Question: When is a Chicago elementary school with 23 kids in a classroom not considered by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to be an "underutilized" school?

Answer: When it's his kids' school.

Emanuel plans to close 54 public elementary schools at the end of the 2012-13 school year. The reason, he...

The mood was somber at Monday night's local school council meeting at Philip Rogers Elementary School in Chicago's West Rogers Park neighborhood. Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett had recently downgraded Rogers (my neighborhood school) from a "Level 1" school to a "Level 2" school, and some of my fellow...

I understand why Michelle Rhee, in her September 27 op-ed piece in the Washington Post, ignored reality and chose to frame the recent Chicago teachers strike as an epic battle between a heroic mayor fighting on behalf of public school kids and a selfish union boss unconcerned about...

The suits who run Chicago Public Schools never would have tried the stunts they recently pulled at Chicago's Social Justice High School had it been a largely white, middle-class school on the city's Northwest Side.

In those neighborhoods -- places like Sauganash and Edgebrook -- CPS...

I'd like to think that the folks who run Chicago Public Schools didn't just decide over a beer one night last spring that it would be a good idea to turn Roberto Clemente High School into a so-called "wall-to-wall" International Baccalaureate high school.

As a taxpayer...

Is Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard a grade-grubber? After all, the guy's been ringing up some fairly impressive numbers since February 2011, when he was still running the schools in Rochester, New York. Back then, his Broadie charm and data-driven chit-chat earned him a 95...

A couple of voices from Mayor Emanuel's "education reform" choir are up in arms because some public school teachers are now talking seriously about the possibility of a teachers' strike in Chicago later this summer.

The mayor's folks are outraged by such talk -- and by recent reports of mock...

February was an interesting month for sixth-grade math teacher Octavia Sansing-Rhodes. On February 28, WGN-TV and St. Xavier University named Sansing-Rhodes their "Teacher of the Month" and awarded her a $1000 check for her fine work at Chicago's Herzl Elementary School.

That honor, however, was bittersweet because...

If Jennifer Cheatham, the Chief Instruction Officer for Chicago Public Schools, were an NBA team, she'd undoubtedly have a lousy road record.

Last Thursday night, Cheatham brought her PowerPoint-based offense to Morgan Park High School on the city's South Side, where, for two painful hours, she was outhustled and...

As soon as the Chicago press started getting worked up last week about a high school student who may or may not have slipped some gang symbols into his winning city sticker design, I telephoned San Francisco.

I wanted to talk to my old buddy Marc Paschke, who's been...

Let's face it -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel has no idea how to handle Chicago's "Rooftop Reverend," Pastor Corey Brooks. For the last 10 weeks, Brooks has been living in a dark green tent atop the now-shuttered Super Motel at the corner of 66th and King Drive.

Back...

Many Chicagoans took time out earlier this week to celebrate the 83rd birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As usual, our elected officials tripped over each other in their annual attempts to demonstrate their ongoing commitment to the late Dr. King and the principles he championed.

Our mayor spent...

Did I miss a recent press conference at Chicago's Collins Academy? You know, the shindig where Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard announced that Collins, as of November 2011, was no longer on academic probation.

Did I sleep through their slickly produced slideshow highlighting the spike in...

Chicago's Walter H. Dyett High School was set up as a house of cards. Former CPS CEO Paul Vallas was the architect. His successor, Arne Duncan, served for years as the absentee landlord. And current CEO Jean-Claude Brizard was recently cast in the role of the evicting sheriff, having served...

If you've spent any time at all listening to CPS officials during the past few months, you've probably heard plenty of talk about the need for "quality seats" in Chicago's public schools. But you probably haven't heard CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard explain just what a "quality...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been catching heat ever since he proposed to cut $11 million from Chicago's library system -- a move that could result in roughly 300 layoffs and reduced operating hours for branch libraries throughout the city.

Emanuel assured reporters, however, that he does...

Judging by local media coverage of Mayor Emanuel's weekend speech to the graduating seniors at Collins Academy, you might think that thousands of Chicago parents will soon be calling in favors to get their kids admitted to the small West Side public high school.

According to the Chicago Tribune,...

Ron Huberman didn't bother to phone Olympic gold medalist and WNBA superstar Cappie Pondexter last spring before firing the entire faculty at Marshall High School. Had the former CPS CEO made that call, he surely would have heard about Tony Skokna, Pondexter's old history teacher.

The sharp-shooting Pondexter,...

Two months from now, Rahm Emanuel will be in charge of Chicago's public school system. Don't be surprised, however, if the Mayor-elect and his wife end up sending their own kids to private schools.

Emanuel knows, of course, that he'll take some heat if he and his wife decide...

Quick -- can you tell me in 20 words or less whether Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar favors an increase in off-shore drilling?

What about Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke -- where does he stand on loosening trade restrictions with China?

Truth is, both of these guys could...