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…
Tag: Public schools

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…

I’ll Tell You What Parents Resist: Low-Performing Schools
The Walton Foundation won’t be funding charter work in Chicago any time soon. That news came to charter school and school quality advocates as an undeniable setback for a movement that has engaged thousands of parents and provided access to college and careers for multiplied thousands of students in Chicago. But it also seemed to set anti-charter advocates like Diane…