PREA Prez

Bottom feeding, anti-union, and funder of school privatizers, Wal-Mart, has been run out of town, reports the Trib.

Wal-Mart got the word from city officials last month that Mayor Richard Daley doesn’t want to risk a messy showdown with unions over Wal-Mart—like the big-box store battle of 2006—while Chicago is still in the running as a host city for the 2016 Olympics, according to people familiar with the matter. The International Olympic Committee is slated to make that decision in October 2009.

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Gabe Lyon is a friend of mine. She runs Project Exploration here in Chicago. Today I received this sad letter from Gabe:

Friends,

If you read the Chicago Tribune last week you may have come across the following headline followed by a few paragraphs: Chicago man shot to death while standing on his front porch. Jason Gill was murdered. He was 26 years old.

I am writing to you tonight to honor Jason Gill, who was my godson and, more importantly, helped to inspire the creation of Project Exploration.

In a room of 6th graders at Fiske Elementary school, where I first began teaching, Jason was the one student whose spark of curiosity was so strong it carried him out of his seat to get a closer look, to try something himself, to get hands on with the subject matter, to ask questions fearlessly and sincerely…As his interest in art grew he found satisfaction in a passionate pursuit and found confidence and a new voice in drawing and art; as he grew older the voice went verbal and he began to rap…

Jason was one of four students I brought to Big Bend , Texas , in 1997, along with a college class from the University of Chicago . The wonder he and the other students experienced during that trip in no uncertain terms inspired the creation of Project Exploration – a science organization that reaches out specifically to students who aren’t academically successful but who are curious and open-minded…We created an entire organization dedicated to making room for kids like Jason, who get left out, or looked over because they don’t really excel at school, they don’t find success easily but when they do they embrace it and shine…

I brought Jason to Perspectives Charter School for high school because I believed he would thrive in a small environment that focused on knowing its students well. He found success there, though not easily, and he changed all of us in the process. Jason challenged us as caring educators to be our best selves as people; he helped everyone to grow, a little bit, and encouraged us to be curious, and open minded even when the struggles seemed overwhelming.

Jason was complicated, promising, artistic, frustrating, funny, challenging, curious – and shot dead standing on his porch, waiting for a family friend to bring back pizza. There were so many things about Jason’s life beyond his control but in spite of it all Jason inspired people to laugh and love and be their best selves.

I wish he wasn’t dead… and many other things when I think about Jason and his life and his family.

The funeral will be held Saturday, May 17, 2008

Visitation: 10:00 Service: 11:00 St. John Baptist Temple 6145 South Woodlawn - Chicago , IL 60637

Thank you for letting me share a few things about Jason with all of you who care so much about Project Exploration and Fiske school.

-gabe

Thanks to NY math teacher and popular blogger JD2718 for running my essay on A Nation at Risk. This is the one the Columbus Education Association blog solicited and then pulled at the last minute because it was too dangerous.

Donations can be sent to Doctors Without Borders.

Joes Williams of DFER is sniffing around the same fire hydrant.

This is why Alexander Russo is creepy.

He’ll link to a column like this in the LA Times.

Protecting an alleged child molester won’t get you fired from L.A. Unified, but supporting a charter movement will.

Wow! A guy who was a child molester wasn’t fired from the LAUSD, but a charter school advocate was? Why that is outrageous.

Except what do these two cases have to do with each other? Well, they both took place in LA. That’s one thing they have in common. They both took place in this century. That’s another thing they have in common. Uh. Oh, they both involved people who worked in the LAUSD. Hmmm. Anything else. Uh. No, not really.

Are people who are against charters for child molesting? Against child molesting: For charters?

Charters and child molesting. Good work, Russo. Thanks for bringing this brilliant yet meaningless relationship to our attention.

And sniffing at the same fire hydrant is DFER’s Joe Williams.

“I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.” -Bush

Read the entire article here.

Today in Iraq.

The bus drivers who worked for District 300 lost their jobs when the district out-sourced the bus contract.

The Daily Herald reports:

Now the drivers who work for the private company contracted by District 300 have won the right to collective bargaining. A question that remains is who will represent them? The IEA, who represented them when they worked directly for District 300? Or the Teamsters?

Durham (the private contractor) must start negotiating a contract with the Illinois Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, by June 24.

The contractor hasn’t bargained with either union, saying it was waiting for the unions and drivers to resolve the issue of representation.

If the Illinois Education Association can wring concessions from Durham, the union will have an achievement to point to when it campaigns prior to the union election set for Oct. 29.

The election date and bargaining deadline were set under a settlement agreement reached Friday between Durham and the unions.

Drivers on both sides of the union dispute applauded the settlement but said they should have had a contract and an election months ago.

Does “lunch” appear on the test?

CNN reports that schools around the country are cutting corners…on lunch!

Well, what the hell. We don’t test lunch anyway.

Rising food prices are making it harder for schools to cook up ways to give kids the nutrition they need.

Right now, they’re taking shortcuts and shuffling ingredients to make up the difference, but that’s only a short-term solution with long-term consequences on the horizon.

“I’ve been in school service for 27 years and this is the worst it’s ever been,” said Sara Gasiorowski, food service director for Wayne Township Schools in Indianapolis. “I have never seen food prices jump up so far.”

The Bloomingdale Trail.

Tonight Anne and I head over for some docent training by the Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail. Saturday, for the second annual Chicago Places and Spaces tour, we’ll be taking a group of 25 or so people (it is sold out, we’re told) on a walking tour of the Bloomingdale Trail. An abandoned railroad viaduct, it runs three miles through a number of Chicago neighborhoods from East Bucktown to West Logan Square.

Plans for this urban park include a walking and biking trail, and most interesting to me, a resource for a dozen urban schools that are next to or close to the trail:

There are 12 schools near-by the Trail, and three are directly adjacent. The Trail will provide a safe route to school. Other community institutions along the Trail include the YMCA, churches, and community service organizations. The Trail will help link schools to after-school programs provided by these institutions. Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail has worked closely with these groups and continues to reach out and expand our connections with all the organizations in the community that could benefit from the Trail.

Find out more here.