May Ren10 Newsletter

The May Ren10 newsletter is out -- see below.  Tell us if there's anything fascinating, objectionable, or othewise notable in there.  I can't bear to read it right now.  Need more coffee.

UPDATE:  Sorry about the glitch reading comments. 

May 2007

Volume 3, Issue 5

 

REN10 TOP TEN

Top Ten Reasons to Join a TAC (Transition Advisory Council)

* With the release of the 2007 Request for Proposals (RFP), the Office of New Schools encourages parents and community members to become involved in the process of selecting new schools for Chicago’s priority communities.

10.������ Learn more about the school selection process.

9.�������� Explore the education options and programs available to Chicago students.

8.�������� Meet your neighbors and community leaders.

7.�������� Expose yourself to current educational research and the qualities of effective schools.

6.�������� Conduct school visits.

5.�������� Receive training in community organizing techniques.

4.�������� Attend a weekend retreat with educational experts from across the nation.

3.�������� Meet CPS leaders (such as the CEO, Board President and School Board Members).

2.�������� Participate directly in your children’s future.

1.��������� Engage in True Academic Change!

EVENTS

National Charter Schools Week | April 30 – May 4, 2007

 

President George W. Bush has proclaimed the week of April 29 – May 5, 2007, National Charter Schools Week, in order to recognize the important contributions of charter schools, to honor all those involved in charter schools, and to recognize their efforts in helping their students meet high expectations.� Right now there are about 4,000 charter schools in 40 states and the District of Columbia helping more than one million students realize their full potential.�

 

Both the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives will also introduce resolutions celebrating National Charter Schools Week.�

 

For more information, please visit the White House website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/04/20070427-2.html

 

and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools website: http://www.uscharterschools.org/cs/r/view/uscs_rs/2265.

 

 

 

RSF Educational Entrepreneurship Series | May 2007 Seminars

 

Supported by a grant from The Boeing Company, The Renaissance Schools Fund (RSF) is hosting New Ventures in Education: an Educational Entrepreneurship Series. New Ventures is a seminar series that exposes school operators to the latest innovations and best practices in new school development.� New Ventures in Education offers 14 seminars, featuring over 20 local and national experts.� The seminars are open to the entire Chicago education community and are free of charge.

 

Human Capital: Professional Development

Tuesday, May 8th (4 p.m. – 7 p.m.)

TAMS Center (501 W. 35th Street)

 

Future seminar topics will include:

• Infrastructure and Operations Management

• Curricular Innovation and Remediation

• Design Framework Workshop

• Board Governance

• Community Outreach

• Human Capital: Recruiting and Retaining Teachers

• Human Capital: Teacher Evaluation and Incentives

• Addressing Student Social and Emotional Needs

• Healthy Lifestyles

� 

RSVP required for seminar admission. For updated information and registration process, please visit http://www.rsfchicago.org/News.html.

 

 

 

CPS Teacher Career Fair | May 19, 2007 | 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM

 

Charter, Contract and Performance School principals and administrators are encouraged to participate in the upcoming CPS Certified Teacher Career Fair on Saturday, May 19, 2007, and meet highly qualified, certified teacher candidates to fill vacancies for the upcoming school year.   

 

As space is limited, reservations will be processed on a first come, first served basis.  Registration for this event will close promptly at midnight on Friday, May 4, 2007 or when the event is full.

 

We look forward to seeing you at our first Certified Teacher Career Fair of the hiring season! Please call the CPS Human Resources Department at 773-553-1045 for additional information.

 

 

 

Charter Public Schools Day at the Capitol in Springfield | May 16, 2007

 

On Wednesday, May 16, hundreds of charter public school advocates, parents, students, teachers, staff and board members will travel to the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield to make their voices heard.� The all-day May 16 Lobby Day offers an opportunity for you to share success stories about charter schools and advocate for more charter public schools so that more families will have a charter option.� The Illinois Network of Charter Schools (INCS) will provide buses and lunch for the day and conduct a half-day training session on Saturday, May 12, for those who plan to participate in the day of action.�

 

To register, reserve bus seats or get more information, please contact Carlos Perez at 312-235-0798 (ext.15), cperez@incschools.org; or Marvin Smith, (ext. 26), msmith@incschools.org.

 

 

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS 

 

2007 Request for Proposals (RFP) Released

 

The Office of New Schools is excited to announce the launch of the fourth annual Request for Proposals (RFP) for schools starting in 2008 or 2009.� This year’s RFP was released on April 11 during a public press conference at Columbia Explorer’s Academy in Brighton Park.

 

Copies of the RFP and the RFP Appendix are available at the Office of New Schools and at www.ren2010.cps.k12.il.us.� CDs of the Appendix are also available.� Design Teams may pick up copies at ONS weekdays from 9am to 5pm or request that copies be sent.� Please contact Rachel Ksenyak at 773-553-4197 or rlksenyak@cps.k12.il.us with any questions or to request copies.

 

There are several upcoming key dates to keep in mind. �Mandatory Design Frameworks are due June 9^th, followed by Design Framework Interviews in late June.� The entire RFP process concludes with CPS Board decisions on October 25.� A detailed timeline with all key dates can be found in the RFP.

�

This year, the RFP emphasizes two specific district priorities:

�����������

1) Opening new schools in Priority Communities that do not currently benefit from a new school; these communities include:

�����������

����������� East Garfield Park ����������������� South Shore

����������� Greater Grand Crossing ��������� Washington Park

����������� Near South Side �������������������� West Elsdon

����������� Pullman ��������������������������������� West Garfield Park

����������� Riverdale ������������������������������� West Lawn

����������� Roseland �������������������������������� West Pullman

����������� South Chicago

 

2) Opening new high schools which focus on Career Prep.

 

 

The Office of New Schools is offering many new services for Design Teams.� May through August, subject-specific consultants will be available for individualized services, and Design Teams are encouraged to schedule mock interviews to prepare them for the CET interview process.� The Renaissance Schools Fund is also pioneering a new seminar series, New Ventures in Education, to expose new school operators to best practices and assist in the proposal development process.� Please see announcement above for details on these sessions.

 

 

 

TAC members needed for Round IV of the Request For Proposals

 

What is a TAC?� A Transition Advisory Council is comprised of parents, community/faith-based representatives, and elected officials who voluntarily serve as liaisons between Chicago Public Schools and the community in which a proposed new school will open.

 

This year TACs will be formed for the following CPS buildings:

 

Parker Elementary ����������������� (6800 S. Stewart, Englewood)

Pershing West Elementary ���� (3200 S. Calumet, Douglas)

Woodson South ��������������������� (4444 S. Evans, Grand Boulevard)

 

For a TAC application contact Brenda J. Bell at 773-553-1538 or visit www.ren2010.cps.k12.il.us.

Cohort III Completes the Second Annual Incubation Retreat

 

In April, schools leaders from Cohort III schools (charter, contract and performance schools opening in Fall 07) gathered for a three-day professional development conference in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Leaders attended workshops on data-driven decision making and interim assessments presented by Mark Murphy and Allison Auda of New Leaders for New Schools.  Esme Raji Codell, a former CPS elementary school teacher and literacy advocate, spoke, as did Greg Darnieder, Director of Post Secondary Education for CPS, and Chris Barbic, Director of the YES College Prep Charter Schools in Houston, TX, who both presented on the importance of integrating post secondary education at all levels. In addition, the following Cohort III leaders presented various workshops to their colleagues: Evelyn Murdock and John Horan (North Lawndale College Prep), Kimberly Hinton (Marine Military Academy), Bill Gerstein (Austin Polytechnical Academy), Collette Unger-Teasley (Frazier International Magnet School), and Kate Hogan (TEAM Englewood Community Academy). The retreat was a great success due in large part to the enthusiasm and spirit of the Cohort III leaders!

Over 2500 Attend National Charter Schools Conference

 

The 2007 National Charter Schools Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was an excellent professional development and networking opportunity for the new school community.� Participants were able to choose among over one hundred informative sessions covering subjects such as facilities, public relations, assessment, special education, NCLB, and many more.� Keynote speakers included U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham, and former NBA star and charter founder Kevin Johnson.�

 

Representatives of the CPS Office of New Schools attended this conference, as well as many of our partners from Chicago, including representatives from the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, Betty Shabazz International Charter School, UNO Charter Network, Perspectives Charter School, Civitas, Noble Street Charter Network, ACE Tech, Mosaica (Frazier Preparatory Academy), and Galapagos Charter School.

�

Mark your calendars for 2008 – the conference will be held in New Orleans!

Renewal of Academy of Communication and Technology (A.C.T.) Charter School

 

Please join the Office of New Schools in congratulating ACT Charter School, which, following a rigorous application and evaluation process, has been renewed by the Chicago Board of Education for a five-year term� �

Academy for Urban School Leadership to Turn Around Harvard Elementary School

 

This fall, Harvard Elementary School, CPS’ second turn-around school, will open under a new management team.  The Academy For Urban School Leadership (AUSL), a non-profit organization that currently operates five CPS schools, will take over operations at Harvard, which the Chicago Board of Education voted to reconstitute at the April 25, 2007, board meeting.  In December 2006, AUSL was pre-approved to provide turn-around services to schools that the Board votes to reconstitute. AUSL was selected for several reasons:

 

o    AUSL has successfully managed two turn-arounds, one at Dodge (which was closed in 2002 and reopened in 2003) and one at Sherman (which was reconstituted in June 2006 and reopened in September 2006); Dodge had the highest ISAT test scores gains in the state in 2005-06.

 

o    AUSL has a strong teacher pipeline, a commitment to working with the local community, a robust leadership recruiting network and the ability to leverage outside resources to bring to the school.

 

The teachers at the five CPS performance schools that AUSL currently manages are all certified teachers employed by the Chicago Public Schools.  The schools operate pursuant to the terms of the Board of Education/Chicago Teachers Union Bargaining Agreement.  The turn-around initiative is a way for CPS to establish a high-quality education program at a school without displacing students.

Chicago Math and Science Academy Students win 1^st and 2^nd Place in Art Contest

 Congratulations to Francisco Correa and Luis Correa of C.M.S.A. for winning 1^st and 2^nd place prizes ($250 and $150, respectively) in the Safe Haven Art Contest, sponsored by the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation of Illinois. �Francisco and Luis were awarded their prizes on April 3, Safe Haven Day, and their artwork was displayed along with their biographies at the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago.� Please visit www.saveabandonedbabies.org for more information.

Lindblom Students Recognized for Contributions to Englewood Head Start Program

The Lindblom Math and Science Academy, one of Chicago’s selective enrollment high schools located in the Englewood community, was featured in a Chicago Tribune article on April 15, 2007.� Lindblom offers 15 colloquia, weekly activities that explore topics typically not covered in the classroom.� The 22 students in the Head Start colloquium, headed by English teacher Lisa Prodromo, spend three hours every Wednesday morning at the Englewood Head Start center, passing on their knowledge and skills to the Head Start children.� This is a great opportunity for students to demonstrate what they learn, apply their intellectual knowledge to real life situations, and serve their community.�

Comments

Is the new CPS Marine ROTC HS part of Ren 10?

[Kugler]

Alexander have you got a copy of the new documentary by two CPS teachers, Renaissance 2010: On the Frontlines?

It is great. Finally the other half of the story is being told.

It has all the usual characters and some good history of how Ren2010 came about.

Thanks Guys!

[one reason]

Top one reason not to join.

http://district299.typepad.com/district299/files/midsouth_initial_report_13107.pdf

No winners, just profits.

It shows there are 3 comments on this thread but they don't appear when I open the thread?

YUK--forgive me. Talk about reading it in the
Enquirer....

I read here that they are using the TAMS Center (501
W. 35th Street) for their gatherings and information
sessions. Isn't that kind of scabby or double dipping
or something?
Maybe CTU and CPS teachers should strike TAMS for
aiding and abetting this.
The Ohio Charter information was well done. Clearly,
politicians are realizing that they will personally
have to be responsible for the failure of charters
since they do not like things they (controversially)
legislate, then throw money at taking from the poor)
and then it fails.

[where are the comments]

comments only show when posting

Is this the Ren10 newletter or the charter school/privatization newsletter? Or is that redundant?

[Don't get too involved or you'll be investigated.]

Parents,

Learn from Curie on what they have went through.

Don't get involved. You will never know who's foot you may step on. A friend of the mayor's wife or the CPS Board of the I.G.

Just let the Board do what they want to do.

Don't get fooled about children first. Its good to get involved, but don't get too involved or too knowledgeable, unless you are from UNO or a faithbase organization that gets a lot for $1.00 from the city.

Otherwise, the Law Dept will come looking for any reason to get you out of the way.

So just concentrate on your own children and as John Kass says "Shut Up" and mind your own business. This is Chicago.

I object to the comment that AUSL have successfully turned around Sherman, they just took charge. Dodge haven't been in operation long enough to say it has been turned around.
CPS has accountability standards for charter schools and public schools. ACT charter high school ranks 61 out of 87 high schools. On 2006 PSAE 76% of students failed to meet standards in reading and 91% in math. According to federal accountability standards they should be a school scheduled for re-structuring.

Still can't see the posted comments here. A glitch?

[watch out]

Top one reason not to join.

http://district299.typepad.com/district299/files/midsouth_initial_report_13107.pdf

No winners, just profits.

I just finished reading the midsouth report and it is really sad for everyone especially the students and parents.

It is a good thing that a group officially did this study to expose the impact in school communities as a result of reform through charters/privatization.

We often hear the cheering for charters but there has been silence and neglect about how charters impact other schools.

I worked at a charter and I saw many of the exact same negative affects on the students, teachers and community because of mobility, lack of resources and increase in discipline problems. All of it was ignored by the school to create of veil of success.

I hope that this report will be taken seriously by the policy makers in education to realize that an immediate change is needed to ameliorate the disintegrating and corroding system of education present in Chicago.

[kim]

What is How does ACT rank in comparison to high schools in the Garfield Park neighborhood? Over 95 pecent of the kids that attend ACT come from that neighborhood. There are no tests to get in. In the same way that is not fair to judge the success of Orr in comparison to Northside College Prep, ACT should be judged in comparison to the other educational opportunities in that neighborhood. How does the college placement rate of ACT compare to neighborhood high schools? I would hazard to guess it is not even close.

[Charlie]

Quick note...Stop blaming charters! As even the report says, only one third of Ren10 schools will be charters.

With or without charters this would be happening. Most charters are stepping in and trying to provide the best education possible in a way that makes sense. If they were to immediately take in every displaced student in the community, that school would end up no better than the one that it is replacing

If you have problems with Ren10 start blaming CPS for not having a better plan to deal with displaced students. CPS should have had the foresight to better plan this process, either by closing under performing schools more slowly or having feasible and well thought out solutions for the placement of these students.

The truth is it will be about another ten years before we are really able to see the impact of this initiative. I just hope that by then the ends justify the means, because it is truly sad what is happening to many of these students.

[1.04]

Well Done

Charlie excellent job of blaming the victim.

"Renaissance 2010: On the Frontlines." The film is an amateur documentary, made by teachers Jackson Potter of Englewood High School and Al Ramirez of Ruiz Elementary, who are also Chicago Teachers Union delegates.

I would like to see this documentary. Anybody know how to view it?

[find it]

come out to the meeting tomorrow and buy it.

[George Schmidt]

"Is this the Ren10 newletter or the charter school/privatization newsletter? Or is that redundant?"

Great question. It answers itself, doesn't it. One read through any of the Ren 2010 newsletters (they've been coming out monthly since Hosannah caiught the mayor's eye and began her rise to fame and fortune) shows that.

Ren 2010 has always been the anti-public school charter hype privatization newsletter. The "renaissance" school closings have been a privatization ploy since 2002, when Arne closed Dodge, Williams and Terrell, or 2003, when Eden Martin authored "Left Behind." Or 2004, when Mayor Daley read the script from "Left Behind" announcing "Renaissance 2010."

The question is why CPS is subsidizing so much of the Ren 2010 stuff with public money, and how to stop it. These subsidies include conferences, (see the newsletter), newsletters, and a web site that makes the CPS official website look like something out of the days of quill pens. Right now we're again in the middle of "RFP" land, with "TAC" sprouting in targeted communities like dandelions.

By the way, the majority of "new" schools they've actually established under Ren 2010 (i.e., approved by CPS and either in existence or already budgeted) number nearly 60 charter schools.

That's the total number of separate addresses at which you can find these privatized union busting sanctimonious self-righteous thingies if you go across Chicago and to each address where CPS dollars are being poured into them.

If you want to update your list, go to the November 2006 Board meeting agenda and Action agenda and write down the addresses of all those new locations at which Noble St., Aspira, Chicago International and their ilk will be operating (at public expense) soon.

Despite the Orwellean verbiage, these are not "campuses." They are actual buildings -- or in some cases strange sites about one of which I just published to have some fun. Everyone should check out Aspira's "Rosa Parks" thingy, or spend a couple of hours watching the activities at "Mirta Ramirez." Those crooks don't even pretend. They know they've got a license to do anything they want, and they also know that the IG and the State's Attorney are looking the other way while they do it.

Anyone who says that the original plan for "Ren 2010" (one third, one third, one third) is what actually happened once the open market nut cases got absolute power over the project probably also believes that the USA has brought a beacon of democracy to Baghdad and that Pat Tillman was killed fiercely Ramboing in defense of American values.

That's a profitable way of relating to reality, but I prefer Pat Tillman and his family to the Bushies and their wealthy friends (both her in privatization land and elsewhere).

As we used to say in another far off context...

Get _______ real.

And how about using your own names now and then?

This anonymous stuff is what enables tyrants to flourish. They know they're facing a phalanx of cowards and prepare their assaults accordingly. Imagine if the Declaration of Independence had been signed "Name Withheld by Request."

Al Ramirez and Jackson Potter are also CPS employees who've just made a movie that makes Arne look like the babbling hypocrite he is -- and the mayor for the craven fool he is.

It's fun.

It's easy.

It's intoxicating.

It's sexier than wearing a mask, getting a whipping, and wimpering about how nasty the world is treating you.

[George Schmidt]

AUSL hasn't successfully turned around anyone or anything.

AUSL got a sweet deal on a building that should have been used for other public purposes.

Since then it's been corporate hype and hustle the likes of which haven't been seen much in the corporate world since the days of Sunbeam, Adelphia, World Com, JDS Uniphase, Tyco, etc., etc., etc., etc.

Same guys. Same stuff. Different place.

Since 2002, that whole AUSL "turnaround" thing is simply marketing hype, aided and abetted by Arne's media events and huge globs of corporate propaganda (often spilled around by "reporters" who just recycle PR sludge and call it champagne).

Just another in a long silly line of corporate disinformation coming straight from 125 S. Clark St. and City Hall.

Look at the actual AUSL record.

Dodge Elementary was closed in June 2002.

From June 2002 through the summer of 2003 (more than 15 months) the (mostly poor) children who had been going to Dodge were dispersed across the west side (and elsewhere).

CPS (and the Consortium) said they were going to track every child, but deliberately did not do so. That was a talking point to head off media inquiries. The largest number went to Grant Elementary, whose scores were low and got lower after the influx of kids from Dodge. Grant also faced additional problems ("housing reform" was demolisihing Rockwell Gardens, which had a negative impact on most of the children around that spot -- not all, just most).

So two years later, Grant was a "failure" and was closed. (It's now been recycled for the "Phoenix" and Marine Corp militarism projects... Mayor Daley's pets and the New Schools people's even darker side...).

But back at Dodge (doesn't this almost sound like one of those racist old Western movies?), the miracle machine was in full operations mode.

When the Dodge "Renaissance Academy" opened (under AUSL and Jim Thompson's law firm, Winston and Strawn) in September 2003, they had replaced the kids (just as King High School did earlier; getting rid of the kids and then claiming that the "new" scores prove you can run a school is a big part of the current same).

Ah, Winston and Strawn. AUSL's corporate partner at Dodge. Yes. That's the same Jim Thompson whose credibility as an auditor at Hollinger International has been on display all week in federal court in the Conrad Black trial. The same guy who as governor of Illinois brought in the School Finance Authority. etc. And, of course, the same Sun-Times that's been propagandizing against CPS public schools and for "choice" for a decade now.

AUSL and Winston and Strawn took credit for Dodge's improved test scores -- even though the Dodge kids had improved their test scores the year -- 2002 -- Arne closed Dodge. (That's right; and it's probably why the "old" Dodge has been wiped off the memory banks).

In some more gruesome realities, you have to follow blood trails to get near the truth, and it's often not pretty. Here there are fact trails, and then there is the official party line.

These fact trails are as important as those documents Jim Thompson didn't read carefully when he was going to those meetings of the Hollinger Board. That Board also included other "free market" fans -- all getting more than $50,000 a year for a couple of meetings -- like Henry Kissinger, Margaret Thatcher, and Richard Perl. The facts were never in doubt, they were just ignored on behalf of the Big Lie.

So what's new about AUSL this time around?

-- The original AUSL campus on Austin. Stolen from the schools of the northwest side and utilized for hyping a bunch of corporate hacks.

Dodge. Ripped out of its roots as the condos were going up along Washington Blvd. and the poor black children were being replaced with not so poor black children (who could serve as stand ins on most TV version, though).

Sherman. A place that has no "data" to drive this "data driven" claim -- let alone enough years of data to base any claims, adjusted to make sure the kids aren't being replaced by a more acceptable class of kids. But even if, Sherman has not test scores to prove or disprove anything, let alone enough years of data to survive an audit. (But we don't really audit these claims, any more than Jim Thompson audited Contrad Black's predations).

Now, Harvard. Miracle about to be proclaimed.

Each iteration of this scam is an attack on the public schools, teachers, principals, and the families facing the challenges of the inner city as things get worse.

Dodge was the first to be humiliated, then destroyed by these guys. That was in April 2002, the first month of Renaissance. Those "hearings" Arne's spent a million dollars on since 2002 are really kangaroo courts, since all the "hearing officer" does is affirm that Arne followed the "school closing policy" (which is changed each year to fit what Arne's going to do next in the wonderful world of privatization and the free market).

They are also like public executions, warnings to the rest of the peasants. Crucifixions.

Last year, after a similar crucifixion of Sherman school. The hearing was last year. Also, Morse and Frazier were on the free market chopping block. Collings High School was the main event, though, in 2006, so the AUSL role was missed for a time.

But AUSL took over Sherman (and got a bunch of hype help from WBEZ and other stenorgraphers who do their reporting out of carefully selected clip files all year).

Everybody knows that the "old" school had "failed." And just in case you don't, there is always a "parent" or child around to tell you some lurid ghetto tale about how BAD THINGS WERE BEFORE SALVATION...

In April 2007, Arne announced that AUSL -- by now a bona fide "turnaround specialist" -- was going to take over and turn around Harvard, too.

But, as I asked Arne at the Harvard press conference, how could you claim anything for the Sherman "turnaround" when there is no test data for Sherman for the 2006-2007 school year?

Arne shut down the press conference at that point, rather than risk having one of the TV reporters wake up long enough to get some video of him lying. And the AUSL Sherman team was all lined up there, too, to get on TV with Arne.

So, AUSL's first fraud was Dodge.

Once the Dodge "story" was in play, Sherman was next.

Once the Sherman story was out there, Harvard was next.

AUSL is a fraud. Their operation on the northwest side has no relationship to the real world of real inner city Chicago classrooms, communities and schools.

The corporate analogy to what's being ployed in CPS with AUSL and all this "turnaround" storytelling goes all the way back more than ten years, to the mythology of a guy named Al Dunlap. Dunlap was a "turnaround specialist" who deep sixed a couple of corporations until he got caught with all his tricks at Sunbeam (which was ruined by his stuff).

At one point, Dunlap (whose stories you can Google) was nicknamed "Chainsaw Al" and praised for his ability to "turn around" corporations by ruthlessly cutting "costs" (read, people working at them).

It was actually all accounting scams.

But it took the story tellers nearly a decade to catch up with Al Dunlap and the whole "Chainsaw Al" hoax. By that time, the stock price of Sunbeam was tanking, as the hoax unravelled.

But also at that time, Forbes magazine decided there was a "Chainsaw" hero in the field of education.

Guess who?

Paul Vallas, who was treated to a hoaxacious Forbes article about "Chainsaw Paul." The public schools turnaround artist.

The trouble for Chainsaw Paul was that the Forbes rollout of the new narrative hit the streets at about the same time that Chainsaw Al Dunlaps lies came out and the whole house of cards collapsed.

So the people who write these narratives (without regard to a close look at the facts) quickly stopped referring to Our Pal Paul as "Chainsaw" and came up with some other marketing points.

So now we've got AUSL.

Which was given a building that should have gone to relieving overcrowding at a half dozen northwest side schools. (The old Wright College building and campus on Austin). But because the AUSL crowd didn't want to dip its toes too deeply into the real world of the west side or parts of the south side (where there are CPS buildings that are unused), AUSL got the Wright College building and CPS has spent more than $50 million adding space on the northwest side, while AUSL's urban pioneers work in a place where they don't have to worry about leaving work and finding their windshileds shattered from stray gunshots.

AUSL's Dodge story is a lie.

AUSL's Sherman claims are a lie.

And just because lies are repeated by WBEZ and some people here doesn't flip them into truth. They're still out there with truthiness.

So now, AUSL's Harvard fix is about carrying forward the same set of lies.

Chainsaw Arne, they'd have called him, if the original chainsaw hadn't been proven as big a fraud in the real world as the original Rambo was.

Same kind of guys.

[Kugler]

What I can not figure out is what they are going to do with all the land and equipment when they do not make it?

SELL IT, Maybe!

It goes from public, quasi-semi public to private, just like the housing projects, CHA, all land that was once publicly owned now in private hands.

Isn't there laws about selling public lands?

Maybe that is what the feds are looking at!

Developer was mole for feds

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0705041633may05,1,6424523.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Go get 'em Fitz!

Whoops! Looks like the big media 2, 5, 7, 9, and the rest...Suntimes and Trib missed a big story today. Students at TAft cleaning the grounds Saturday morning! Wah da ya think? Students born to clean? Maybe a couple of students and parents will organize a riot out there along with the media on Monday morning. Stay tuned, let's see who gets lynched next. Good story, hand in hand with Cinco de Mayo.

TV reporters wake up! Don't miss your big chance to sell some newspapers and earn your living.

5:13
This is how it works in Chicago.
Remember when Marina City went condo? The politicians are the first to know about real estate trends in Chicago and .......next etc., next etc. Now what do you think has happened with all those vacant lots near and around Garfield Park? Voila nouveau riche!

[George Schmidt]

Every ten or twenty years, someone has to ask about how CPS manipulates and wastes school land on behalf of developers and the most recent crop of speculators in Chicago. A nice summary history of all this is in any of a number of factual books about CPS, most notably "The Chicago Schools, a Social and Political History" by Mary Herrick. (Note I'm not talking about those silly New Age tomes that have been coming out every six or ten months praising Mayor Daley's "school reform" stuff for the past decade. That stuff belongs at supermarket checkout counters for all its factual usefulness in the real world of Chicago hard ball politics).

CPS has been selling off school land, at a greater rate than previously, since Paul Vallas came into power 12 years ago. The most dramatic example was the parcel at Madison and Halsted (the old Days Inn, which I believe is now the Quality Inn). The two most recent parcels that were sold (by my memory) were the Riis school parcel (Taylor and Lytle) and the InterAmerican Magnet school parcel (Barry between Halsted and Sheffield).

CPS has been holding the Near North high school building (1450 N. Larrabee) and the Mulligan building (1855 N. Sheffield) to sell to developers when nobody's looking.

A complete history of the costs of the land CPS has bought (and then later given away or sold) as part of the ongoing conversion of Jones High School would get somebody fired, were the waste to have happened anyplace (public or private) than CPS. First, CPS condemned and purchased the Burger King site -- for around a million dollare -- at Congress and State. But when it couldn't utilize the site because it hadn't acquired the intevening parcel (south of the Burger King site) that died. Then CPS went after the Pacific Garden Mission, because, everyone "knew", Jones needed a gym, etc., etc., etc.

Trouble was, the Jones building was never built to be a general or academic high school, but to go "up" as an office building. From the beginning it was as a commercial high school. Vertical, like the other Loop buildings, not horizontal, was supposed to be the future of Jones. The insane idea of converting Jones into a College Prep academic thingy (for the old Region Four, which might have used one three miles west of the Jones site, not a few blocks from Burnham Harbor adjacent to the lakefront), once implemented, guaranteed between $20 and $50 million in unnecessary capital expenses, with lots of Loop clout in the middle of it all.

One of the most dramatic and ugly examples of CPS land nastiness is north of the Langston Hughes school building (226 W. 104th St.). The Board declared eminent domain and destroyed three blocks of a community, razing all the housing, so that you can (now) see all the way from 103rd St. to Hughes. Although a similar bulldozing was done to the projects down State St., the buildings north of L. Hughes were privately owned, the "bungalow belt" (although those who rule Chicago don't have the same affection for African American bungalow owners like the Hughes neighbors as they do for others).

From the point of view of those who rule Chicago, CPS has always been a place to do land grabs and manipulate communities. Since most of those people (e.g., the Tribune's editorial board members; the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club) generally live in the north shore suburbs (the Kenilworth wealthies who are now doing their charity work at a couple of west side charter schools for example), they don't really give a damn (except when the cameras are rolling for sound bites) about a couple of blocks of "middle class" black homeowners so far away from the Loop that the TV stations rarely get there.

Yes. CPS manipulates land -- and gives it away all the time. Some of Chicago's larger fortunes have been enhanced via the CPS land giveaways.

[Kugler]

Thanks George.

By the way there are always rumors about who owns the land under Hyde Park Academy, how do I find out the truth?

George, I hear Oliver Stone is looking to make a movie about ren 10 also. Call him, you'd fit right in. Jeesh, get a life!