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Today’s must-reads

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* Take a little time to read both of these stories today…

* In These Times: What Happens When an Ayn Rand Devotee Runs a Public School System? Just Ask Chicago.

* Washington Post: Five myths about charter schools

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 2:26 am

Comments

Striking how concentrated charters are in places with large minority populations. This is the tell- no one is clamoring for a charter school in Kenilworth, and if someone was, they’d get run out of town.

Comment by chi Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 7:56 am
A grown man with a portrait of Ayn Rand on the wall? Does he still live in the dorms? Play Dungeons and Dragons?

If he’s a disciple of the “philosophy” of navel-gazing selfishness from a D-list scribbler of turgid potboilers, what’s he been doing on the government payroll all his life?

Shouldn’t he be out there in the private sector, building all those great things just by himself?

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 8:58 am
Sad. I am surprised he doesn’t work for Governor Rauner. The government is not in the business of profit, it is in the business of service.

Comment by Power House Prowler Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 9:05 am
And tomorrow’s “must-read” is a pamphlet on how the proletariat can rightfully retake control of the means of production.

Comment by Toastmaster Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 9:13 am
Charter schools in Chicago will offer up scandals that will make Silver Shovel and Greylord look like child’s play

Comment by DuPage Saint Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 9:25 am
Best read is the WSJ advance obit on Mr. CAT covers his bad decision to overpay for mining equipment capacity. The ugly results is that thousands of IL workers lost their jobs so Mr. CAT could hold down expenses and turn a profit. As you recall BigBrain and the Superstars constantly S* up to Mr. CAT like he is the biz genius that will save IL if we just screw enough workers and bring back pollution. The WSJ uses quotes from a Vegas speech and notes he has 2 years before turning 65 — the typical age of retirement.

Comment by Annonin' Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 9:26 am
Me thinks the writer of the In These Times piece has a bit of a viewpoint as it were…

Comment by Oneman Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 9:36 am
Charter schools don’t give you access to better teachers. It only increases the odds (exponentially) that your child will be in a class with other students whose parents place a high priority on education.

Comment by Downstate Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 9:42 am
At least he’s not going to jail. Gov’t improvements are in baby steps.

Comment by Hah Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 9:44 am
He’s totally for small government as long as he can receive his six figure salary working in government.

Comment by Carhartt Representative Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 9:44 am
“it is in the business of service”

Of course a government is not in the business of profit. What it does need to do is to provides the infrastructure and social services that are within it’s means to do so.

There is no end of good things to do with other people’s money.

Comment by plutocrat03 Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 9:45 am
“And tomorrow’s ‘must-read’ is a pamphlet on how the proletariat can rightfully retake control of the means of production.”

Excellent!

An exquisite parody of the dualistic childishness of Randian ‘philosophy’!

Bravo!

– MrJM

Comment by @MisterJayEm Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 9:47 am
–Striking how concentrated charters are in places with large minority populations. This is the tell- no one is clamoring for a charter school in Kenilworth, and if someone was, they’d get run out of town.–

More likely they wouldn’t get anyone enrolled because the kids are either: 1. In good public schools; 2. In good parochial schools because the family can afford it; or to a lesser extent 3. Homeschooled. Add all these things up and the demand for an alternative to the public schools just isn’t there.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 9:52 am
From that Windy City Times Claypool interview:

Claypool: …The individual, not the collective and not the state, is what matters…I have two photographs; one is of Martin Luther King and the other is of Ayn Rand. I have those because I believe that both were champions of power and the rights of individuals. I think too often that the state, in the name of religion or something else, tends to dehumanize or minimize or restrain the power of individuals … .

Wow, where to start? As mention above, this from a guy who has spent most of his adult life on a public payroll. And does he get that MLK (who acted “in the name of religion,”) wouldn’t have accomplished anything without “the state”? Brown v. The Board, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act were acts of the collectivists to restrain the power individuals to discriminate. Pick a lane, Forrest.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 10:00 am
Charter schools do not out perform public schools, that is what the research tells us. What is not mentioned is that Charter schools skew even that record by picking their students and dumping those that don’t meet expectations. If you want good teachers you have to offer what good teachers want. Insecure low paying charter jobs are not what good teachers want. Charters recruit the dregs, they rely on professional arbitrage.

Comment by wondering Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 10:14 am
= And does he get that MLK (who acted “in the name of religion,”) wouldn’t have accomplished anything without “the state”?=

Uhm, The “state” was systematically lynching blacks throughout the south. Voting rights were denied and segregation was enforced–African Americans were kept in chains despite the Civil War–ONLY because of the power of the state and the enforcement of unjust laws. MLK’s life was in danger every day because of the government and its awesome powers, all of which were systematically organized to deny the individual dignity of the black man.

Preservation of white supremacy was viewed as more important than the lives and liberties of individuals. That was the justification for the government to use force against African Americans to keep them in their “place.”

Comment by Illini Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 10:25 am
–Uhm, The “state” was systematically lynching blacks throughout the south. Voting rights were denied and segregation was enforced–African Americans were kept in chains despite the Civil War–ONLY because of the power of the state and the enforcement of unjust laws. MLK’s life was in danger every day because of the government and its awesome powers, all of which were systematically organized to deny the individual dignity of the black man.–

Illini, I guess in your studies you haven’t got to the 1950s and 1960s yet, where the national “state” intervened in promoting and ensuring civil rights.

Wait until you get to 1957, when Pres. Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne to enforce Brown vs. Board of Education and integrate Little Rock High School at the points of fixed bayonets.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 10:34 am
Wow. I’m stunned.
Ayn Rand. Who knew?
Are there ANY real Democrats left in Chicago?

Dylan tried to warn us:

Look out kid
They keep it all hid

Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 10:36 am
Since In These Times did a hatchet job on Forrest Claypool maybe they could do a follow up story on the guy they are shilling for, Jesse Sharkey? CTU union chief, Marxist zealot, multi-million dollar trust fund beneficiary, secret member of the 1%, wealthy land owner. If Forrest can’t run the schools because he is alleged to be a capitalist, maybe Sharkey is not qualified to run CTU because he and his wife are wealthy and are devotees to their trust fund. I wonder what they invest in?

Comment by Joe Sampson Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 10:42 am
They look like public employees, talk like public employees, but they’re all privatized.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Chicago-style.

Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 11:06 am
–If Forrest can’t run the schools because he is alleged to be a capitalist…–

I’m quite certain you can be a capitalist, alleged or otherwise, without being a Randian.

Randian “ethics” is explicitly atheistic in order to reject the teachings of responsibility to community found in the New Testament and among the shared prophets of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

So it begs the original question raised in the article: why has this wannabe Howard Roark spent his adult life getting fat at the public trough running institutions devoted to community responsibility?

You know, there’s all sorts of good stuff found in religion and the Constitution as to the humanity of the individual. You don’t have to go dumpster-diving with Ayn Rand and worship dollar signs to find it.

But, it does explain why Rauner dropped all those hundreds of thousands of dollars on Claypool over the years.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 11:11 am
Is this what passes for journalism these days? I have been a Chicago resident for a long time and I remember the Park District in the late 1980’s as a place where corruption was rampant and kids were affraid to use the parks. Before, 2011 I remember the CTA always embroilled in a budget crisis and lousy service, particularly the Red Line south. Gee, Claypool is horrible guy for cutting waste and investing in children or cutting waste and investing in transportation assets, like the new Red Line south or new buses so people, particularly poor people, can move about the city. Instead, let’s turn the city over to CTU and let them run it for a while, which is akin to making a bad situation worse.

Comment by Don Ames Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 11:14 am
Yes, Charter Schools outperform regular schools FOR MINORITIES IN URBAN AREAS. The Post’s “Myth #3″ notes the distinction and other studies back this up (e.g., http://credo.stanford.edu/research-reports.html).

Not to mention studies showing immense promise for public school choice and the limited experimentation permitted under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Comment by lake county democrat Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 11:18 am
I did some quick research and during Claypool’s stint at CTA, the total number of unionized employees increased by 900!

Comment by Teve DeMotte Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 11:21 am
From a rural school perspective (although in some ways we are quasi suburban given our proximity to Bloomington/Normal):

Privatization has been a savior for us in the meal service area. It has allowed our program to operate just above break even and provide a quality meal for students. With all of the federally required changes in the last few years, we just did not have the local capacity to address the issue. Our vendor supports our local personnel with the menus and research required.It has been an excellent marriage.

In other areas we have not “privatized” because our cost control and quality of service has been very good. Transportation is an area that schools outsource. We have avoided this and brought costs down by 20% while maintaining quality of service.

Outsourcing in the public sector is useful when the capacity does not exist within the public agency. And they should not outsource core services.

Public service is about quality and value. That seems to be hard to find in Chicago.

The real issue for CPS is it’s size and poverty. It is an argument against consolidating districts down to a few massive school districts with decentralized management. Obviously with 400,000 students CPS is unique in Illinois. But similar issues can begin to occur in districts of 5,000 and up. Efficiency can be undermined by size in schools.

13% of our schools are responsible for 100% of the “reforms”, that is a real problem that has not been addressed. The problems faced by high poverty urban districts are not shared by most schools. But we are forced to deal with “reforms” that do not work well for us like SB 100.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 11:23 am
“Wow. I’m stunned.
Ayn Rand. Who knew?”

Raises hand, though I don’t remember why I knew that.

Of course, Ms Rand ended up living off those government ‘handouts’ she wrote against.

Comment by Cheryl44 Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 11:51 am
= immense promise for public school choice=

Based on what?

The narrative fails to address how to get kids to the schools they “choose” maybe you can answer that as well.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 11:54 am
= immense promise for public school choice=

Does that promise include letting kids from North Chicago and Waukegan taking their vouchers and enrolling at New Trier?

Kids from Austin going to Oak Park-River Forest?

Kids from Brookfield and Bellwood going to Hinsdale Central?

Or are some public school choices more equal than others?

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 12:03 pm
JS Mill - For starts, legions of parents were willing to do the transportation themselves (those lucky enough to win the NCLB Act lottery in Chicago did just that). In the far north suburbs how many miles do some kids travel to go to high school or junior high school? I grew up in a relatively densely populated suburb and traveled over 3 miles to get to junior high school - in Chicago that encompasses a lot of schools.

Comment by lake county democrat Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 12:03 pm
@LCD- So this is only for suburban/urban folks willing to do the driving?

How egalitarian of you.

Our district is 170 square miles and 18 miles across. We have districts in the state that are nearly 400 square miles.

And, what about families that cannot afford the gas or do not have a car? Screw them?

Thus the light of day begins to shine on the canard that is vouchers.

It is (primarily) a (tax) break for the wealthy.

Tell me more about the “legions” and from where you draw the numbers for the fine Romans.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 12:23 pm
Connect the dots…

Jesse Sharkey, Chicago Teachers Union Vice President, is married to Julie Fain.

Julie Fain was an Associate Publisher for IN THESE TIMES.

IN THESE TIMES wrote the piece on Claypool.

CTU and Sharkey talk about transparency all the time, maybe they should practice what they preach.

Comment by Connect the Dots Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 12:56 pm
Whether or not charter schools are better or worse than public schools, they do give parents more choices. I lean toward giving parents more choices — good, bad, or indifferent.

Comment by Just Observing Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 12:58 pm
‘Whether or not charter schools are better or worse than public schools, they do give parents more choices. I lean toward giving parents more choices — good, bad, or indifferent.’

They give more choices to some parents, while they take away the choice that most parents want–a well-funded and functional neighborhood public school. In a time when Chicago has lost students, we’ve added a lot of new seats in charters and that means CPS is paying for two heating bills, two principals, two teachers, and even two desks in way too many cases.

Comment by Carhartt Representative Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 1:08 pm
===Since In These Times did a hatchet job===

Restating his being a Randian is a hatchet job?

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 1:17 pm
Photos of MLK and Ayn Rand? I guess Forrest was going for freshmen year pseudo-intellectual irony — like Private Joker in Full Metal Jacket:

“Sir, I think I’m trying to suggest something about the duality of Man, Sir.”

All kidding aside, Paul Ryan and Bruce Rauner have helped pull Rand into the political consciousness in a way that she wasn’t ten or twelve years ago. Wonder if Claypool still has that photo in his CPS office? Here’s hoping a Chicago reporter follows up.

Comment by Rotary Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 1:28 pm
JS Mill — no, not just them, but I sure as heavenly-heck wouldn’t deny such devoted parents the opportunity. You apparently would. Talk about making the good hostage to the perfect: “well, I’m in a rural district and some of them might not have cars, so let’s not let any parent do it!” And who said anything about vouchers? They aren’t necessarily part of a public school choice system - you can do it by guaranteeing each school keep a certain percentage of slots available for migrating students. As for numbers, there were waiting lists for transfers for nearly every Title 1 school under NCLB that fell below standards. If I recall correctly, there were 4,000 CPS families on such a list and there are currently something like 15,000 on the charter school waiting list.

Comment by lake county democrat Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 1:45 pm
The charter system is a corrupt mess in Chicago. Vouchers are far more honest and valuable to the students and families so that they can be free.

They have a better system using the BASIS system in Arizona. It’s not perfect and there are some questions regarding their attrition rates, but I know of the ones in Scottsdale near my home there and their results have been excellent, and their costs are less than the public schools n the area which spend a fraction of they spend in Chicago and the suburbs.

Comment by Illinois Bob Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 1:58 pm
Claypool demonstrates how close the economic philosophy is between centrist Democrats and Republicans like Speaker Ryan and Gov. Rauner.

Wordslinger is on fire today. His trenchant wit is appreciated.

Comment by anon Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 2:21 pm
Yes Rich it is. The whole purpose of the smear job paid for by CTU is to say that because Claypool had a picture or whatever on his wall years ago that somehow he is unqualified to run the Chicago Public Schools. As is typical CTU fashion, they spin things as they see fit much of it self serving and often based on flat out falsehoods and yet no one questions it, including you. All I am saying, is why reporters do not question Jesse Sharkey? He is always calling people out for being part of the 1%, yet he is part of the very thing he chastises. If Claypool is not qualified to run CPS because of a purported ideological supposition that Sharkey has an issue with, I am saying Sharkey should be held to same standard and he should not be allowed to run CTU. A multi-millionaire trust fund beneficiary masquerading as a Marxist man of the people is ill-suited to run CTU. I hope a Chicago reporter has the guts to report who Jesse Sharkey really is and the fact the he is part of the 1%.

Comment by Joe Sampson Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 2:21 pm
@LCD Apparently Lake County does not have a good reading program or you are channeling Donald Trump;

=“well, I’m in a rural district and some of them might not have cars, so let’s not let any parent do it!” And who said anything about vouchers?=

Ummm, yeah most people here have cars. But the geography itself is a prohibitive factor given what would be extreme (to borrow from MJM) commutes.

But many good folks in the city do not have autos and the public transit maze makes the commute almost impossible for many.

School choice within CPS already exists. What you probably do not know are the requirements in Illinois.

In Illinois a district that has to offer choice must petition other schools and request that they accept students. That action is taken by the other district school boards. And they almost always say “no”.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 2:22 pm
Word inspires this question: Why don’t the advocates of school choice ever propose statewide public school choice, allowing students to enroll in any district of their choice, regardless of where they live?

Comment by anon Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 2:23 pm
Interesting reading. Thanks.

As JS Mill pointed out, outsourcing can be good or bad depending on how it is managed. I tend to favor it for non-core functions. Especially when operating within a legally created monopoly. But it does need to be managed.

The dream of Charter schools was that they could be like good private schools. Also that they could find creative ways to teach students. That some work and some don’t is to be expected. A competitive system should grow the winners and end the losers. The evaluation system in Illinois may be too political to be effective.

I support vouchers because I have seen poor school systems wreck communities. Parents fled Hartford, Connecticut when I lived there. The same has happened in Decatur, Illinois. Vouchers might have helped those communities stabilize.

I understand that the economics differ between rural and urban communities.

Comment by Last Bull Moose Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 2:25 pm
=If I recall correctly, there were 4,000 CPS families on such a list and there are currently something like 15,000 on the charter school waiting list.=

That’s a myth from charter supporters. If a student applied for 6 charter schools he was recorded as 6 different students. In reality charter schools in Chicago have many open seats. Some of them would have been closed for under-utilization if they were public schools.

Comment by Carhartt Representative Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 2:31 pm
=== They give more choices to some parents, while they take away the choice that most parents want–a well-funded and functional neighborhood public school. In a time when Chicago has lost students, we’ve added a lot of new seats in charters and that means CPS is paying for two heating bills, two principals, two teachers, and even two desks in way too many cases. ===

What your saying is that CPS continues to order desks, hire teachers, etc. for students not even attending their schools. Sounds like poor fiscal management to me.

Could there be inefficiencies as charter schools expand and public schools adjust — sure — but that can work itself out over the years.

Comment by Just Observing Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 4:24 pm
Back in Sept Rich did a post on CPS school enrollment it included charter schools. At the ten day point according to the Sun Times article: “Some 8,181 of those students left CPS-run schools, which now count 294,967 students in grades K-12, according to numbers tallied from the 10th day of school. Privately-managed charter schools have so far lost 6,600 students compared to last September, totaling 54,889 students — a loss of about 10 percent. Three charter schools left the district but remained open, though, accounting for about 1,000 of charters’ decline.” Chicago Sun Times 09/26/2016.

The truth is because of the combined impact of the fiscal collapse of CPS and violence in communities in the City both charter schools and traditional schools are massively losing students. The problems of CPS are systemic and neither Mr. Claypool nor Mayor Emanuel have stopped the bleeding and both educate their kids in excellent private schools (FW Parker and UC Lab School) as do many higher income parents in the City. I don’t blame them, but the hypocrisy is noted.

Comment by Rod Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 4:38 pm
=I support vouchers because I have seen poor school systems wreck communities. Parents fled Hartford, Connecticut when I lived there. The same has happened in Decatur, Illinois. Vouchers might have helped those communities stabilize.

I understand that the economics differ between rural and urban communities.=

Vouchers would not have changed what happened in Decatur- loss of jobs among the issues. Voichers don’t change that. Or much of anything else that I can tell other than providing a nice benefit to those already sending theirs kids to private school.

No matter if you live in Chicago, the suburbs, or rural Illinois the concept of mass migrations to “good” schools is an empty and false narrative.

The concept depends on a misunderstanding of povert and it’s effects.

Let’s force wealthy kids to move to “bad” schools. Overnight they would be high achieving schools.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Oct 17, 16 @ 6:21 pm
==Word inspires this question: Why don’t the advocates of school choice ever propose statewide public school choice, allowing students to enroll in any district of their choice, regardless of where they live?==

Rev. Meeks did that once.

What happened to that guy?

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Oct 18, 16 @ 12:40 am
Michigan actually allows students to enroll across district lines. Although districts can refuse to accept students, there are still 100,000 students in districts other than their own. It turns out it doesn’t help either test scores http://bridgemi.com/2016/04/study-schools-of-choice-dont-improve-test-scores/ and actually encourages white students to leave districts that black students are transferring into. http://bridgemi.com/2016/09/school-choice-michigans-new-white-flight/ Not an easy fix to anything.

Comment by Ann Tuesday, Oct 18, 16 @ 8:31 pm