Chicago mayor rivals have very different plans for education-Chicago Tribune. Or: when is a newspaper article not a newspaper article?
Did I read this wrong or miss something, but does not this account by Chi Trib religiously counter Vallas' arguments -- citing experts, experienced commentators and the like -- but not his opponent's?
Vallas regularly cites [CPS's] per-pupil spending — though using a figure that’s nearly double the official state number and whose accuracy has been questioned.
Oh? Anonymously?
Chicago residents will be selecting between two radically different trajectories for hundreds of thousands of students and their families, said CPS parent Cassie Creswell, director of the nonprofit [oh, a bit more than that, indeed l0bbyist] Illinois Families for Public Schools.
Whose stand on vouchers is opposed to Vallas' -- see GAME OVER FOR SCHOOL VOUCHERS IN ILLINOIS!
where Creswell's organization is self-described as "urging lawmakers to end the Invest in Kids Tax Credit [voucher] Scholarship Program. The press release mentioned mayoral candidates Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson because of their drastically opposing views on school choice."
Just the one to check on Vallas for a page-one Chi Trib news article. Made to order. But . . . disguised, by omitting important details, for instance, introducing her as "CPS parent Cassie" etc. Please.
Cresswell is further quoted:
“It feels very historic and significant [I mean how historic can you get?] to have two people who have absolutely diametrically [!] opposed careers and policy positions,” said Creswell, who plans to vote for Johnson. “It’s like being on the precipice of possibly good change — or possibly a continuation of the last 30 years of school reform [apparently non-reform?] in Chicago.”
Trib continues:
The next mayor will be the last to appoint their [i.e., his] own school board, a power city leaders have enjoyed since the late 1990s when reforms granted full control to then-Mayor Richard M. Daley.
”There’s [there are] so many basic experiences of school that are affected by bigger policies,” Creswell said.
“How much pressure and focus there is on standardized test scores, how much time you get to do art or music … to play as a child. If there’s a kid who’s upset, is there another adult in the building besides your classroom teacher who can sit down with them and calm them down? Do you have a social worker or a nurse if someone cuts themselves on the playground. … All of that is ultimately decided by education policy.”
And all is right out of the Vallas' opponent's teachers' union playbook.
What a front-pager. What a newspaper.