ABC 7 Chicago: CPS students can begin applying to elementary, high schools for next year Monday

One of my own regrets from my time in the 8th grade is that I never got a real grasp of CPS' process as far as which schools I could attend and what programs they offer. Often I was dependent upon my parents or even my teacher. It seems like a nifty process students have to be able to chose where they can go to school.

Hopefully today's students take advantage and of course do their "due dilligence" on those schools and programs of their choice.

Visit go.cps.edu

For pre-k programs chicagoearlylearning.org.

Chicago Teachers authorize a strike

Sorry to have missed this from CapFax yesterday. The teacher's union authorized a strike in a vote that concluded late Thursday.

Of course in sharing this news, Rich Miller made sure to remind of us a state law that requires the Chicago Teachers Union getting 75% of all teachers to vote for a strike. He also notes that such a law didn't stop CTU in 2012 with 90% of teachers cast ballots. This time around it was 94% who cast ballots. Read about it at Capitol Fax.

State strike law is 0 for 2 https://t.co/sfxscoSaw2

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) September 27, 2019

I must also add as I blogged about during the past week the attention Chicago teachers have received from Democrat presidential candidates.

Three days through Big Sky Country

[VIDEO] If you have just over half an hour to watch this video it takes you on one journey I've never taken. It would be cool to take Amtrak's Empire Builder going by rail via Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana into either Portland, Oregon or Seattle, Washington.

In the above video we're taking this journey from Portland, Oregon back to Chicago and we go through this area of the nation called big sky country. We're following the rail journey of a British national who's YouTube channel is mostly of him traveling around the world.

Sun-Times: Take the deal, CPS teachers. You’ve won

An editorial from the Sun-Times on Wednesday. I wonder what the results of that strike vote from CTU will be?

They should accept the latest contract offer from the Board of Education, a sweet deal that most Chicagoans would just love to get.

They should vote against authorizing a strike. Given our city’s dire financial condition, taxpayers wouldn’t rally around them.

And let’s not forget the 296,752 schoolchildren who’d be sitting at home learning nothing if the teachers walk out.

That’s a locked-in raise every year of 3% to 3.5%, more than what most workers are getting — if they’re getting raises at all.What employee, in any job, would turn down a 16% raise over five years?

Then add in the pay hikes to which teachers would be entitled based on seniority and level of education. With those “step” and “lane” raises, the average teacher would pull in almost $100,000 a year — up from about $79,000 now — by the end of the five-year contract.

But don’t stop there. Consider, as well, how little more teachers will be asked to contribute to their health care. Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s negotiating team is asking CTU members to pay a modest 0.75% more over the entire five years.

Your Daily Dose of Internet: Area 51 raid...

[VIDEO] Today's Daily Dose of Internet shows a woman actually going through the gates to the Area 51 military installation. Of course what's noted is she has to go 10 miles from the main entrance to the base itself. What isn't clear is whether or not she made it 10 miles to the base?

What is clear is that any police who were standing outside didn't even try to stop her.

Other than that we see a number of videos from Daily Dose of Internet of a scientific or educational or entertainment interest. I hope you've learned something new in this vid.

#Bears100 social justice committee talks about throwback 1936 jersey

[VIDEO] The vid above is the only one I could find on this topic. It explains why the "Monsters of the Midway" now has a "social justice committee". Click here for the video from the Bears about the 1936 throwback jersey.

Social justice doesn't necessary have the best connotation with me, however, it's laudable that one of the charter franchises of the NFL have created an internal committee to in some ways address the pressing social issues of the day. Especially to the point of raising money which one of the many things these sports franchises do primarily for goodwill.

In this video from the Chicago Bears' "social justice committee" they are announcing that Black players on the current Bears' roster WILL be the first to wear the 1936 uniform. Bears Chairman George McCaskey acknowledged that back in 1936 all NFL teams excluded Blacks from playing on their teams. The Bears didn't sign a Black player until 1952.

Kyle Fuller in 1936 Bears Jersey

What do you think of this gesture? Did the Bears do right with regards to acknowlegding the past with regards to racial issues?

You can go to college DEBT FREE

[VIDEO] Dave Ramsey does a radio show on personal finance and he does this video recently to help explore families paying for their children's college education. He speaks with Anthony O'Neal and Rachel Cruze. It's possible with some effort to go to college debt free.

A few things to take away. It's great to have a dream school (and I certainly went to mine) however it's OK to go to a school you can afford. You don't have to go to a more prestigious and expensive school (realize that there aren't any guarantees with that) to accomplish the goal of a baccalaureate degree.

I wish I had really made more of an effort to work while in school or better yet start my own business or side hustle. If only I understood using a blog to make money for example. Aside from this blog I had been blogging and got some notice for it during my college years. Undergrad becomes much harder if you have little to no money coming in at all.

Also this is related to working, perhaps you take on a job that helps you pay for college. Perhaps your industry has a trade organization that offers competitive scholarships. Perhaps your company offers tuition reimbursement if you achieve a passing grade in a course. These are some things worth looking into as you figure out college finance.

If you want to cut the cost of college consider staying home and going to school. Of course, not everyone has this option and I can understand if a young person just out of high school feel the need to leave home. If you do leave home room and board is a major expense.

Tribune: Bernie Sanders, John Cusack rally with Chicago teachers as strike vote begins

As it was noted the luminaries spoke at a Chicago's Teacher's Union rally I must have misunderstood something:

The 25,000-member CTU embarked Tuesday on a three-day strike vote, which, if the measure passes, will empower the union’s House of Delegates to set a walkout date as early as Oct. 7. SEIU Local 73, the union for the 7,000 support employees, has already authorized a strike, which could occur as soon as Oct. 17.

Meanwhile, here's what happened as strike voting started:

The Chicago Teachers Union brought some celebrity backing to its push for a new contract Tuesday evening, with actor John Cusack rallying with teachers before the evening’s headliner — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders — called for big raises for local public school educators.

“There has never been a better champion for unions than Bernie Sanders,” Cusack said to cheers from a throng of teachers and other local labor group members gathered at headquarters of the CTU on the first day of its vote to authorize a teachers strike.

When the Vermont senator later took the stage, he thanked the teachers union for “becoming the conscience of the United States of America."

“What we are seeing is teachers standing up and fighting for justice," Sanders said. “... Every problem in society — hunger, domestic violence, poverty — it walks into your doors, doesn’t it? You see it every day and at a time when we, in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth.
...
Sanders underscored some of the CTU’s specific demands, calling on the city to “negotiate a contract that substantially reduces class sizes” and to “substantially increase the pay and benefits for the teachers in Chicago and the support staff in Chicago,” as well as address the shortages of nurses and librarians.

Earlier at the rally, CTU President Jesse Sharkey called out Mayor Lori Lightfoot, saying she hasn’t offered staffing levels that would ensure librarians, nurses or social workers in schools on a daily basis.

But again Tuesday, the mayor pointed to a city proposal that offers teachers base pay raises of 16% over five years. She also said new positions being sought by the union are “baked ... into the budget for this year.”

At the rally, Sanders also spoke of working people not being able to afford child care and plugged his proposal for free college tuition. After he said, “Let me tell you something else that we’re going to do,” an audience member called out, “Beat Trump!” At that, Sanders laughed while those in the crowd cheered and rose to their feet.
...
Sanders had already shone a spotlight on the labor strife in Chicago Public Schools, tweeting his support earlier this month for the CTU and another group of workers also poised for a possible walkout, including bus and special education aides, custodians and security officers. Leading up to Sanders’ Chicago appearance, two other presidential contenders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden, made similar statements of support for Chicago educators.

Chicago teachers could vote to strike today

Tribune:

Now the CTU facing that decision once more, with members to start voting Tuesday on whether their leaders can call a strike. If 75% say yes, the 800-member House of Delegates will gain the power to set a strike date. The union must give at least 10 days’ notice, so the soonest educators could go on strike is Oct. 7.

The teachers’ vote comes as their support staff counterparts in Service Employees International Union Local 73 are also moving toward a strike, which could occur as early as Oct. 17. And on Monday, educators at Passages Charter School took a strike authorization vote, in the same calendar year of three other Chicago charter school strikes.

Educators and paraprofessionals have taken up each other’s causes and shown up for each other’s news conferences, in turns pressuring the district to reduce class sizes, add staff, increase pay and benefits, and improve working conditions. That unity will be on display Tuesday, when Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders is to appear at a joint rally.

I wrote this post in the morning so if there is an update I'll either update this post or share in another tomorrow at the same time.

It's interesting to note how Democrat 2020 hopefuls for President are taking an interest in this strike. Also noted in this article is how the optics seemed to have supported CTU as seeing the best interest in their schools and students. Could we see similar optics if the teachers strike this year?

RELATED: #TBT Teacher's strikes

Your "Daily Dose of Internet"

[VIDEO] Today's edition starts off with a blind cat playing fetch with his owner. As per usual videos from Daily Dose are often of scientific or newsworthy or entertainment interest. Just finding various videos around the internet that may have gone viral on social media or videos found that this channel had paid for or through a video service such as ViralHog.

I hope you learned something new with this video as the narrator often states at the end.

Former Johnson Publishing building turns residential

I've been wanting to post about this for a while. The original tenant of this building a skycraper (located at 820 S. Michigan Ave.) designed by Black architect John Moutoussamy has been going through their own issues with the former flagship publication on a "print hiatus". The skyscraper itself formerly the HQ to the famous Johnson Publishing has now found a reuse.

While the logos of both Ebony & Jet Magazine remains at the top of this building now instead  of housing a magazine publishing business it is now a residential building. As the building was designed during the 1970s, it's great the developers have made it a priority to preserve some aspects of this skyscrapers character.

You can read more about at Curbed Chicago

Chicago's iconic former 'Ebony' and 'Jet' magazine headquarters reborn as apartments. https://t.co/bhAOuknJO3

— Curbed Chicago (@curbedchicago) September 19, 2019

BTW, yes the skyscraper is 11 stories tall and of course perhaps not as tall as the former Sears Tower or even the former John Hancock Building or even still Trump Tower.

Photo by Lee Bey in 2007

Updates

To continue writing this blog my goal is to hopefully inform or entertain you all. It's probably why I do share some things that I hope you all would be entertained by. Also to share things that hopefully inform you of the issues of the day. Some of you may be parents and my goal is to keep that in mind.

With this said my former elementary school principal dropped by a few months and I had considered this encouragement to keep this blog going. It's become important for me to find ways to draw people to this blog and if you want a blog to grow that will always become a difficult task.

Over the years as something of a public service I used to have an EveryBlock widget on this blog to share any crime reports or any media reports for your convenience. Usually this is for the general area around both Bennett & Shedd schools. Of course EveryBlock no longer exists and thus no widget of benefit to anyone.

I used to have a weather widget from Accuweather (although there is still one at the top of the blog that only shows current conditions). One widget that Accuweather once provided was not only current conditions, a forecast and a radar as well. I'm working on finding a weather widget to attach to this blog to help inform you of the local weather here in Chicago.

Also it's probably time to revamp the about page. Not entirely sure what to put on there, although what you see in this blog could serve as a basis. Also bear in mind I'm looking into creating a domain for this space in the near future which is in keeping of this blog's identity.

Also I'm working on a fb page that hopefully will allow anyone who follows this blog to keep track of updates. That continues to be a work in progress.

I'm planning to make some changes here, hopefully good changes...

Also feel free to let me know what you'd like to see on here as far as posts or even just everyday things that you think would be of great value if you do check this blog. The comments here are always open. 🙆

CapFax: Illinois State Fair sets all-time revenue record

Rich Miller at CapFax looks at the performance of the Illinois State Fair having set an all time revenue record. Now I wish I had gone to this year's fair in Springfield.

Illinois State Fair sets all-time revenue record https://t.co/b2kkySolDY

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) September 19, 2019

Former CPS school to be adapted into a community center

I posted a quick blurb at The Sixth Ward about a community center to be located in a former CPS school named for an illustrious late president of the prestigious Morehouse College. It's a shame that the school had been closed since 2013, but it's great that it had found a reuse as a community center in Englewood.

As so far there have been no further updates that I know of with regards to the now closed Shedd School, I've always maintained this as one idea to reuse that property. Of course, it has to be reused with the right team to execute their plan. Here's hoping there are some updates as far as what's next for the former "John G. Shedd Public School".

Time for an updated pic of Shedd School

Your "Daily Dose of Internet"

[VIDEO] This is your "Daily Dose of Internet". It starts off with a young zebra born with spots and brown skin which is pretty unusual for a zebra which is normally born with stripes.

The Daily Dose of Internet YouTube channel typically does videos of over three minutes sharing scientific, entertaining, newsworthy or even entertaining videos. Often these are videos provided through social media or a video distribution service such as Caters. If you had all day on the internet you wouldn't be able to find these videos.

#TBT Teacher's strikes

I'm sharing two videos of past actions that involves Chicago's teachers. We can start with September 2012 with the Teacher's strike. I recorded this on my iPhone back then when the teachers were marching in downtown Chicago. I was probably walking along Jackson Boulevard near LaSalle Street back then.

I wrote for the YouTube description that I had no real idea how to use the camera on my phone so this video does have "vertical video syndrome" [VIDEO]

Drama teacher charged with sexual assault of student

[VIDEO] I'm not going to say too much or editorial a lot about this. What's mentioned in the above report from CBS 2 states what I wanted to say he was a husband and father who is charged with sexually abusing one of his students. Now he has his mugshot in a TV report, online and perhaps even on a newspaper since I really first heard about this from the Sun-Times.

Regardless, another sexual abuse allegation out of a CPS school. CPS already has to face a number of issues and now they have to face sexual abuse allegations.

Amazon's hiring in Chicago

Amazon Jobs

We get a quick blurb from Chicago Tonight

Amazon is roughly doubling the number of employees in its Chicago Loop office, adding 400 new jobs and 70,000 square feet of new space. But these aren’t warehouse jobs we’re talking about – they’re new hires that will work in fields including cloud computing, advertising and business development.

There are currently more than 400 people working in Amazon’s Chicago office at 227 W. Monroe St. supporting the company’s web services, advertising, transportation and operations units.

The new Chicago jobs are among more than 30,000 positions Amazon is working to fill nationwide.

Get your resumes ready and brush up on your skills. 

Marquez Brownlee reviews the revamped Samsung Galaxy Fold

[VIDEO] Since Apple unveiled their new iPhone models last week, then we see the return of another unique phone from Samsung reviewed by Marquez Brownlee. Earlier this year the unique Samsung Galaxy Fold was initially demo'd by a number of people on YouTube including Casey Neistat and Brownlee. As you see in this video Brownlee notes the improvements to the model made by Samsung as he demos this new model.

The fold is basically a folding "phablet" it's a thick smartphone that you can fold out and it becomes a tablet. You have a component which allows you to talk to it as you would any phone and then you can fold it out and you have space to type out a quick email. I like this form factor and hope in the near future Apple can come out with a much better looking phone than the iPhone 11 & 11 Pro.

Regardless if you're ever interested in this Fold one thing I have figured since it has been put out for select people to demo is once it's for sale it will be expensive.

Tribune: As Chicago teacher contract issues remain unsettled, CPS and CTU ramp up rhetoric looking for a deal

I've been keeping an eye on this for quite a while. Hopefully there won't be a strike this year:

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s top negotiator has sent the Chicago Teachers Union a letter accusing the group of not responding to key proposals and asking that they reach a deal in the next two weeks.

The union fired back Sunday when Vice President Stacy Davis Gates criticized the letter, calling it disingenuous and accusing Chicago Public Schools officials of “being absolutely dishonest.”

Lightfoot first offered to raise teacher pay by 14 percent over five years, then increased the offer to 16 percent, but the union wants a deal with contract language addressing school staffing concerns.

Earlier this month, the union announced that its House of Delegates agreed to set dates for a strike authorization vote. Union members will vote Sept. 24-26 on whether to walk off the job.

#Cubs going to a new network next year

I hate this end of an era at least for the time being no more Cubs baseball on WGN. You can see games on a new cable network - the Cubs won't even be on the network now known as NBC Sports Chicago. I need to find out if that network will be available on my cable system.

The irony of ironies is that just about 30 years ago was the first time I ever saw a Cubs game on TV. The man calling the games was a man by the name of Harry Caray. And even better that year the Cubs made it into the playoffs only to be knocked out by the San Francisco Giants and were then managed by the late Don Zimmer.

Also to note the time, football season is underway and the baseball season is winding down for yet another year. We're not even in the MLB post season.

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Today's Chicago Football Classic

[VIDEO] I wanted to do a more extensive post on the Chicago Football Classic that takes place today at Soldier Field. According to the clock for the official website by the time I post this it will be at least one hour (kickoff 3:30 P.M.) before today's game. This year is between Virginia's Hampton University & D.C.'s Howard University.

Over the years this classic is played is often between two of this nation's Historically Black College's such as Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University, Jackson State University (alma mater of the late Walter Payton), Alcorn State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Grambling University, etc. Often there will be a college fair for high school seniors before this event.

I would like to update you on the game when I find out about the results.

Man leaves finance to work at a candy store

[VIDEO] Mitchell Cohen talks about running his family's neighborhood candy store after leaving his career in the finance world. Cohen likes the fact that he's around his family more as opposed to seemingly on call for his high-powered job in finance.

You can have the "prestige" job at a top company or you can leave for whatever else satisfies you. Main thing is Cohen discovered what was most important to him and chose accordingly.

CPS employee on paid suspension as school district continues investigation

[VIDEO] This story is semi-related to this morning's post. Although in this case the allegations against Dan Williams more or less involves physical contact due to a scuffle at an elementary school as opposed to any sexual assault allegations that have been plaguing the school district in general which was mentioned in this CBS 2 report.

As we should take allegations of any misconduct especially involving students very seriously there should be "due process" for the accused. For Mr. Williams as another agency separate from CPS had investigated and essentially cleared him of any wrongdoing, CPS continues to keep him on a paid suspension.

The operative question here is what is taking CPS' office of inspector general so long to investigate cases like Williams? Meanwhile in his case he gets to play with his dog on a Chicago beach while getting paid as he hopes to return to work.

Sun-Times:CPS’ handling of sexual abuse cases ‘tragic and inexcusable,’ feds say in ordering major overhaul

Something I've been keeping an eye on since last year. Of all the issues facing CPS, this is the most troubling one that needs to be addressed.

Chicago Public Schools has agreed to a “substantial overhaul” of how it handles sexual violence cases after a federal investigation found “glaring and heartbreaking” problems.

Federal officials at the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights called its investigation of CPS the largest of its kind in department history.

The situation “is one of the worst that we have seen in the elementary, secondary school context,” Kenneth Marcus, the department’s Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. “The findings were deeply disturbing. The incidents that formed the basis of OCR’s investigation are tragic and inexcusable, so too was CPS’ response to the incidents.”

“These were tragic incidents in which some students did not receive the comprehensive support they deserved,” CPS CEO Janice Jackson acknowledged Thursday morning in an email to parents, vowing to correct the district’s mistakes. “As a district, we have been working to ensure no student ever goes through that again.”

The legally binding agreement between the Department of Education and CPS includes federal monitoring of the district’s changes for three years, and possible withholding of federal funding if the district doesn’t adequately follow through with the plan.

“We’re not talking about minor tweaks to policy,” Marcus said in a conference call with reporters. “We’re talking about a substantial overhaul.”

This is one of those posts that's too important to wait until the afternoon! 

Is home economics still taught in school?

I've been sitting on this article for quite awhile and also one of the articles that seemed to have been well read on this blog involved home economics. When I was in high school - GO FALCONS - in lieu of such a class I had to do a unit on "consumer education" to be taught for example in a social  studies class like psychology. And with due respect to my teacher at the time I had little clue about what we're supposed to be learning in such a unit, especially if it's one we needed to graduate.

Either way I heard from my division teacher at the time that home economics was considered obsolete and it's funny that this article from last year talks about it. We need it now more than ever:

Every semester I have a week of "math lab" in my college reporting class. The words strike fear in my students. Their eyes roll back in their heads, they foam at the mouth, they sputter the words, "But I'm a liberal arts major."

It's not that bad, really. We cover things like what property tax changes mean for their rent, how interest rates affect their car or credit card payments, and how a 5 percent raise affects their paychecks.

We seldom get past property taxes before they start realizing that if they own property, they will pay property taxes forever. And it always surprises me that they don't already know this.

It's a failing of our educational system that students don't leave high school with this basic understanding, among other things.

That's why we need to bring back the old home economics class. Call it "Skills for Life" and make it mandatory in high schools. Teach basic economics along with budgeting, comparison shopping, basic cooking skills and time management. Give them a better start in real life than they get now.

How cool would it be if our kids knew how to shop for groceries and stay within a budget? Wouldn't parents feel a sense of relief if their kids understood how interest accrues on their credit cards? And shouldn't everyone have one great go-to meal they could cook if guests pop in?

These are the skills we learned in high school home economics, the skills all kids should have, whether they are college bound or heading straight into the workforce.

Casey Neistat high school dropout

[VIDEO] Casey Neistat dropped out of high school when he was young. I'll let him tell his story, but he made it OK. Although regardless his lesson is for you to stay in school. Even he thinks it's best for you to try to finish.

However, as happens with all of us in life we get sidetracked. Neistat appeared to have but had enough energy to create a plan that has worked out for him in the long run. He is one of the most popular YouTubers with over 11 million subscribers and even had a TV series on HBO of all places.

If you stay in school - especially if you plan to go to college - still make a plan. Any plan and this is my message to you. Even if you don't stay in school make a plan, you still have a talent for something. You might get a lucky break if you stay positive and focused.

Also my further advice to you, stay in school! Get something from it. And if you have a plan use your education and execute your plan. Don't do what I did which was expect your teachers to know what's best for you. Realize that you have your own goals, whatever they may be...

Crystal Morning: September 11th, 2001

[VIDEO] I don't know if I've ever referenced this here on the blog. 9/11/2001 is certainly a day etched in many of our minds as one of the more traumatic events of our recent history. That day could be akin to say the assassination of President John F. Kennedy for example.

A videoblogger named Evan Coyne Maloney - who largely became known online for his many videos of anti-war protests in the lead-up to the Iraq war in the 2000s - did this video tribute to the 9/11 attacks. I would like for you to send him your reviews of the video especially positive ones if it marks the day for you from back then. His website at brain-terminal.com is no longer available and thus sending him our support is tad harder these days.

However, I do have my memories of 9/11 which I spent on my way to class at a downtown community college in Chicago. It was truly a confusing and scary day and was very sad in it's aftermath. I can only imagine the hurt and trauma of that day for New Yorkers and those families affected by what happened at the Pentagon in the DC area at the time.

As per usual I will likely avoid any rememberances on TV for 9/11 which was just about 18 years ago at this point. I don't enjoy watching the planes crash in the WTC and the impending collapse of those skyscrapers due to fire. 

On a final note, since I've denoted recently that posts that are published at 2:30 are often significant this is why I post this later in the afternoon as opposed to roughly when these attacks took place which was in the morning. I'm marking a significant and sadly deadly historic event. We're still dealing with the after effects of what happened on that day.

Stossel: Let charter schools teach

[VIDEO] John Stossel who I remember was something of a consumer advocate on teh ABC News program 20/20 and later joined FOX Business channel with a program highlighting the philosophy of libertarianism has been producing these short videos for Reason. It continues his work in the broadcast media as he continues to take on libertarian subjects.

In this most recent edition he takes on charter schools. Charter schools are in a number of urban school districts around the nation. Although these schools take public money they can be run like a private school. In this case Stossel looks at a charter school out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania called Boys Latin.

The question is whether or not allowing parents a choice as far as who educates their children a choice. Should they be able to chose a public, charter, or private school? Another issue touched upon is whether or not a public school district wants increased competition from these charter or private schools.

Angela Rye to Host BET News Town Hall Addressing Student Debt

I just got wind of this today so I wanted to share this with you all. Besides while I had branded this blog as a neighborhood blog it has touched upon issues within higher education. Black college studetns unfortunately have been especially vulnerable to student loan debt, unfortunately. As always I often express that we need a new goal for our young people as they graduate from high school.

TODAY, BET announces it will broadcast a new primetime news special examining student loan debt and its disproportionate impact on African American students. The special is the first nationally-televised hour-long town hall aimed at the hot button student loan crisis. Hosted by political strategist and advocate, Angela Rye, this Town Hall looks to sound the alarm and pose solutions toward affecting change to what has become an American crisis. “YOUNG GIFTED AND BROKE: Our Student Loan Crisis” airs Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on BET.

For all students of color, especially African Americans, obtaining a college education can become financially crippling from high levels of unmanageable student debt. Our experts blame many causes, ranging from expensive for-profit colleges that aggressively market to poor students of color, to a widespread lack of financial literacy among first generation college students. Currently, the total outstanding student debt amount in America exceeds $1.5 trillion, mainly held by students from middle and lower-income households. Without a plan of action, this issue will only get worse for African Americans.

This one-hour Town Hall will feature analysis and commentary from policymakers in the CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS (CBC), experts in the education field and student borrowers impacted by this crisis.

I hope you check out this program this coming Sunday. And as often happens here I would like to share with you all anything with regards to student loan debt.

Dave Ramsey Rant: Is college worth it?

[VIDEO] Dave Ramsey is a radio host who does a program on personal finance. I know that he's done many segments on whether or not college is worth it. Student loans has been an ongoing public policy issue especially since the "great recession" during the late 2000s. Also another issue related to that is the increase in the cost of getting an undergrad degree.

Ramsey finds himself chuckling at the idea of a woman who graduated with her bachelor's degree, but the salary at her job doesn't pay enough to cover the cost of student loans. I get what he chuckles about, she wasn't smart enough to pick a field that would offer a return on investment (RoI). In his mind the person he's talking about made a bad decision as far as her chosen subject, however, he doesn't just blame her. He blames her parents....

With this said do I think this country got crazy over going to college? Yes I do. It was ingrained in my head that you need a college degree it would get you a better job and you'd make more. Of course what even I failed to realize is that getting a college degree is fine but you need to have a plan. Especially what you plan to do when you get out. It's a lot like studying, the sooner you get ahead of the game as far as finding a job once you graduate the sooner you can find that good job once you pay your loans.

Either way this is a telling segment that was uploaded to YouTube on December 15, 2015. Whatever news story Ramsey was reading said that Goldman Sachs believes getting a college education isn't worth it. Especially as far as a financial RoI.

My thing is, college has become the thing you must do. It's the new high school diploma, gone are the days where you were set if you got a bachelor's degree. It's devalued if everyone and their mother seems to have one. Now you have to do more than go to college, to really have something of great value you must go to graduate school.

Everyone isn't meant to go to college and I do believe at one point that was one goal of a disgraced CPS CEO. Instead of prepping our kids for college which they may not be able to complete at least, why not prepare them for the workforce also?

Let me know what you think of Ramsey's rant?

NFL footballs are made in Chicago

I can't believe the NFL have started their 100th season and at least in Chicago the season started with a Thursday night loss to the Chicago Bears' longtime rivals the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field. However, did you know the manufacture of NFL footballs have a Chicago connection.

Read about it at NBCChicago. Wilson Sporting Goods is based in Chicago though footballs are actually made at a factory in Ohio. Another Chicago company Horween Leather Co. produced the leather for the footballs. Both companies relationship with the NFL dates back to the founding of the league and is owed to the late former owner of the Bears, George Halas.

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Mr. Beat - Arizona & New Mexico compared

[VIDEO] I introduced you to Mr. Beat who is an actual teacher producing a number of videos on his YouTube channel that are of interest as far as geography, history or in general social studies. This video compares two states as opposed to the video that compares the cities of Chicago & St. Louis that you saw last week.

Arizona and New Mexico are both "sun belt"states that we learn has a very fast growing population. They both maybe characterized as states that are full of desert, however, you no longer have to worry about snow (which is what you might be worried about during winter in Chicago). Also if these states are mostly desert you really don't have to worry about much other than the dry heat during the day.

I hope with this video you've learned something new. 👍

WBEZ: Teens Say Free CTA Rides On First Day Of School Are Not Enough

Usually on the first day of school students and their parents will ride CTA for free. Some students say this still isn't enough.

Students say it’s helpful, but they want the offer year round.

“I think students should get free rides because I don’t really know how you will expect youth who are focusing on their education and career to have constant money,” said Jennifer Nava, a senior at Kelly High School in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

It’s a big ask in a city dealing with a huge financial deficit. Just last week, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city faces a projected $838 million budget shortfall next year.

Still Jennifer, an outspoken teenager who keeps close tabs on city affairs, wants to remind Lightfoot that she promised to make transportation more affordable for students during her campaign.

“If time is not now, then when?” Jennifer said.

How about this, create a U-Pass program for K-12 students especially designed for those students who must depend on public transit. If there isn't enough money to allow free rides for CPS students year round then do what the city's universities have done, require activity fees. Probably not a popular solution, however, as stated in the article the reduced fares for K-12 students add up.

Success of the 2019 Illinois State Fair

[VIDEO] The Illinois Channel interviews Illinois State Fair Manager Kevin Gordon with regards to the success of this years state fair. I've talked about the success of this years fair on this blog during the course of last month. Also note that the IL Channel's YouTube channel showed other events from this year's fair particularly the more political events that took place at the fairgrounds in Springfield.

As an aside the other state fair in DuQuoin, Illinois also did very well this year according to a post from The Capitol Fax blog.

Du Quoin State Fair grandstand ticket sales rose 26 percent, revenue up 37 percent https://t.co/gt2EUry9UX

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) September 4, 2019

16,000 homeless CPS students

That is a sad statistic and helps me recognize the many issues that CPS students bring with them to class. I can imagine there are those who are embarrassed by their circumstances, however, all they have to do is reach out.

From today's Tribune:

Students in temporary living situations rarely self-identify, according to advocates. Lockett, now 22, said he didn’t like his classmates and teachers to know he was homeless. But his situation is hardly unique.

More than 16,450 Chicago Public Schools students didn’t have a permanent home during the 2018-19 school year, according to numbers released Thursday by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Most were in temporary living situations, meaning they stayed in shelters, motels, cars or, in about 90% of the cases, “doubled up” with others, according to the coalition. Doubling up doesn’t generally meet the federal government’s definition of homelessness, so people in those situations don’t qualify for federal programs for those without homes.

About half of the city’s homeless students were in 10 of the city’s 50 wards, according to the coalition’s data. At least 865 were believed to be living in Ald. Walter Burnett’s 27th Ward. Burnett spoke at a homeless coalition news conference Thursday at City Hall to plug a proposed increase to the real estate transfer tax on properties worth more than $1 million to address the situation.

“We need to put the people first," Burnett said. “We need to help the needy and not the greedy.”

The advocates’ proposed 1.2 percentage point increase could generate about $150 million that could be used to reduce homelessness. The coalition said that’s 10 times as much funding as what’s already dedicated to the issue.

During her campaign, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she supported an additional tax on expensive property sales to direct more money to homelessness. But she has also said City Hall is on a different timeline than the homeless coalition. And she’s also suggested raising the transfer tax to help fill this year’s budget hole.

The coalition wants a referendum on the tax increase on the March ballot.

And yet another "Daily Dose of Internet"

[VIDEO] Today's edition we start off with a man swimming under the ice in the Czech Republic among other videos you will see in over three minutes. As stated in a post earlier this week they will show a variety videos that you could spend all day surfing the internet and you might not be able to see all of them on your own. Usually the videos are of scientific, social, or often entertaining interest.

BTW, the Daily Dose of Internet YouTube channel has over 6 million subscribers. I do think this is a worthwhile channel to follow and of course they don't necessarily need me to promote their channel.

Sun-Times: Chicago teachers set date for strike authorization vote

I still hope there is no strike but this is what the Sun-Times says:

The Chicago Teachers Union has set a date when members will take a strike vote, moving the city’s teachers another step closer to a potential work stoppage.

The unanimous vote taken at the CTU’s house of delegates meeting Wednesday evening sets the table for a Sept. 26 vote which will decide whether members authorize the union to strike.

The earliest the union would go on strike is Oct. 7.

The Chicago Teachers Union has set a date when members will take a strike vote, moving the city’s teachers another step closer to a potential work stoppage.

The unanimous vote taken at the CTU’s house of delegates meeting Wednesday evening sets the table for a Sept. 26 vote which will decide whether members authorize the union to strike.

The earliest the union would go on strike is Oct. 7.

Here's hoping for a good conclusion when both sides return to the bargaining table on Thursday (today?).

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You might have seen these handed out during the PM rush at 95th on Thursday. Presumably by members of @ctulocal1 #Chicagogram #flyers #education #chipubschools

A post shared by The Sixth Ward (@thesixthward) on Jul 26, 2019 at 7:57pm PDT

Open House 34th District Office #twill

If you live in the 34th state house district, you can visit the open house for the 34th District Office located at 113 E. 95th Street, Suite A on Saturday, September 7, 2019 from 12:00 Noon to 4:00 PM.

Want to learn more about state Rep. Nick Smith visit his website at RepSmith34.com

CPS CEO aims to do better for Black and brown boys

cps.edu

Another thing in this new school year to watch out for. How to improve academic performance for boys in CPS schools:

“I’m not satisfied,” Jackson said of the district’s performance. “I like the incremental growth, but we need to see exponential growth, particularly among our African-American male and Latino male students, if we’re going to meet the goals we’ve outlined in our vision.”

Her comments followed a stirring 20-minute speech Thursday afternoon to a gathering of business and civic leaders organized by the City Club of Chicago. In the speech, Jackson highlighted district investments in new programs and curriculum at neighborhood schools, a renewed focus on early career and college credentials, commitments to hiring more school support staff, and universal Pre-K expansion as ways to “level the playing field.”

Asked after the speech about the specific approaches the district is taking to close racial and gender disparities in graduation rates, Jackson said new attention to what students are being taught would be key. 

“I think in order to get to the 90 percent graduation rate that we’ve outlined in our vision, we have to have strong curriculum and academic programs in our schools, which is why we’re making a commitment around more IB and STEM programs, and a quality curriculum in every school,” she said. “I think by coupling the social emotional support with academic support, we’re going to get there.”

RELATED: Does public education ruin Black boys?

Mr. Beat compares St. Louis & Chicago

[VIDEO] Mr. Beat produced this video comparing Chicago with St. Louis, Missouri. The man who narrates this video is actually a middle school social studies teacher. It would've been cool to have these vids on hand back in the 7th grade (or perhaps earlier).

Geography was one of those subjects I familiarized myself with years ago. It helped that I began to familiarize myself with a Rand McNally Road Atlas. To see different places and their geological features has been fascinating. To see different cities and how people live their lives there has been fascinating.

It's fascinating to see the differences between two large cities (one considerably larger than the other) in the midwest and merely hours a part. BTW, I've never been to St. Louis though I can't want to show you one site that one must visit when going...

WBEZ: 5 Things To Watch In Chicago Public Schools This Year

As we start a new school year for CPS students some things worth watching with our public schools this year. One main thing is whether or not there could be a teacher's strike this year. Another thing is the decreasing enrollment of CPS students. Finally, it seems to be an important issue every year which is the CPS budget.

As always we wish CPS students a very successful school year.

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A post shared by Chicago Public Schools (@chipubschools) on Sep 3, 2019 at 4:56am PDT