Last night I had the great pleasure to speak with my friend Marisol Quevedo Rerucha of the National Parents Union during her nightly restorative check-in. If you need to catch your breath, she has a nice breathing exercise for you! We had the opportunity to discuss two strategies to support learning that aren’t getting enough air time during the pandemic:…
Tag: Charter Schools

White Progressives Have a Lot of Work to Do, and I’m Not Here to Help
When I ran for school board it was Betsy Hodges, the former Minneapolis mayor, who was the first elected official to endorse me. She asked me a lot of questions, offered some straight talk about the political system and spoke very clearly about what it takes to win in a Whiter than White town like Minneapolis. Later, after winning a…

Chicago High School Entrepreneurs, Here’s Your Chance to Pitch for Good
Future Founders invites Chicago high schoolers to take part in the Pitch for Good challenge. Deadline April 30.

Before Others Replicate Chicago’s Teacher Contract, Let’s See the Impact on Kids
Chicago’s new teacher contract contains proposals permeating our nation’s public school systems. But are they good for kids?

Real School Choice Means We Need Good Neighborhood Schools Too
I believe in school choice. But I believe in it like I believe in capitalism or college football. It’s a cool idea and I’m glad it’s around, but it doesn’t always work quite as well as advertised. Capitalism needs regulations and external guardrails to operate in any sustainable, fair way, and college football needs…well, I don’t have room to go…

Don’t Blame Public School Choice For Society’s Failures, says John Legend
Grammy and Academy Award winner John Legend has been using his voice for more than singing these days. The “All of Me” singer recently penned a essay in response to the NAACP’s moratorium on charter public schools. Check out what he had to say. Black kids across the country are being given a raw deal. Slavery ended 150 years ago, but…

Freedom of Choice: Traditional Public Schools vs. Public Charter Schools
Today I wanted a gyro for lunch. I ran across a list of fast food restaurants in my mind and two stood out—one close to my home with average food and the other a couple of miles away with better food. A decision had to be made—do I choose the restaurant with average food because it’s convenient or the one…

CPS apologizes for enrollment snafu on charters
Chicago Public Schools apologized Tuesday for releasing incorrect enrollment figures for charter and contract schools during a preliminary count on the district’s 10th day of school, which made charter schools look like they lost a whopping 10 percent of enrollment since last year. CPS typically counts students in its privately managed contract schools along with the charters, but this year it did not, spokeswoman…