Bill Daley and Rahm Emanuel are longtime friends and political allies.
Bill Daley succeeded Emanuel as White House chief of staff. Emanuel followed Daley’s brother as mayor after a campaign the Daley brothers pretended to stay out of, even though it was an open secret they were four-square behind Emanuel.
But, since Emanuel took office, the shadow dance with Richard M. Daley has been a constant sub-plot.
Emanuel has criticized or “turned the page” from many of the things his predecessor did.
On the day that Emanuel publicly defended his decision to cancel the 4 percent raises, he said teachers got the gold mine and students got “the shaft” with not a minute longer in the classroom.
The mayor’s “got the shaft” remark infuriated teachers. Bill Daley didn’t agree with that assessment of his brother’s tenure, either.
“I don’t think he gave away too much [to teachers]. He gave the opportunity for kids in Chicago to have a better education. That’s what he fought for. They had more investment by the taxpayers in the schools of Chicago,” Bill Daley said.
The former mayor’s brother said Emanuel “has to lead a city with shrinking revenues and growing demands. That’s a tough thing to do. Rich did that for 23 years and did it, in most voters’ minds, pretty well. He’s proud of his record, and we’re proud of him.”
Earlier this week, thousands of teachers marched around City Hall calling Emanuel a “liar” and a “bully.”
During a whirlwind, 36-hour trip to the Democratic National Convention shortened by the impending strike, Emanuel refused to take the bait.
“I’ve been in politics long enough. They can say what they want about me. It’s not about me. It’s not about anybody else. And it’s not a personality fight. It’s about our children,” he said.
The mayor was asked whether he can relate to the anxiety of parents whose kids attend CPS when his own children attend the private and pricey University of Chicago Lab School.
“Yes. Because I also have children,” he said. “People didn’t make a decision to vote for me or not vote for me based on my own children, but based on what I can do for their children.”
The mayor said there’s still plenty of time to avert a strike and he “didn’t miss a beat” by making the quickie-trip to Charlotte.
“If everybody stays at the table and works through the issues as we have through the weekend making good and steady progress, our kids should stay in the classroom,” he said. “Every day they’re not there is a day that’s been taken away from them. And it’s not necessary.”
Pressed on whether he is willing to take a strike if that’s what it takes to achieve his ultimate education goals, the mayor said he doesn’t believe in “negotiating in public” or “setting expectations.”
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, a former Chicago Schools CEO, was equally hopeful.
“They’re still talking. They’ve got some time. ... I’m very hopeful folks will work this out and do the right thing for kids and for the city. I’ve got a lot of confidence in adults that they’ll figure things out,” he said.
Hello All,
ReplyDeleteMy interests of late have been related to immigration enforcement particularly as it applies to convicted criminal aliens. However, I was a long suffering CPS teacher for 32 years and I can tell one and all that no one in the current debate has a clue with respect to what real education means.
Everything that is wrong with education rests within our culture. The schools are a product of foolish progressives that date back well over a hundred years ago that have attempted to educate our youth with a succession of foolish schemes that never ever or never will work.
All of us in the 19th Ward particularly those that have kids would do well
to go on Amazon and read anything by Neil Postmen or,of late Teresa Tomeo. Start with Postman's AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH and try to understand that the boob tube clearly ruined more than one generation and you be the judge of the wierd addictions of these silly devices all kids and adults cling to these days.
Perhaps, one might learn that real education requires a considerable amount of serious investment in rather complicated textual material. I challenge anyone to pick up any college level text in say history or economics and ask yourself if some texting,face booking obsessed kid is ready for serious analysis of the Reformation for example.
Oh well, forgive me for my return journey to school reform and I will soon return to immigration enforcement,but I had to unload these thoughts in the midst of this current school reform debate. Neither side including Rahm have a clue. You know, I was always amused that George W was a school reformer and by any definition would have been as we say in Chicago would have been "blue slipped" I'll let a CPS teacher explain.
Oh, and by the way, I was encouraged to enter this blog ,but as we used to say on da east side "I gotta tellya whats with dis anonymous shit, ain't nobody gonna tellya who dey are man" Sorry, I grew up in hardscabble
Burnside
I have a few thoughts on this anonymous phenomenon,but first I would like to hear some comments from the anonymous community defending their reasons.
Sox need help
Brian McCann
Against Dream Act, Durbin and BO
How come Rahm can spend so much time raising so many millions of dollars for Obama's super pacts, yet he can't find time to raise money to keep our kids in school.
ReplyDeleteLet's see here: CPS has more than 21,000 teachers. The teachers union forces each one to "give" more than 1,000 a year, which is basically political fund raising which goes into a slush fund controlled by just one political party (regardless of each teacher's political affiliation). That party is the Democrats, controlled at the top level by Obama. Doing the math, $1000 times 21,000 is $21 million a year the union is forcing to give to the Obama, the Democrats, and their campaigns. That's each year, and looking to be a total of $80 million taken against the will of teachers over the 4 years of Obama's presidency so far.
DeleteHow do the million of Rahm Emanual fundraising for Obama compare to this? How do they compare to $80 million against the teachers' will?
This is a war by the teachers union against education. I'm not sure that Rahm, who calls special ed kids 'f***ing retards' and declared that one-quarter of the city's school children are worthless, is any better at all.
ReplyDeleteI am married to a teacher and yes no one has a clue to what is really going on. 10 or more tests a year , 1000 pages on how to evaluate a teacher and making it an issue to have books on the first day. Really!! No one goes into education for the money, my wife has 37 years in a classroom, does her job at work and brings plenty home too. You will never see this again because the average teacher today stays in the classroom 3 to 5 years and leaves,not because of the money but because of all the bull s#%t involved and it's always the teachers fault. There are many issues that affect a child on any given day and that's before they get to school. What part of that is the teachers fault.
ReplyDeleteWaterbill, I'm with you on this. I'm in the same boat. I see my wife, who has worked in both private schools and public, consistently raise reading scores of her 7th and 8th graders, even after they throw in the learning-disabled. I hear how teachers punch a clock and see all the time she spends after school hours, at school and at home, on weekends. Then I hear all the shit from a friend of mine and feel like the teacher's husband at the bar in It's a Wonderful Life who punches Jimmy Stewart. Regardless of her pension, I wish she would just quit. Let Rahm have what he wants. Charter schools for all, pennies for charter school teachers, and then Rahm's friends will be able to buy them up and securitize them. Chicago should get what it deserves.
DeleteWhat's wrong with charter schools, and paying teachers the fair market wage, and giving them a choice as to whether or not to be in the union? Wisconsin gave its teachers this choice, and more than half of them fled the union.
DeleteCharter schools are bad because 1) recent studies have shown that they are no better, in terms of reading and math scores, than public schools; 2) charter schools can be bought and dropped, or securitized, like home loans were (see Colorado). If that's what you want, have at it. I personally am more sympathetic towards a selective voucher system, like the one someone mentioned on this blog in effect in Valparaiso, but I don't know if any studies have been done on voucher schools. On WI teachers fleeing the union? They didn't flee the union, they left their jobs and retired because of changes the state made to their pensions and collective bargaining rights.
DeleteActually, due to Gov. Walkers reforms in Wisconsin, over the past year, a little more than half of the teachers quit the union. This is because before Walker's reform, they were forced into the union against their will.
DeleteI am not referring to teachers retiring. I am referring to teachers staying in their job, but choosing to keep their money and not give it to the union. They most definitely DID indeed flee the union: 54% did.
Interestingly, the 54% who fled the union is similar in proportion to the # of voters who voted for Walker in the elections. This reflects a partisan divide: the teachers unions are first and foremost Democratic Party fundraising arms. So, when teachers are given this right to choose, the Democrats stay in and the Republicans leave.
These number in the tens of thousands, as opposed to the few thousand who retired.
The quitting is all about the popularity of unions (only a minority of workers want them around), and nothing to do with collective bargaining.
The state of Indiana also passed legislation to protect workers' rights of union membership (without any changes to collective bargaining) and the unions there are also seeing half of the workers flee the union.
As for your point #1, which is essentially an argument that charter schools have the same results as other public schools (but for with lower cost), it ends up favoring charters.
I like the way they describe themselves as friends when in reality rahm hates daley and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteI am so appalled with the problems that Mayor Daley left us, even though I have met him a few times personally and generally liked him, that I refuse to comment.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that we have these "family dynasties" in Chicago and Illinois that just look out for themselves at our cost and expense.
It's about the children, my ass! It was, is, and always will be about the cash!!!!!
ReplyDelete