If you live in the Hyde Park/Kenwood/Woodlawn area, chances are you’ve experienced the “Million Teenage March” on 53rd St. before. My husband and I witnessed the confusion last year. It was actually scary. We were walking to our favorite frozen yogurt spot, Z Berry. There was an unusual amount of teenagers out, but we didn’t think anything of it. Suddenly,…
Tag: Chicago
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…
Mo’ Money…No Progress
No one wanted another strike–but many people wondered how and were doubtful that the district could meet the CTU’s financial demands. So when Rahm, Forrest, and Co. were able to make it happen at the eleventh hour, many parents, community members, and even some students were able to breathe a sigh of relief. But how long will it be before…
Stop Punishing Us for Being Poor
Last weekend my husband and I had a chance to check out Ava Duvernay’s documentary 13th on Netflix. There’s only one word to describe how I felt after watching: PISSED. Maybe it was because I’d just watched the video below that exposes the fact that thousands of people in Chicago are stuck in jail, because they simply can’t afford bond.…
Can Arne Duncan Save Chicago?
They called him the Cobra in Australia, where he played pro basketball for four years. Maybe it was the way he would languidly uncoil his 6-foot-5 frame before striking with his jumper. Not even Arne Duncan himself knows why a “crazy announcer” gave him the nickname—and likely never will: “That guy’s dead.” The moniker seems wildly ill fitted to the…
Not “everybody” happy with new teachers’ deal
I didn’t see any reporters hanging around my child’s school in Englewood (or another community) Tuesday morning. If they had been there, they may have discovered something that I know first-hand. Contrary to what a North Side parent wrote in a Sun-Times story Tuesday, not “everybody” is happy with the deal that the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Board of Education…
Reason #4 on Why CPS Teachers Shouldn’t Go on Strike: Everybody Else in Town is Already Paying More for Schools
“Stubborn”. That’s what my mom calls it. My cousin says it’s “petty”. “Unreasonable”, if you ask my education policy friends. But no matter how many ways I hear it; I can’t get beyond the fact that after every other stakeholder in funding and support of Chicago Public Schools has carried a share of the burden, the Chicago Teachers Union still…
Reason #3 on Why CPS Teachers Shouldn’t Go on Strike: We Need to Work Together to Save the District
You don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. That’s what my grandmother told me when I skipped an entire week of my freshman year of high school because I was upset with my mom and dad. Sometimes anger can cause people to lash out in ways that are ultimately far more harmful to them than to the object…