Jonah Edelman’s Stand for Children bankrolling Chicago turnarounds.
January 11, 2012
Jonah Edelman: “I came. I saw. I spent three million bucks.”
Following his success in doing a bamboozle on the IEA and the Illinois General Assembly in getting Senate Bill 7 passed, Jonah Edelman’s Oregon-based Stand for Children is using its deep $3 million pockets to back Rahm Emanuel’s plan for turnarounds.
Stand for Children was a staunch supporter of Senate Bill 7, which limited teacher tenure and made it more difficult for teachers to strike. Senate Bill 7 also gave Chicago school leaders the power to unilaterally lengthen the school day, which had previously been a subject in collective bargaining.
After the bill was passed last year, in a speech in front of the Aspen Institute, Executive Director Josh Edelman described how his group outfoxed the CTU in getting the bill passed and bragged that the bill would effectively prevent the teachers from ever striking.
Edelman wound up apologizing for his remarks, but his descriptions left a bad taste for many, including lawmakers who worked on Senate Bill 7.
Local activists have also been skeptical of Stand for Children because of its supporters. Though the Illinois chapter has not raised much money this year, last year it collected more than $3 million from local deep pockets including Sam Zell, formerly of the Tribune Co., and the Pritzker and Crown families.http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/notebook/2011/04/12/stand-children-illinois-raises-3-million (Penny Pritzker was appointed to the Chicago Board of Education by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.)
Jitu Brown, an education organizer from the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization, says his organization and Stand for Children differ on how they see education issues. KOCO was founded in 1960 by community and religious leaders, and Brown notes that it is a grassroots organization that wants to see more investment in neighborhood schools.
Stand for Children, in his view, is trying to push a top-down, corporate agenda that ultimately harms neighborhood schools and teachers.
Julie Woestehoff, executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education, says her group will never work with Stand for Children after Edelman’s speech. She says the group wants to destroy teachers unions as well as the democracy in the school system.
“Stand for Children comes into states with a pre-determined agenda and centrally-written legislative proposals,” she says.
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AND Mr. Brown & Ms. Woestehoff,close the schools & put all those children in virtual schools.
Where they will sit at home on a computer all day.
No school breakfast or lunch. No recess. No P.E. classes. No socialization with peers.
No Art instruction. No Music with real instruments.No human interactions.
No oversight…no accountability.
BUT–a lucrative proposition for corporate carpetbaggers.
AND–no building maintenance, no lunchroom staff, no crossing guards, no janitorial staff, no support staff and–best of all–no teachers.
Oh, how the taxpayers will save money!