Forrest Claypool, Still A Liar

Sun Times, August 10, 2015: 

"CPS already had announced $200 million in spending cuts, including $1 million in cuts from schools CEO Forrest Claypool’s executive office."

“Our goal is to protect pensions and to protect the classroom,” Claypool said during a conference call Monday morning. “To do that, it means everybody’s got to pitch in.”

Sun Times, August 11, 2015:

"In what’s likely to be a blueprint of his plan for the Chicago Teachers Union, Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool will announce Wednesday that the district will no longer pick up pension contributions for its nonunion central office employees."

The pension flip-flop didn't take long. What about the $1M in cuts from the CEO's office?

Tribune, August 21, 2015:

"Chicago Public Schools chief Forrest Claypool has hired another of his former staff members from the CTA, this time an executive charged with oversight of the district's financial operations.

Ronald DeNard, formerly the CTA's chief financial officer, joins CPS on Friday as senior vice president of finance, according to an email Claypool distributed Thursday.

Each of the district's finance-related divisions will report to DeNard, Claypool said in the email. Those responsibilities were previously handled by Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cawley."

Oversight of the district's financial operations? Ginger Ostro, Chief Financial Officer, would be the person who oversees the district's finances. One would assume DeNard will collect a similar $205,000 salary that he earned at the CTA to take up space in CPS management.

If it sounds like Tim Cawley is out the door, don't get too excited. He'll continue his accounting and contractual fuck-ups with seven other departments he oversees:

"Cawley, a former Motorola executive hired by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2011, will continue to supervise seven other administrative departments, according to Claypool's email...Cawley, who is paid $215,000 a year, oversees areas including facilities, food services and technology."

The other CTA hangers-on coming over to CPS:

• Doug Kucia - Claypool's Chief of Staff
• Andrell Holloway - Supervisor of Internal Audits
• Hal Woods - Portfolio Planning and Strategy Director

Six-figure bureaucrats moving from one city organization to another isn't "pitching in." If each of these managers will make a comparable salary at CPS, that's $800,000 back of the $1M cuts Claypool was crowing about ten days ago.

Once again, Forrest, you may think teachers are idiots, but we're not.

Shill Spotlight on: Sandy Stuart!

Bruce Rauner, running on a platform of shaking things up in Springfield, proves he's all talk and more business as usual with his latest appointment of Republican donor and rainmaker Alexander "Sandy" Stuart to the Teacher Retirement System Board. The president of North Star Investments only interest in teachers is likely directing funds and associated fees to his investment firm.

Plutocrat credentials: Heir to the Quaker Oats fortune, his father was the former ambassador to Norway, and he made Wedding Page of the New York Times.

Quirky plutocrat hobby: Member of a capella singing group the Buckthorns.

Illinois Public School credentials: Zero. Graduate of Hotchkiss (1:5 teacher-to-student ratio, current tuition $53,000), Princeton, and Harvard.

Outlook on public schools: Murky. A trustee of the St. Andrews School - Delaware, where full tuition is $55,500.

Philanthropic do-gooding: Stuart Family Foundation, Chair of Chicago Public Media, Director of Northwestern Memorial Lake Forest Hospital.

Current home value: $2,638,333.00

Stuart joins some illustrious appointee-shills in the Rauner's universe: rooftop opportunist pastor Corey Brooks and Democrat flip-flopper Rev. James Meeks.

Rock on, Sandy Stuart!

CPS's Acute Case of Confusion Concern

According to Transparency International, "As a principle, public officials, civil servants, the managers and directors of companies and organisations, and board trustees have a duty to act visibly, predictably and understandably to promote participation and accountability and allow third parties to easily perceive what actions are being performed." Right on! 

**

You might wonder what the principle of transparency has to do with anything, at least in Chicago. A reader emailed to let us know our links to the CPS Supplier Reports were not working. Sure enough, there's not one CPS Supplier Report to be found online. These reports list listed awards to vendors not found in the Contract Award Report. WCT enjoyed browsing the vendors in the Suppliers Doing Business with the Chicago Public Schools Report because it was a clear list of how much money was going to which profiteer, kick-back artist, and scammer cashing in on CPS and taxpayers. Thanks to such reports, it was obvious who the biggest and best shakedown artists infiltrating CPS were. 

Let's time travel, reader. In 2011 Rahm Emanuel made a transparency pledge to, "...make the city government more accessible to everybody," and, "to create the most open, accountable, and transparent government the City of Chicago has ever seen." Ironically, any evidence of Emanuel speaking these words has been removed from the internet, so WCT has to rely on references to this statement. WCT also assumes the transparency pledge was strictly a first-term pledge.

In a February 2012 Tribune interview, Rahm Emanuel used some form of the word transparent 19 times. A sample:

" I did talk about transparency and I feel — to what I said — I am achieving it. Achieving, not achieved. And I don't put any period at the end of the sentence. This is only nine months into it [Emanuel administration], but there is no doubt given the backlog of potentiality from a transparency standpoint, I am making government information available, I am making sure people have access to it, I am bringing back a level of trust."

**

Let's see where Rahm's "backlog of potentiality from a transparency standpoint" has brought us. In August 2015 the city finances are shredded, Chicago Public Schools in disarray, and pensions disappeared. Residents would like to know exactly how the city has accrued such a sizable debt, where the money went, and why it keeps going. Documents, like the Supplier Report, while maddening to read, clearly show whose pockets are getting lined. 

Harkeing back to Rahm's transparency pledge, WCT emailed the CPS Purchasing Department inquiring about the missing reports.

The legalese response: "This report used to be required by a city ordinance, but that ordinance was repealed and the report is no longer legally required.  We actually took the link down from the website quite a while ago after the ordinance was repealed, but we learned recently that the direct link still worked, even though the data was stale or incorrect.  We recently have removed the old file to eliminate the confusion, as it was not accurate." 

Accuracy! Obeying the law! Non-confusion! Suddenly, City Hall and CPS have taken it upon themselves to not confuse people who are seeking day-ta, stale as it might be. Yes, let's remove the information so nobody is confused. Let's get all revisionist and hide information, substituting one piece of nonsense for another. God forbid anybody know anything in case they ask questions or attempt to hold the people doling out the money accountable. 

This must be an acute onset of Confusion Concern, as there is a long history of Chicago's confusion-inducing decisions:

October 16, 2009 headline: Calendar confusion--Or Citywide Chaos

May 23, 2013 headline: Confusion follows CPS school closing decision

February 24, 2015 headline: Confusion continues over standardized-testing in Chicago

May 24, 2015 headline: CPS forgot 22 schools in estimate for Aramark at a cost of $7M

Fortunately, for those of us who don't mind being confused, the internet is crawled frequently and pages cached (saved). As our Thought Partners would chirp, "daaay-ta!" Here are the cached Supplier Reports (copy and paste into browser) so you may be predictably, visibly, and understandably angered:

http://web.archive.org/web/20150402185313/http://www.csc.cps.k12.il.us/purchasing/supplier_report_2015.xml

http://web.archive.org/web/20150402182046/http://www.csc.cps.k12.il.us/purchasing/supplier_report_2014.xml

http://web.archive.org/web/20150530200734/http://www.csc.cps.k12.il.us/purchasing/supplier_report_2013.xml

http://web.archive.org/web/20141111132437/http://www.csc.cps.k12.il.us/purchasing/supplier_report_2012.xml

http://web.archive.org/web/20120107043404/http://www.csc.cps.k12.il.us/purchasing/supplier_report_2011.xml

Forward!

Savvy investors that WCT are, when we saw the acronyms CTU and IPO together we immediately thought of an initial public offering of profitable teaching stock. We were quickly dismayed by our own hypocrisy as we realize we've spent some time railing against all things cha-ching!

Luckily, we see that Karen Lewis and the CTU have instead resolved to form an independent political organization to "engender authentic political engagement" to stem the tide against "privatized essential services" and those who continue to balance budgets "on the backs of our most vulnerable."

Working against the deep pockets and deep ties forged by a Machine city is no easy task. However, as others have noted here and here, it's time someone tries to move the city forward.

Charter Forum [Update]

On January 22nd the Board of Education will meet about the possible addition of 21 new charter schools. 

The world of charters is confusing, ever-changing, and has a direct impact on neighborhood schools. Consider attending the January 14th forum at Shields Middle School, 2611 W. 48th Street. The forum begins at 6:30 P.M., and is sure to be informative. 

Update: As promised, tonight's charter forum did not disappoint. The Southwest side communities of Brighton Park, McKinley Park, and Pilsen spoke up loud and clear in their resistance to charters. Specifically, these communities do not want outside organizations coming into their communities and dictating not only who serves their children, but who receives schools funding.

The research panel clearly detailed the many ways CPS undermines its own neighborhood schools:

• While inflation and money to charters have increased, CPS budgets have not.

• Charters are often treated to $1 rent and outside services to CPS.

• Funding to charters has increased faster than enrollment.

Wonder how the CPS Board of Ed will vote on the 22nd? 

Readers, leave a comment or email wct.tips@gmail.com if you attended this panel and have more information to share.

Reclaim Reform on Monday

Where's the holiday spirit?

It's no secret that we at WCT are pro-public schools, pro-student, pro-teacher, and pro-union. 

We've begun to document the various private interests (and there are many) at work against public school students, families, and teachers. Simply, public schools should remain public.

We're also realists at WCT, and know that public schools face many difficulties and need to make changes. Instead of being told what those changes will be, teachers would like a voice, too.

Monday, December 9th, is day to stand behind our neighborhood schools and push for better, while saying no to the corporate interests increasingly entangled in our schools. Some teachers plan to wear the color blue in support, and we think that's a great idea, too.

There are events taking place across the country, and in Chicago that means meeting up at City Hall. However you choose to show your support for reclaiming reform, just show your support.

Leave a comment here or drop us a line at wct.tips@gmail.com to tell us how you showed your support!

Image from: http://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4013/c/468/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=11635

Neighborhood Schools Fair

Today Chicago parents are hosting a Neighborhood Schools Fair at Roberto Clemente High School, 1147 N. Western Ave. in Chicago. Since the district won't host an event highlighting neighborhood schools, parents felt they had to. 

Readers: if you're considering neighborhood schools for your kids, or just curious as to what your neighborhood school has to offer, make your way to Roberto Clemente and see what it's all about. We hope there's a great turn out!

More on UNO [Update]

Fellow blogger Tim Furman of Rogers Park Neighbors for Public Schools asked us to post news about this worthwhile forum that will happen this Saturday, October 26th from 1 to 2:30 P.M. at the Rudy Lozano Branch of the Chicago Public Library. Consider attending! We're sure it will be informative and eye-opening.

Update: Byron Sigcho's analysis of the UNO network and its many ties to politicians, as well as the intricacies of their budget and funding sources was as alarming as it was outstanding. Consider attending his Nov. 30th forum!