EMANUEL: A school board power-play |
It’s
all about political power. The Board of Education is trying to reassert its
control over the system. And since that board is controlled by Mayor Rahm
Emanuel, he is the one who stands to gain from this.
OR
LOSE. BIG time!
Closing
down 56 schools would give Emanuel interests significant control over the
teachers’ union – what with the fact that it creates a body of unemployed
teachers who might want to shift to other schools.
And
the fact that officials this week said they were going to “spare” four of those
56 schools -- and in the end voted to close only 49 elementary schools immediately? It means those people who work at Marcus Garvey, Mahalia Jackson,
Leif Ericson and George Manierre and the other schools that got spared are now supposed to feel relieved.
As
though the almighty Rahm is their savior. Their jobs are spared. Their
livelihoods (for the time being) will continue.
PERHAPS
HE THINKS they now owe him some sort of tribute for letting them keep their
jobs at schools that are economically deprived and struggling in so many ways.
That
may sound cold-hearted. But it particularly describes the George Manierre
school on the Near North Side. Which is being kept open because of concerns
that the students there being mixed with those at the nearby Jenner School
would provoke some serious street gang tensions.
As
though the gangs now dictate school policies. The fact that such a statement
has a bearing of truth to it is more pathetic than anything else that comes out
of this whole school closing fiasco.
Even
worse than the fact that I have always thought the whole issue was pathetic
because it involved people having to fight to preserve schools that were
struggling and perhaps ought to be shuttered.
IT
TOOK ADVANTAGE of the fact that some people in our city have so little in their
lives that they feel compelled to cling to what they have – even if what they
have is old and decrepit and worn out.
When
our officials ought to be trying to figure out ways to give those residents
something better, we’re instead putting them into positions where they feel
they have to be thankful for what scraps they have.
I’m
sure some people will try to turn this statement into some sort of greedy
viewpoint – inner-city residents wishing they could have more. But it isn’t!
There
are certain things that all Chicagoans ought to have some access to. If they
choose not to take advantage of them, then that is their loss.
BUT
MAKING THEM go all out fighting to keep inferior neighborhood schools is
something sad.
All
of this was supposed to be settled on Wednesday, when the Board of Education was
to give final approval on the great school closings plan that has been in the
news for months.
It’s
all about people being put in positions where they are supposed to feel like
the school board and Emanuel are doing them favors if, by chance, there was a
last-minute decision to spare another school or two from the symbolic chopping
block.
It
has me wondering how long the backlash to all of this will linger. It is
exactly the kind of issue that could cause a stink come the 2015 municipal
election cycle.
THE
ONLY REAL trick is if there is anyone out there who could feed off it enough to
run a credible campaign to challenge Rahm.
There
probably isn’t. Which is why Emanuel thinks he can get away with this kind of a
political power play involving the public schools.
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