next week I'll continue pursuing this story, but it gets more complex as the "Why" questions (see below) are asked and given non-answers.
Since we report at Substance on a monthly cycle (and since the November Substance had gone to the printers at the time the Board was meeting), there is time for me to flesh out this report for Substance, and I will.
I haven't published the photographs from the Board meeting anywhere yet. Originally, I had told some people they would be in a Substance Web special on the Substance website at www.substancenews.net, but would rather have more of the story sourced before doing that. Like the photographs and You Tube video from the August 31 Chicago Teachers Union meeting, the visuals for this story need context.
I'd be glad to hear from anyone who knows the answer to my three main questions now. Usually, as friends know, I downplay the importance of the "Why" question in the big five for news reports. "If you've got the who, what, when and where you can leave the why to a priest or psychiatrist..."
But in the case of this story, the "Why" is the biggest questions. (That's a deliberate plural).
Why did CPS withdraw a Board Report it had placed on its public agenda and which remained on that agenda the morning of the November 14, 2007, meeting.
Why were more than a dozen active duty Marines and soldiers ordered to attend the November 14, 2007 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education and stand around the perimeter of the meeting room (when seats were available) rather than seating themselves as everyone else does?
Why did all of the uniformed military personnel at the November 14, 2007 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education retreat from the meeting during the remarks of a young woman who said that she had been recruited out of high school into the Army and had served in Iraq during the Iraq War?
One of the things I'm interested in this morning is how carefully CPS has edited the video of the meeting that will be broadcast for the larger public. As I report above, more than a dozen uniformed Marines and soldiers stood along two of the walls at in the chambers of the Chicago Board of Education at the beginning of the November 14, 2007 Board meeting, with one Marine at each of the two doors to the meeting room.
I really want to know whether those facts will get video time when the Board meeting goes out to the public today. I also want to see whether all of Patricia McCann's remarks are in the official TV version of the November Board meeting.
