Ear Hustle

“Run Off” Rahm’s Remaining School Closing Agenda – Check The List!!!!

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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

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