Mayor-elect selects education transition teams

Crain's has a list of names for Rahm Emanuel as he appoints a 14 member team consisting of business, community, & non-profit leaders for making recommendations for improving education:

• Ellen Alberding, President of the Joyce Foundation.
• Rev. Byron Brazier of the Apostolic Church of God.
• Don Feinstein, Executive Director, Academy for Urban School Leadership.
• Sharrod Gordon of the Target Area Development Corp.
• Zipporah Hightower, Principal of Bethune School of Excellence.
• Liz Kirby, Principal, Kenwood Academy High School.
• Tim Knowles, Director, University of Chicago Urban Education Institute.
• Mike Milkie, Superintendent and CEO, Noble Street Charter School.
• Natalie Neris-Guereca, teacher, Dr. Jorge Prieto Elementary School.
• John Price, Principal, John J. Audubon Elementary School.
• Diana Rauner, President, Ounce of Prevention Fund.
• Celena Roldan, Executive Director, Erie Neighborhood House.
• Monica Sims, teacher, John J. Pershing West Middle School.
• Elizabeth Swanson, Executive Director, Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation.

Safe to assume this team will concern themselves with the Chicago Public Schools. This is what a mayor transition does and it's been 22 years almost since Chicago has inaugurated a new mayor. Imagine that!

Also noted is a 17-member transition team for improving the city's financial plan (budget).

Shedd School on election day...

Shedd School was a polling place during the mayoral election last month. I would've taken more pictures outside but there were people standing around, prolly campaign volunteers to maintained a distance marked by some blue cones. Inside the blue cones campaign activity was prohibited.

As I walked around on that Tuesday I decided to go by Bennett School and possibly take some pictures. There were people standing around oustide of that school and I also didn't feel bold enough to take a picture.

BTW, Shedd School is located in Chicago's 6th Ward (Ald. Freddrenna Lyle who's in a run off) while Bennett School is located in Chicago's 9th Ward (Ald. Anthony Beale who prevailed over his opponents). Believe it or not Shedd and Bennett aren't that far away from each other. What separates the 6th and 9th Wards is the Calumet (Bishop Ford) Expressway. Even then both schools are a block off the expressway.

The campaign signs outside of Shedd

Signs in front of Shedd's playset

Signs on a neighboring block outside of Shedd

Meeks for Mayor on school vouchers

Sun-Times:

Arguing that Chicago Public Schools are “broken’’ and that parents deserve a “choice,’’ mayoral challenger James Meeks said Wednesday he would offer $4,500-a-year vouchers to 50,000 low-and-middle-income Chicago families to use toward private school tuition. 

If he is elected mayor, Meeks said he would also offer full-day kindergarten and character education in all Chicago Public Schools and double the time spent on reading and math in first through third grades. Full-day kindergarten would be financed in part by cutting bonus pay for teachers with master’s degrees.

The 90 minutes of daily reading time — up from 45 minutes currently — is designed to make certain that students read at a third-grade level by the time they finish third-grade.

The Chicago Teachers Union would be given one year to develop a policy “with teeth” to “identify and dismiss” teachers who are not performing. If the union cannot or refuses to meet that deadline, Meeks said he would ask the Illinois General Assembly to mandate a policy to weed out bad teachers.

Sounds good.

I don't have the numbers to back up outright vouchers, but I've just as easily decided that I can't have a position on that. I believe in school choice and that parents should have the ability to "vote with their feet". I can support the idea of parents moving their tax dollars from school to school or district to district. Nothing says that you should remain at a failing neighborhood school.

As for getting tough with the Teacher's Unions, I can definitely support that. I also know that this could take years and years of fighting to win.

Via Newsalert!

We have a mayoral election next year

The frontrunner for Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel, former White House chief of staff, has outlined his education platform in a letter to Crain's Chicago Business.

Also former School Board President Gery Chico outlines his plank on education.

The outgoing Mayor Richard M. Daley also names an interim schools CEO in the person of Terry Mazany described by the Chicago Tribune as a philanthropist.