Mon Mar 17, 2008 at 9:06 PMBy: Chicago does not deserve School Closing Hearing Video And the Olympic Committee is conidering Chicago!@
Shame if this city gets it.
Shame on the OC if they vote to have it here.
Chicago does not deserve the OLYMPICS

Mon Mar 17, 2008 at 9:26 PMBy: prayers for Pickens School Closing Hearing Video Brother Pickens needs some prayers. In the begining of this video, you see him sellin' the sistahs out. This is his job. He needs prayers so that he can Wake Up! The money and power is to strong.

Sat Mar 22, 2008 at 4:46 AMBy: George N. Schmidt School Closing Hearing Video There is rumored to be a meeting this Thursday (April 26) to begin the process of taking Gladstone away from the community and giving it to one of the charter operators. Anyone going?

While I'm not a David Pickens fan, these policies were proposed by Arne Duncan, fine tuned by Patrick Rocks and the Law Department, established by the seven members of the Chicago Board of Education in secret (for the most part, between August 2007 and January 2008), and then approved by the Board at various times without discussion or debate.

At least Pickens was present when the dirty work was being done. The rest (in honor of this weekend) were doing their "Pontius Pilate" routine.

Not one of the top executives of CPS and not one member of the Board of Education attended any of the hearings.

Not one of them read the complete report of the "independent hearing officer" after thousands of ordinary Chicago people (including hundreds of children) worked day and night throughout the month of February 2008 to make their case clear to the "independent hearing officer" at each of the hearings on those 19 schools on Arne Duncan's hit list.

The four people who actually appeared at the hearings between February 4 and February 16 and "testified" were

(a) someone from the Law Department (some low level mope -- never one of their top dogs; definitely never Rocks);

(b) Jimm Dispensa from "Demographics" (without ever testifying as to what training and credentials he has to be the "Demographer" for the third largest school system in the USA;

(c) someone from "Research and Accountability" (not always Ginger Reynolds, who, like Dispensa, was not asked how she became chief of "Research, Evaluation and Accountability" for the third largest school system in the USA, let alone about all the numbers she was spinning out of Power Point); and

(d) someone from Specialized Services (but not Renee Grant Mitchell). Pickens was also at every hearing.

(Of course, we have Arne Duncan as chief "Chief", so why would anyone want to ask for evidence of the qualifications and expertise of the lesser "chiefs" in the Duncan administration).

Not one Board member went to any of the hearings.

Rufus Williams is not alone in being a public hypocrite, just the most vocal. Despite all of his ridiculous talk about "respecting the process" (and his belittling of the parents -- especially the Edison parents) at the January 23 meeting, Rufus Williams darned well knew that the "process" was over as he spoke that day, and by the time the hearings were scheduled.

The "process" that mattered was the secret process the Board went through with its top dogs (Arne Duncan; Barbara Eason-Watkins; Patrick Rocks; Renee Grant Mitchell; and Ginger Reynolds) to come up with the "policies" (all of which were crafted to make anything legal) and the hit list. Every one of those policies was crafted in secret, discussed in secret, and then approved unanimously and without debate in less than 60 seconds at a "public" meeting of the Board.

That's why the DVD is called "It's a Done Deal." The phrase "It's a Done Deal" was what Barbara Eason Watkins told the Edison people before the January 23 meeting. All of the smarmy hypocrisy aside, the deal was done, the books were cooked, the maps were "cleaned up", and the data were rigged to make sure the presentations looked "data driven." As long as Reynolds and Dispensa didn't have to answer any questions or submit to cross examination about the lies they told at each hearing -- usually by leaving out very very important stuff, never directly, things moved forward. And the "hearing officers" didn't even ask how Reynolds and Dispensa came to be there (something not one of them -- they're all lawyers -- would be fired for doing by their firms if they had gone to a trial and neglected to establish the bona fides of their witnesses).

But at least David Pickens and Jimm Dispensa were at the hearings. All of them. Duncan and Eason Watkins don't like to be around when their victims' blood is being spilled.

The following people were not at the hearings:
Arne Duncan
Barbara Eason Watkins
Patrick Rocks
Rufus Williams
Norman Bobins
Tariq Butt
Alberto Carero Jr.
Peggy Davis
Clara Munana
Roxanne Ward

Richard M. Daley

Sat Mar 22, 2008 at 4:50 AMBy: George N. Schmidt School Closing Hearing Video Not one of the top executives of CPS and not one member of the Board of Education attended any of the hearings.

Not one of them read the complete report of the "independent hearing officer" after thousands of ordinary Chicago people (including hundreds of children) worked day and night throughout the month of February 2008 to make their case clear to the "independent hearing officer" at each of the hearings on those 19 schools on Arne Duncan's hit list.

Not one Board member went to any of the hearings.

Rufus Williams is not alone in being a public hypocrite, just the most vocal. Despite all of his ridiculous talk about "respecting the process" (and his belittling of the parents -- especially the Edison parents) at the January 23 meeting, Rufus Williams darned well knew that the "process" was over as he spoke that day, and by the time the hearings were scheduled.

The "process" that mattered was the secret process the Board went through with its top dogs (Arne Duncan; Barbara Eason-Watkins; Patrick Rocks; Renee Grant Mitchell; and Ginger Reynolds) to come up with the "policies" (all of which were crafted to make anything legal) and the hit list. Every one of those policies was crafted in secret, discussed in secret, and then approved unanimously and without debate in less than 60 seconds at a "public" meeting of the Board.

That's why the DVD is called "It's a Done Deal."

The phrase "It's a Done Deal" was what Barbara Eason Watkins told the Edison people before the January 23 meeting. All of the smarmy hypocrisy aside, the deal was done, the books were cooked, the maps were "cleaned up", and the data were rigged to make sure the presentations looked "data driven." As long as Reynolds and Dispensa didn't have to answer any questions or submit to cross examination about the lies they told at each hearing -- usually by leaving out very very important stuff, never directly, things moved forward.

The "hearing officers" didn't even ask how Reynolds and Dispensa came to be there. Any one of the hearings officers -- they're all lawyers -- would be fired for doing such a negligent job by their firms if they had gone to a trial and neglected to establish the bona fides of their witnesses.

David Pickens and Jimm Dispensa were at the hearings. All of them. Arne Duncan and Barbara Eason Watkins don't like to be around when their victims' blood is being spilled.

The following people were not at the hearings:
Arne Duncan
Barbara Eason Watkins
Patrick Rocks
Rufus Williams
Norman Bobins
Tariq Butt
Alberto Carero Jr.
Peggy Davis
Clara Munana
Roxanne Ward

Richard M. Daley

Sun Mar 23, 2008 at 7:21 PMBy: Loves Chicago` School Closing Hearing Video So Chicago should not get the Olympics because it is closing under utilized and unperforming schools. You are truly an idiot if that is your belief.