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FROM AP: 10 Things to Know for Today
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FROM AP: Quotations of the day
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Change comes slow. Especially when it runs headlong into 150 years of history. That is certainly the case with the Chicago River, a waterway long maligned and mistreated at the heart of this city.
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.
Apparently the Board of Education understands that moving students out of their home schools causes much pain and suffering, which is only acceptable for other people's children.
Governor Pat Quinn offered a serious admonition to Chicago Public Schools leadership about closing 50-some elementary schools when he stopped by for a special edition of Chicago Newsroom on Friday.
I suspect that these "reformers," secure in their ignorance of urban realities, still believe that their opponents are to blame. Had educators welcomed enough rookies willing to gut it out and to "put children first," the short term pain they dumped on neighborhood schools would have produced transformational gain.
If you want more kids to grow up into responsible, successful adults who contribute to our society, and if you want lower crime rates and prison populations, investing in good public education makes sense.
To this day, despite its progress, this is one of the most racially segregated cities in America. We have a moral imperative to speak up and demand that the education system treat all of our city's children equitably, independent of race and class.
Yes, now is the time to choose our future, so let us choose one that transcends the insanity and sheer stupidity of violent behavior. This requires personal empowerment. It also requires collective empowerment.
Parents, students, teachers, and principals are right to seek policy decisions based on evidence, not the popularity of current reforms, and to put a stop to those that harm students, schools, and their communities.
It might be an annoyance, and our students complain when school isn't cancelled. However, our refusal to cancel is an important aspect of our civic character. We refuse to back down, even if that means putting on another pair on Long Johns. This is what we signed up for.
Our changes must go beyond simple gun control; they must be thoughtful, comprehensive and persistent. Controlling the proliferation of guns is important, but supporting educational and community programs are our best bet to break the cycle of violence.
Chicago Full-Day K? In the midst of much bitter infighting over school closures in Chicago, Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett are announcing an initiative that is perhaps aimed to quell the melee: all CPS schools will have full-day kindergarten, reports the Sun-Times. "The change will make full-day kindergarten available to 30,700 children next fall -- 4,200 more than this school year," the paper reports.
Appearing on the latest edition of CANTV's Chicago Newsroom, author and publisher of We the People Media Ethan Michaeli takes on the NRA, whose instructors, he said, trained him in the use of firearms.
I couldn't help myself: Super Bowl Sunday I found myself mulling over the state of the union.
Over 200 people packed the Chopin Theater Tuesday night to hear about Tax Increment Financing (TIFs) and to organize themselves to do something about them.
While the instinct to lock up dangerous, gun-toting criminals is a good one, the proposal unveiled in Chicago on Monday is a cop-out.
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