Liberals, liberals, liberals.... and we have the same type brainless skulls on the CMS BOE.
He's going to send his kids to private school, but they tout how WONDERFUL Chicago Public schools are doing.
Sorry, gotta say it: You can't make this shit up.
US Secretary of Education will send his kids to private schools
The secretary's wife and two children will be moving back home to Chicago, while he remains on the job in Washington.
By Shontee PantJuly 10, 2015 1:26 PM
US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will send his children to a private school in Chicago this upcoming fall, as confirmed by an email sent by Mr. Duncan’s press secretary. The former head of Chicago public schools served as chief from 2001 to 2008, making him the, “longest-serving big-city education superintendent in the country,” according to his White House biography.
Mr. Duncan grew up in Chicago, and attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, where his two children will be enrolled at in the fall. His wife, Karen, will resume teaching at the private school. Dependents of employees of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools get 50 percent of their tuition paid for by the University of Chicago. Until now, Duncan had been sending his kids to a public school in Arlington, Virginia.
So how did Chicago's public schools fare under Duncan's leadership, and since his departure in early 2009?
From 1995 to 2005, the City of Chicago saw a 9.2 percent increase in the graduation rate to 51 percent of students entering high school graduating. In 2013, the percentage had increased to 65 percent. That same year, the average high school graduation rate across the United States was 81 percent.
“This year’s high school graduation rate is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our students, teachers, principals, and parents who stayed focused, engaged, and energized around the importance of finishing high school for a brighter future,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a press release following the announcement of the increase in graduation rate.
In 2014, there were 400,000 students enrolled in 600 schools in the district, making it the third largest public school district in the United States according to the 2014 American Schools and Universities ranking. However, the Chicago Public Schools system currently faces a $665 million budget deficit, in its operating budget of $5.162 billion. Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the Chicago schools chief since 2012, resigned this spring in the wake of a federal investigation into potential misconduct.
In a speech given June 26, Duncan said, “The world is in the midst of a massive shift—from the predictability of the Industrial Age to the uncertainty of the Networked Age. And public schools – as always – are at the center of that change.”
http://news.yahoo.com/us-secretary-education-send-kids-private-schools-172635142.html
Gee, no big surprises here.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll bet they will live in an upper-class enclave subdivision with no Section 8 housing nearby, either.
Meanwhile, the "little people" will have to deal with "integration" with the riff-raff of society.
Like I've always said, different rules for the elite and the masses.
Don't even try to get "ahead" unless you're certain to succeed, because if you fall the least bit short, big gubmint will come and drag you back down into the abyss with their plans to make everyone "equal".
And the "mixing" always goes one way, because there is no way civilized people would choose to move to the ghetto without properly manned security (which has mostly been disarmed in the public sector), so they always move the ghetto to the civilized parts of own (or those struggling to stay or become civilized).
Of course, the elites can afford private security and private everything else if they feel the need.
Also, it's the same elite who always seem to be complaining about the inequities in society who come up with these grandiose plans and make everyone else suffer the consequences.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete“The world is in the midst of a massive shift—from the predictability of the Industrial Age to the uncertainty of the Networked Age. And public schools – as always – are at the center of that change.”
ReplyDeleteOf course, they are at the "center", but not always to the benefit of those who might actually be capable of truly benefitting.
Those "networks" are largely closed, as the elites "network" among themselves, largely isolated from the products of our public schools, except for the occasional few who rise to the top and become their trusted servants and underlings, through strenuous competition.
This is pretty much the way it works everywhere.
The US, however, seems to be the only (or maybe just the largest) advanced country which seems intent on dragging more people to the bottom of the heap than to the top.
Maybe we already have enough "elites" to run the place now.
Notice how all the "networking" opportunities promoted in the public schools are about giving the absolute lowest performers more resources and access to the mediocre performers. In hopes of just making them functional members of society instead of the burden they usually turn out to be.
Which usually results in dragging the mediocre performers lower instead of uplifting the lowest performers.
(See Exhibit A, the "diverse" group of teen thuglets who killed that man in his driveway in New Mexico...
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/07/10/6-teens-charged-with-murder-in-death-new-mexico-man-who-was-gunned-down-in-his/)
Meanwhile the average to better performers are rarely encouraged to "network" with the elite.
Because, conveniently enough, there just aren't enough resources to do this after helping the most "needy".
Ain't it grand how well that works out for the elite who don't want the competition?
I'm pretty sure that's by the design of those who can make these kinds of choices for themselves.
Most everyone else is just a pawn in the game to eke out a slightly better living than their lot in life should permit them.
Just for grins, I thought I'd check into the former CPS CEO, Barbara Byrd-Bennett. She went from Cleveland to Detroit to Chicago as executives at the school systems.
ReplyDeleteAll fine models of the kinds of school systems I'm sure we'd ALL like our children to attend...
She was finally canned for corruption which is still under investigation...
http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/cps-ceo-barbara-byrd-bennett-300233411.html
"Byrd-Bennett's longevity with the district was questioned this week when it was confirmed that federal authorities were looking into whether she received any kickbacks from the SUPES agreement.
The principal of a North Side school on Thursday described the training SUPES provided as a "colossal waste of time."
The Board of Education’s Inspector General has been looking into the SUPES agreement for months. While nothing official has been released, there was a cryptic reference in the IG’s year-end report which spoke of an investigation which may have been the inquiry into the controversial deal."
She was apparently appointed to her current position by the mayor, Rahm Emmanuel.
Oh, this just gets better...
ReplyDeleteSeems that the guy who runs the SUPES company is a real scumbag by the name of Gary Solomon.
http://chicagoist.com/2015/05/02/the_supes_scandal_just_keeps.php
According to court records, while Solomon was the dean of Niles West High School, where he began working in 1992, he was accused of “immoral and unprofessional” conduct, which included using racial slurs, covering up drug and alcohol use by minors, sending sexually explicit e-mails and preying on the most vulnerable female students—Solomon was even caught kissing one of them. He also apparently kept a diary on a school computer, describing his fantasies and writing of one female student, “She is there for the taking.”
This article goes into more detail on his scumbaggery...
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/566651/man-behind-controversial-cps-contract-allegedly-used-racist-language-sent-predatory-emails
It's really interesting to "follow the money" and see who really benefits from all the high level consulting bucks doled out by big education.
ReplyDeleteThese huge school districts really do need to be broken down into more manageable pieces.
Multi-billion dollar budgets and hundreds of thousands of students are just ridiculous.
Also interesting is the "network" which allowed this Solomon scumbag to get his woman into the top job at CPS. Seems that he was quite the promoter with Emanuel.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what THAT connection is all about and if we'll ever know.
I'm sure they won't be teaching THAT kind of networking in the public schools.
Or maybe they do...
HOLY SHIT...
ReplyDeleteFound the CMS CONNECTION! Nice...
This scumbag Solomon also heads the PROACT corporation which did the CMS supervisor search which found MORRISON.
HAHAHAHAHA.
GOT THEM...
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news-chicago/7/71/590541/costs-mount-firms-heart-federal-cps-investigation
The school board in Lancaster said Friday that it would no longer use PROACT, another of Solomon’s education companies, to find a new superintendent.
“Within the past week, disturbing allegations have surfaced concerning the CEO of PROACT Search, the firm selected in February to conduct the hiring of a new superintendent,” that board wrote on its website. “While this individual has not been involved in the district’s process, the Board of School Directors strongly opposes continued support of his firm.”
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article9246662.html
"In the 2012 superintendent search that brought Morrison to the district, CMS contracted with the Chicago-based firm PROACT, paying $76,500."
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that this educratic "network" was particularly strong between Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit...
ReplyDeleteNo wonder Duncan wants to send his kids to private schools...
http://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/7/71/529946/murky-past-company-boss-cps-probe
I've said before, it's incestuous....
ReplyDeleteLook at the "consulting" information Clinton got from Libya from a man the administration had on it's "no consulting list".
They just can't help themselves.
Yep.
ReplyDeleteAre you still hiking?
DeleteYou bet!
ReplyDeleteDon't get too preoccupied with this blog and step back over a ledge!
DeleteLots of folks may not realize this, but Hong Kong is a great place to hike.
DeleteThere are hiking trails all over the place.
Many of them are even paved, oddly enough...
And even the rest of Hong Kong is very walkable as well.
Our kids typically walk about a mile to school and most of it is covered, so they rarely even need an umbrella even when it rains.
There is even a nice half-mile long boardwalk along the water nearby.
And it's even safe to walk around here at night.
Even in the "industrial" and "public housing" areas which are pretty much all around us.
Such a change.
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DeleteHere's a photo guide to the hike which is fairly near our place...
Deletehttp://hikehongkong.blogspot.hk/2013/05/devils-peak-in-yau-tong.html
This looks like some of the other "trails" I've been on. A lot of them are paved, but there are also some natural paths as well.
This trail is pretty much in my back/side yard. In fact, you can see the complex we live in at the bottom right of the first photo.
And the view from the first photo is pretty much the view of Victoria Harbor (thought from a lower altitude) that we see from our living room.
Haven't been on this trail, though, but it's on our list once we send the kids away for a few weeks...