This is it. Tuesday’s mayoral election will either herald King Rahm’s second Chicago coronation or his national embarrassment if he fails to avoid a run-off.
Run-off Rahm. I like the sound of that.
The Chicago media would have you believe that Rahm has it in the bag. They would have you believe there is no reason to vote; so, please, stay home. However, the latest poll shows that it is going to be close and Chicago voters still have the opportunity to decide this election…as they should.
For concerned parents with children in the Austin/North Lawndale, Englewood/Gresham, Burnham Park, Fullerton, Fulton, Garfield/Humboldt, Lake Calumet, Pershing, Midway, Pilsen/Little Village, Ravenswood/Ridge, Rock Island, and Skyway network of Chicago Public Schools, let me remind you that, after all the grief he has caused you and your families, you have reason to give Rahm Emanuel run-off grief now. Both of my parents were Chicago Public School teachers so I understand and share your concerns.
Remember, back in 2013, CPS issued a list of 129 schools being considered for closure. Of those 129 schools, Mayor Emanuel closed 54 schools in primarily low-income black and Latino areas in one of the largest mass school closures in history. To protest Emanuel’s action, 7,000 parents, students, and teachers took to the streets in an angry three-day protest.
According to The Guardian, CPS even “provided principals with a guide on how to handle civil disobedience and to report the names of any teachers and students involved in protests.”
If Rahm is re-elected, what will happen when the moratorium on school closures ends in 2018?
Chicago is a city of neighborhoods and Mayor Rahm Emanuel has never understood or respected that. He doesn’t see communities. Rahm and his longtime business partner, Bruce Rauner, only see taxpayer-funded dollar signs for themselves and their charter school pals.
Of course, this is, fundamentally, a money grab for taxpayer-funded charter networks.
In fall 2012, the Chicago Tribunereported:
Although it was never officially part of negotiations over a new teachers contract, Emanuel’s charter school push was a factor in the seven-day strike by the Chicago Teachers Union. It made the city a national flashpoint in the debate over whether privately run but publicly funded charter networks are a better formula for success than struggling inner-city schools.
Chicago Public Schools officials expect about 53,000 of the district’s roughly 400,000 students will attend charter schools this year, and the number of charters will increase to more than 100. The city[Chicago] is aiming to add 60 charter schools in the next five years with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is trying to expand charters across the country.
The biggest push for charter schools locally comes from some of the wealthiest backers of Emanuel, including Bruce Rauner, a venture capitalist who regularly advises the mayor. At a seminar of business and political leaders held the same day teachers voted to return to school, Rauner said the strike would only energize reform efforts that he called a “multiyear revolution.”
With many publicly-funded Chicago charter schools failing to make the grade and religious schools excluded from consideration (i.e. real school choice does not exist), parents and taxpayers are still wondering if and when there will be any accountability.
This is why I am appealing to Chicago voters: if you do not dethrone Rahm now, you may never dethrone him. Moreover, if you do not dethrone him now, you should expect another waive of 50 or more school closings in 2018 when the CPS moratorium on school closures ends. By failing to vote against Rahm, you are giving him the green light to destroy more neighborhoods and communities.
Here is the original list of 129 Chicago Public Schools that were recommended or considered for closure in 2013. (CPS schools closed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2013 are indicated by strikethrough text below.)
If Emanuel manages to win re-election Tuesday by a squeak, the next question is: Which schools are on his target list for closure in 2018?
Austin-North Lawndale – 16 schools
Louis Armstrong Math & Science Elementary School
Thomas Chalmers Specialty Elementary School
Crown Community Academy of Fine Arts Center ES
Oscar DePriest Elementary School
Robert Emmet Elementary School
Matthew A Henson Elementary School
Theodore Herzl Elementary School
Charles Evans Hughes Elementary School
Francis Scott Key Elementary School
Lawndale Elementary Community Academy
Leslie Lewis Elementary School
Rosewell B. Mason Elementary
Horatio May Elementary Community Academy
Ronald E McNair Elementary School
William Penn Elementary School
Nathaniel Pope Elementary School
Burnham Park – 24 schools
Crispus Attucks Elementary School
Edmond Burke Elementary School
Miriam G Canter Middle School
William W Carter Elementary School
John B Drake Elementary School
Dumas Technology Academy
Enrico Fermi Elementary School
John Fiske Elementary School
Melville W Fuller Elementary School
Charles Kozminski Elementary Community Academy
William J & Charles H Mayo Elementary School
Irvin C Mollison Elementary School
Anthony Overton Elementary School
Pershing West Middle School
William C Reavis Math & Science Specialty ES
Jackie Robinson Elementary School
Betsy Ross Elementary School
Austin O Sexton Elementary School
Emmett Louis Till Math and Science Academy
James Wadsworth Elementary School
Ida B Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy
Williams Preparatory Academy Middle School
Williams Multiplex Elementary School
Carter G Woodson South Elementary School
Englewood-Gresham – 19 schools
John P Altgeld Elementary School
Benjamin Banneker Elementary School
Arna Wendell Bontemps Elementary School
John W Cook Elementary School
Sir Miles Davis Magnet Elementary Academy
Charles W Earle Elementary School
Elaine O Goodlow Elementary Magnet School
Walter Q Gresham Elementary School
Charles R Henderson Elementary School
William A Hinton Elementary School
Oliver Wendell Holmes Elementary School
Mahalia Jackson Elementary School
Anna R. Langford Community Academy
Benjamin E Mays Elementary AcademyCPS
Garrett A Morgan Elementary School
Luke O’Toole Elementary School
William H Ryder Math & Science Specialty ES
Amos Alonzo Stagg Elementary School
Granville T Woods Math & Science Academy ES
Fullerton – 3 schools
Lorenz Brentano Math & Science Academy ES
Edward Jenner Elementary Academy of the Arts
George Manierre Elementary School
Fulton – 12 schools
William H Brown Elementary School
Robert Nathaniel Dett Elementary School
Ana Roque de Duprey Elementary School
Victor Herbert Elementary School
William H King Elementary School
Jean D Lafayette Elementary School
Rodolfo Lozano Bilingual & International Ctr ES
Moses Montefiore Special Elementary School
Near North Elementary School
Elizabeth Peabody Elementary School
John M Smyth Elementary School
Alexander von Humboldt Elementary School
Garfield-Humboldt – 14 schools
Jacob Beidler Elementary School
Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School
John Calhoun North Elementary School
Edward C Delano Elementary School
Leif Ericson Elementary Scholastic Academy
Garfield Park Preparatory Academy ES
Nathan R Goldblatt Elementary School
Guglielmo Marconi Elementary Community Academy
Genevieve Melody Elementary School
Brian Piccolo Elementary Specialty School
Martin A Ryerson Elementary School
George W Tilton Elementary School
Laura S Ward Elementary School
Daniel Webster Elementary School
Lake Calumet – 10 schools
Ira F Aldridge Elementary School
George Washington Carver Primary School
Samuel Gompers Fine Arts Options ES
Robert H Lawrence Elementary School
Ralph H Metcalfe Elementary Community Academy
Jesse Owens Elementary Community Academy
George M Pullman Elementary School
Songhai Elementary Learning Institute
West Pullman Elementary School
John Whistler Elementary School
Midway – 1 school
Claremont Academy Elementary School
Pershing – 7 schools
Dewey Elementary Academy of Fine Arts
Alexander Graham Elementary School
Thomas A Hendricks Elementary Community Academy
Arthur A Libby Elementary School
George B McClellan Elementary School
Francis Parkman Elementary School
William T Sherman Elementary School
Pilsen-Little Village – 3 schools
Joseph Jungman Elementary School
Ignance Paderewski Elementary Learning Academy
Pilsen Elementary Community Academy
Ravenswood-Ridge – 4 schools
Joseph Brennemann Elementary School
Graeme Stewart Elementary School
Joseph Stockton Elementary School
Lyman Trumbull Elementary School
Rock Island – 6 schools
Fernwood Elementary School
Marcus Moziah Garvey Elementary School
Wendell E Green Elementary School
Langston Hughes Elementary School
Alfred David Kohn Elementary School
John D Shoop Math-Science Technical Academy ES
Skyway – 10 schools
Arthur R Ashe Elementary School
Kate S Buckingham Special Education Center
James Madison Elementary School
William K New Sullivan Elementary School
Isabelle C O’Keeffe Elementary School
Parkside Elementary Community Academy
Adam Clayton Powell Paideia Community Academy ES
Paul Revere Elementary School
Joseph Warren Elementary School
Elihu Yale Elementary School
Source: Chicago Now