A high school freshman, a varsity football player, is shot in the back by gang members when he stepped outside to buy a bag of chips. His mom wants him to go to another school. Mary Mitchell.
The Rev. James Meeks picks a battle with the CTU one more time--let's hope this time the legislature will listen and act in the interests of children locked in failing schools, schools which graduate only half their students. Sun Times:
Hundreds of parent-led local school councils would be stripped of the critical power to pick principals under a bill introduced this week by the Rev. James Meeks, head of the Senate Education Committee.
Plus, up to 42,000 students at 65 of the city's lowest-scoring public schools would be entitled to tuition vouchers to attend private or parochial schools under an amendment Meeks said he is planning to another bill. [snip]
Meeks -- pastor of Chicago megachurch Salem Baptist -- said Chicago Schools CEO Ron Huberman and his predecessor, now U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, have told him that "principals are the most important people'' in a school while complaining that "we don't pick the principals.'' The bill would "eliminate that excuse,'' Meeks said.
Break the chokehold of groups and gangs locked in violent resentments and power struggles that end in blighted lives or death.
Pass these bills. Free these kids. Give them the best opportunity to grow up with the tools to succeed.
This is the civil rights movement of our time.
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