`Consultant`, `Vendor`

Substance
www.substancenews.com
5/06
Volume XXXI, No. 10, May 2006
Inside: List of
CPS consultants
and vendors (FY 2005)
begins on p. 10
$2.00 per copy
Increased at least $34 million from 2004 to 2005!
‘Consultant’, ‘Vendor’ costs soar as
Duncan claims huge budget ‘deficit’
Consultants and vendors on
payroll also help Board of
Education justify charter and
school closing programs to
public, media...
By George N. Schmidt
At the April 2006 meeting of
the Chicago Board of Education,
Board President Michael Scott repeated what to many was a familiar
refrain: “How can I make a fair decision when the community is obviously divided?” Scott asked in his
solicitous manner.
The semi-rhetorical question
was supposed to indicate to the television audience which would later
view the meeting that Scott was trying to balance competing claims on
the public’s education dollar. Scott’s
words had been repeated over and
over in the nearly five years since he
became school board president —
after a stint at privatizing services at
the Chicago Park District — in 2001.
In the carefully rehearsed version of
reality, Michael Scott is representing
a balance between rival factions in
various communities, with Scott always seeking to do the right things
Continued on Page Ten
Facts about CPS vendors
and consultants:
-- Many are never
audited or supervised!
-- No-bid contracts
account for tens of
millions of dollars per year
since Daley takeover of
public schools!
-- CPS record-keeping is so
poor that $ tens of millions
go to entities without
public addresses or phone
numbers!
-- Favored groups get
consultant and study
contracts in exchange for
support for CPS policies!
Since the beginning of the “Renaissance 2010” plan, Leon Finney (above right),
chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Woodlawn Organization, has rou- -- While harassing teachers
tinely appeared at Chicago Board of Education meetings praising the board’s school and other school workers,
closings and talking to the press in favor of the “Renaissance.” Above, Finney was CPS officials ignore rampant
interviewed by Sun-Times reporter Kate Grossman after he spoke at the May 22,
problems in millions of
2002, Board meeting. Identifying himself as part of the “Desegregation Monitoring
dollars of outside spending!
Commission”, Finney warned that the Board had to do something about segre-- A Chicago scandal ten
gated schools. Finney then spoke in favor of the closing of Dodge, Terrell and
times bigger that ‘Hired
Williams elementary schools, telling the Board that the move was necessary beTruck’ is ignored in the
cause of “desegregation” mandates. Those three 2002 school closings kicked off
the “renaissance” in Chicago. What Finney has neglected to mention — and what
corporate media because
other newspapers have failed to report — is that Finney’s organization receives ‘news’ is really propaganda
regular subsidies from CPS (and from other agencies with ties to the Daley adminfor the Daley ‘school
istration). Between 2001 and 2005, Finney’s organization received $300,000 for
reform miracle’!
“consulting” work from CPS. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
May Day workers’ holiday returns home to Chicago...
Half million march for
immigrant, workers’ rights
By 1:00 p.m. on May 1, 2006, the march for immigrant and workers rights stretched two miles to the west from the point
where this photo was taken at Jackson and Wells. A photo story of the historic march begins on Page Twenty.
City Council to
vote to halt
school
closings?
By George N. Schmidt
If the majority of the members of the Chicago City Council
hold their purpose, by the end of
June there will be a major showdown over the Chicago Board of
Education’s unprecedented attack
on public schools via its widely opposed school closing activities. By
the end of May, more than 40 aldermen out of 50 had signed on in support of a resolution that will, in effect, place a moratorium on school
closings in Chicago. A vote is scheduled for the June 28 City Council
meeting. June 28 is also the day of
the next Chicago Board of Education
meeting.
Four years ago, the Chicago
Board of Education began an unprecedented attack on the city’s public schools beginningwhat has become the largest number of public
school closings in American history.
Although thousands of parents, teachers, students and their
supporters have protested since the
program of school closings was
launched by schools CEO Arne
Continued on Page Thirty
Page Two
Substance May 2006
Editorials
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Resistance Editor Susan Ohanian
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Reporters:
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Chicago Local School Councils: Joseph Guzman
Chicago Elementary News: Michael Brownstein,
Terry Czernik
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Doyon
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Publication date May 31, 2006
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Entry ... Periodicals Rate
Making ‘Hired
Truck’ look like a
little red wagon...
Daley’s
school
privatization
coverup
On February 22, 2006, the
Chicago Board of Education, as
usual without discussion or debate,
voted to pay UNO (United Neighborhood Organizations) another
$11.6 million to operate an expanding number of charter schools across
Chicago. Also approved that same
day were motions to pay Perspectives Charter School $1.5 million and
the L.E.A.R.N. Charter School $2.2
million.
On February 22, public attention was focused on the controversial closing of five more public
schools — four outright and one
through “reconstitution” — as part
of Chicago Mayor Richard M.
Daley’s unprecedented attack on
public education in the third largest
city in the USA.
Even if some of our colleagues in Chicago’s media had
wanted to write about the illegal
expansion of Chicago’s charter
schools (the city is supposed to have
no more than 30 charter schools and
now has nearly 50, depending upon
how one counts them), they would
have been barred from the discussion in two ways. One, their editors
all know that charter schools are
good and public schools are bad. Two,
the information about the cost of
Chicago’s charter schools is covered
up by the Board of Education in all
of its financial and public reports.
Elsewhere we’ve discussed,
at some length, how news is managed in Chicago to promote a
mythological version of history that
says that the public schools were
“saved” by Mayor Daley’s courageous agreement to take them over
in 1995. That mythology will continue to be challenged in these pages
in the years to come until the truth
finally becomes what our friends in
academe call the “dominent narrative.”
In the next two months,
more public attention should be focused on the secretive and unaccountable world of Chicago’s publicly funded but privately managed
networks of charter schools. Hereare
a few things we’ve learned so far:
1) The Chicago Board of
Education refuses to even outline
the cost of its charter schools in its
annual budget documents. Last
year, charter schools were left out of
both the Proposed Budget and the
Final Budget. “Charter School” was
not even in the “Glossary” of the
“award winning, “ 1,100-page budget document.. A mention of charters finally surfaced in the annual
audit of the Board’s financial books
(called the “Comprehensive Annual
Financial Report”) in January, when
the report was distributed to members of the Board — but denied to
members of the press at the time.
[Substance finally had to go to the
Board’s financial offices for a copy,
which was readily supplied]. Curiously, the only mention of charter
schools in the annual report comes
in a footnote and is part of the report that the auditors specifically say
they are not verifying.
2) Charter schools are the
only public schools in Illinois
which are permitted to refuse to
make their payroll data public. Requests by Substance for the “Position Files” for Chicago charter
schools have been denied, with the
Board of Education insisting that
each charter school has to be asked
individually under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) for a list of
its employees. To date, none of
Chicago’s charter schools have provided this information, which
formed the basis for the report in the
April Substance on executive salaries at CPS. Chicago’s public school
employees are all publicly known,
by work location, job title, and annual salary. Chicago’s charter
schools are protected from this public disclosure, despite the more than
$100 million being spent on them in
Chicago this school year.
3) Public schools get criticism and audits, charter schools get
propaganda and plaudits. For more
than three decades, Substance has
regularly criticized corruption in
public education in Chicago. At the
same time, as fierce supporters of
public education we’ve praised
good things. Never before have we
seen anything like the deregulation
and privatization lies that allow the
current version of reality to go unchallenged. Chicago’s public schools
and public servants working in them
are subject to often withering slanders. The city’s charter schools ride
on a magic carpet of media propaganda, self prmotion, and uncritical
adulation. Nonsense it is. ;
The shame of
the CTU
On May Day, we watched
dozens (perhaps hundreds) of Chicago teachers and thousands of Chicago public school students march
for human and labor rights in the
largest demonstration in the city’s
long history. But there was not one
leader from the Chicago Teachers
Union, nor one indication from the
CTU that the event was taking place.
Dozens of union leaders and
thousands of union members from
both the AFL-CIO unions and the
Change to Win federation joined the
march. AFL-CIO national leaders
spoke. Where was the CTU?
Given the fact that the Chicago Board of Education is attacking public education like no other
board in history and the fact that the
Chicago Teachers Union is disgracing unionism like no other union in
schools history, the facts need to be
underlined just this one more time.;
Substance May 2006
Page Three
Resistance News
NCLB is destroying public schools...
Survey shows Vermont
teachers’ attitudes toward NCLB
By Susan Ohanian
On April 17, 2006, at a press
conference in the Cedar Creek room
at the Statehouse in Montpelier,
members of the Vermont Society for
the Study of Education (VSSE) released a survey of Vermont teachers’
attitudes toward the No Child Left
Behind Act. VSSE Executive Director Sid Glassner introduced the survey. Senior Fellow Dana Rapp, Associate Professor of Educational
Studies at the Massachusetts College
of Liberal Arts, released the results
of the survey. William Mathis, Superintendent of Schools for the
Rutland Northeast Supervisory
Union, tied Vermont results with
national trends. A brief questionand-answer period followed.
According to Rapp, who
conducted the first-of-its-kind survey, “The results of this survey lead
me to conclude that overwhelmingly teachers believe that Vermont
is undergoing a dramatic negative
shift in the direction of education
and that NCLB is severely harming
students and schools.”
sioner of Education is “inaccurate”
in believing that NCLB won’t harm
schools: 48% “completely inaccurate”;
• 96% report that “enriching activities” are less possible: 50% “much
less possible;
• 89% report Vermont classrooms
are worse places because of numerical accountability and testing: 40%
“much worse”;
• 97% believe NCLB creates more
stress for students: 51% say “much
more”;
• 73% believe Vermont education is
headed in the wrong direction; and
• 88% report that NCLB encourages
them to develop “less intellectually
engaging activities”;
• 97% believe NCLB encourages
them to use more worksheets;
• 92% report that NCLB encourages
them to have less class discussions;
Survey findings include:
• 99% believe that NCLB encourages them to teach to the test.
• 80% of teachers don’t believe students’ needs are reflected in NCLB;
Nationally, there is extensive
evidence that: (1) test scores do not
equal educational quality; (2) federal
and state NCLB mandates are forcing schools and communities to issue and teach to high-stakes tests;
and (3) opinions of researchers, educators, and citizens are not sought
by many states if they contradict the
ideology of NCLB. Therefore, this
survey of 216 Vermont teachers was
sponsored by VSSE to determine
how teachers view the effects of
NCLB on state policy, children,
• 88% believe there is less local control of curriculum: 45% “significantly less”;
• 83% report that NCLB has had a
negative effect on education: 44%
“very negative”:
• 93% report students’ love of learning is less, 38% much less;
• 90% believe Vermont’s Commis-
Substance
News
Reorganization
This Summer
classroom climate, and quality of
education.
These findings are significant because they contradict the assertion of Governor Douglas’ administration that NCLB won’t harm
Vermont schools. Corporatized politicos nationwide sing the same
tune, with none acknowledging the
damage done by NCLB.
More importantly, the survey shows that teachers believe
NCLB is making schools worse
places for children to learn. As Superintendent Mathis pointed out, a
“bewildering bunch of box-scores is
being used to determine whether
schools make ’adequate yearly
progress’ by improving their state
standardized test scores.” Mathis
went on to say that these “standards” are far from benign: “If
schools don’t make AYP, school and
community reputations, property
values, teachers’ pride, children’s
motivation, and parents’ school support are all affected.”
Rapp added, “Overall, the
results from this survey illuminate
the disparity between what supporters and enforcers of NCLB are saying is happening in schools and
what teachers are reporting. If anything, the Governor and the Commissioner of Education must do
more than convince Vermont citizens that NCLB is a positive force,
they have a responsibility to engage
us in a vibrant and transparent conversation about NCLB’s legitimacy
and whether it benefits Vermonters.”
When asked by the Associated Press to respond to the VSSE
teacher survey, a spokeswoman for
June 2006 Substance to
be mailed after CPS
budget hearings
the Vermont state department of
education said, “We’re required to
comply.”
In an interview with the
Berkshire (MA) Eagle, Rapp, who
teaches in Massachusetts but lives in
Vermont, offered a simple proposal
for legislators who support the rigorous standardized testing that
comes with federal mandates such
as the No Child Left Behind Act.
“They should make an example of
themselves. They should take the
eighth-grade MCAS test, make the
results public and explain how the
results reflect what they have accomplished in life.”
Rapp said he believes there
is some place for quantifiable measurements, but not the high-stakes
approach NCLB forces.
“There’s probably a place for
testing,” he said. “But there is not a
place for the kind of radical testing
that takes over, directs and abuses
all other aspects of the school experience.”
Radical testing. There’s a term
all educators can make stick. And
parents know in an instant what it
means.
Dana Rapp is a resident of
Readsboro, Vermont. He has published numerous articles on highstakes testing and NCLB in national
and international academic journals.
He is coauthor of Ethics and the Foundations of Education (Allyn and Bacon, 2003). He can be reached at 413662-5197 or drapp@mcla.edu. ;
Letters to
Resume
in September
Staff reorganization and
other changes delayed
the publication of this
May 2006 issue of Substance until the end of
May, rather than the beginning.
Those who often purchase Substance at the monthly
As we prepare for our
meetings of the Chicago Teachers Union will not be
32nd year of publication
This was also because of
able to do so with our June 2006 edition. We have
(beginning September
our ongoing examination
scheduled the June edition to appear after the Chi2006), Substance will be
of the CPS budget, especago Board of Education finally presents the public
surveying all of our subcially the huge expenses
scribers and many of our with its proposed 2006-2007 budget. After months of
on outside vendors and
claiming a huge ‘deficit’ and attacking the Chicago
other readers about
non-union charter
teachers’ pension fund, Arne Duncan must provide
planned changes. If you
schools. Additionally,
wish to participate in this the public with some figures before the FY 2007 bud- when we decided to cap
process in July and Au- get can be approved. The earliest that budget will be
the size of this newspapublicly available is now June 12. Budget hearings
gust 2006, consider subper at 40 pages we were
scribing now. If you are are tentatively scheduled for June 19 - 21. We expect
forced to hold back certhe June Substance will be mailed to our subscribers
not a subscriber, see
tain materials. Letters will
by June 28. If you are not a subscriber, see Page
Page Forty to learn how
resume next month and
Forty to learn how to rectify that oversight.
to rectify that oversight.
expand in September.
Page Four
Substance May 2006
Retiree and Pension News
Pensions must be protected
By Al Korach
As I approach my 77th birthday I seem to be more involved with
my personal thoughts regarding a
variety of past situations. Many of
my contemplations relate back to
May 1958 when I first became a
member of the Chicago Teachers
Union. I have served under every
CTU president from John Fewkes to
Marilyn Stewart. I would sum up
the years by stating that when I first
joined the union the union served
the membership. Today it appears to
have become an organization where
the first priority is to serve the salaries and benefits of those that are
employed by the union.
What are these salaries and
benefits? It seems impossible to find
out. The only certainty is that all of
the teachers now “on leave” and
working for the union are earning
(when their total compensation
package is calculated) well into six
figures — more than $100,000 per
year. One of the first things that happens when a teacher goes to work
for the Chicago Teachers Union is
she learns to calculate the dollar values of her “expenses”, “car allowance,” and even “cell phone allowance.” While teachers often have to
pay to park near the Merchandise
Mart to attend union functions, UPC
patronage workers get paid-for
parking. The value of the six-figure
jobs at the Merchandise Mart can’t
only be measured in dollars, either.
While teachers sweat in hot classrooms during the months from May
through September (sometimes
later), union staff work in air conditioned comfort.
And then they refuse to let
the members know the full extent of
their pay and benefits.
Our union is not the only
thing we need to try and save.
Equally important is the pension
fund.
As a former Vice President of
the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund
(having served from 1978 to 1990), I
keep a close tab on what is happening pension wise. With contract time
coming up and the Board of Education and the state crying poverty,
everything could become negotiable. Will the CTU trade off a small
raise for some type of pension vacation? Only time will tell.
One thing is certain. While
Arne Duncan may not have been
able to justify the claims he made in
the media that the Chicago Board of
Education was facing a “deficit” of
more than $300 million for next year,
he certainly found support for his
attack on the Chicago pension fund.
Even though Chicago’s fund has
been one of the best managed anywhere, to read the reports one would
think the opposition was becoming
true. [See illustration]. The attack on
our pensions is part of a broader attack on defined benefit plans, and
we need to understand what is happening and keep a close eye on the
Catalyst and corporate propaganda
solve this problem on a morally acceptable level. Whatever we do it
will not appeal to everyone. This is
the price we shall pay for waiting to
long to address this problem. As of
the writing of this article we still are
not addressing this issue.
As I watched thousands of
people marching in support of immigration amnesty, I realized that
the marching was taking place here
in the USA. I wondered why there
was no marching taking place south
of the border to protest the conditions that drive people north for a
better life. I have been south to
Mexico, Central America and South
America and have seen the poverty
residing amidst great wealth. Could
it be that it could be cheaper for these
governments to force people to go
north than to share the wealth.
I recall my parents going to
English citizenship school so their
relatives would not call them
Attentive Substance readers are at least vaguely aware of the fact that most “school “greenhorns.” NO! They did not
reform” groups and publications are subsidized by large corporations and corpo- drive around with a flag of the counrate philanthropy. Therefore, these groups generally follow the party line of corpo- try they left hanging on the rear view
rate “school reform.” Those that refuse to follow the part line are currently being mirror. My folks left for a better life
starved for funds and threatened with oblivion. The cartoon above appears in the and found it here. I am sure that
April issue of Catalyst. Catalyst proclaims itself an “independent voice.” In fact,
many others are here for the same
Catalyst has paid its corporate piper for years. The strength of Chicago’s teacher
reason. The problem for them was
pension fund — which is separate from the precarious Illinois fund (the TRS) — is
under attack, but the Chicago fund is not presently in trouble. Many at Substance that many of their political leaders
believe that Catlyst publishes propaganda for the corporations that pay for it. This and business corporate leaders were
cartoon was just another example of that. Substance relies on thousands of read- to busy taking care of themselves
and not trying to make a better life
ers’ subscriptions to survive. Thanks to all of our readers as summer begins.
for their citizens back home.
union leaders and politicians who tence.
Poor Gov. George Ryan
are part of that attack.
In the 77 years that have found guilty. After decades of feedpassed I have seen more social and ing at the public trough he has been
Musings as a school year ends
technological changes that have oc- found guilty on all counts. While the
My wife and I returned last curred since the beginning of time. Chicago Teachers Pension Fund is
month from southern Florida. On On the other hand I have seen more trying to derail an attempt to again
April 20 th unleaded regular was cruelty, international mayhem and short change the teachers, Ryan is
$3.03 on the Florida turnpike. Just warfare conducted under the guise hoping that he can stay out of jail
across the boarder in Georgia I was of religion. God help us if this con- and stall long enough to collect a
able to purchase unleaded regular tinues.
pension around $200,000 a year. This
for $2.76 a gallon. The rest of the trip
As Memorial Day again ap- should warm the hearts of the many
it averaged out to $2.89 to $2.99 a proached, thoughts grew about the teachers that have retired in the
gallon. It was construction all the meaning of it. Just think that in my $20,000 pension range or less. I’m
way with the worst going along the 77 years I have gone through World hoping that some of the CTU field
Dan Ryan during rush hour.
War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Reps. and others that have retired
As gasoline prices keep go- Storm, and now the Iraq madness. I and are still working and collecting
ing up my thoughts go to the thou- guess I’ll throw in superintendent their pensions and salaries at the
sands of teachers that have to serve after superintendent of schools. I CTU will comment on Ryan’s take.
in schools miles from their resi- think that the only war that I can It’s legal and therein lays the beauty
dences. Most drive due to the inabil- recall that the majority of the coun- of his setup.
ity, distance and safety factors in- try was behind was WWII. It seems
Many thanks to Bill and
volved in their assignments. Even that all we are accomplishing now Melinda Gates for the $21 million
with the residency requirement, it is is a large number of body bags and that they have donated to the Chipossible for a teacher or ESP to live the terribly wounded returning cago School system. The money will
on one end of Chicago and be forced daily.
be used to try and stem the dropout
(as Substance’s editor once was) to
We are a nation that only re- rate among Chicago high school studrive more than 40 miles per day acts to problems after they occur. dents. It’s a most generous gift and
round-trip to and from work. For One example is that we did not get can be utilized. I hope that the dothose who live outside the city moving in space until the Russian nor should understand that the
(grandfathered in under the resi- Sputnik was sent aloft. Another teachers would also need the coopdency rule), the miles may be even good example is the millions of ille- eration of the home if this challenge
greater. It may be time to consider gal aliens that have come to our were to succeed. I wonder if city hall
some type of compensation with country in search of a better life. will send more of their political
mileage and assignment distance. I There is no way we can deport mil- dropouts to help run this program
recall my first assignment miles lions of illegal aliens.
at over $100,000 a year.
from my home and a little off the
My wife and I are both first
Things in southern Florida
beaten path. I ended my career with generation Americans. Both of our are similar to educational problems
an assignment that I could ride my parents came to this country to es- throughout the USA. Many of the
bicycle to work. I guess those days cape the discrimination that they schools are inundated with non-Enare gone forever. Getting assigned to encountered in Europe. If we went
a position could become a life sen- to the moon we should be able to
Continued on Page Thirty-Four
Substance May 2006
Page Five
Boardwatch
Representing more than a dozen public and Catholic schools in Chicago’s Pilsen nity. The parents and other leaders said that the Board had not informed the comcommunity, speakers at the March 22 Chicago Board of Education meeting criti- munity of public hearings on the question, and that a claim that area schools were
cized the Board for approving a new charter school, run by UNO, in the commu- “overcrowded” was not true. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt
Chicago Board of Education meeting March 22, 2006
Board policies on school
closings and charters criticized
By Lotty Blumenthal
Clare Munana chaired the
opening session of March 22, 2006
Chicago Board of Education meeting in the absence of President
Michael Scott. She started having
Arne Duncan read an elegy for
Pamela Dyson who had a long career in CPS, ending as principal of
two schools. Then, she led a moment
of standing silence for the two students in the Englewood area who
were killed by gunfire. Then the four
teachers in CPS who were Apple
Foundation Awardees were honored.
Then public participation
began.
Elvia Rodriguez of Pilsen
Academy spoke against the UNO
charter school to be added to the
Pilsen community. She is the LSC
Chair at Pilsen Academy and said
she also spoke for Oroszco Academy
and Cooper Dual Language. She
asked why no correct feasibility
study was done. She said the reason
given for creating this new charter
school was that surrounding schools
were “overcrowded.” Of course, this
is untrue or contrary to fact (or a lie).
She gave numbers for the three
schools, stating that they were not
overcrowded and had been declining in enrollment for the last five
years. This fact is true for ten of the
11 schools in the area, four of which
are Catholic, she said.
Pastor Charles Dahm of St
Pius Church, and representing three
other Catholic Schools, spoke next.
Like the previous speaker, he said
the surrounding schools of this new
charter are not overcrowded and
have had declining enrollment for
the past five years. The length of
decline should have been noticed.
The Pastor had written letters from
the three Catholic School Principals
saying they were against this charter. He had written copies of CPS’
own statistics showing a decline in
enrollment for five years. He had a
letter signed by 15 school principals
in this area saying that they had not
been notified about hearings on the
matter, as well as other community
organization people. Any hearing
held had not placed a public notice,
which he felt might be against the
law. He begged and implored that
the Board change the location.
At this point, the Board was
hearing from its Demographics Department staff (James Dispensa)
about both challenges to its credibility. The claim that the area was
“overcrowded” was not true, and
the hearing notification had been
challenged. Dispense tried to differ
with the pastor. Munana asked them
to discuss this outside, and give her
back a report since there seemed to
be a discrepancy in information
given to the Board. Many felt the issue could have been resolved then
and there. Who would you believe
— the department that has had
wrong numbers since it presented
the case for closing Doolittle West
two years ago (and turning that into
a charter school) or 15 Principals,
four of whom are Catholic school
principals. Pastor Dahm and the others had his facts in writing. CPS’
staffers did not.
The protest, for those who
were trying to follow the argument,
was against an action the Board of
Education had already taken. At its
February 22 meeting, the Board had
voted to allow the UNO charter
school to add two “campuses”, one
of them located at 1641 W. 16th St.
The 16th St. campus was being added
supposedly to relieve overcrowding
in Pilsen schools. (According to the
Board Report, with the expansion,
next school year the UNO charter
schools will be costing $11.5 million).
While the Pilsen people left
the Board chambers with several officials, Raquel Rodriguez ,LSC, and
Principal Jose Barrera of Columbia
Explorers Elementary School said
that they have been handling their
school’s overcrowding successfully,
and that they do not wish to go on a
year-round schedule which would
cause chaos for families and the
community. They had a petition
which over 1,000 signatures. They
asked the Board reconsider putting
them on year-round schedule.
Next Alfred Rodgers of the
Southwest Latino Organization
spoke. He asked that enrollment be
stopped at Gage Park High School
whose area is overcrowded. He also
mentioned that Tarkington School
was shortchanged on its budget
from the Board. He talked of the lack
of Latinos being employed in ad-
ministration downtown.
Alice Hill-Richards of the
National Coalition of ESEA Title 1
Parents thanked the absent Scott and
Board for supporting them. Duncan
received an award for his contribution.
Wayne Stephans — who said
he was representing “the no longer
silent majority” at Simeon High
School, a classroom teacher — stated
that the LSC had selected a principal. He said that this was with the
wishes of the majority of teachers
and followed all rules outlined in
state law. The vote was nine to one
and the four-year contract signed in
front of CPS officials. However, he
said, every attempt at a smooth transition for the selected principal from
the interim sitting principal (selected
by downtown CPS) has been sabotaged by a small group of supporters of the interim principal. Mr.
Stephans said there’s no conflict
with the interim, but with the adults
who have their own agenda. He said
they obeyed all the rules, and the
new administration should be taking over. James Deanes of the central administration said that he
worked with Designs for Change to
bring about the orderly selection of
a principal. He would bring any evidence if there’s any to the Board of
impropriety.
Following Stephans, the
Simeon discussion became a bit
more graphic. Jackie White-Turner,
a Simeon parent, said she felt that
Continued on Page Six
Page Six
Substance May 2006
Boardwatch
Chicago Board of Education meeting March 22, 2006
lence.” According to Harris, the arContinued from Page Five
the school has been on probation
because conditions have not been
monitored — including talk in class
about oral sex, bikini waxes, and
nude photos on computers. She
waited in a class where students
were working computers for 15 minutes with no adult present. The next
day, she said, the same teacher was
sleeping in class and not supervising for 15 or 20 minutes at the end
of the class. The parent had reported
this to the AIO and the principal. She
faxed papers about this and money
to Central office officials, including
Duncan and has had no response.
Next, an individual identified as Ysmin of the Simeon Alumni
represented those who want to keep
the interim principal and feel that
the LSC has not followed the correct
procedure. He felt the LSC was responsible for not leading the school
properly and was responsible for
misused money and poor conditions
at the school (apparently no one has
given him a job description for
school administrators). He felt the
LSC ignored the alumni and some
parents.
Donald Pittman, head of
high schools for CPS, said he’d work
with Mr. Deanes and both groups
who had reported to the AIO to investigate the groups’ problems. He
said his area was about the teacher
and classes while Mr. Deanes was
the person in charge of elections.
Following Ysmin, Simeon
continued. Angela McMiller of
Simeon listed what she and her husband perceived were violations by
the LSC in the selection process. She
too had mailed copies to everyone
and CPS. Munana took notes
throughout the testimony and
thanked all for coming. Outside in
the hall, parents argued about what
White-Turner had said. Some parents had not heard of any of these
conditions.
Dwayne Truss, an Austin
TAC Member, said that Austin’s
“educational structure was in disarray, and the Chicago Board of Education was” the cause of it. When
students were transferred when
Austin was closed to freshman, the
TAC asked for a monitoring system
that would show their attendance,
reading scores, behavior and
progress. CPS did not do this. Instead, he referred to the Sun-Times
article (March 14,2006) showing the
city wide results of sending large
numbers (200 or more) to schools
five to seven miles away from the
sending school. Mr. Truss did not
mention that the logistically challenged Board did not send the
books, teachers or special resources
for the students first. He also said
their statistical reason for shutting
Austin was because students opted
to go to other schools out of the Austin area was faulty. Since Austin
holds 2,000 or fewer students — and
the area has 5,162 students — many
must go to other areas (also that is
ticle showed with graphs that eight
schools which received students
from closing schools had a huge
surge in violence. Duncan had
claimed not to know this would happen this year. However, oral testimony at hearings on the school closings in June 2004 had predicted it,
there were written transcripts of the
hearings, and this reporter had
asked him about the problems at
Wells last year. He subsequently sent
more students in large numbers to
Wells for a second year.
Harris wanted a response to
his questions from Duncan, EasonWatkins or Scott, none of whom
were in the room. He wanted a copy
of any research from anywhere in
the world that showed ‘’closing
schools” was good. He wanted to
know if Duncan’s quote represented
the Board or just his own opinion.
He also wanted to know why
Duncan said that the counselor ratio was “out of whack” at 600 to 1
and there’s no money for more, but
Duncan gave Mahalia Jackson and
the Ren 2010 staff raises in pay and
office budget. Harris also wanted to
know in the NCLB six-year guide
line where did it have any statement
about school closings. He asked the
be told the Board’s safety and security plan for closing (and receiving)
schools. He had been at a meeting
at Clemente the previous Monday
convened by the State’s Attorney’s
Office where Latino and White parents spoke of the “African-American
problem.” Harris said he was the
only African American there. He
said no one from various Board ofHarlan High School parents (above) returned to the April 2006 Chicago Board of
fices was present at the meeting. FiEducation to continue reporting on the violence at the school caused by the Board’s
closing of the 9th grade at Calumet High School in September 2004. At the March nally, he wanted to know if Scott had
meeting (reported in the accompanying text), students spoke movingly about their read Jonathan Kozol’s book “Shame
of a Nation.”
fears at Harlan. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt
In the same month, March,
the whole idea of integration, an ings, ample resources, enough ener- as the Sun-Times article, Chicago
alien concept to CPS). He said the getic teachers, preparation for jobs Magazine printed an article with a
“whole concept of closing the or college, prepared administra- map showing where wealth was distributed in Chicago. Strangely, all
schools was flawed” since the test tions, involved parents.
LaSharon Carter of Wheatly the receiving schools seemed to be
scores and other data from the
feeder schools showed the problem Child Parent Center spoke about the in areas next to a wealthier area, with
was in the feeder elementary schools closing of the full day pre-schools, a more expensive property. Munana
(CPS has a problem correctly analyz- child parent center position closing, said no one was present who could
ing data and being able to tell valid and all programs being cut to half answer any questions at the present.
Desi Smith stated how wonday. Budget cuts of programs for
from invalid).
Munana graciously thanked children are being cut while money derful her school, Global Alliance
Truss for his seven-page copy of the is being spent on renting facilities Prep, was, but that it had no permainformation. Duncan said that pre- owned by “Blind Trusts” for admin- nent home and needed a facility.
viously Austin’s attendance was istrative offices. Duncan’s priorities! Duncan said they’d keep working
low, 76% and at schools student Carter implored the Board to on it.
Wanda Taylor told how she
wish to attend it’s in the 90’s. He change. They have been closing
said some statistics were available child/parent centers across the city felt her oldest son had been wrongly
from his aide, David Pickens. Many even though research shows they are criminalized by being arrested at
observers noted that it is hard to more effective than either head start Kennedy High School for an alterbelieve that students with atten- or no programs. She spoke with a cation where he was accused of
dance problems would improve large group, asking for reconsidera- stealing bus passes. She felt that he
with no personal intervention except tion. Munana had Board staffer Bar- should not have been arrested, and
being sent more than six miles away bara Bowman repeat what she al- some other system needed to exist
to prevent student’s from being arfrom home with no transportation ways does: cuts are budgetary.
Derrick Harris of North rested. She claimed the damage was
— as the Austinites were.
Following the Austin infor- Lawndale Accountability Commis- already done to her son, but wanted
mation, Leroy Kennedy and Chris- sion spoke about “Lies and Dams to prevent of the arrests of others as
tine Perkins of the Grand Boulevard lies or the Shame of a Nation?” Har- her three younger sons.
Before the next Board meetFederation in Bronzeville who pre- ris spoke about the Sun-Times’ arsented seven critical elements for ticle of March 14, 2006 about the ing, her son would be one of four
successful schools. Their seven ele- CEO quote that “School Closings to
ments included welcoming build- Continue” despite “School VioContinued on Page Seven
Substance May 2006
Board Meeting
Continued from Page Six
students who brutally attacked a
Kennedy student. The incident reportedly happened in the Kennedy
auditorium with hundreds of witnesses who saw them also throw feces on the student. The four have
been arrested and suspended. The
victim (whose nose was broken) has
been transferred out of CPS as has a
terrorized Harlan student. The drop
out study given to Bill Gates does
not mention this cause for dropping
out. Students at Kennedy walked
out asking for police as security and
restoration of career classes. An off
duty policeman hired as a security
guard was punched in the face by
another student other than the four
arrested.
Janice Jeffries of Marquette
Elementary LSC spoke about a conspiracy to destroy the authority of
the LSC. The LSC had voted five to
two to not renew the contract of the
principal. However, the decision
was not being upheld. Board Attorney Patrick Rocks said he’d reply to
the lawyer hired by the LSC within
the next two days. Munana said she
would review any papers.
The next speaker revealed
why a number of Board members,
including Michael Scott, had not
been present at the beginning of the
meeting and why the meeting was
taking place an hour earlier than the
usual time. Wanda Hopkins of
PURE mentioned she hoped the
Board would not meet with the Civic
Committee of the Commercial Club
in executive session, violating the
Open Meetings Act. Hopkins was
referring to the fact that the Board
members were scheduled to have
lunch with U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings at noon, and
that the Civic Committee had informed people that the luncheon
was “private.”
She also talked about parents
having their involvement decreased.
She also talked about not having
Michelle Clark used as a receiving
school for students from closed
schools. It is strange that CPS would
send students to a school with which
the sending school had been involved a huge fight. Earlier, speakers had reported that students from
Clark, May and Austin were involved in a riot in front of the Reverend Livingston’s Church less than
one year ago. Apparently, the demographics dept. did not remember.
Perhaps they wanted to integrate the
fighters and their opposition.
Kalid Johnson of the
Westside Health Authority represented the Westside school improvement campaign saying it was “outraged over” the remarks made by
Arne Duncan over school closings
continuing despite the violence in
the schools. Apparently angry,
Johnson shook his finger at Duncan
and said “you would not have said
that if it were your child.” He said
that his organization said west side
children were their children. He
lauded Representative Cynthia Soto
and Alderman Michael Chandler for
Page Seven
Coming in Substance:
Pornography of ‘The Bottom Line’
At the April and May Chicago Board of Education meeting, dramatic protests against cutbacks in special education services
continued. Citing “budgetary restraints”, CPS officials continued to claim that the cuts were forced on them because the state
wasn’t providing Chicago’s public schools with enough money. But an ongoing investigation by Substance and other public
education advocates has revealed an increase in funding for illegal charter schools and a corresponding increase in Chicago’s
“New Schools” bureaucracy taking place while services to special needs children are being ruthlessly cut. By June 2006,
Chicago was supporting more than 40 charter schools (and perhaps as many as 50, depending upon how one counts)
despite a state law capping Chicago charters at 30 schools! Additionally, while claiming that he was reducing the Board of
Education’s central office bureaucracy, Arne Duncan more than doubled the number of people working in the “New Schools”
offices. Since Duncan closed Spalding special education school two years ago (claiming it would be repaired quickly and
returned to the use of special needs students), Duncan and the Board have cut services to the city’s most vulnerable children
while expanding patronage to politically connected charter school operators. Above, at the April 2006 Chicago Board of
Education meeting, parents of some of the city’s most needy special needs students brought their children in wheelchairs to
protest Duncan’s plans to cut teachers and ESPs who serve these children’s needs. Substance photo by George Schmidt.
taking action at the behest of their
constituents. Soto had introduced a
bill in Springfield to halt school closings in Chicago, and Chandler had
a resolution pending before
Chicago’s City Council. He felt CPS
administration had been unjust in
feeling the officials were adversaries of the flawed policies. He said he
represented the community which
did not want students sent to Manly,
Crane, Clemente, or Wells or anyone
out of the community.
He said something had happened in the 8th District the previous night. He warned the CPS
Board that they should recognize
that there were “Winds of Change,”
or it would regret it later.
Anabel Bermudez and
Daniel Sullivan spoke of the wonderful program at Telpochcalli Elementary. They asked that the
principal’s contract be renewed and
the signed contract be honored.
Tenara Averett, Raysheena
Smith and Jennie Greer appeared for
Sherman Elementary School, which
has been selected to reopen under
Urban School Leadership and a new
principal. Sherman had been “reconstituted” a few months earlier at the
time the Board voted to close other
schools. Everyone was in agreement
about starting with this program in
the fall depending on Board approval. Munana and Duncan agreed
all was turning out well at one
school.
Viridia Hatchett had asked
for information in March of 2005.
She still did not have it from CPS.
She also asked about the Parent
Community Advisory Board. She
wanted to know how it was funded
. She called it a “private club” since
a person would have to apply for it.
She also wanted to know the source
of the $450,000. 00 given to this
group and to know why anyone
under NCLB could not join. She
asked CPS Board to investigate. She
should be asking the State’s Attorney.
Syvester Hendricks of the
Afrosytric Youth Association asked
for a moment of silence for the recently deceased children including
his own. He then said that after public relations by the Board, there was
a good turnout for LSC elections.
Scott asked if this was a compliment? Hendricks said it was. He
then spoke of a fax machine # for
James Deanes Office, #1401, which
seemed to not work for some candidate applications. Scott told the procedure for providing proof.
Debbie Sims wanted to set
up a meeting with Eason-Watkins.
Janice Jones state she was a
parent and community activist at
Harlan High School (and Alderman
Lyles office). She said at Harlan: “We
are in danger. We are unsafe. The
drugs, the violence and gangs are an
everyday presence. These are signs
we are unsafe.” She said they could
not wait. Action needed to be taken
today.
She said that since September, there have been 1,500 suspensions and 1, 140 arrests. She said security was outnumbered. They
needed more security, cameras, and
space. They needed a population
cap and to return boundaries to the
way they were before the CPS administration sent violent gangs to
Harlan. She said they are overcrowded (not a small school) and
accepting no more students from
closing schools. They needed a position paid by the Board for a disciplinarian with zero tolerance for
fighting. Food fights and disrespect
to the staff went on every day. For
two years, Harlan has been receiving students transferred from Calumet High School, which stopped
taking 9th graders in September 2004.
When calling the office
where seven girls fighting, she heard
a stream of swearing. There’s unruly
behavior. She said Scott came out
after the shooting in the school in the
fall. (Remember last month Scott
told a Harlan parent at that time the
Principal had said she had not received the deserved number of
teachers and had programming and
crowding problems. Scott said she
did not mention security. He was
there after a shooting and felt someone needed to tell him?
She said they are losing good
parents. The firefighter who spoke
the preceding month took his student out of Harlan after he was
beaten by a gang of 15 violent
people. Scott accepted the blame for
what had not been done and said it
would be fixed immediately. Harlan
parents would be back in April.
Renee Buchanan and a male
junior from Harlan reiterated the
fear they have going to class and to
school. It is hard to get to class in
Continued on Page Eight
Page Eight
Substance May 2006
A first union meeting in April...
New delegate has baptism of …
By Michael Brownstein
April 2006 was my first Chicago Teacher’s Union meeting as a
delegate and I didn’t even know
where to go. The previous union
delegate couldn’t remember the address, so I got the phone number and
called the union.
“Hi,” I said, “I’m a new
union delegate and I need the address for tonight’s union meeting.”
“Hold on,” she said. “I’ll get
it.”
A few seconds later she told
me it was at Plumber’s Hall, 1314 W.
Washington. I repeated the address
to her. She repeated it back to me. I
wrote it down.
A few hours later I exited the
Madison Ave. bus at the 1300 block
and walked north to Washington.
1314 W. Washington is a parking lot,
but down the street at 1340 I saw
people gathering in small groups
and walking in. I went there.
Inside I found my place in
line and waited for my turn. I was
handed a packet, thanked for showing up and signed in.
“This is my first meeting,” I
told the woman on the other side of
the table.
“Oh,” she replied, and
handed me some more stuff. She
then directed me to where the meeting would take place.
The meeting was on the second floor. I walked in, noticed a lot
of empty seats near the front and
decided to take one of them. My row
was blocked by a line of people. I
excused myself through them and
took a seat. I thought I was late — I
was told the meeting began
promptly at 4 and here it was almost
4:30 — but I still had a few minutes
before the meeting began.
Boardwatch
Continued from Page Seven
three minutes because of fights in
the hall. One student in anger
punched a hole in plate glass in the
lunchroom, leaving blood all over
the hall. She said “We’re terrified,”
and it’s hard. The male student said
there were riots in the school and
students were “wrecking havoc.” He
was also terrified because he could
be stabbed or shot at any time.
Munana thanked them all for coming down.
Derrick Banks who is a vendor and a parent and husband of an
educator said that his program
“Streets that Teach” could help alleviate the crime wave in our schools
and hoped the Board would consider it. Munana thanked him for
coming.
John Connor , a junior at
Kelly High School, spoke about limiting the access to public school for
military recruiters. Rather than simply obeying the NCLB bill for recruiters to have equal access to students as college recruiters, military
recruiters had overstepped their
roles. There had been incidents of
It was question and answer
time. That’s why there was such a
long line. I organized my stuff, got
comfortable, and waited for the
main meeting. The question had to
do with report card pick-up. Did we
have to stay an extra 15 minutes or
not? After discussion, back and forth
bantering, the answer was yes, we
had to stay in school until 6:15. I remember somehow a time when
teaching was an avocation full of
passion. An extra fifteen minutes? I
didn’t understand the fuss. And I
never will so don’t try to explain it
to me.
At exactly 4:30, the union
meeting began.
American Federation of
Teachers Secretary-Treasurer Nat
LaCour, the former president of the
New Orleans affiliate, was the first
speaker. He gave a rousing cheer
leading speech, and I guess this is
fine, but I thought to myself we
don’t really need cheer leading at
this point. There are too many problems confronting us and we as delegates should know why we’re
there. To be told that we are one of
the greatest unions of all time isn’t
one of them.
Twenty minutes later CTU
President Marilyn Stewart took the
podium and gave a report on the
violence in the high schools. I didn’t
know about the feces in the fight at
Kennedy, though I did know about
the violence.
I was glad to get information
on the difference between the assault
and incident report. I was also glad
to get my own views confirmed:
Most of the violence, according to
Stewart, is coming from students
transferred in from a school that was
closed nearby.
recruiters coming and going without checking with office, following
and pressuring students, roaming
the halls. Notice they are at Kelly
and Northlawndale Prep. They are
not roaming the halls of Harlan,
Wells or Clemente. Scott agreed and
said they were getting report and
intended to create a strict list to be
given to principals. Connor asked
how his group could get information. Scott (who had finally arrived
at the meeting) told Don Pittman to
arrange communications. The public participation was then over.
Munana thanked everyone and
Scott apologized for staff not doing
its job.
Before closed session staff
gave reports on removing books
from libraries and changes for
schools going on probation. Charter
schools are not held accountable by
the same standards as regular
schools.
After closed sessions, payments for workman compensation
cases were approved along with fees
for lawyers handling law cases
against the Board, real estate purchases, and Board items by number.;
When Woodson closed part
of its building, and my school became a receiving school, we too felt
the brunt of this violence.
The meeting then went into
a discussion about the new contract
proposals. We were told we would
have fifteen minutes to debate each
page and if we kept on track, we
would be out on time. I didn’t understand the fifteen minutes. It
seemed like an arbitrary number,
but I understand from reading my
entire packet that fifteen minutes is
the agreed upon time limit. Who
made the time limit, I don’t know,
but it’s in the Procedure For House
of Delegate Meeting handout.
We went page by page.
There was quite a bit about high
school and a lot of it was redundant,
but we made it through those pages
even though some of the deletions
had to be repeated again and again
and again.
I noticed that some votes
were passed only because a few
people were very loud. (Votes were
counted by which side was the loudest.)
On page three, representatives for the teacher aides stood in
line to have their say only to be
stopped by someone going to the
mic to make a motion to stop the
debate well before the fifteen minute
time limit. When one of the teacher
aides made an impassioned appeal
to be heard, she was told she could
not speak because a motion was
made to end the debate.
The vote was very close, but
I felt very strongly that they should
have had been able to state their
piece. Furthermore, I felt a hand vote
would have been a better way of
handling the situation. The voice
vote was that close. Keep in mind
the small group of very loud screamers.
One teacher aide stated that
all of the their concerns were on page
three, but they were not allowed to
speak on them. Because the motion
to stop debate had passed, they were
told they could not speak to that issue.
I learned a few things during my first meeting
1.) I did not know art, music, library, and physical education
teachers were not considered classroom teachers. If they weren’t classroom teachers, who were they? Ar-
ticle 4-8 of the contract proposals
states that with the new proposed
contract they “...shall be considered
as classroom teachers...” What were
they considered before?
2.) High School teachers get
five preparation periods per week.
3.) Counselors presently
have a caseload of 500 to 1. No wonder we are seeing so many problems.
4.) As important as the library is, the board presently funds
one librarian for schools with 500 or
more students. I thought reading
was our number one priority.
5.) Teachers were taken out
of the loop in cases of discipline. This
was reinstated in the proposed contract in Article 30-1. The proposal
now reads that teachers can participate in the disciplinary conference
with the administration, student and
parent.
6.) Many members do not
understand what immediate family
means in terms of benefits. Your
mother is not your spouse or child.
There was also some movement towards gay bashing—benefits that
assist individuals who do not conform to the standard family unit.
7.) Many times the fifteen
minute rule was halted by a motion
to stop debate and a contingency of
very loud individuals would scream
out thereby passing the motion.
8.) Not all of the individuals
on the podium have a full understanding of the Robert’s Rules of
Order.
9.) Substitutes and teacher
aides do not have clout—even
within their own union.
Two hours later, someone
called out for a quorum count. There
was a lot of discussion on the podium, a ruling to disregard, then
another ruling, and finally it was
decided to have a quorum vote. We
stood to be counted. Only 226 delegates were still present so the meeting was adjourned.
What did I learn? We don’t
need cheerleaders to get us motivated. We also don’t need to stop
specific voices from talking. At one
point a motion was made but not
seconded. Someone in the back finally yelled out, “Every motion deserves a second.”
Back at school the next day,
I put together my own union report.
Did I learn anything else? I learned
that if we are going to successfully
go against the Board, we’d better get
united in a big way quickly. And we
don’t need cheerleaders to unite us.
We need solid leadership. The kind
offered in the President’s Report. ;
Anonymous mailing checked out
In early April, a number of
individuals and media, including
Substance, received an anonymous
mailing containing information regarding large expenses paid to some
current leaders of the Chicago
Teachers Union, some as far back as
nine years ago.
The mailing carried a return
address of the Chicago Teachers
Union, but a subsequent check confirmed that the mailing had not been
done by anyone at CTU, nor had it
come from the Post Office at the
Merchandise Mart. One of these
mailings, postmarked April 10 and
mailed Parcel Post (the cheapest
rate), arrived at Substance near the
end of April. Although Substance
uses material from off-the-record
sources, we must know the source
before we protect anonymity. Since
we have not been contacted by the
individual or group that sent the
materials, we are waiting to hear
from them before we begin consideration of whether to publish the
stuff. ;
Substance May 2006
Page Nine
Exploiting loopholes in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)...
How Duncan spends millions on patronage while
claiming a ‘deficit’ and attacking teacher pensions
By George N. Schmidt
For more than a decade, Substance has obtained the Chicago
Board of Education’s “Position File”
under the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA). The “Position Files” is
the continuing record of all full-time
and part-time employees. Information in the Position File includes the
employee’s name, position number,
unit, job title, annual salary, and
amount paid to date. (Other information in the master file, such as
Social Security Number, is redacted
— deleted — from copies of the Position File provided under FOIA).
While the Position File provides citizens with information
about how the majority of the school
system’s dollars are being spent, it
does not contain all of the information. Dollars are also spent on buildings, materials, debt service, and on
individuals and entities that are not
full-time employees. Information
about the latter are contained in the
CPS files on vendors and consultants.
In March 2006, after we had
acquired and begun analysis of the
Position File (see the April 2006 Substance for some analysis of that
document), Substance requested
and received the vendor files going
from fiscal year 2001 (the year Arne
Duncan became CEO of CPS) and
FY 2005 (the fiscal year that ended
June 30, 2005). The complete vendor/consultant files for FT 2006 will
not be available until after the fiscal
year ends June 30, 2006, a little over
a month from when this Substance
is going to press.
Deliberate disorganization
As reported in our Page One
story on the vendor and consultant
list in this Substance, the vendor and
consultant file is as disorganized as
the Position File is a model of organization. Entities and individuals,
some of whom have received payments in excess of $1 million from
the Chicago Board of Education, are
listed in an odd melange of ways,
ranging from alphabetical by first
name (!) to partital abbreviations.
The file also contains unusual notes
at certain entries. Dozens of vendors
and other contractors are listed at
“addresses” on the upper floors of
the Board of Educaton’s headquarters at 125 S. Clark St.
And for reasons no one will
explain, a large number of entries are
duplicated, making it difficult to ascertain whether they have been paid
twice, or the double-entry is simply
a data entry problem. [This same
situation appeared in the Position
Files published last month, and
there has been no explanation as to
why it takes place].
The entire vendors and consultant list document that Substance
received consists of more than 4,000
lines on a spreadsheet, itemizing
ants and vendors paid by the Chicago Board of Education during FY
2005. It has been edited only so that
it fits on the page, and in a handful
of instances the name of the individual or entity listed as having received the money has been reduced
in length so that the entire chart
could fit on the page.
The entire list is reproduced
in this Substance, making this the
longest financial list we have ever
published. (We have published lists
of school test scores that were as
long, but never financial information).
The list published in this
Substance does not include a companion list of vendors and consultants who were paid less than $10,000
per year during the same years. That
list was provided to Substance and
is still being analyzed. The two lists
were provided separately because
under current Board Rules, those
who are contracted for amounts in
excess of $10,000 are supposed to be
reported in a Board Report at a public meeting, while amounts less than
$10,000 at th epresent time do not
require Board Reports.
Charter school costs hidden
One of the most surprising
revelations that came as Substance
and our allies began examining the
vendor and consultant records was
that the city’s growing number of
charter schools were generally missing from the lists completely. Charter school staffs are not included in
the Position files. Charter school
costs are not itemized in the vendor
Board denies resumes of executives. Under the federal No Child Left Behind and consultant files. Additionally,
Act (NCLB), the qualifications of every classroom teacher become public informathe capital costs of charter schools
tion and are disseminated every year to parents. A teacher who is not “highly
(the cost to the public of renting and
qualified” according to the NCLB guidelines becomes the subject of closer scrutiny by parents, and often the subject of ridicule by students. Because the subtle maintaining buildings that house
distinctions under which a teacher is declared “highly qualified” or not under NCLB charter schools) is not itemized in
are lost on youngsters, students who declare that their teachers are “too dumb” to the Board’s annual budget reports.
be teaching a particular subject are not about to change their minds based on Neither the “Proposed Budget” nor
lengthy explanations. Similarly, ESPs have been required to meet more stringent the “Final Budget” for FY 2005 even
standards in recent years. But the Chicago Board of Education has exempted two lists “Charter School” in their Tables
groups from public scrutiny, as the above letter shows. The Board refuses to pro- of Contents or Glossaries.
vide the curriculum vitae or resume of its executives and principals under the
How significant is cover up
Freedom of Information Act and has refused to change its position despite addiof charter school costs? Two extional requests from Substance. The Board also allows many of its most expenamples: Chicago’s largest charter
sive consultants and vendors to receive multi-million dollar contracts over periods
extending into years without competitive bidding. Teachers, teacher assistants, “school” now reports that it has a $1
and others working in the schools with children are presently subjected to some of million surplus of cash. Shouldn’t
the most intense scrutiny in history. The Board of Education’s executive class, this be returned to the General Opwhich has been expanding since Arne Duncan took over in July 2001, has ex- erating Fund of CPS? Another charempted itself from any review of its qualifications to run a school system. Ironi- ter operator expanded in February.
cally, the individual to whom the appear of the above decision is supposed to be UNO will receive at least $11 million
addressed, Chief of Staff Hosannah Mahaley Johnson, is one of those who came next year, according to the Board.
to the Board of Education after various jobs at Chicago’s City Hall. She reportedly
In June, the Chicago Board
has no experience in education and no Illinois teaching or administrative qualificaof Education is required to hold budtions.
get hearings. The May Board of Edumore than $800 million in expenses, of consultants and other vendors, cation meeting agenda announced
and covering five full years.
along with a complete list of all con- that the hearings would be held on
sultants and vendors paid during FY June 12, June 13, and June 14. At
Tip of a patronage iceberg?
2005 (the period between July 1, 2004 Substance press time, however, it
was learned that the hearings had
Our editors and reporter and June 30, 2005).
spent more than a month trying to
The enormous chart that be- been postponed. Sources at the
analyze the document and also try- gins on Page Ten of this Substance Board said that once again the
ing to figure out what to present to and continues for 17 pages of analy- Duncan administration cannot proour readers. We finally decided on sis and (mostly) chart is the exact in- duce its “proposed” budget on time,
highlights of some of the most un- formation wereceived in response to and the delay might be longer than
usual things about the Board’s use our request for a list of all consult- one week. ;
Page Ten
Substance May 2006
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
2020 COMPANY, LLC
21ST CENTURY LEARNING, LLC
8TH DAY CONSULTING, TRAINING,
A EPSTEIN AND SONS
A KNOCK AT MIDNIGHT
A.C. ADVISORY, INC.
A+ TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS, INC.
A+ TUTORING SERVICE, LTD.
AB INITIO SOFTWARE CORPORATION
ABC DEVELOPMENT, INC.
ACADEMY FOR URBAN SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
ACCOUNTERS COMMUNITY CENTER
ACHIEVE 3000
ACQUITY GROUP
ACTIVE COPIER
ACXIOM CORPORATION
ADA S. MCKINLEY COMMUNITY SVCS, INC.
ADELE MECHER
ADVANCE COMPUTER TECHNICAL
ADVANCED DATA CONCEPTS
ADVANCED SYSTEMS CONSULTANT,
AFRICAN AMERICAN IMAGES1
AGILE MIND EDUCATIONAL HOLDINGS, INC
AHA! INTERACTIVE
AJILON
ALAN CHILDS, M.A. PSY., P.C.
ALBANY PARK COMMUNITY CENTER
ALBERT G. LANE TECHNICAL HIGH
ALBERT PESSAH
ALIVIO MEDICAL CENTER
ALL PRINTING & GRAPHICS, INC.
ALLAN GOLDIN
ALLEN, NATALIE L
ALLIANCE FOR COMMUNITY PEACE
ALLIANCE FRANCAISE DE CHICAGO
ALPHONSE G GUAJARDO ASSOCIATES
ALTERNATIVES, INC.
AMALGAMATED BANK OF CHICAGO
AMER-I-CAN ENTERPRISE II, INC
AMERICAN GUIDANCE SERVICE
AMERICAN HOME HEALTH CORP.
AMERICAN READING CO.
ANDERSON BOOKSHOPS
ANGELA HILL RIVERS
ANGELA L. ARMSTRONG
ANN C. KULIG
ANNETTE J. WILKERSON
ANNIE M. SWILLEY
ANTON JONES
APPELBAUM TRAINING INSTITUTE
APPLE COMPUTER INC
APPLICATION SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY CORP.
APPLIED TECHNOLOGY & SYSTEMS,
ARAMARK SERVICES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP DBAARAMARK SE
ARCHITECTS ENTERPRISE, LTD
ARLENE SARETSKY, DR.
ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
ART RESOURCES IN TEACHING
ART THERAPY CONNECTION, NFP
ARTHUR L. BERMAN, P.C.
ARTMARK
City
FAIRFAX
PHOENIX
OAK FOREST
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
BERWYN
WOODBURY
LEXINGTON
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHCIAGO
LAKEWOOD
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
JOLIET
CHICAGO
GRAPEVINE
CHICAGO
PALATINE
PALOS HILLS
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
DES PLAINES
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
RIVERWOODS
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CIRCLE PINES
AURORA
KING OF PRIUSSIA
DOWNERS GROVE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
NORTHBROOK
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
SUGAR LAND
AUSTIN
NAPERVILLE
SOUTH HOLLAND
DOWNERS GROVE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
WILLOWBROOK
State
Amt. FY 2005
VA
AZ
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
MN
MA
IL
IL
IL
NJ
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
TX
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
MN
IL
PA
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
TX
TX
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
$431,690.00
$199,800.00
$29,402.00
$17,864.15
$20,964.00
$250,000.00
$39,612.00
$409,235.44
$25,105.16
$47,423.75
$1,091,194.49
$87,000.00
$59,354.68
$19,525.00
$30,839.00
$917,084.00
$48,222.00
$14,499.47
$66,520.92
$557,573.75
$127,013.00
$22,041.72
$96,499.00
$20,750.00
$16,726.00
$58,120.00
$29,062.25
$27,970.00
$73,402.50
$81,800.00
$90,619.83
$142,392.00
$20,790.96
$116,636.36
$20,306.50
$660,305.83
$49,989.96
$51,174.75
$40,000.00
$101,208.75
$24,461.50
$11,435.00
$12,600.00
$17,795.00
$13,200.00
$18,125.00
$18,247.50
$27,000.00
$31,620.00
$33,884.00
$67,350.73
$341,192.50
$133,000.00
$3,044,269.53
$76,792.80
$17,000.00
$28,772.60
$376,266.00
$15,494.14
$64,600.87
$11,189.04
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Consultants
reap millions
from CPS
Continued from Page One
Chart continued on Page Eleven
typical of a scene that had unfolded
for years in different places. A main
issue before the Board in April 2006
was whether the Board would continue in the creation of another charter school operated by UNO, the
United Neighborhood Organization. UNO, wose ties to the Hispanic
Democratic Organization (HDO)
that has been in the center of many
City Hall scandals in recent years, is
portrayed in public education debates as a dedicated community organization, not as a political arm of
the Daley administration’s corporate
Like Leon Finney, community activist Coretta McFerren (above, at the April 2002 agend.
hearing on the closing of Williams Elementary School) regularly speaks in favor of
By April 2006, UNO had
the “Renaissance.” McFerren has been on the Board’s payroll for years. Since opened two charters and had been
when conflicts arise.
But a careful review of the
record, from the Chicago Park District to the Chicago Board of Education, shows that Scott’s well rehearsed lines always end up with
the same result: the furtherance of
the
Daley
administration’s
privatization agenda and the further
destruction of public services in
Chicago.
The April 2006 scene at the 2001, she has been paid a total of more than $339,000 from CPS for consulting
Chicago Board of Education was work. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Continued on Page Eleven
Substance May 2006
Page Eleven
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
ART’S INVESTIGATIONS & SECURITY
ASCL EDUCATIONAL SERVICES, INC.
ASPIRA
ASSESSMENT TRAINING INSTITUTE, INC.
ASSOCIATION FOR SUPERVISION & CUR. DEV.
ASSOCIATION HOUSE OF CHICAGO
ATC ASSOCIATES, INC.
AVAYA, INC.
AVID CENTER
AYUBI, YOLANDA
B G F PERFORMANCE
BACK OF THE YARDS NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
BANIA, THADDEUS
BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.
BANK ONE 1
BANNER SCHOOLS, LLC
BARBARA M. O’BLOCK
BARBARA ONYEALI
BARBARA R. SCHWARTZ
BARON, LAURA
BARREL OF MONKEYS, C/O ARTS BRIDGE
BARRETT GROUP, INC.
BARRICK, CARL
BAUER LATOZA STUDIO
BEATRICE CAFFREY YOUTH SERVICE
BELL, GENEVA C
BERLITZ LANGUAGES, INC.
BEST PRACTICE TRAINING & CONSULTING SERVICES
BETTY F. SMITH
BEVERLY ARTS CENTER
BEZRUCZKO, NIKOLAUS
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER
BLACK STAR PROJECT
BLACK UNITED FUND OF ILLINOIS
BLACKWELL CONSULTING SERVICES,
BLUES KIDS OF AMERICA
BONITA CHAPMAN
BORGER, JEANNE BEVERLY
BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO
BRAINFOREST, INC.
BRAINFUSE, A DIVISION OF THE TRUST FORTE
BRIAN J. HILL
BRIAN SULLIVAN
BRIDGES TRANSITIONS
BRIGHT START EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANTs
BRIGHTON PARK NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
BRILLIANCE ACADEMY
BRONNER GROUP, INC.
BROOKES PUBLISHING CO
BROOKS, ROBERT B
BROWN, BILLY
BROWN, VINCENT
BRUCE MARCHIAFAVA
BRUSTEIN & MANASEVIT
BUCHANAN, BERTHA PAUL
BUCKNEY & ASSOCIATES, INC.
BULLOCK, CHERYL
BURNETT, JOHNNY
BUZZ SAWYER
BW RESOURCES, INC.
BYRON K. LANGSTON
City
CHICAGO
DYER
CHICAGO
PORTLAND
ALEXANDRIA
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
SAN DIEGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
MUNSTER
CHICAGO
SKOKIE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
ARLINGTON
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CALUMET PARK
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
BEDFORD PARK
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
BATAVIA
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
NEW YORK
JOLIET
NEW LENOX
CHICAGO
CHINO
CHICAGO
NORTHBROOK
CHICAGO
BALTIMORE
NEEDHAM
CHICAGO
EVANSTON
GENEVA
WASHINGTON
CALUMET CITY
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
SHOREWOOD
CHICAGO
State
IL
IN
IL
OR
VA
IL
IL
IL
CA
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IN
IL
IL
IL
IL
VA
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
NY
IL
IL
IL
CA
IL
IL
IL
MD
MA
IL
IL
IL
DC
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Vendors paid
millions by
Duncan
Continued from Page Ten
granted a third charter (and possibly a fourth and fifth). Despite the
fact that Chicago is only supposed
to have 30 charter schools and already had 35, a few months earlier
the Board passed the motion, signed
by CEO Arne Duncan, to grant UNO
a charter for a school in Pilsen. The
expansion of the UNO charter
schools, like the expansion of several others run by groups with close
Continued on Page Twelve
Amt. FY 2005
$632,394.16
$159,000.00
$102,012.00
$23,048.91
$11,722.52
$20,607.50
$43,189.11
$13,497.00
$89,308.20
$18,091.32
$20,000.00
$29,040.00
$95,595.00
$10,987.50
$579,499.63
$61,474.00
$15,000.00
$16,937.50
$16,200.00
$16,666.00
$24,789.00
$100,500.00
$13,966.15
$417,480.98
$29,921.77
$14,975.00
$42,210.07
$14,889.00
$21,888.00
$23,425.00
$48,950.00
$52,260.00
$24,000.00
$22,076.00
$34,999.00
$1,169,598.15
$24,150.00
$99,335.00
$24,950.00
$273,100.00
$86,264.00
$538,420.09
$46,750.00
$22,750.00
$47,500.00
$12,375.00
$39,748.75
$17,239.04
$14,475.00
$16,300.00
$10,158.00
$10,050.00
$48,400.00
$30,000.00
$14,490.11
$12,200.00
$50,130.00
$20,063.50
$26,850.00
$132,000.00
$57,498.00
$28,437.50
Chart continued on Page Twelve
When UNO CEO Juan Rangal (left, at
the hearings on the Renaissance 2010
plan on September 15, 2004) speaks
publicly in favor of “Renaissance 2010”
, he doesn’t mention that between 2001
and 2005, his United Neighborhood Organization (UNO) received more than $1
million in consultant fees from the Chicago Board of Education. In public presentations such as the one at left (at the
“hearing” on whether CPS should proceed with “Renaissance 2010”), Rangal
claims to speak on behalf of the community and routinely attacks public
schools and public school teachers. By
March, 2005, Rangal’s organization had
received CPS approval to operate three
charter schools, despite widespread
community opposition. Substance photo
by George N. Schmidt.
Page Twelve
Substance May 2006
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
CABELL, NICOLE
CALLAGHAN, MARGARET M
CAMBRIDGE EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
CAMBRIDGE EDUCATIONAL SERVICES OF ILLINOIS
CAMELLIA SCOPELITE
CAMPBELL, HAROLD LAVELL
CAREERS & EMPLOYMENT SERVICES, LTD
CARL L. LAWSON, SR. DR.
CARL SCHURZ HIGH SCHOOL
CARNOW, CONIBEAR & ASSOCIATES,
CARTER REPORTING SERVICE
CASEL/DEPT OF PSYCHOLOGY , UNIV OF IL AT CHGO
CATAPULT LEARNING
CATHERY, CHENICE
CATHOLIC CHARITIES ARCH CHGO
CBF READING & LITERACY, INC.
CDW COMPUTER CENTER
CDW GOVERNMENT, INC.
CENTER FOR ART & SPIRITUALITY IN INTL. DEV.
CENTER FOR INNOVATIVE SCHOOLS
CENTER FOR PSYCHOLOGICL SERVICES, LTD.
CENTER FOR TEACHING & LEARNING
CENTERS FOR NEW HORIZONS, INC.
CENTRAL STATES SER JOBS FOR PROGRESS
CHANDLER WHITE PUBLISHING
CHARLES D. MASON
CHARLES P. STEINMETZ HIGH SCHOOL
CHICAGO “STYLE” STEPPERS LLP
CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE
CHICAGO AREA BLACK PILOTS ASSN
CHICAGO AREA PROJECT
CHICAGO ARTS PARTNERSHIPS IN EDUCATION
CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN
CHICAGO CHARTER SCHOOL FOUNDATION
CHICAGO CHILD CARE SOCIETY
CHICAGO CHILDRENS CHOIR
CHICAGO CHILDREN’S MUSEUM
CHICAGO COMMONS
CHICAGO DEBATE COMMISSION
CHICAGO DEPT. OF HEALTH
CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
CHICAGO METRO HISTORY FAIR
CHICAGO MILITARY ACADEMY
CHICAGO MOVING COMPANY
CHICAGO PRINCIPALS ASSOCIATION
CHICAGO PUBLIC ARTS GROUP
CHICAGO SCHOOL ASSOCIATES
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER
CHICAGO SINFONIETTA
CHICAGO STAFFING SPECIALISTS, INC
CHICAGO STATE UNIVERSITY
CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION QUEST
CHICAGO TWO WAY INC.
CHICAGO VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
CHILDREN FIRST FUND
CHILDREN’S CENTER FOR CREATIVE LEARNING
CHILDREN’S HOME & AID SOCIETY
CHILDREN’S HOUSE-LAKE MEADOWS, INC.
CHILDREN’S LITERACY INITIATIVE
CHILDREN’S MEMORIAL HOSPITAL 1
CHILDREN’S SECOND LANGUAGE PROGRAM, INC.
CHILD’S PLAY TOURING THEATRE
CHILDSERV
City
CHICAGO
FOREST PARK
DES PLAINES
DES PLAINES
CHICAGO
FRANKFORT
CHICAGO
FRANK FORT
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
ATLANTA
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
ROLLING MEADOWS
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
OAK LAWN
DES PLAINES
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
GLENCOE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CICERO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
GLENWOOD
PHILADELPHIA
CHICAGO
HAZEL CREST
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
State
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
GA
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
PA
IL
IL
IL
IL
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Vendors and
consultants
Continued from Page Eleven
political ties to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, had been made possible by a rhetorical sleight of hand.
Here is how it works.
The Illinois charter school
law originally said that Chicago
could only have 15 charter schools,
and the state could only have 45. The
remaining 30 charter schools were
divided between the suburbs
around Chicago and “downstate.”
By 2001, it had become clear
that neither the suburbs nor downstate wanted charter schools, and
only a handful existed outside Chicago. Despite scandals in Chicago’s
charter schools from the very beginning, the Board of Education relentlessly expanded Chicago charters,
eventually breaking through the cap
(which by 2003 had been raised to
30 charters for Chicago).
What enabled more than 30
to equal less than 30? Instead of calling each new Chicago charter school
a “school,” the Chicago Board of
Eeducation, under Michael Scott
and Arne Duncan, declared that the
new schools became “campuses.”
Once a group had been granted the
charter to create one charter school,
Pop Quiz: Find Chicago
School Associates in
Directory Assistance...
You’d think that a corporation that
received $3.8 million from CPS in
2005 would have a telephone number. But a recent call to Directory Assistance was unable to get a number
for “Chicago School Associates.”
What is “Chicago School Associates”? Why can’t it afford a phone
on the $4 million it’s been getting annually from CPS since Arne and
Michael took over in 2001?
Amt. FY 2005
$21,600.00
$33,925.00
$1,124,139.27
$83,038.23
$17,500.00
$19,950.00
$11,393.52
$15,062.50
$10,642.00
$90,250.21
$23,068.20
$76,287.00
$7,695,096.31
$14,970.00
$267,291.95
$12,803.00
$710,536.00
$981,802.76
$14,300.00
$15,050.00
$16,200.00
$275,000.00
$18,690.00
$22,500.00
$26,000.00
$11,877.40
$10,181.00
$42,700.00
$245,420.00
$22,900.00
$81,600.00
$201,000.00
$237,970.00
$24,850.00
$643,485.35
$139,125.00
$235,989.33
$54,276.60
$30,583.41
$13,688.00
$150,000.00
$45,242.00
$29,900.00
$16,939.00
$11,250.00
$1,204,033.03
$24,000.00
$3,876,180.77
$23,065.00
$20,000.00
$107,229.75
$100,980.00
$24,450.00
$12,389.00
$27,454.00
$200,548.00
$120,000.00
$138,448.32
$66,000.00
$17,460.00
$11,780.00
$18,500.00
$12,640.00
$107,752.50
Chart Continued on Page Thirteen
the school board, with Daley’s blessings and in full view of Chicago’s
compliant news media, created additional charter schools by making
each new one a “campus” of the first
charter.
Even in the Alice in Wonderland world of Chicago “school reform”, this campusing policy for
charters created a cognitive problem
for the mayor’s many layers of public and private apologists and propagandists. Campusing would have
led to some serious questions had
there been any independent media
examination of the divergence beContinued on Page Thirteen
Page Thirteen
Substance May 2006
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
City
CHITUNDA TILLMAN
CHRISTINE LARUE
CHRISTOPHER A. ROBINSON-EASLEY
CHRISTOPHER J. MURRAY
CHRISTY VALYOU
CIBER, INC.
CINDY STAWSKI
CITY YEAR, INC.
CLEAN WORLD ENGINEERING, LTD.
CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT
CLOSE UP FOUNDATION
CLOWNING AROUND ENTERTAINMENT
COALITION FOR IMPROVED EDUCATION IN SOUTH SHORE
COGNITIVE CONCEPTS, INC.
COLFAX CORPORATION
COLLEGE BOARD, THE
COLLEGE SUMMIT, INC.
COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO
COMMUNICATION EDUCATION, INC.
COMMUNITY COUNSELING CENTERS
COMMUNITY MALE EMPOWERMENT PROJECT CORPORATION
COMMUNITY ORGANINZING & FAMILY
COMPASS LEARNING CORPORATION
COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATIONAL CONSULTING SERVICES, INC
COMPREHENSIVE THERAPEUTICS,
COMPUTEK COMPUTERS
COMPUTER DISCOUNT WAREHOUSE
COMPUTER SERVICES & CONSULTING
COMPUTERLAND DOWNERS GROVE
CONCENTRA HEALTH SERVICES, INC. DBA CONCENTRA MEDIC
CONCERNED CHRISTIAN MEN
CONLEY, SHEILA ELLEN
CONSORTIUM FOR EDUCATIONAL CHANGE (CEC)
CONSTANCE J. REDEN
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
CONWAY, CINDY
COOPER, LEONARD
CORETTA MCFERREN
CORONEL, INC.
CORPORATE ART SOURCE
CORPORATE SERVICES
COUNCIL OF THE GREAT CITY SCHOOLS
CP PROFESSIONAL FOODSERVICES
CPS, OFF OF PROF DVLPMT
CREATIVE DIRECTIONS
CREATIVE ENGINEERING CO.
CRICK SOFTWARE, INC.
CROWDER, MARYBETH
CROWE CHIZEK & CO., LLP
CSC-JULEX LEARNING
CUESTA, ZANONI
CUNNINGHAM COMMUNICATIONS
CYBERNET SERVICES, INC.
CZERWIONKA, GEORGE JOSEPH
DARESH, JOHN C
DAUCENIA HUNTER
DAVE ROBERTS
DAVID MASON & ASSOCIATES OF ILLINOIS, LTD.
DAVIS & DAVIS ASSOCIATES
DAY CARE ACTION COUNCIL OF ILLINOIS
DBA STUDIOS
DEANNE AGNES O’TOOLE
DEBBY, CRYER AND
State
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
SOUTH HOLLAND
IL
GENEVA
IL
OSWEGO
IL
OAKBROOK TERRACE IL
NAPERVILLE
IL
CHICAGO
IL
WHEATON
IL
CHICAGO
IL
ALEXANDRIA
VA
MUNDELEIN
IL
CHCAGO
IL
EVANSTON
IL
CHICAGO
IL
NEW YORK
NY
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
WHEATON
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
ATLANTA
GA
CHERRY HILL
NJ
GLENVIEW
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
DOWNERS GROVE
IL
LOMBARD
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
LOMBARD
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
LAGRANGE
IL
FRANK FORT
IL
SOUTH HOLLAND
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
VLG. OF LAKEWOOD IL
WASHINGTON
DC
HINSDALE
IL
CHICAGO
IL
EVANSTON
IL
GLEN ELLYN
IL
REDMOND
WA
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
HOFFMAN ESTATES IL
PARK RIDGE
IL
EL PASO
TX
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
ST. LOUIS
MO
FAIRFIELD
AL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
ORLAND PARK
IL
CHAPEL HILL
NC
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Vendors and
consultants
Continued from Page Twelve
tween the claims of Chicago’s school
reform and its realities, or had there
been independent community or
civic checks and balances on corporate school reform during the Daley
era. This is because in Chicago’s
public schools today, “campus” has
two meanings, completely different
from each other and different from
anything anyone else might think of
the common sense meaning of the
term. In one part of Chicago’s school
reform, “campuses” were charter
schools separated by as many as 20
miles with nothing in common but
a common corporate sponsor.
But in another part of
Chicago’s school reform world,
“campuses” meant “schools within
a school” created as part of the
“small schools” movement and
squeezed into one high school building less than a block in size. Thus,
UNO or the Chicago International
Charter Schools could locate their
campuses a distances of more than
five miles from one another. Meanwhile at Orr High School (and at
least six other high schools across the
city) there were three or four “high
schools” on the Orr “Campus” —
which was in fact the building that
had once simply been known at Orr
High School.
Thus, by April 2006, the
UNO charter “school” was on its
third (or fourth) “campus”. Although miles separated the different
“campuses”, the Board ignored the
apparent violation of state law.
Other charter operators had expanded even further and farther
since the proclamation of “Renaissance 2010” in July 2004 by Mayor
Daley. By April 2006, the Chicago
International Charter School had
nine campuses, with more than 20
miles between the one farthest north
(Chicago International Northtown,
Amt. FY 2005
$57,697.03
$25,984.30
$16,250.00
$43,237.50
$10,300.00
$1,466,000.00
$24,000.00
$346,000.00
$55,346.41
$21,016.75
$60,000.00
$12,750.00
$24,999.00
$11,500.00
$93,150.00
$275,643.80
$180,150.00
$605,979.00
$19,700.00
$50,847.75
$59,000.00
$15,000.00
$11,785.00
$20,400.00
$824,733.62
$16,455.37
$299,607.31
$37,875.00
$142,679.21
$165,658.32
$15,000.00
$12,300.00
$24,750.00
$31,480.00
$46,850.00
$147,346.87
$15,900.00
$69,749.96
$15,975.00
$30,300.00
$17,100.00
$20,000.00
$11,050.00
$36,904.00
$22,950.00
$36,490.18
$11,014.94
$75,662.50
$11,811.00
$208,893.54
$12,000.00
$120,000.00
$514,120.00
$11,566.80
$13,151.10
$20,700.00
$24,999.00
$15,106.00
$13,193.75
$453,457.00
$21,364.00
$11,325.00
$62,221.30
Chart Continued on Page Fourteen
at Peterson and Pulaski) and the farthest south (Chicago International
Longwood, at 95th and Throop). The
Aspira charter schools were expanding as well, from the run-down
“Mirta Ramirez Computer Science”
charter high school at on Western
Ave. just north of Fullerton to the
new Aspira Haugan Middle School
on the northwest side. The list had
been growing for two years growing as Scott placidly described his
supposed dilemma in April 2006.
What Scott failed to mention,
although he was well aware of the
fact, was that one supposed faction
Continued on Page Fourteen
Page Fourteen
Substance May 2006
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
DELIA RICO-INDEPENDENT EDUC’L CONSULTANT
DELOITTE & TOUCHE
DENNIS E. ALLMAN
DENNIS WISE
DEPAUL UNIV., DEPT OF STUDENT FINANCIAL SVCS
DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
DEPAUL UNIVERSITY, EGAN URBAN CENTER
DEPT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS
DESCOTO, INC.
DESMAN ASSOCIATES
DESTEFANO PARTNERS, LTD.
DEVEN ENTERTAINMENT, L.L.C.
DIAMOND TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
DIANA DUMETZ CARRY, ED.D.
DIANE R. TROCKI
DISCOVER MUSIC-DISCOVER LIFE
DIVERSE ENTERTAINMENT GROUP, INC
DIVERSIFIED VENTURE STRATEGIES INTERNATIONAL
DIVERSITY TRAINING GROUP
DIVIHN INTEGRATION, INC
DKH CONSULTING SERVICES
DOCKSTADER, MARILYN L
DOLORES KOHL EDUCATION FOUNDATION/STORYBUS
DONNA R. NOBLE
DOOLAN, MARJORIE L
DORI WILSON & ASSOCIATES, INC.
DORSEY, JAMES R
DUDEK, MICHAEL J
DUNCAN, BESSIE R
DUNN SOLUTIONS GROUP
DUSABLE MUSEUM OF AFRICAN
DYKEMA GOSSETT ROOKS PITTS, PLLC
E2 CONSULTING SERVICES
E3 MEDIA GROUP, INC.
EAST VILLAGE YOUTH PROGRAMS
EC PURDY & ASSOCIATES
eCivis.com,LLC
ECOSERV, INC.
ED SOLUTIONS, INC.
EDGE TECHNOLOGICAL RESOURCES,
EDISON , J. TRI
EDTECH STRATEGIES, LLC
EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT CENTER,
EDUCATIONAL DEMOGRAPHICS & PLANNING
EDUCATIONAL NETWORKS, INC.
EDUCATIONAL PARTNERS LTD D/B/A/ HUNTINGTON LEARN…
EDUCATIONAL PURSUITS, LTD.
EDUCATIONAL SPECIALTIES, INC M
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANTS
EDWARDS CONSULTING GROUP
EDWIN G. FOREMAN HIGH SCHOOL
EDWINA SHELLEY
EILEEN M BYRNE R.N.
ELEANOR, ADAM
ELIM CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
ELIZABETH A. SCHRADER LAW OFFICES
ELIZABETH RODRIGUEZ
EME, LLC.
EMIL, ENEV
ENVIRON HARLEY ELLIS
ENVIRONMENTAL & SPATIAL TECHNOLOGY, INC.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS, INC.
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
City
CICERO
CHICAGO
FRANKFORT
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
STICKNEY
CHICAGO
EVANSTON
CHICAGO
HERNDON
HOFFMAN ESTATES
LARGO
PLAINFIELD
HIGHLAND PARK
CHICAGO
CHIUCAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
NEW BUFFALO
SKOKIE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
ALGONQUIN
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
PASADENA
WHEELING
GOLDEN
CHICAGO
OAK PARK
CLARKSBURG
NEWTON
CHICAGO
NEW YORK
OAK
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
NORTHFIELD
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
PALOS HEIGHTS
HINSDALE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
LITTLE ROCK
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
State
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
VA
IL
FL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
MI
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
CA
IL
CO
IL
IL
MD
MA
IL
NY
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
AR
IL
IL
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Vendors and
consultants
Continued from Page Thirteen
in the supposed community debate
consisted of virtual employees of the
Board of Education. Like their counterparts before them over the previous four years, the UNO supporters
speaking in April 2006 were regularly permitted time off from work
(or school) to attend Board meetings
and promote the mayor’s Renaissance 2010 and charter school plans.
(By contrast, teachers and students
who had opposed the school board’s
policies during the same four years
had been threatened with punishment for exercising the same free
speech rights which were praised
when they were being exercised by
the Board’s supporters. Some students had even been threatened with
arrest to “truancy” for showing up
at the school board to question policies during the day when they were
supposed to be in school).
UNO was just one of several
groups and individuals that appeared to the Board’s television audience as if it were an independent
group supporting the Renaissance
plans.
In fact, UNO had received
more than one million dollars from
the Chicago Board of Education —
and millions more from other entities, ranging from government to
private foundations — precisely because it was pushing the
privatization and deregulation
agenda that lay beneath “Renaissance 2010.”
But by April 2006, the rapid
expansion of privatization at public
expense within the city’s public
school system had run into greater
and greater opposition, most of it
from the communities that were
supposedly to benefit from “Renaissance 2010”. It had taken Chicago’s
diverse communities and hard
working citizens some time before
Amt. FY 2005
$34,074.30
$824,619.64
$11,983.00
$17,160.00
$39,265.00
$810,256.98
$94,866.25
$39,565.69
$50,081.82
$33,671.29
$47,725.84
$50,000.00
$11,574.00
$16,261.00
$12,499.50
$670,432.00
$16,320.00
$38,550.00
$41,000.00
$15,600.00
$24,184.14
$14,000.00
$11,400.00
$11,247.00
$14,250.00
$11,150.00
$229,175.00
$12,165.00
$15,090.00
$150,000.00
$36,990.00
$168,010.95
$43,056.57
$16,000.00
$13,255.00
$124,115.18
$11,000.00
$69,102.00
$2,073,551.25
$27,211.40
$18,362.50
$61,063.21
$22,750.00
$69,040.00
$25,200.00
$39,345.00
$20,000.00
$381,816.25
$46,760.00
$44,265.50
$12,961.00
$10,315.00
$10,338.00
$42,848.23
$25,707.47
$26,373.49
$24,142.00
$324,829.41
$11,130.00
$44,354.99
$95,000.00
$10,322.20
$168,007.93
Chart Continued on Page Fifteen
they had realized that privatization
cuts both services and jobs in poor
minority communities when
Michael Scott was President of the
Board at the Chicago Park District,
but by then Scott had moved on to
the school board. And at the school
board, it had taken time for communities to figure out that the same
privatization agenda was unfolding
through charter schools and other
patronage as Michael Scott sat smiling at the podium at meetings of the
Chicago Board of Education.
At the March 2006 Board of
Education meeting, representatives
of five Pilsen-area elementary
Continued from Page Fifteen
Page Fifteen
Substance May 2006
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS DESIGN
ERIKSON INSTITUTE
ERNEST J. BOMICINO
ESKRIDGE, MONA J
ESTRADA, WILLIAM
ETA CREATIVE ARTS FOUNDATION
ETA/CUISENAIRE
ETC STUDENT ENTERPRISES
FAILURE FREE READING
FAIR, DEBORAH
FAITH DIGGS, FRATERNAL ASSOC
FAMILY FLOORING CENTER INC
FAMILY FOCUS, INC.
FANFARES BY FAYE
FATHER FLANAGAN’S BOYS’ HOME
FGM ARCHITECTS -ENGINEERS
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
FILE NET CORP.
FIORELO, FRANK
FIRST AMERICAN TITLE INSURANCE COMPANY
FISHER, FRANK
FITCH, MERLINE KING
FITZGERALD EARLES ARCHITECTS, INC.
FITZGERALD, COLETTE
FLORA M. DOODY
FOCAL POINT PRODUCTIONS, INC.
FOGARTY & ASSOCIATES, LTD.
FOLEY & LARDNER
1
FORESIGHT TECHNOLOGY, INC.
F-O-R-U-M, INC.
FOSTER CARPET CLEANING & HARDWOOD FLOORS
FOUNDATIONS, INC
FOX & FOX ARCHITECTS & ENGINEERS
FRAGOSO, MYRNA A
FRANCENTER
FRANCES MOSBY ODEN
FRANCISCO PALOMO
FRANCZEK SULLIVAN MANN CREMENT
FRANKIE L. SWOOPE, DR.
FREDERICK W VON STEUBEN HIGH SCHOOL
FREDRICK D. SPENCE, SR. CONSULTANTS, L.L.C.
FREEMAN DECORATING
FRIDA KAHLO COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
FU, LYNNETTE WEN CHU
FULFILLING OUR RESPONSIBILITY UNTO MANKIND
GALLERY 37
GARDNER, JERONDA M
GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY
GARTNER, INC.
GAYLE GREGORY CONSULTING, INC.
GEM, COMPUTERS
GENESIS IMAGING, LLC
GEORGE WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL
GERALD S. KINSELLA
GERALDINE JACKSON
GERARDO G. LIWANAG & ASSOC., CPA’S
GIBBONS & GIBBONS, LTD.
GIRLS IN THE GAME, NFP
GIS SOLUTIONS, INC.
GLENDA, SCHEREE EW
GLOBAL CONSULTING GROUP, INC
GLOBALCYNEX INC.
GLOBETROTTERS ENGINEERING CORPORATION
City
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
DES PLAINES
CHICAGO
CICERO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CONCORD
PLAINFIELD
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
BOYS TOWN
OAK BROOK
CHICAGO
LOS ANGELES
LAKEWOOD
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
HAZEL CREST
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
MOORESTOWN
CHICAGO
LEMONT
DARIEN
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CRETE
CHICAGO
SARASOTA
DALLAS
CHIOCAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
DALLAS
CHICAGO
CALUMET CITY
NORTH HAMPTON
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
GLENVIEW
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
SPRINGFIELD
OAK PARK
CHICAGO
STERLING
CHICAGO
State
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
NC
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
NE
IL
IL
CA
CO
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
NJ
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
FL
TX
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
TX
IL
IL
NH
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
VA
IL
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Vendors and
consultants
Continued from Page Fourteen
schools and a Catholic priest from
the community’s largest parish took
the floor to oppose the new UNO
charter. Another UNO charter had
been approved at the previous
Board meeting without public discussion. Despite the fact that the
community representatives in
March were shuttled from the floor
of the Board chambers to a conference room (out of sight of the TV
cameras), the issue was squarely before the Board and Scott. Pilsen, one
of the most powerful MexicanAmerican communities in Chicago,
did not want a charter school. The
community wanted better public
schools, and the people who were
speaking against the UNO charter
had learned the difference, in many
cases the hard way.
So behind the scenes, a
tested script was rehearsed and replayed. By April, the TV audience
saw that the community was again
“divided” – at least for Michael
Scott’s purposes. When additional
representatives of the Pilsen community took the floor to continue
their opposition to the latest UNO
charter, they were met by a delega-
tion of people who were supporting
UNO’s charters. Scott was able to
Pinstripe patronage quiz: How
many lawyers does CPS need?
Between 2001 and 2005, the law firm
of Franczek Sullivan Mann Crement
was paid $2,205,535.65 by CPS. In
2005, Franczek Sullivan was paid
$388,355. The total paid to outside
attorneys since Arne Duncan and
Michael Scott took over CPS in 2001
has been more than $10 million. And
the number of lawyers working inside the Board’s Law Department has
increased too! How much of that
“deficit” Arne’s talking about could
be reduced by getting rid of some
overpriced lawyers?;
Amt. FY 2005
$42,872.20
$368,698.14
$147,859.44
$30,000.00
$12,064.00
$67,468.00
$414,720.00
$24,999.00
$200,140.85
$18,000.00
$12,922.50
$11,998.00
$189,152.00
$18,207.74
$26,530.20
$192,942.80
$25,789.25
$71,106.20
$24,999.00
$21,500.00
$14,999.00
$10,850.00
$106,426.75
$13,982.00
$26,499.99
$44,647.19
$119,343.00
$43,756.33
$80,531.25
$21,810.00
$18,200.00
$42,000.00
$24,931.08
$58,000.00
$41,975.00
$91,664.00
$32,700.00
$386,455.10
$20,791.35
$10,695.00
$10,233.32
$65,913.85
$42,873.00
$31,200.00
$562,158.00
$440,000.00
$31,325.00
$18,000.00
$59,216.00
$36,251.19
$23,050.00
$17,026.07
$10,439.00
$52,390.80
$26,670.00
$37,821.00
$18,525.00
$15,000.00
$14,850.00
$15,000.00
$30,247.90
$74,958.00
$112,732.80
Chart Continued on Page Sixteen
maintain his smile and muse publicly about the sad responsibilities of
power in the face of such divisions.
What Scott knew, but didn’t
say, was that many of those speaking in favor of the additional UNO
charter were UNO employees or
those who were benefiting directly
from UNO’s activities. Scott also
knew that UNO gets a large part of
its considerable annual budget from
the Chicago Board of Education and
from other public bodies whose
budgets are carefully controlled by
Mayor Richard M. Daley. In fact, the
pro-UNO faction at the April 2006
Continued on Page Sixteen
Page Sixteen
Substance May 2006
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
GO GET YOUR SMOCK! INC.
GOKNOW, INC.
GOLDBERG, MARCI B
GOLDBERG,KOHN,BELL,BLACK,
GOLDEN APPLE FOUNDATION
GOLDSTEIN, & ASSOCIAT
GORDON S HUBBARD HIGH SCHOOL
GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
GRACE PRODUCTIONS
GRANT, WILLIAM RUEBEN
GRAUSMAN, RICHARD
GREAT BOOKS FOUNDATION
GREEN ASSOCIATES, INC
GREEN, BURMA S
GRETCHEN COURTNEY & ASSOCIATES
GROW.NET, INC.
GRZEGORZ, MIDERSKI
GSG CONSULTANTS, INC
GUTHRIE, SUSAN
GWENDOLYN BROOKS COLLEGE PREPARATORY H.S.
HABILITATIVE SYSTEMS INC M
HAMILTON EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANTS
HAMMAD, SAMY
HARCOURT ACHIEVE
HARCOURT BRACE JOVANOVICH IN 1
HARKLESS, ANGELA
HARRINGTON, ELIZABETH A
HARRIS BANK
HARRY S. TRUMAN COLLEGE/BUS & INDUS. SVCS
HARTGROVE HOSPITAL
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
HASBROUCK PETERSON ZIMOCH
HEALTHCARE SOLUTIONS
HEINRICH & HILL
HENRICKSEN
HERMAN RAFORD
HERNANDEZ, NATIVIDAD
HEWITT ASSOCIATES, LLC
HILL ENVIRONMENTAL OPERATIONS
HILL LAW OFFICE
HILTON CHICAGO
HILTON SUITES DBA HILTON OAKBROOK TERRACE
HI-TECH SECURITY PERSONNEL
HLR INTERNATIONAL
HOAGLAND-SMIT, LEANNE
HOGAN & HARTSON
HOH ARCHITECTS
HOLLAND & KNIGHT, LLP
HOME HEALTH NETWORK, INC.
HOPE FOUNDATION
HOPE WORLDWIDE-ILLINOIS
HOSTELLING-INTERNATIONAL-CHICAGO HOSTEL
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
HOUZZ, BYRON W
HOWLEIT, CHARLES LLOYD
HPT1
HS2 SOLUTIONS
HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO
HUBERT F. DOLEZAL
HUG-A-BOOK
HULL HOUSE ASSOCIATION
HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE, INC.
HYATT HOTELS & RESORTS
City
CHICAGO
ANN ARBOR
DEERFIELD
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
NEW YORK
CHICAGO
DEERFIELD
CHICAGO
ST. CHARLES
NEW YORK
FOREST PARK
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
OAK BROOK
CAROL STREAM
CAROL STREAM
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CAMBRIDGE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
ITASCA
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
OAKBROOK TERRACE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
VALPARAISO
WASHINGTON
CHICAGO
WASHINGTON
DES PLAINES
BLOOMINGTON
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
MAYWOOD
CHAPEL HILL
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
State
IL
MI
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
NY
IL
IL
IL
IL
NY
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
MA
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IN
DC
IL
DC
IL
IN
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
NC
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Vendors and
consultants
Continued from Page Fifteen
Board of Education meeting consisted of employees of UNO and
their relatives, and UNO itself is a
major contractor with CPS. Were
those with a financial interest in the
UNO charter subtracted from the
equation, Michael Scott did not face
a “divided” community. Pilsen leaders opposed the expansion of the
UNO charters. Only UNO employees and their families were speaking
in favor of the plan.
But neither Scott nor the rest
of the press noted these important
facts. And to the television audience,
a sage Michael Scott was once again
able to hold up his hands and express his dismay at having to make
the “tough” decisions that come
with leadership.
The origins of “Renaissance 2010”
Although Mayor Daley announced “Renaissance 2010” in June
2004, Michael Scott and Schools
CEO Arne Duncan — along with
their corporate sponsors — began
laying the groundwork for the program two years earlier. The most
complete script they’ve been following since 2004 was laid out by the
Civic Federation of the Commercial
Club in 2003 in a report calling for
the privatization and charterization
of Chicago’s public schools entitled
“Left Behind.” “Left Behind” was
authored by a conservative ideologue and corporate multi-millionaire named Eden Martin. Although
Martin attended the April 2002
Board of Education meeting (behind
a phalanx of security), unlike Barbara Sizemore and Coretta McFerren
he did not speak in favor of the first
steps in the “renaissance”.
By the time of the formal announcement of “Renaissance 2010”
by the mayor in mid-2004, the
groundwork had been laid in corpo-
Amt. FY 2005
$35,664.00
$10,877.00
$51,437.50
$33,361.58
$166,518.50
$10,500.00
$12,235.00
$18,750.00
$139,200.54
$24,140.00
$85,000.00
$36,653.08
$15,812.66
$14,250.00
$26,792.00
$627,375.00
$70,106.00
$30,884.50
$10,790.00
$14,292.00
$120,772.75
$16,488.00
$278,797.91
$35,700.37
$23,718.65
$53,225.00
$20,100.00
$11,499.54
$22,500.00
$46,471.00
$30,000.00
$52,064.40
$167,496.00
$94,959.25
$11,371.70
$20,949.00
$18,500.00
$165,969.00
$2,682,396.79
$29,894.50
$93,729.58
$10,504.00
$19,940.00
$30,011.64
$29,500.00
$196,677.34
$109,261.06
$50,000.00
$10,733.00
$20,000.00
$175,019.44
$17,038.40
$58,119.13
$58,344.00
$11,500.00
$24,900.00
$53,187.50
$53,683.40
$55,744.00
$29,400.00
$93,863.93
$10,620.00
$51,075.40
Chart Continued on Page Seventeen
rate Chicago and in the media. A
large piece of the preliminaries required the deploying of patronage
contractors in minority communities
who were dependent on the mayor
and school board for their financing.
These people were then deployed
for public speaking duties in support of the mayor’s corporate programs. These individuals were crucial to the television versions of the
events, which form the central media portion of the strategy of selling
massive privatization in the face of
widespread public opposition.
Four years before the display
of “division” in Pilsen over the evContinued on Page Seventeen
Page Seventeen
Substance May 2006
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
HYDE PARK ART CENTER
HYDE PARK CAREER ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL
IBM CORPORATION
ILEKIS ASSOCIATES
ILLINOIS FACILITIES FUND
ILLINOIS RESOURCE CENTER
ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION
ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION ED. FOUND.
ILLINOIS STATE POLICE
ILLINOIS TEENAGE INSTITUTE
ILLINOIS WRITING PROJECT
IN2BOOKS, INC.
INDEPENDENT MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES, INC
INDIAN LAKES RESORT
INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY INTERNATIONAL, LTD.
INFORMATION SYSTEMS CONSULTANTS, INC.
INNER VISION INTERNATIONAL,
INNOVATION GMB, INC.
INNOVATIONS FOR LEARNING (SOFTWARE FOR SUCCESS)
INSTITUTE FOR CREATIVE LEARNING
INTEGRAL SOLUTIONS GROUP, INC.
INTERACTIVE DESIGN, INC.
INTERFACE COMPUTER COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE NA
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENG.
J & J EXHIBITORS SERVICE, INC
J. ALEXANDER HUNT, INC.
J.A.W. ENTERTAINMENT, LLC
J.C. & COMPANY COMMERCIAL ART
JACKIE SAMUEL
JACOLE’S PUBLICATIONS, SARVELLA JACKSON
JACQUELYN VINCSON
JAMES C. BLACKMAN
JAMES H DOELL
JAMES MCMILLAN
JAMES R. PATTON
JAN G. HICKS
JANE LEE-KWON
JANINE KOSTELNY
JANIS HARRIS
JARVIS, JAN A
JAY FRANCIS SWANSON
JAYEMCO, INC.
JEAN BAPTISTE POINT DU SABLE HIGH SCHOOL
JEAN BROWNE
JEAN, HUNT-INDEP
JEANNE L. RECKINGER
JENNER & BLOCK
JESSE WHITE TUMBLING TEAM
JESSIE BUTTS
JINWON C. CHUNG
JOANNE, QUINN
JOBS FOR MAINE’S GRADUATES,INC.
JOHN C. MAZUREK
JOHN E. CHANA
JOHN E. WILLIAMS & ASSOCIATES/
JOHN E. WILSON. LTD.
JOHN G SHEDD AQUARIUM
JOHN HOPE HIGH SCHOOL
JOHN MARSHALL METROPOLITAN HIGH SCHOOL
JOHNNIE WINN
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
City
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
PITTSBURGH
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
BEDFORD PARK
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
JOLIET
SPRINGFIELD
EVANSTON
WASHINGTON
CHICAGO
BLOOMINGDALE
CHAMPAIGN
WESTCHESTER
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
DOWNERS GROVE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
NEW YORK
EUGENE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
YORKVILLE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
OAKBROOK
LYNWOOD
PARK FOREST
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
ORLAND PARK
FLOSSMOOR
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHCIAGO
ELGIN
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
TORONTO
FARMINGDALE
WINTHROP HARBOR
OLYMPIA FIELDS
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
BALTIMORE
State
IL
IL
PA
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
DC
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
NY
OR
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
ME
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
MD
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Vendors and
consultants
Continued from Page Sixteen
ery expanding UNO charter schools,
at the April 2002 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education, Michael
Scott faced a similar situation. In
April 2002, Scott chaired the last
meeting the Board of Education held
at a public school when the board
met on the stage of the auditorium
of the Herzl Elementary School a
few blocks from Scott’s opulent west
side home. The turmoil at the meeting was caused by school closings
and the inception of the “renais-
sance” (which then was still rendered with a small “r”). Earlier that
month, Scott and Duncan had announced that they were taking the
bold step of closing three schools for
persistent academic “failure” (as
measured by standardized test
scores). More than 1,000 people
turned out to protest the plan, announced a week earlier, to create a
“renaissance” in the public schools
by shutting down three schools that
Arne Duncan said were “failing.”
The plan to close Dodge, Terrell, and
Williams elementary schools was
new in 2002, but some of the methods used by the Board of Education
were the same.
At the April 2002 Board
meeting, one of those who spoke in
favor of the plan to close Williams,
Dodge and Terrell was Coretta
McFerren, who introduced herself as
a community organizer. What
McFerren left out of her speech,
Pinstripe patronage quiz II:
Jenner & Block, Chicago
Clout, and Ren 2010...
Between 2001 and 2005, the law firm
of Jenner & Block was paid
$1,104,659 by CPS. By 2005, teachers weren’t wanted for executive
jobs in Arne Duncan’s “New
Schools” department — but Jenner
& Block lawyers were being hired!;
Amt. FY 2005
$22,450.00
$12,968.00
$9,635,928.50
$358,103.22
$147,863.06
$10,619.62
$20,430.00
$187,489.00
$40,000.00
$18,000.00
$24,499.99
$24,999.00
$79,806.00
$15,207.70
$20,350.00
$139,197.50
$65,711.83
$174,000.00
$13,022.00
$90,000.00
$115,010.00
$44,167.51
$33,999.00
$52,897.53
$99,999.00
$122,322.48
$24,154.25
$50,413.00
$15,650.00
$23,584.00
$13,440.00
$24,995.00
$14,250.00
$19,075.00
$20,400.00
$13,800.00
$55,792.80
$97,930.50
$17,549.50
$20,840.00
$15,163.30
$11,800.00
$18,737.50
$69,030.00
$30,143.00
$14,250.00
$29,544.30
$38,350.00
$445,718.44
$43,700.00
$28,500.00
$22,846.16
$54,359.76
$20,000.00
$17,048.00
$23,500.00
$36,731.33
$13,500.00
$33,000.00
$11,306.47
$16,297.50
$24,999.50
$609,222.22
Chart Continued on Page Eighteen
which supported the first iteration
of what became “Renaissance 2010”,
was that at the time she was receiving money from the Chicago Board
of Education. During the 2000 - 2001
school year, McFerren had received
$67,000 as a consultant for the Board
of Education. During the school year
when she took the floor to speak in
favor of the first three “Renaissance”
school closings, McFerren was being
paid $74,700 by the Chicago Board
of Education. During the next three
years, as the “Renaissance” grew
and needed more and more community voices in support of the Mayor’s
Continued on Page Eighteen
Page Eighteen
Substance May 2006
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
JOHNSON LASKY ARCHITECTS
JOHNSON RESEARCH GROUP, INC.
JOHNSON, IVER C
JOHNSON, TERRY NELSON
JONES, RICHARD
JOSEPH COLLINS
JOSEPH L. ROWAN
JOSIE M. LETCHER
JUDITH C. SMITH
JUDITH ROSENBLUM
JULIUS O. BOYD
JUNE C. CAMPBELL
JUSTUSARTS
K.R. MILLER CONTRACTORS, INC.
KAPLAN TEST PREP
KAREN ERICKSON
KAREN SKALITZKY-INDEPENDENT ED. CONSULTANT
KASKO, NANCY JEAN
KATHERINE M. BOHO
KBS COMPUTER SERVICES
KC MANAGEMENT GROUP CORP.
KEEPER’S INSTITUTE INFANT/CHILD CARE CENTER
KEITH D. LEWIS
KELVYN PARK HIGH SCHOOL
KESSLER, TRUDI
KEY LINK TECHNOLOGIES
KINNEY & ASSOCIATES
KIPP FOUNDATION
KIRKPATRICK PETTIS
KIVEL, DANIEL
KNOW-HOW LTD.
KNOWLEDGE POINTS (BIG SHOULDERS LEARNING, iNC.)
KONICA MINOLTA BUSINESS SOLUTIONS,INC.
KOVE LEARNING ACADEMY
KPMG , LLP
KRONOS INCORPORATED
KUMON NORTH AMERICA
L & H SPORTS
LAB AIDS INCORPORATED
LANER, MUCHIN, DOMBROW, BERKER,
LAURA ZANGARA
LAVA, INC. DBA CHATTERBOX PRESCHOOL
LAW OFFICES OF STEVEN M. LADUZINSKY, P.C.
LAWANDA DARLING
LAY, INC.
LCM ARCHITECTS, L.L.C.
LEA, LATINO EDUCATION ALLIANCE
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, LLC
LEAPFROG SCHOOLHOUSE
LEARNING 24/7, INC.
LEARNING POINT ASSOCIATES
LEGAT ARCHITECTS, INC.
LEMS, KRISTIN
LENZ & ASSOCIATES
LEONARD LECHNIAK
LEOPOLDO GARCIA
LESLEY UNIVERSITY
LEVY RESTAURANT AT MCCORMICK PLACE
LEWIS, O’KEMA
LEXIS NEXIS
LIBRARY VIDEO COMPANY
LIFE DIRECTIONS
LILIANA ISOE
City
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
MORTON GROVE
WILMETTE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
SKOKIE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
INVERNESS
CHICAGO
EVANSTON
CHICAGO
CLARENDON HILLS
CHICAGO
MATTESON
CORDOVA
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
INDIAN HEAD PARK
FLOSSMOOR
OAK BROOK
SAN FRANCISCO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
RAMSEY
CHICAGO
DALLAS
SCHAUMBURG
TEANECK
CHICAGO
RONKONKOMA
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHCIAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
PHOENIX
SAN FRANCISCO
PHOENIX
NAPERVILLE
WAUKEGAN
EVANSTON
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
EVANSTON
CAMBRIDGE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CAROL STREAM
WYNNEWOOD
CHICAGO
LINCOLNSHIRE
State
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
TN
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
CA
IL
IL
IL
IL
NJ
IL
TX
IL
NJ
IL
NY
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
AZ
CA
AZ
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
MA
IL
IL
IL
PA
IL
IL
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Vendors and
consultants
Continued from Page Seventeen
plan, McFerren continued to speak
regularly in favor of the “Renaissance” and to work for the Board as
a consultant. Between 2001 (when
Arne Duncan became CEO of the
CPS) and July 1, 2005, McFerren was
paid more than $339,000 by the Chicago Board of Education, more than
the average teacher earned during
the same period of time. But each
time McFerren appeared on television, she identified herself as a community activists speaking in support
of the school board, not as one of the
school board’s highest paid consultants.
McFerren wasn’t alone. Another person at the Herzl school
meeting in support of the early “renaissance” was DePaul University
education professor Barbara
Sizemore (no deceased). Sizemore
was there to give her support to
Duncan and Scott, without mentioning that during the previous seven
years her program at DePaul had
received more than a half million
dollars from the Chicago Board of
Education to function as an external
partner at schools with low test
scores. Despite the fact that test
scores still showed most of those
schools to be “failing,” Sizemore’s
program continued to receive CPS
support, and Sizemore was at the
beginning of the renaissance to provide support for the latest attack on
urban public schools by Mayor
Daley’s school board.
The list of those who take the
floor at Chicago Board of Education
meetings or at other meeting to provide support for Mayor Daley’s “Renaissance 2010” plan is longer than
the leaders of UNO, Coretta
McFerren, or various professors
who had been well subsidized during the years since “school reform”
in Chicago has meant direct dicta-
Amt. FY 2005
$15,254.10
$140,287.50
$61,950.30
$10,500.00
$20,525.00
$11,611.00
$26,745.00
$17,900.00
$13,903.75
$11,250.00
$11,500.00
$15,725.00
$10,791.36
$74,826.00
$256,869.30
$17,450.00
$26,509.00
$13,800.00
$13,550.00
$92,497.88
$181,673.60
$61,800.00
$28,080.00
$10,200.00
$28,400.00
$14,240.00
$417,188.10
$21,046.71
$318,750.00
$16,515.00
$177,279.00
$30,738.51
$12,724.00
$120,000.00
$813,879.50
$404,605.76
$47,850.00
$28,510.54
$11,500.00
$24,477.09
$33,080.00
$30,000.00
$109,995.16
$18,999.00
$15,899.00
$267,761.59
$30,984.99
$20,000.00
$33,999.00
$72,332.25
$647,693.00
$56,868.69
$24,000.00
$32,230.00
$28,605.00
$36,200.00
$19,460.00
$168,128.64
$42,777.96
$118,751.31
$170,600.00
$99,387.75
$13,750.00
Chart Continued on Page Nineteen
torial control by the mayor.
Prominent in public in praise
of the mayor ’s plans are Leon
Finney, whose career centered on the
Woodlawn Organization, and James
Compton, who retired last year as
head of the Chicago Urban League.
Between 2001 and 2005, the
Woodlawn Organization received
$298,763 from CPS. The Urban
League was paid $1,421,816.
Whenever Scott, Duncan
and the board needed prominent
minority leaders to support its latest programs, there was a long list
of available apologists. As long as
the rest of the Chicago media igContinued from Page Nineteen
Substance May 2006
Page Nineteen
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
LILL STREET LEARNING CENTER
LINCOLN PARK HIGH SCHOOL
LITERATURE FOR ALL OF US
LITTLE BLACK PEARL WORKSHOP,
LITTLE LEADERS OF TOMORROW DAYCARE
LITTLE VILLAGE
LOGAN SQUARE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSN
LOOKING GLASS THEATRE
LORDEN, ELLEN C
LORRAINE W. MATZ
LOVAAS INSTITUTE FOR EARLY INTERVENTION
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY
LUIS PADILLA, JR.
LUKING, WILLIAM H
LUSENO, FLORAH
LYNN, LESLIE A
M.A.D.E. FOUNDATION
MACK BYRD
MACKESEY AND ASSOCIATES, LLC
MACONDO CORPORATION
MACTEC ENGINEERING & CONSULTING, INC.
MAHALIA ANN HINES
MAIN SPORTING GOODS
MAJOR LEAGUE BEGINNINGS
MANAGEMENT PLANNING INSTITUTE
MANAGEMENT SERVICES BY DESIGN
MANLEY, REGINA E
MANN, GIN, DUBIN & FRAZIER LTD
MARGARET C. FITZPATRICK, ESQ
MARGARET CARROLL, DR.
MARGERY KEPKA
MARIA C. ISRAEL
MARIAN POLLACK TEPPER
MARIANNE FLANAGAN
MARILYN G. RABB FOUNDATION
MARION KRUCEK-TUTOR
MARLON’S WAY/ FREYMOND TAYLOR
MARRIOTT FOUNDATION FOR PEOPLE
MARVIN HILL, JR.
MARWEN FOUNDATION
MARY DUNNE
MARY JANE SOLIS
MARY LU T. MCGREAL
MARY T. MELANIPHY
M
MAUREEN REAGAN ARCHITECTS
MAXIM HEALTHCARE SERVICES, INC.
MCCORKLE COURT REPORTERS
MCGEE, JONATHAN
MCGLADERY & PULEN, LLP
MCGRAW HILL COMPANIES
MCHEHEE, FRANK E
MCKAY, SHEILA A
MELEGOS, ELENI
MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC
MERRITT, GAIL
METIRI GROUP
METRITECH, INC.
METROPOLITAN FAMILY SERVICES
METROPOLITAN PIER & EXPOSITION
METROPOLITAN PLANNING COUNCIL
MEXICAN FINE ARTS MUSEUM
MEXICAN FOLKLORIC DANCE CO.
MICHAEL H. POLAK
City
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
EVANSTON
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
DEERFIELD
CHERRY HILL
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
EVANSTON
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
MADISON
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
EAST CHICAGO
LOMBARD
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
BLUE ISLAND
PALOS PARK
ARLINGTON HTS.
CHICAGO
CRESTWOOD
CHICAGO
OAK LAWN
CHICAGO
WASHINGTON
DEKALB
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
PLAINFIELD
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CAROL STREAM
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
BERWYN
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CULVER CITY
CHAMPAIGN
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
State
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
NJ
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
WI
IL
IL
IL
IN
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
DC
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
CA
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Vendors and
consultants
Continued from Page Eighteen
nored the fact that everyone on the
list was, in effect, a patronage employee of the school board, the claim
that the programs had “community
support” would appear across the
city’s mass media and be fed to the
general public. And not once has the
other media in Chicago noted the
fact that all of them were in fact employees of the school board.
Through the looking glass
It is an Alice in Wonderland
version of nearly a billion dollars in
spending.
Information provided to
Substance under a request filed under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) shows that the
Board of Education is now spending money on consultants and “outside vendors” in record amounts.
Between 2004 and 2004, the amount
increased by at least $34 million,
while CEO Arne Duncan claimed
the Board was facing financial problems. Also, while the Duncan administration is reducing the number
of full-time and part-time workers
at the school board — especially in
the lower ranks, from teachers to
custodians — the number of people
working in various privatized contract situations (including the at-will
employees of the city’s growing
number of charter schools) is increasing at an even faster rate.
Since the year 2000, the
Board has spent more than $1 billion
on vendors and consultants. In 2005
alone, the last fiscal year for which
the information is publicly available,
the amount spent on consultants
and vendors was more than $200
million. Yet unlike employee
records, which are maintained and
scrutinized with obsessive precision
(and which often result in severe
discipline or even termination for
Amt. FY 2005
$11,276.00
$14,064.00
$24,997.00
$90,000.00
$114,000.00
$91,961.84
$297,516.61
$44,326.14
$63,987.00
$13,300.00
$12,339.24
$225,675.00
$16,495.00
$33,000.00
$11,025.00
$21,000.00
$11,515.00
$62,790.00
$19,333.00
$17,418.88
$61,257.83
$18,600.00
$11,167.25
$10,500.00
$638,492.99
$20,000.00
$14,677.90
$21,004.06
$26,850.00
$41,612.50
$36,080.50
$18,350.00
$25,630.00
$12,012.50
$14,510.00
$13,200.00
$21,600.00
$100,000.00
$13,244.00
$24,000.00
$40,850.00
$23,790.00
$50,577.50
$10,937.89
$17,328.08
$2,187,100.74
$28,407.20
$10,185.00
$11,488.00
$130,869.57
$49,870.00
$14,169.00
$24,000.00
$423,321.43
$45,391.50
$230,999.00
$23,710.00
$221,324.00
$67,793.08
$15,000.00
$38,550.00
$28,579.00
$10,800.00
Chart Continued on Page Twenty-Six
teachers and principals), these billion dollar records are maintained in
what can only be described as “Alice
in Wonderland” organizational
principals.
The information published
with this story was received by Substance in March following a detailed
request for information under the
Freedom of Information Act. It was
originally sought as a companion to
the Board’s position files, the materials on employees which provided
the background for the story on the
expansion of expensive executive
employees published in the April
2006 Substance. This information is
Continued on Page Twenty-Six
Page Twenty
Substance May 2006
May Day, Chicago 2006
From the early morning hours on May 1, 2006, workers were setting up waiting in
Chicago’s Union Park (between Odgen Ave., above, and Ashland Ave. stretching
south from Lake St.). In addition to workers from the City of Chicago, who were
deployed by the city after arrangements for the march had been completed, members of more than a dozen trade unions handled march preparations and logistics.
Other contributions to the planning came from immigrant rights groups, hundreds
of curches, and dozens of businesses that serve immigrant communities and utilize the services of immigrant workers. Above: Marchers and police await the beginning of the march at around 11:00 a.m. on Ogden Ave. at Randolph St. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
The earliest of the massivive marches (Chicago, March 10, see the April 2006
Substance) had promoted widespread discussion about the use of national flags.
By May Day, the most prominent flag was the flag of the United States, but march
organizers and participants also insured that the flags of dozens of nations —
representing the homelands of millions of Americans — were proudly displayed.
Above: Union Park at 11:00 a.m. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
The unions that provided some of the most important organizing work for the May
Day march were often organized into contingents, with banners, signs, and colored clothing indicating who they were. Above, one of the lead contingents at the
beginning of the march on Randolph St. just east of Union Park came from UNITEHERE, the hotel workers’ union. “Hotel Workers Rising” (proclaimed above) is one
of their slogans. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
One of the largest contingents in the march, from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), provided logistics as well as marchers. More than 5,000 SEIU
members work in Chicago’s public schools. Above, wearing purple, SEIU Local 73
marchers begin heading east down Randolph St. Photo by George Schmidt.
Hundreds of marchers were pushed along the four-miles route in wheelchairs and
strollers. The non-violent day of protest and intense preparations by march organizers and Chicago officials insured that there were no problems for the marchers,
who ranged in age from a few days to nearly 100 years old. Schmidt photo.
Substance May 2006
Page Twenty-One
May Day, Chicago 2006
“Through much of the 1870s and 1880s, Chicago was a leading center of labor officials agreed to route the march through the heart of the city’s Loop and into
activism and radical thought,” reads one Internet history (at www.chicagopublib.org). Grant Park, on the lakefront. Many of the marchers paused, however, as the march
“Early in 1886 labor unions were beginning the movement for an eight-hour day. turned at Randolph and DesPlaines (above) a half block from the monument to
Union activists called a one-day general strike in Chicago. On May 1, 1886, many the 1886 May Day strike in Chicago that was part of the international struggle for
Chicago workers struck for shorter hours...” The organizers of the May 1, 2006, an eight-hour day. One of the reasons that the 2006 march didn’t end at the site of
May Day march and rally were conscious of their history. The rally slogan “Immi- the Haymarket “riot” (above) was that it was feared that a half million people would
grants’ rights are workers’ rights” was developed by the unions and immigrant overflow the space and stop traffic on one of the nation’s most important highrights organizations and became the slogan of millions of people across the USA. ways, Interstate 90-94 (the Kennedy Expressway), which is beneath the Haymarket
In the original planning for May 1, 2006, the organizers routed the march to end at site. Although some wanted to stop to honor the history of the day, march organizthe corner of Randolph and Des Plaines streets in Chicago, the site of the famous ers agreed with police and city officials that the march would be kept moving so
“Haymarket Riot” of 1886. The Haymarket event is still marked around the world that the lakefront site would be available for the final rally. As a result, police (above,
as a major moment in the history of working peoples’ fight for their rights. As it at the site) directed the marchers to turn north as they passed what many call
became clear that the march would be larger than the March 10 march, Chicago “sacred ground.” Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Dozens of Polish flags and hundreds of Polish workers participated proudly in the
May 1 march. Above, Randolph St. just west of Ogden Ave. shortly after the march
began. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Three blocks east of Ogden, the marchers heard bagpipes and saw a block-long
group of people carrying Irish flags and wearing Kelly green tee shirts that read
“Celts for Immigration Reform.” Substance photo by George N. Schmidt
Thousands of students and young people from public, private and parochial schools
joined the march as “the best civics lesson available” on May 1, 2006.
Chicago’s Islamic community was visible during the march and active in the planning and lobbying over the issues raised in the march.
Page Twenty-Two
Substance May 2006
May Day, Chicago 2006
Support for the marchers from the Catholic Church and many other churches was
evident throughout the march, notably when the marchers went up DesPlaines St.
in front of Old St. Patrick’s Church (above), which offered a different version of its
message in English and Spanish. Substance photograph by George N. Schmidt.
Hundreds of thousands of photographs were taken of the march and rally. Some
became part of major news stories, while others, on personal cameras, went later
into school projects and family scrapbooks. Photographers searched at every point
along the route for higher elevations to give a sense of the vast size of the crowd.
Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Although most of the messages on signs were political and distinctively secular
(many denouncing House Bill 4437 — the Sensenbrenner Bill which would make
illegal immigrants felons and penalize their employers and teachers as well —
some of the messages invoked religious themes, such as the quote from the Gospel regarding the “least of my brethren.” Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Other views of U.S. history were also a major part of the march. A contingent from
the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which calls for “One Big Union” of
workers and hails back to its fighting roots in the early 20th Century, was one of
many reminders of the working class traditions of the day (above). Another view
was expressed on a banner (above right) reminding Americans that the USA grew
to its present size in part by annexing a large part of Mexico after the Mexican War
of the 1840s. The map above shows what the boundaries of the USA and Mexico
would have been had the war not been fought. Substance photo by George Schmidt.
Substance May 2006
Page Twenty-Three
The size of the march could not be appeciated from the ground. Every person in
the march was part of a large group of determined people, peacefully protesting.
At the time the above photograph was taken from the “L” station at Quincy and
Wells just before one o’clock, the “tail” of the vast march was still leaving Union
Park, more than two miles to the northwest from the point where this photograph
was taken, while the march’s “head” was already arriving in Grant Park, nearly
one mile to the east. Both police and marchers noted that all sides were peaceful.
Substance p hoto by George N. Schmidt.
In many cases, three and four generations from one family were on the march.
Above, SEIU Local 73 Vice President Cynthia Rodriguez, who helped organize
the march, walked with her father and other family members beneath the “L” at
Quincy and Wells. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt
Political leaders from Illinois, including Congressman Luis Gutierrez and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (above, center) were in the forefront of the fight for
immigrants’ rights in the face of a reactionary majority in the U.S. House of Representative. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
For more than three miles, main streets in the third largest city in the USA were
closed to traffic on May 1, 2006, by the huge outpouring of people. Above, looking
north from Jackson Blvd. on Michigan Ave. at around 1:30 p.m. Substance photo
by George N. Schmidt
Reflecting the fact that a large part of the organizing for both the March 10 and
May 1 marches in Chicago had been done by radio, the marchers were greeted in
Grant Park by rap musicians (above) before the speaking began. Substance photo
by George N. Schmidt.
Page Twenty-Four
Substance May 2006
By 2:15 p.m. on May 1, 2006, the crowd was filling the southern end of Chicago’s
Grant Park.The city’s monumental skyline framed hundreds of thousands of people,
while the world famous Buckingham Fountain played its water symphonies in the
background. Across the street from where striking UNITE HERE workers were
picketing in front of the Congress Hotel in one of the longest strikes in the USA
today, one marcher remembered the words of the union song “Solidarity Forever.”
One of the verses of that song, which was sung by organizers a hundred years
earlier in Chicago, goes: “It is we who plowed the prairies, built the cities where
they play. Dug the mines and built the workshops, hundred miles of railroad lay.
Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made. But the
union makes us strong.” Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Helen Miller (above, at the podium) of SEIU Local 880, the largest union local in
Illinois with more than 80,000 members, told the crowd about the ongoing organizing among home health care and other workers. Speeches by union leaders
began the main part of the rally. Conspicuously absent from the labor contingent
was the leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union, which snubbed the event to
the dismay of thousands of teachers who supported it. Substance photo by George
N. Schmidt.
Chicago Federation of Labor chief ennis Gannon (above)gave one of more than
a dozen fiery speeches from union’s ranks to the crowd. For more than a year,
Gannon has reminded CFL members that it is time to stand up politically and
challenge the anti-union policies of the aley administration in Chicago and the
Bush administration nationally. Above, Gannon was flanked by leaders of UNITEHERE, UFCW, and other unions. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt
Jose Artemio Arreola, one of the organizers of both the March 10 and May 1
events, sits on the executive board of SEIU Local 73. Above, he speaks to the
May ay crowd flanked by representatives of Chicago’s many ethnic communities. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt
The AFL-CIO in Washington, .C. sent Linda Chavez Thompson (above) to speak
to the Chicago May ay rally. Thompson told the crowd that unions are becoming
more united in the face of growing corporate attacks on working people. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Additional copies of this issue of Substance are available for
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office (773-725-7502) or E-mail us at Csubstance@aol.com for
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Substance begins our 32nd year of publication in September
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Substance May 2006
Page Twenty-Five
Chicago Congressman Luis Gutierrez (above, speaking to the crwod on May 1)
received a massive ovation when he was introduced to speak. In the face of one
of the most conservative congresses in U.S. history, Gutierrez continued to champion the rights of immigrants. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (above, speaking to the crwod on May
1) wore her UNITE HERE cap throughout the march and rally. Schakowsky told
the crowd that her congressional district was one of the most diverse in the United
States, and that her job included making certain that everyone who lived there
was treated fairly. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Amisha Patel (above speaking) told the crowd that Chicago’s South Aisan population is growing very rapidly. Patel serves as community director for SEIU Local 73,
which represents public employees in Illinois and Northwest Indiana. To Patel’s
right is Jamiko Rose of Chicago’s Organization of the Northeast (ONE) who served
as MC for much of the event. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Thousands of teachers, students, and school administrators participated in the
May 1 events, like those above (photographed as Substance’s photographer was
rushing to cover the main stage events). The leaders of the Chicago Teachers
Union snubbed the event completely. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
In additioin to support from the Chicago area’s growing Islamic community, the
march received support from the Chicago-based Nation of Islam (above). Speakers from the Nation of Islam addressed the crowd in Spanigh and were enthusiastically cheered. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Page Twenty-Six
Substance May 2006
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
MICHAEL JONES
MICHAEL O’CONNOR
MICRO CITY COMPUTERS
MIDLAN, COMPANY
MIDWEST MOVING & STORAGE, INC
MILLENNIA CONSULTING
MILLER, DOROTHY R
MITCHELL, RITA L
MOJO, & THE BAYO
MOMENTUM, COMMUNICATIONS
MONAHAN & COHEN
MOOTRY, BENJAMIN G
MORGAN PARK HIGH SCHOOL
MORRIS & RAMIREZ ASSOCIATES, LTD.
MORRISSEY, ANNA M
MPAACT, INC.
MUCERINO, DOMINIC
MUI, HOK MING
MUNTU DANCE THEATRE
MURRELL, BERTRAND
MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY
MUSIC EDUCATION SERVICES, INC.
MUSIC INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
MUSIC THEATER WORKSHOP
MYRIAM, LEILA REY
MYRTIS J. BROWN
NCS
N L ASSOCIATES
NANCY VAZQUEZ
NARDONE, TOM
NATIONAL CENTER FOR FAMILY LITERACY
NATIONAL CENTER FOR VIOLENCE INTERRUPTION
NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL SERVICE
NATIONAL LOUIS UNIVERSITY
NATIONAL SCHOOL CONFERENCE
NATIONAL SCHOOL SERVICES
NATIONAL URBAN FELLOWS, INC.
NATIONWIDE ENVIRONMENTAL, INC.
NEAL FERDINAND SIMEON
NEAL, MURDOCK & LEROY, LLC
NEAR NORTH DEVELOPMENT CORP.
NELCORP, INC.
NELSON, DIONNE E
NET RESULTS, INC.
NEW HORIZONS COMPUTER LRNG CTR
NEW JERUSALEM M.B. CHURCH
NEW TEACHER CENTER
NEWBERRY LIBRARY
NEWTON LEARNING, A DIVISION OF EDISON SCHOOLS
NIA ARCHITECTS, INC.
NICHOLAS S. LABOVSKY
NICOLE NOLAND
NJW TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
NORMAN, ELIZABETH P
NORTH LAWNDALE LEARNING COMMUNITY
NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
NORTHSIDE COLLEGE PREP
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
NORTHWESTERN MEDICAL FACULTY FOUNDATION
OAK LAWN HILTON
OAKDALE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP.
O’CONNELL OFFICE SERVICES
ODESSA W. RODGERS
O’DONNELL, WICKLUND, PIGOZZI &
OGLE, DONNA DR.
OLD TOWN SCHOOL OF FOLK MUSIC
City
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
NAPERVILLE
NAPERVILLE
ELK GROVE VILLAGE
CHICAGO
LARGO
CHICAGO
ELMHURST
MATTESON
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
DARIEN
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
LAKE FOREST
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
ELK GROVE VILLAGE
WINNETKA
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
SO HOLLAND
OWATONNA
HIGHTSTOWN
CHICAGO
STATEN ISLAND
LOUISVILLE
CHICAGO
BLOOMINGTON
Wheeling
PHOENIX
WHEELING
NEW YORK
ELMHURST
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
ROSELLE
CHICAGO
MOKENA
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
SANTA CRUZ
CHICAGO
NEW YORK
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
EVANSTON
CHICAGO
OAKLAWN
CHICAGO
EVERGREEN PK.
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
EVANSTON
CHICAGO
State
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
FL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
MN
NJ
IL
NY
KY
IL
IN
IL
AZ
IL
NY
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
CA
IL
NY
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Vendors and
consultants
Continued from Page Nineteen
now available on line on the Substance
website
at
www.substancenews.com . In order
to obtain the list of all employees
currently being paid $100,000 or
more, the reader has to go to the PDF
files of the April 2006 Substance. The
list begins on Page Twelve. A complete list of all employees currently
being paid in excess of $90,000 is
pending, but will not be on the Substance website until June 2006, and
at that time will only be available to
Substance subscribers who obtain a
password from the editor.
Substance’s request for the
position and vendor files from the
Chicago Board of Education came
after CEO Arne Duncan began
claiming in January 2006, without
financial data to back up his claim,
that the school board faced an “unprecedented” deficit of more than
$300 million.
The theory upon which Sub-
stance based the two main requests
was that the combination of the position files (listing employees) and
the consultant vendor files (listing
consultants and vendors) would
add provide the information necessary to analyze factually how the
school board spends most of its
money. It turned out that all data on
the city’s more than 35 charter
schools is secret and not currently
accessible under FOIA requests. This
is despite the fact that the Chicago
Board of Education is paying charter school salaries, insurance, and
Amt. FY 2005
$10,439.29
$17,453.75
$10,681.00
$82,299.50
$15,666.72
$102,909.99
$35,700.00
$17,412.50
$14,317.00
$23,075.00
$16,679.67
$32,000.00
$20,981.00
$21,000.00
$19,635.00
$11,999.00
$39,055.00
$26,150.00
$38,924.00
$19,999.98
$60,625.00
$28,384.00
$19,159.00
$12,228.00
$13,000.00
$15,225.95
$30,515.51
$13,700.00
$27,082.65
$37,400.00
$132,018.84
$139,961.97
$12,200.00
$841,140.00
$27,492.50
$51,110.00
$60,000.00
$11,412.00
$11,620.00
$485,487.69
$10,250.00
$78,092.32
$13,307.25
$18,736.00
$38,677.00
$16,000.00
$63,000.00
$249,840.00
$11,875,108.95
$57,332.75
$24,092.62
$13,872.50
$145,260.00
$10,350.00
$122,710.00
$762,404.66
$15,095.00
$88,570.00
$12,400.00
$12,351.03
$166,952.00
$12,660.00
$18,027.24
$172,469.34
$10,500.00
$26,440.00
Chart Cont. on Page Twenty-Seven
building costs in excess of $200 million this school year. Substance has
challenged the claim that charter
school information is exempt from
the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act. The Illinois School
Code itself states that charter schools
are subject to the Open Meetings Act
and the Freedom of Information Act.
The information published
with this analysis is part of a much
larger spreadsheet that was provided to Substance in late March
2006 in response ot a FOIA request.
Continued on Page Twenty-Seven
Substance May 2006
Page Twenty-Seven
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
OMICRON TECHNOLOGIES
ON SITE CONSULTING & TRANSPORTATION
ONE ON ONE BASKETBALL, INC.
ONE-TO-ONE LEARNING CENTER
ONWARD NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE
OOSTERBAAN & SONS COMPANY
OPAL V. GILL
OPTIONS FOR YOUTH
ORACLE
ORCHESTRAL ASSOCIATION
ORGANIZATION OF THE NORTHEAST
ORONOVA, INC.
OWEN M. MCLEENAN
PACIFIC INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH & EVALUATION
PADVEEN, SUSAN
PAIDEIA INSTITUTE OF HYDE PARK
PARENTS UNITED FOR REFORM IN EDUCATION (PURE)
PARKS, BRENNAN
PARTNERSHIP FOR CHICAGO SCHOOLS
PAT POWERS & ASSOCIATES
PAUL L. DUNBAR VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
PAULA R. MCCABE
PEACE & ED. COALITION — BACK OF THE YARDS, NEW CITY
PEARSON DIGITAL LEARNING
PEARSON EDUCATION, INC
PEGASUS PLAYERS
PEGGY SHERMAN
PETER WALLIN
PHILINDA COLEMAN
PHILIP GAROON
PHILLIPS, CORNELIA BELLE
PIERRE DULAINE
PILSEN ALLIANCE
PINACLE
PLANNED PARENTHOOD ASSOC/CHGO
PLATFORM LEARNING, INC.
PLATO, INC D/B/A PLATO LEARNING
PLEASONT GROUP, THE
PMA CONSULTANTS LLC
POETRY CENTER, THE
POLLACK, BONITA M
POLYTROPE, LLC
PORTER, TOMMY
POTOWSKI, KIM
POWELL PHOTOGRAPHY
POWER SPORTS NETWORK
PPES, INC.
PRADO & RENTERIA CPA’S PROF.
PREMIER SCHOOL AGENDAS
PRIME, SOURCE SAL
PRIMERA ENGINEERS, LTD.
PRINCETON REVIEW
PRODUCTIVITY POINT INTERNAT’L
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE INDUSTRIES
PROGRESSIVE EDUCATIONAL CONSULTING
PROGRESSIVE LEARNING
PROS ARTS STUDIO
PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS, INC.
PUBLIC BUILDING COMMISSION OF CHICAGO
PUBLIC CONSULTING GROUP, INC.
PUERTO RICAN ARTS ALLIANCE
PUSH
PYRAMID EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANTS, INC.
QUALITY INSTRUCTION & ASSESSMEN
QUANTUM CROSSINGS, INC.
QUIROZ, YASMIN
City
State
CHICAGO
IL
HILLSIDE
IL
CHICAGO
IL
NORTHFIELD
IL
CHICAGO
IL
POSEN
IL
COUNTRY CLUB HILLS IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
OAK LAWN
IL
CALVERTON
MD
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
ATLANTA
GA
CHICAGO
IL
PARK RIDGE
IL
CHICAGO
IL
EVANSTON
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
NEW YORK
NY
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
NEW YORK
NY
MINNEAPOLIS
MN
LYNWOOD
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
DALLAS
TX
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
BOLINGBROOK
IL
OAK PARK
IL
CHICAGO
IL
MILWAUKEE
WI
CRESTWOOD
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
PALA
TINE
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
SANTA MONICA
CA
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
BOSTON
MA
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
FORT LEE
NJ
PALATINE
IL
CHICAGO
IL
CHICAGO
IL
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Vendors and
consultants
Continued from Page Twenty-Six
Although the information in the consultant vendor files originally appeared to be in some kind of logical
order, and it was on a spreadsheet.
It soon became clear, however, that
the 4,335 lines of data, which go back
to the fiscal year 2001 (the 2000-2001
school year), were posing a challenge that doesn’t exist when examining the school board’s employee
data. The consultant vendor files
contain expenses totaling more than
$800 million in expenditures going
back to the last year Paul Vallas
served as CEO of CPS. Although the
information was compiled under
two administrators appointed by
Mayor Daley supposedly because of
their business skills, the data were
organized very poorly. It was almost
as if the huge data sets were designed to make it impossible for the
public to organize, let alone evaluate, the vast expenditures of CPS on
outside vendors and consultants.
When was the last time any
government agency, school, or corporation organized material in alphabetical order on a spreadsheet by
first name?
The material provided to
Substance was not in alphabetical
order — at least not in alphabetical
order according to the last name of
the individual or corporate entity
receiving the money. In most cases
(but not all) entries are under the
first name of the individual, not the
last name.
For example, anyone look-
Amt. FY 2005
$107,726.50
$18,524.00
$11,491.00
$420,050.44
$34,499.48
$16,390.00
$14,237.50
$88,875.00
$33,845.00
$20,608.50
$39,000.00
$70,200.00
$56,018.00
$32,048.82
$14,179.20
$17,596.00
$21,816.00
$19,522.45
$6,105,854.17
$56,607.00
$27,107.00
$44,047.25
$24,500.00
$15,735.00
$22,360.00
$38,850.00
$15,385.55
$32,104.86
$22,070.00
$18,880.00
$13,912.50
$16,000.00
$66,274.73
$225,333.75
$502,104.00
$8,988,690.09
$1,184,522.40
$12,200.00
$155,867.50
$105,950.00
$13,710.00
$24,750.00
$138,948.70
$11,629.57
$10,212.00
$22,516.77
$320,354.00
$11,248.70
$16,261.00
$20,136.89
$24,640.12
$1,361,646.88
$18,895.00
$71,889.50
$15,550.00
$423,937.16
$85,648.00
$19,873.00
$21,000,000.00
$2,783,990.00
$76,000.00
$50,000.00
$125,362.14
$13,500.00
$784,768.27
$20,000.00
Chart Cont. on Page Twenty-Eight
ing for Taft High School, Wells High
School, Harper High School, or
Bogan High School (all of which, for
reasons yet to be explained by
Duncan, received consultant and
vendor money during the five year
period in question) had to look under the letter “W”.
Why are Bogan, Harper, Taft
and Wells high schools listed under
“W”? Because the first name of each
school is “William.” So they are
listed (as the accompanying list
shows) as William Howard Taft
Continued from Page Twenty-Eight
Page Twenty-Eight
Substance May 2006
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
RAGLAND & ASSOCIATES, LLC
RAPHAEL, TAFFY E
REACH FOR TOMORROW
READING IN MOTION
REALTY CONSULTANTS, USA, INC.(INTEGRA REALTY RES.)
REED COMPUTER CONSULTING
REGAN, JOHN M
REGENCY EXPOSITION SERVICES
RELIEF MEDICAL SERVICES, INC
REMY, PASCALE
RENAISSANCE LEARNING, INC.
RESEARCH FOR BETTER TEACHING
RESOURCE NETWORK, INC.
REUBEN D. CRAWFORD
REYES, OLGA
RHONDA PURWIN
RICE CONSULTING
RICHARD GAZDA
RICHARD J. GUIDICE
RICHARD S PARKER
RICHARD T. CRANE HIGH SCHOOL
RISETIME, INC.
RITA ALVAREZ
RIVEREDGE HOSPITAL
RL CANNING
RLD RESOURCES, LLC
ROALD AMUNDSEN HIGH SCHOOL
ROBERT SADDLER
ROBERT W. ADAMS
ROBERTO CLEMENTE COM. ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL
ROBERTS, CRYSTAL
ROBIN GONZALES
RODNEY D. ESTVAN
RODNEY STAPLETON
RODRIGUEZ, MARIA P
ROEMER, HEIDI BEE
ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY
ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY
RUDNICK, GERALD L
RUNCIE, DIANA T
RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CTR.
RUSSELL, LEANDRIA
SANDRA K. OSTRAND
SANDRA STOREY
SAS ARCHITECTS
SAVE A LIFE FOUNDATION
SCHOLARSHIP & GUIDANCE ASSOC.
SCHOOL ASSN. FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION
SCHOOL SERVICE SYSTEMS
SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANTS, INC.
SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP ASSOCIATES
SCHOOLNET, INC.
SCHROLL, TINA M
SCORE! EDUCATIONAL CENTERS, INC
SDE, INC.
SEAWAY NATIONAL BANK OF CHICAGO
SEIDEL, RICHARD R
SELECT MEDICAL REHABILITATION SERVICES
SENTINEL TECHNOLOGIES,INC.
SER SERVICES, INC
SEVENSPACE/NUCLIO CORP.
SHANAHAN, RITA
SHARON E. HAYES
SHARON E. IVERSON
SHARPIRO, LEAH
SHEA DE PAUL, CONSTANCE
City
SOUTH HOLLAND
CHICAGO
NAPERVILLE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
ROSEMONT
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
WISCONSIN RAPIDS
ACTON
CHICAGO
SOUTH HOLLAND
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
WINNIETKA
GLENVIEW
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
FOREST PARK
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
WINTER PARK
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CICERO
ORLAND PARK
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
COUNTRY CLB HLS
BUFFALO GROVE
NORMAN
NORTHBROOK
SCHILLER PARK
CHICAGO
NAPERVILLE
LOMBARD
ORLAND PARK
BROOKLYN PARK
NEW YORK
EVERGREEN PARK
CHICAGO
PETERBOROUGH
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
NORTHBROOK
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
ASHBURN
CHICAGO
FLOSSMOOR
CHICAGO
OAK PARK
PARK RIDGE
State
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
WI
MA
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
FL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
OK
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
MN
NY
IL
IL
NH
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
VA
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Vendors and
consultants
Continued from Page Twenty-Seven
High School, William Rainey Harper
High School, and William Bogan
High School (not “Bogan, William…”).
Since the receipt of the consultant and vendor contract information more than two months ago,
Substance staff and others spent
more than 100 hours sorting and
examining the data for those who
received more than $10,000 in consulting or vendor work during any
one fiscal year. A separate list, consisting of those receiving less than
$10,000, was also received, but it has
not been analyzed for this Substance.
Repeated requests to Arne
Duncan for an interview to answer
questions about the vast expansion
of vendor and consultant spending
under his administration were ignored or denied.
A review of Board policies
and procedures regarding vendor
contracts and the oversight of outside contractors reveals a number of
inconsistencies – if not downright
illegalities – in the manner in which
the Board has operated its consulting and vendor affairs since Mayor
Richard M. Daley was given complete control over CPS with the passage of the Amedatory Act in 1995.
Since 1995, Chicago’s school have
been governed by a school board
appointed by Daley and by a “CEO”
(rather than a schools superintendent) also appointed by Daley. The
first “CEO” of CPS was Paul G.
Amt. FY 2005
$13,510.00
$16,000.00
$42,455.00
$501,443.30
$24,791.25
$54,258.75
$34,473.20
$31,400.00
$11,942.00
$15,000.00
$16,424.75
$35,000.00
$14,000.00
$16,482.46
$13,216.00
$24,000.00
$41,000.00
$24,100.00
$41,217.20
$21,600.00
$25,240.00
$143,886.25
$13,000.00
$21,620.00
$75,875.00
$198,000.00
$10,438.00
$17,700.00
$24,000.00
$10,223.00
$12,575.00
$24,999.00
$56,800.00
$29,756.00
$13,400.00
$12,075.00
$222,742.50
$42,175.00
$16,487.50
$34,525.00
$70,516.15
$24,999.00
$30,750.00
$24,194.34
$40,908.16
$25,025.00
$152,428.75
$17,765.00
$304,778.58
$25,700.00
$24,999.00
$474,875.33
$18,320.00
$143,218.75
$11,062.00
$110,252.27
$22,025.00
$1,001,580.17
$853,260.22
$22,500.00
$1,009,723.20
$18,185.00
$14,250.00
$22,375.00
$25,599.00
$15,000.00
Chart Cont. on Page Twenty-Nine
Vallas, who served from July 1995
until the end of June 2001. Since July
2001, Arne Duncan has been CEO of
CPS. Neither Vallas nor Duncan had
any educational administrative experience prior to being appointed to
head the nation’s third largest school
system by Daley.
Originally hailed (without
irony) as the “Miracle Management
Team” in much of the Chicago media, Daley, Vallas and then school
board president Gery Chico took
Continued on Page Twenty-Nine
Substance May 2006
Page Twenty-Nine
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
SHEFSKY & FROELICH LTD.
SHELL, BENJAMIN M
SHELLEY PAULETTE DAVIS
SHERIDAN AND PEARLMAN
SIERRA CONSULTANT GROUP INC
SIERRA CONSULTANTS GROUP
SIFT CONSULTING
SILVERTRAIN, INC.
SINAI HEALTH SYSTEMS
SITE DESIGN GROUP
SKYLINE PRODUCTIONS, INC.
SMALL STRIDE ACADEMY
SMART TECHNOLOGY SERVICES, INC
SMILE DESIGNERS
SMITH, MAE THELMA
SMITH, THERESA LOUISE
SOCRATIC LEARNING, INC
SOLBOURNE
SOLIANT CONSULTING, INC.
SONES DE MEXICO ENSEMBLE
SOUND OF AUTHORITY, INC
SOUND PAK
SOUTHERN REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL BOARD
SOUTHWEST YOUTH COLLABORATIVE
SPARK
SPARK CREATIVE
SPHERE GLOBAL SOLUTIONS
ST. XAVIER UNIVERSITY
STANTON, JANE
STEEN, ISRAIL U
STEPHEN T. MATHER HIGH SCHOOL
STEVEN BRIGGS
STEVEN NEMEROVSKI
STIMPSON, GLORIA
STL ARCHITECTS, INC
STOKES, JOHN B
STRATEGIC ALTERNATIVES, LLC
STRATEGIC LEARNING INITIATIVES
STREAMWOOD HOSPITAL
STUDY ISLAND
SUCCESS FOR ALL FOUNDATION
SUPERIOR STREET POST, INC.
SUPPORT GROUP, THE
SUTHERLAND ASBILL & BRENNAN
SWANN WEISKOPF WOO BEDNAROWICZ
SWANN, CAROL L
SWIFT, RUBY G
SYNCHRONOUS SOLUTIONS, INC.
SYSTEM CONCEPTS
SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT/INTEGRATION
SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS, INC.
T & J PLUMBING, INC.
TA, CONSULTING
TALCOTT COMMUNICATIONS/ FENI
TALISON, TONDRA
TALMAGE STEELE
TAMMY OBERG DE LA GARZA
TANYA MARFO
TASC, INC
TATE & ASSOCIATES
TATE, DESIREE L
TAX ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
TD AND F. TURNER, L.P.
TEACH FOR AMERICA, INC.
TEACHERS ACADEMY FOR MATH & SCIENCE
TEACHERS NETWORKING WITH TEACHERS
City
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
EVANSTON
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
PLANO
BOULDER
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
ORLAND PARK
ATLANTA
CHICAGO
SAN DIEGO
CHICAGO
SKOKIE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
HANOVER
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
ORLAND PARK
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
STREAMWOOD
DALLAS
BALTIMORE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
WASHINGTON
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
SPRINGFIELD
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CRETE
NEW YORK
CHICAGO
ORLAND PARK
State
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
TX
CO
IL
IL
IL
IL
GA
IL
CA
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
TX
MD
IL
IL
DC
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
NY
IL
IL
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Vendors and
consultants
Continued from Page Twenty-Eight
advantage of favorable economic
conditions and the release of the
city’s public schools after more than
15 years of strict accounting under
the School Finance Authority to
spend more than $3 billion on capital projects (that had been deferred
for more than a decade) and additional billions on corporate “school
reform” projects. Despite the failure
of these expensive programs to dent
the problems facing public schools
in the harshest parts of the city’s vast
ghettos and barrios, the media chorus in favor of the mayor’s school
reform has continued in uncritical
adulation to this day.
Yet a careful analysis of some
of the most expensive projects undertaken since Daley took over reveal that they have been poorly
managed, corrupt, rife with patronage, and often bearing little relationship to the real needs of inner city
teachers, parents, and school chil-
dren. Key to their success is their
ability to sustain massive doses of
propaganda while avoiding any
scrutiny. The apparent disorganization of the enormous consultant/
vendor files of the Chicago Board of
Education is one example of how
this is done.
Duncan and Scott violate Board
policy by retaining long-term consultants
Like Enron, the success of
Mayor Daley’s “school reform
miracle” depends on shoddy ac-
Amt. FY 2005
$182,167.64
$13,819.00
$53,400.00
$23,563.33
$75,275.21
$10,750.00
$197,118.00
$69,195.00
$12,084.38
$25,087.44
$21,325.00
$60,000.00
$7,429,294.61
$12,773.18
$14,999.00
$10,720.00
$168,575.00
$1,474,750.00
$53,373.30
$39,677.00
$26,161.78
$15,801.00
$96,560.00
$69,764.00
$37,039.93
$13,500.00
$26,790.00
$76,350.00
$10,892.25
$20,000.00
$17,188.00
$20,342.10
$19,892.52
$15,800.00
$49,769.93
$38,782.80
$10,518.00
$166,328.00
$20,820.00
$21,719.07
$279,085.50
$25,670.00
$69,999.00
$20,839.95
$201,050.54
$46,600.00
$13,712.50
$745,825.00
$16,175.91
$56,000.00
$12,000.00
$17,035.49
$24,999.00
$13,545.00
$13,150.00
$12,323.33
$12,507.00
$35,570.00
$23,790.00
$38,073.75
$79,999.00
$125,000.00
$12,500.00
$288,050.33
$298,062.83
$32,749.00
Chart Continued on Page Thirty
counting and massive, almost
cultlike propaganda. This report begins an examination of how the
shoddy accounting serves the propaganda purposes of the school
board, the Daley administration,
and the privatization forces behind
them.
Every month, the Chicago
Board of Education disciplines or
fires employees, often for the most
trivial of reasons. At the present
time, many administrators (often
with no experience in the complex
Continued on Page Thirty-Two
Page Thirty
Substance May 2006
City Council vote to take place June 28, 2006...
Massive opposition to school closing juggernaut
After testifying on more than a half dozen occasions in opposition to the school
closings that have ravaged families in his ward, 24th Ward Alderman Michael
Chandler (above, at podium) introduced a resolution in Chicago’s City Council in
February 2006 demanding that the closing be stopped until a valid study can be
completed showing that the closings actually help the children from the shuttered
schools, as Arne Duncan and school board officials have claimed. Despite repeated requests for data covering all of the children from all of the schools that the
Chicago Board of Education has closed since 2002, the Duncan administration
has refused to provide such a study. Instead, the Board’s researchers have offered partial studies, which upon examination turn out to be little more than public
relations for the school board’s school closing programs. By May 2006, the Duncan
administration had ignored numerous requests by Substance for the studies it
claimed proved that the school closings helped children. Substance photo by
George N. Schmidt
Duncan in April 2002, by March 2006
the Chicago Board of Education had
closed more than 30 of the city’s
public schools, leaving the teachers
and other people who worked in
them jobless and the students facing
a major — and in some cases insurmountable — disruption in their
lives.
In March 2006, after another
round of futile attempts to persuade
the city’s school board to halt the
closings (this time, directed at
Morse, Frazier and Farren elemen-
Retired Collins High School principal Dr.
Grady C. Jordan (above) continued his
opposition to the school closings, telling the City Council hearing on March 8
that Collins had, in effect, been sabotaged by the Duncan administration during the four years prior to the Collins
closing announcement. Collins had
been denied the right to select its own
principal, and Duncan’s appointees had
lacked high school experience.
Flanked by Alderman Michael Chandler (24th) and Ed Smith (28th), Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 vice president Cynthia Rodriguez
told the March 8 press conference that the school closings were hurting children,
many of whom were the children of SEIU members. SEIU Local 73, which represents more than 5,000 school custodians, bus aides, security workers, and others
in the massive public school system, was (along with the 35,000-member Chicago
Teachers Union) one of the major unions representing Chicago public school workers that have helped organize in support of the Chandler resolution. When schools
are closed, children’s education is disrupted and the lives of school workers are
sometimes destroyed. Ms. Rodriguez also testified during the day’s Education
Committee hearings. Substance photos by George N. Schmidt.
Continued from Page One
tary schools and Collins High
School), opponents of the closings
joined with 24th Ward Alderman
Michael Chandler in support of a
City Council resolution to halt any
future closings until a thorough
study was made of their impact on
all the children from the closed
schools. To date, all CPS has provided has been a dishonest and truncated “study” which even the leaders of CPS have refused to answer
detailed questions about. As usual,
despite repeated requests schools
CEO Arne Duncan refused to be interviewed for this article. ;
Showing some of the anger of many
community leaders, Jitu Brown (above)
of the Kenwood Oakland Community
Organization (KOCO) outlined for the
City Council how his organization began confronting the school closings in
2002. Brown, who has testified at dozens of hearings over four years, noted
that he had showed how the closings
hurt the children they were supposed to
help while being ignored by CPS.
Substance May 2006
Page Thirty-One
City Council school closing vote June 28, 2006...
Julie Woestehoff, Executive Director of PURE (Parents United for Responsible
Education) spoke both at the press conference (above) and during her testimony
before the City Council about the Board of Education’s presentation of a “study”
that was based on incomplete information regarding the school closings. PURE
published a counter-study (see the PURE website, www.pureparents,org and the
West Side videographer and community
activist Paul McKinlay (above, testifying
at the March 8 City Council Education
Committee hearings on the school closings), made several contributions to the
debate over the closings. After Illinois
State Senator Ricky Hendon told crowds
at Collins High School and during the
closing hearings that he would force
Duncan to rescind the closings,
McKinlay and others caught up with
Duncan, Scott, Hendon, Congressman
Danny Davis and others at a secret west
side meeting and videotaped it, alleging that Hendon was cutting a deal and
going along with the closings while talking tough in front of his outraged constituents. McKinlay has been the only
community leader to note that the school
closings are usually followed by the
opening of schools as charter schools.
The charter schools are often under the
leadership of Catholic School groups
(such as Hales Franciscan and Providence St. Mel’s) and in buildings rented
from the Catholic Church. Scott and
Duncan have never answered
McKinlay’s criticisms of the conflicts over
giving public schools to Catholic school
entrepreneurs and his questions about
child abuse. Photo by George Schmidt.
February - March 2006 Substance for a copy of the longer PURE study) showing
that the Board’s “study” was fatally flawed. A PURE response to a Chicago Tribune editorial criticizing the Chandler resolution and supporting the Duncan administration on school closings was ignored. Substance photo by George N.
Schmidt.
Chicago Teachers Union president
Marilyn Stewart (above, testifying at the
Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan (above right) and March 8 City Council hearings) continChicago Board of Education President Michael Scott (above left) held their last ued to undermine much of the critique
general press conference on January 26, 2006, and have not held one since. At of the Chicago Board of Education’s
the January 26 press conference (above), neither Scott nor Duncan was able to unprecedented record on school closdefend their announcement that they were going to close another four elementary ings by issuing a press release (Januschools (Farren, Frazier, Morse and Sherman) and one high school (Collins) for ary 26) claiming that the “success” of
what they called “poor performance.” When Duncan attempted to prove that his the re-opened Dodge Elementary
school closing policy had succeeded at Dodge Elementary School (which was School had been based on the fact that
turned over to Winston & Strawn, the law firm headed by former Illinois Governor the school has union teachers. Stewart’s
James Thompson) because he had a “study” that showed Dodge students doing inability to articulate an analysis of the
better after returning to Dodge following the reorganization, reporters pointed out pernicious effects of the school closings
that the “study” accounted for fewer than ten percent of the students who had going back to 2002 stems in part from
attended Dodge prior to its reorganization between June 2002 and September her administration’s refusal to admit that
2003. Duncan’s “study” was immediately refuted publicly by a PURE analysis (see the original opposition to the closing
above) that called the Duncan study “Hogwash”. Other critics were less diplomatic policies came from the administration of
in their views of the school board’s self-serving research department. Since Feb- her predecessor, Deborah Lynch.
ruary 1, 2006, for the first time in the recent history of the Chicago Public Schools, Stewart’s lack of ability to publicly handle
Duncan and Scott have held no general press conference and have refused to any critique of the closings (even when
answer media questions in open forums. The school system’s $2 million “Office of in possession of analyses like PURE’s
Communications” routinely issues press releases while Duncan and Scott avoid “Hogwash” document), has embarthe press, except for photo opportunities at which no questions are allowed. Sub- rassed many union members who are
demanding a clearer policy on the closstance photo by George N. Schmidt
ings.
Page Thirty-Two
Substance May 2006
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
TEACHING STRATEGIES, INC
TECHNICAL RESOURCE SYSTEMS, INC.
TECHNOLOGY CONSORTIUM GROUP, LLC
TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENT SERVICES, INC.
TECHNOLOGY LEARNING & CURRICULUM DESIGN, INC.
TECHNOLOGY TRAINING SOLUTIONS
TED G. GOLDSMITH
TERESITA TORRES
TESTWATCH RESEARCH INSTITUTE,
THEODORA BEASLEY
THERESA RICHTER
THERESA W. WEARRING
THERM FLO, INC
THINKING MEDIA/SAI INTERACTIVE, INC.
THOMAS BISKER CONSULTING
THOMAS KELLY HIGH SCHOOL
THOMAS L. HANSEN
TIEDEMANN, CLIFFORD EARL
TIMBERLAKE, CAROLYN
TIMOTHY ARMOUR
TISHMAN CONSTRUCTION
TOLL & ASSOCIATES
TONY VASQUEZ
TOOMEY REPORTING
TOTAL YOUTH DEVELOPMENT EDUCATIONAL CONS.
TRAFTON, PAUL R
TRANSPAR MANAGEMENT SERVICES, LLC
TRIAS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC.
TRICOR SECURITY GROUP, INC.
TRINITY HIGHER EDUCATION CORPORATION
TRIPARTITE, INC.
TURNER, WILMA J
TURNMIRE, JEAN M
U.S. EQUITIES ASSET MANAGEMENT, LLC
UDELHOFEN, SUSAN
UMOJA LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE
UMOJA STUDENT DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
UNISYS CORPORATION
City
CAROL STREAM
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
GLENCOE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
WHEELING
HIXSON
VENICE
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
MT. PROSPECT
BOYNTON BEACH
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
NORMAL
WOODRIDGE
CAROL STREAM
CHICAGO
MORTON GROVE
LEES SUMMIT
CHICAGO
CICERO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
RIVERSIDE
CHICAGO
MADISON
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
State
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
TN
FL
IL
IL
IL
FL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
MO
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
WI
IL
IL
IL
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Vendors and
consultants
Continued from Page Twenty-Nine
realities of the classroom or the
school) are being trained in management theories which demand that a
certain number or percentage of
workers be subject to discipline, not
matter what the underlying realities.
At the same time, Duncan
and his administration are subject to
almost no oversight, and they pass
the same favors along to those who
fall under their patronage, especially
among contractors, consultants, and
other vendors.
One of the many places
where the Duncan administration
seems to be in violation of explicit
Board policy — and possibly Illinois
school law — is in the use of longterm consultants. As noted, Arne
Duncan refused to be interviewed
for this article, despite repeated requests.
The vendor and consultant
files provided to Substance and being analyzed over time reveal that
dozens of individuals, some former
Board employees, have been employed as consultants for more than
one year.
Yet the Board of Education’s
Policy Manual (Section 506.1) explicitly states that full-time consultants
are not to be retained for more than
one year without review by the
Board:
“Full-time consultants are to be
retained only to work on specific projects
of limited duration when specialized
skills and training are required. Such
consultants may be retained by board
action for one year or the duration of
the project, whichever is shorter. If a
project will run for more than one year,
annual renewals by the Board of Education must be obtained for full-time
consultants. Full-time consultants
whose services are required for less than
five days may be retained without prior
Board approval.”
Several of the consultants
currently working at the Board of
Education have been employed for
several years, according to the consultant and vendor lists provided to
Substance. Also, more than 100 of
the individuals listed as having been
paid as vendors between the 20002001 school year and the 2004-2005
school year continued from year to
year (a minimum of two years, according to the manner in which Substance analyzed this group) without
any public explanation of their duties or any public review on the
agenda of the Chicago Board of
Education’s monthly meetings.
Once every year or two, the Board
of Education simply passes another
Board Report extending their highpriced work as consultants.
Because the list of consultants and vendors is organized in a
manner that deliberately makes it
difficult to locate individuals, as
noted above, it was not possible to
detail all of the individuals who received money over multiple years
for consulting work at CPS in time
for the deadline for this issue of Sub-
stance. As noted, key entries are often listed by first name, while in the
same portion of the list suddenly
someone will be listed by last name.
Corporations and partnerships are
listed in no reliable manner.
Below, for example, are the
eight individuals and one entity
(“Buckney Associates”) listed in the
“A” and “B” entries whose total pay
during the five-year period was in
excess of $100,000. Most were listed
by first name. In none of these cases
does the public record reflect that the
Board has received any public evaluation of the services rendered by
these individuals, let alone an audit
which would inform the Board
whether the services are appropriate over the course of several years,
instead of simply hiring employees
to do the same work.
Albert Pessah. $327,187.
2001-2005 (5 years total)
Allan Goldin. $273,247.
2001-2002. 2004-2005. (4 years total).
Angela
Hill-Rivers.
$125,595. 2002-2003; 2005. (3 years
total).
Anton Jones. $153,862. 20022005. (4 years total).
Arthur Berman. $300,772.
2001-2005. (5 years total).
Bania, Thaddeus. $127,925.
2004-2005. (2 years total).
Bonita Chapman. $436,880.
2001-2005. (5years total).
Buckney & Associates.
$326,786. 2001-2005. (5 years total).
Buzz Sawyer. $558,904.
2001-2005. (5 years total).
Amt. FY 2005
$23,508.18
$23,000.00
$15,000.00
$24,990.00
$17,088.00
$80,275.00
$41,280.00
$21,250.00
$19,728.00
$14,250.00
$35,000.00
$13,542.00
$11,960.00
$61,250.00
$29,703.20
$10,381.00
$11,925.00
$20,000.00
$18,600.00
$27,000.00
$6,785,502.16
$11,000.00
$13,100.00
$63,036.04
$32,428.00
$13,125.00
$2,007,419.04
$50,000.00
$21,995.00
$10,025.00
$31,790.58
$13,175.00
$16,737.50
$2,177,078.59
$11,386.40
$31,190.00
$32,000.00
$2,249,826.77
Chart Cont. on Page Thirty-Three
Substance has obtained no
information whether these costs
were consistent with the value of the
services performed, and an examination of the Board Reports and
Agendas of Action for the time periods in question (usually, for
consultancies of four years or more!)
indicates no examination by members of the Board to determine
whether these services were necessary. In most of the above cases, the
individuals were paid more annually than the average teacher earned
working full-time in a classroom. In
some cases, the pay over the period
was higher than that earned by principals.
About that “$300 million deficit”?
Between January and the beginning of May 2006, Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan talked
repeatedly about a $328 million
“deficit” he claimed the school system was facing for the 2007 fiscal
year, which begins July 1, 2006.
Duncan provided no details of the
supposedly massive deficit, and he
carefully avoided press conferences
where he might be asked factual
questions rather than simply permitted to repeat talking points and
scripted sound bites. Nevertheless,
Duncan’s version of financial reality dominated policy debate in Chicago during the first four months of
2006.
Little noted during the public discussion of the supposed “deficit” (which never rose to the level of
Continued on Page Thirty-Three
Substance May 2006
Page Thirty-Three
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
City
UNITED ANALYTICAL SERVICES
DOWNERS GROVE
UNITED NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATION (UNO)
CHICAGO
UNITED STAND
CHICAGO
UNIVERSAL FAMILY CONNECTION,
CHICAGO
UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTONOMA DE MEXICO, CHICAGO CA CHICAGO
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
CHICAGO
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 3
CHICAGO
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SERVICE ADMINI CHICAGO
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
HOUSTON
UNIVERSITY OF ILL AT CHGO
CHICAGO
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
CHICAGO
UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS - C R E P
MEMPHIS
UNPARALLELED SOLUTIONS, INC
FRANKFORT
UP FRONT SOLUTIONS, INC
BURR RIDGE
URBAN GATEWAYS
CHICAGO
VALERIE DENNEY COMMUNICATIONS
CHICAGO
VAZQUEZ, HILARIO
CHICAGO
VERNON WILLIAMS ARCHITECTS,PC
CHICAGO
VERONICA SORRELL
CHICAGO
VICTOR MARTIN WOODS
BARTLETT
VICTOR PICHARDO
OAK PARK
VICTORY GARDENS THEATER
CHICAGO
VIDEO MASTER, INC.
NEW LENOX
VINCENT R. WILLIAMS & ASSOCIATES P.C.
CHICAGO
VOLT-TEK ELECTRIC
CHICAGO
WALTER PAYTON COLLEGE PREP HIGH SCHOOL
Chicago
WASHINGTON, PITTMAN & MCKEEVER
CHICAGO
WEBB, MYRNA R
NAPERVILLE
WEISS, SANDRA LYNN
CHICAGO
WENDELL CROSS
AURORA
WENNLUND SERVICES, INC.
CHICAGO
WEST CLUSTER COLLABORATIVE
CHICAGO
WEST GROUP PAYMENT CENTER
CAROL STREAM
WEST JAM ENTERPRISES, INC D.B.A. THE CURRICULUM MAPPE WESTMONT
WEST TOWN LEADERSHIP UNITED
CHICAGO
WHITE, ROBERTS AND STRATTON
CHICAGO
WHITNEY M YOUNG HIGH SCHOOL
CHICAGO
WICKER PARK LEARNING CENTER
CHICAGO
WIGHT & COMPANY
CHICAGO
State
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
TX
IL
IL
TN
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
Vendors and
consultants
Continued from Page Thirty-Two
a debate because Duncan’s public
relations handlers ensured that he
was never challenged), Duncan had
been ordering program cuts that
caused many of the security problems now besetting the city’s schools
— especially Chicago’s remaining
general high schools. Nor was there
any discussion as to whether expensive privatization programs — ranging from charter schools to the oversight and management of much of
the school system’s custodial and
transportation services — were necessary and proper. Under Duncan,
employee costs (and future pensions) were subject to massive cuts.
During the same years, multi-million dollar privatization programs
which had already far exceeded the
costs of their predecessor programs
(viz., the management of services
within the board, with board employees providing the services) were
expanded. The most recent massive
privatization programs are the charter schools being expanded under
“Renaissance 2010.”
But at the same time he was
claiming a massive “deficit”, Arne
Duncan was increasing the amount
of money spent on “consultants”
and other vendors who do business
with the Chicago Board of Education
at the highest rate in Chicago history.
The nformation released
through the request under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) to Substance shows that the
annual cost of major consultants and
other major “vendors” to the Board
of Education has risen from $146
million in the fiscal year ending June
30, 2001 (when Duncan became
CEO) to $197 million in the fiscal
year ending June 30, 2005, the most
recent year for which the data are
available. The amount has continued to increase during the current
fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2006.
A major vendor or consultant — for
purposes of this analysis — is one
who is paid more than $10,000 at any
one time and is therefore subject to
certain rules that are not applied to
vendors and consultants who receive less than $10,000 at any one
time.
Additionally, the Duncan
administration has paid more than
$24 million to minor vendors (those
who receive jobs valued at less than
$10,000 at any one time) since it took
office. No audits of either major or
minor vendor programs have been
made available to the public at the
monthly meetings of the Chicago
Board of Education, despite the fact
that the majority of the members of
the Board are either bankers or financial people. Nor have any of the
Board members ever requested that
such information be provided to the
public.
While cuts have been made
in many program areas, and have
been especially harsh in the city’s
high schools, the money being paid
to outsiders who do business with
the school system has increased at
an unprecedented rate. The following report is based on data covering
the fiscal years 2001 through 2005.
The Board of Education’s fiscal year
begins July 1 and ends June 30, with
each fiscal year named for the year
during which the spending ends.
Data for the current fiscal year — FY
2006 — which ends June 30, 2006, are
not yet available. Substance filed a
Freedom of Information request for
the information as of April 1, 2006,
which has yet to be answered.
The largest increase in payments to consultants and vendors
has come most recently. Between FY
2004 and FY 2005, the amount paid
to consultants increased by more
than $34 million — from $163 million to $197 million, according to the
documents provided to Substance
by Board officials.
There are many discrepancies in the data, which would require
an explanation from the CEO in any
major corporation. Repeated requests to Duncan for an interview
on this topic since Substance received the information have been
ignored. [This has been typical since
Duncan became CEO five years
ago.] Rather than answer detailed
questions about his policies and
practices, Duncan simply reads from
prepared scripts and then avoids
anyone who asks for clarification of
the details. Press conferences and
other events are often ended
Amt. FY 2005
$51,951.36
$230,000.00
$975,304.04
$42,706.00
$11,150.00
$2,224,367.00
$15,000.00
$59,800.00
$34,838.42
$2,451,359.09
$765,000.00
$24,000.00
$798,416.64
$31,200.00
$874,757.50
$203,190.13
$24,500.00
$17,722.07
$12,200.00
$25,875.00
$13,600.00
$27,500.00
$30,615.00
$80,000.00
$12,125.00
$10,593.00
$16,043.75
$36,000.00
$13,440.00
$11,100.00
$145,398.00
$23,000.00
$31,625.70
$117,800.40
$44,585.00
$33,332.00
$15,470.00
$104,301.59
$40,186.61
Chart Cont. on Page Thirty-Four
abruptly by Duncan’s publicity staff
when the questions become too factual and Duncan is unable to handle
them. [See sidebar].
The increases in the money
paid to consultants and other outside vendors, a significant number
of whom received their contracts
without competitive bidding, has
come during a time when the
Duncan administration has cut
school programs and other parts of
the Board of Education’s nearly $5
billion annual budget in ways that
have been charged with creating
chaos. Problems resulting from the
cuts have been especially acute in
the general high schools serving the
most academically challenging students. Instead of providing teachers,
additional staff, and lower class sizes
to the general high schools, however, Duncan has joined in a national
campaign to attack the high schools.
Some sources even view the combination of cuts in the high schools and
an increasing clamor for “high
school reform” as an attempt to destabilize the high schools, thus creating the demand for the kinds of
changes Duncan and his corporate
supporters are scripting.
Much of the information regarding the use of consultants and
other outside vendors by the city’s
public school system is still
shrouded in secrecy. The information published here is based solely
on data provided regarding contracts that were in excess of $10,000.
Continued on Page Thirty-Four
Page Thirty-Four
Substance May 2006
CPS Consultants and Vendors 2004-2005
Consultant, Company or Vendor Name
WILCOX, GLENN C
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT HIGH
WILLIAM J. BOGAN HIGH SCHOOL
WILLIAM J. MCCLINTOCK
WILLIAM RAINEY HARPER HIGH
WILLIAMS, GENEVA STEGER
WILLIS, KEITH
WINSTON & STRAWN
WIRELESS GENERATION, INC.
WOODFIELD MEDIA, INC
WOODLAWN ORGANIZATION
WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS (WITS)
WORTHMAN, CHRISTOPHE
WUJCIK, PETER C
YANNIAS, KATHLEEN C
YMCA OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
YOLANDA PITTMAN MALONEY
YOLANDA SANDOVAL
YOUTH GUIDANCE
YOUTH OUTREACH SERVICES, INC.
ZEPHYR DANCE ENSEMBLE
ZIMMERMAN REAL ESTATE GROUP, LTD.
City
OAK PARK
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
LONG BEACH
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
HAZEL CREST
CHICAGO
NEW YORK
SCHAUMBURG
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
State
IL
IL
IL
IN
IL
IL
IL
IL
NY
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
IL
Total Consultants and Vendors (Over $10,000) FY 2005
Amt. FY 2005
$14,647.50
$11,458.00
$13,391.00
$39,390.50
$10,501.00
$12,050.00
$17,424.25
$25,563.09
$47,399.00
$24,455.00
$93,356.25
$84,000.00
$12,000.00
$14,275.00
$162,658.31
$496,682.57
$17,588.50
$14,280.00
$1,798,922.81
$16,855.75
$46,740.00
$12,950.00
$197,108,771.49
Editor’s Note: For an explanation of the contents of this chart, see the article on Page Nine of this Substance.
A separate request for information
regarding consultants who were
paid less than $10,000 was incomplete and is not reported here. (The
information on contracts less than
$10,000 did not even provide the
amount each consultant was paid).
Increased costs. There has
been a significant increase in the use
of consultants and outside vendors
and the cost of consultants, with the
cost increasing from $150 million to
$197 million during a time when the
school system was cutting back on
the number of classroom teachers
and other school-based services.
Lack of public accountability at the monthly meetings of the
school board. Fewer than half the
consultant contracts awarded by the
Chicago Board of Education since
2003 have been reported in Board
Reports at the public meetings of the
Chicago Board of Education, which
take places once a month throughout the year.
Ghost consultants. A number of high profile consultant contracts are not reported at all in the
information compiling the total cost
of consultants provided in response
to the Substance FOIA request. Two
officials of the Consortium on Chicago School Research (Melissa
Roderick and John Easton) are not
reported either as consultants or as
employees during the five-year period since Duncan took over as CEO.
The chief of the Board of
Education’s public relations department, Peter Cunningham, is also not
listed either as an employee or as a
consultant in the documents provided to Substance, although the
documents show that more than
$400,000 was paid to “Cunningham
Communications”. Roderick, Easton
and Cunningham were all paid
more than $100,000 per year during
a number of the years since Duncan
took over the school system, but neither the Board’s employee records
nor the Board’s consultant records
lists them. Duncan has refused to be
interviewed for this article and
Board officials have been unavailable to discuss this and other
discrepencies in the records provided to Substance.
Community based patron-
age. Several million dollars were
paid to groups and organizations —
including the Chicago Urban
League — whose leaders then represented their opinions in support of
programs like “Renaissance 2010” as
being based on independent community work.
Creation of internal consultants and vendors. More than $20
million was paid to departments inside the Board of Education and to
individual schools under circumstances that are legally an professionally unclear. The greatest
amount, more than $7 million, was
paid to the Board of Education’s
“Office of Accountability” during a
time when that office had an annual
budget ranging from $5 million to
$10 million.
Preacher patronage. A number of religious organizations and
leaders have been on the consultant
payroll at CPS for several years and
have apparently been encouraged
by the Duncan administration to
provide public support in their communities for controversial policies —
such as “Renaissance 2010” —
which have little or no grass roots
support in the communities themselves.
By Substance deadline
(which was extended two weeks
because of this analysis), it was clear
that the examination of the Chicago
Board of Education’s billion dollar
spending on vendors and consultants since the beginning of the new
century was going to take a great
deal of time and the cooperation of
a large number of people.
This analysis will continue in
the pages of Substance on a regular
basis.
The 2005 list of consultants
and vendors receiving more than
$10,000 from the Chicago Board of
Education is published in this Substance.
Please contact Substance by
e-mail (Csubstance @ aol.com) or by
phone (773-725-7502) if you have
information that can assist in this
ongoing project. ;
Pensions
years have to realize that we are subjected to many illnesses that strike
us at this time of our lives. Some of
us say it’s nothing and it will pass
are headed for problems. For example: My wife awoke and complained with a vision problem in her
left eye. I immediately told her lets
see an ophthalmologist. She said, “It
will pass.” I still made an immediate appointment for that day.
We were lucky as it was a
detached retina. They used a laser
to attach it and she is well on the
road to recovery instead of blindness. My wife and I both go to a local gym. She does water aerobics
and I swim laps. I do not drink or
smoke and try to keep in shape for
an older codger. Last year I was
about to take my motorcycle for a
spin and did not feel well. After
about an hour and a half it did not
go away. I saw my physician and he
referred me to a cardiologist at the
local hospital for some heavy diagnostic work. It seemed that I had a
90% blockage. I went to surgery that
same day and probably saved my
life by not waiting.
As I wrote some of this, my
wife and I were all packed up and
ready to return to Chicago from our
other home in Florida. I can’t wait
to see the rush to the mikes by the
UPC loyalist at the House of Delegates meetings. I guess they feel if
they fend off enough delegates trying to speak they could end up with
a job for life with their salaries and
pensions combined. See you at the
future House of Delegates meetings.
And as summer approaches,
let’s watch what they’re trying to do
to our pensions. Keep your eyes on
the United Auto Workers (UAW) in
the face of the Delphi situation, the
pilots associations, and the other
unions. We are facing some strenuous times labor wise. There will be
some concessions coupled with negotiations. We must never allow
pension funds to be negotiated
away. We must always protect those
that have served most of their lives
serving our children. ;
Continued from Page Four
glish speaking students and those
within the poverty range. All of this
adds up to educational and social
problems with small funds earmarked to help.
The CTU’s endorsement of
Gov. Rod. Blagojevich in the primary
election because of some minor
items leaves much to be desired as a
retiree. I would not endorse him or
anyone else without a firm statement that he will not allow a stop of
any commitments to fund our pension system. Anyone looking at
Blagojevich’s treatment of the state
pension funds over which he has
some control should be worried. As
they say in some movies — very
worried.
Those of us that have
reached what we call the golden
Subscribe.
See Page Forty
How you can stay
in touch with
Substance over the
summer:
By mail: 5132 W. Berteau,
Chicago, IL 60641
By phone: 773-725-7502.
By e-mail:
Csubstance@aol.com
On the Web:
www.substancenews.com
Substance May 2006
Page Thirty-Five
Patronage for the profs...
External partners set schools
up for closings?
By George N. Schmidt
A few months before the
dawn of Chicago’s “renaissance”, in
January 2002, the Chicago Board of
Education passed a resolution to pay
more than $4 million to another
round of what were then called “external partners.” External partners
back in the late 20th and early 21st
centuries were academic and consultant experts who were attached,
sometimes at great expense, to local
schools that were declared to be
“failing” because they had low
scores on standardized tests. The
external partner program, which
pre-dated the federal “No Child Left
Behind” law, had many of the same
elements as were later incorporated
in the federal law. Based on standardized test scores, inner city
schools were designated as “failures” because they had low score.
Because they had “failed,” the teachers and principals in the schools
were deemed to be in need of outside help. Chicago pioneered the
entire system of blame and assistance during the late 1990s and was
hailed as a national model of school
reform as a result.
Although the schools were
held accountable, the external partners never were, as the example below shows. Once it was established
that standardized test scores were a
valid “bottom line” for measuring
the success or failure of schools, the
solution to the failure had to come
from the outside. Once that was established, external partners were
one method of assistance, which the
local school had little or no control
over. While “No Child Left Behind”
today
mandates
massive
privatization of public resources
based on the same model of the “bottom line,” in the late 1990s the lurch
toward privatization was facilitated
by Chicago professors and other
supposed experts in the external
partners program.
Less than a year after Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed Arne Duncan to be the second “Chief Executive Officer” of
Chicago’s public schools, Duncan
proposed one of the last iterations
of the external partners program
which had cost more than $10 million under his predecessor, Paul
Vallas.
The logic was simple. Test
scores determined which schools
were “failures.” Then the school
board mandates that the schools hire
external partners, approved by the
Chicago Board of Education, to tell
the schools how to end their failure.
The external partners were supposed to show the teachers and principals at those schools how to improve the schools (translated, raise
test scores) so that they would get
off “Academic Probation” and, theo-
retically, live happily every after. The
theory was that the scores at the
schools were low not because of
poverty, gangs, crime, unemployment and all of the problems facing
the children and their families – but
because teachers didn’t have access
to the best lesson plans. In practice,
the lucrative external partnerships
virtually guaranteed that the external partners — and in most cases the
universities they represented —
would never be publicly critical of
the high-stakes testing used by CPS
against inner city schools. For more
than a decade that was precisely
what happened.
From the first time external
partners arrived in the schools at the
behest of Paul G. Vallas in 1996,
many teachers and principals noted
that their partners were more like
dictators and their advice usually
inane or irrelevant. For all of their
self-importance, the external partners usually they didn’t know very
much about how to make things better for inner city schools where the
combinations of poverty, crime, and
racial segregation had created conditions that most Americans in those
pre-Katrina days had forgotten existed.. The worst of the external partners barked and threatened the
teachers and principals. The better
ones tried to help out, even acknowledging that the scheme was farcical,
but urging people to go along with
it. In a few cases admitted that they
had never realized how serious the
problems of inner city teaching
were.
By 2000, Paul Vallas was facing more problems than he could
solve with bluster and bribes. By
2001, Chicago Mayor Richard M.
Daley was rumored to have had it
with Vallas. After Vallas assured
Daley that things were under control in the schools just prior to
Deborah Lynch’s enormous upset
victory over Tom Reece in the key
May 2001 Chicago Teachers Union
election, Daley decided that Vallas
had to go. In the wings was a former
City Hall favorite who had barely
registered within the school system,
a former second rate professional
basketball player named Arne
Duncan who had never taught in a
public school a day in his life.
After Vallas was ousted by
Daley as CEO of CPS, he made a run
for the Democratic Party nomination
for governor of Illinois, garnering a
great deal of suburban Chicago support based the reputation the Chicago media had carefully cultivated
for him. As the 21st Century dawned,
Vallas lost his bid for Governor and
was installed by the conservative
Pennsylvania Business Roundtable
(and then Pennsylvania’s union
busting and privatization happy
Governor, Tom Ridge) into the top
job in Philadelphia’s public schools.
External partners continued as
Duncan made his transition.
‘Renaissance’ closes schools; partners still paid
But within a year after
Vallas’s departure, Arne Duncan
had moved the Chicago Public
Schools to what he is always calling
a “new level” — closing what he
called “failing” schools. He instituted the “renaissance”, which
means closing schools and privatizing them (usually by giving a charter school the building that had once
housed a public school). The first
three schools to be closed under the
early ‘renaissance’ were Dodge,
Terrell and Williams elementary
schools, all-black schools in the heart
of the west side and south side ghettos. (Two — Terrell and Williams —
were in public housing projects; the
third— Dodge — was in an area that
was rapidly gentrifying on the near
west side).
It wasn’t the first time that
an expensive program under Mayor
Daley’s school reform had failed,
only to be replaced by a more expensive program that, everyone was
assured, would surely succeed. Not
once did Arne Duncan, his predecessor Paul Vallas, their leader Richard
Daley, or Chicago’s major media
mention the fact that if the expensive eight-year-old, $25 million external partners had been the solution
to the so-called “failure” of inner city
schools, the “renaissance” of 2002
(small “r” before 2004, capital “R”
since) would never have been necessary.
On January 23, 2002, Duncan
proposed (and the Board approved)
hiring a group of external partners
at a cost of $4.1 million. Almost all
of them had been around for several
years, and all of their works had
failed — at least if their job was to
help schools improve test scores.
What had succeeded is that none of
the colleges and universities that
became external partners was willing to publicly report that basing
school evaluations on standardized
test scores was contradicted by virtually all of the professional research
in education for the previous half
century. If the external partners had
been unable to improve the schools,
the external partnerships had
bought the silence of the professors,
or even their active complicity in the
victim blaming that had become
Chicago-style “school reform.”
DePaul’s School Achievement
Structure
One of the external partners
renewed by the January 2002 board
action was DePaul University’s
“School Achievement Structure”
(SAS). The SAS had been developed
by former CPS administrator Barbara Sizemore, who by the 1990s
was back in Chicago as a professor
of education at DePaul (she had left
Chicago for a tumultuous sting in
Washington, D.C. before returning
to Chicago). By January 2002,
Sizemore’s SAS program was being
run by her daughter, Kymara Chase.
On January 23, 2002, the SAS program received another $909,000 to
continue to serve as external partners at a total of 17 Chicago elementary and high schools, almost all of
which were segregated, all-black,
and serving the poorest kids in
town.
The schools that had the benefit of the SAS partnership approved
January 2002 were the following:
High Schools: Austin,
Collins, Englewood, Marshall,
Spalding, Tilden and Westinghouse.
Elementary
Schools:
Copernicus, Curtis, Dodge, Faraday,
Howland, Jefferson (T), Mason,
Sherman, Sherwood, and Thorp
(JN).
In April 2002, less than a half
year after Duncan moved that the
Board of Education pay nearly a
million dollars so that DePaul’s SAS
program could continue helping
improve those schools, Duncan
moved that one of them (Dodge) be
closed for what he called “poor performance.” Without missing a beat,
DePaul’s Barbara Sizemore attended
the April 2002 board meeting to support the closings and what Duncan
then called the “renaissance” (lower
case “r”).
Schools on the external partner list for the DePaul SAS program
have been closed in record numbers
since the “renaissance” began four
years ago. Between 2002 and 2006,
the following schools that received
SAS help have been closed and
turned over to charters or other replacements:
High Schools: Austin,
Collins, Englewood, and Spalding.
Elementary Schools: Dodge,
Howland, Mason, and Sherman.
The Board of Education
hasn’t asked for refund from
DePaul, SAS, or any of the other external partners for their failure to
save the schools that are now closed
or ready to be closed. Instead,
DePaul is still being rewarded by
CPS with various consultant jobs.
The teachers, students, principals,
and other workers in the inner city
schools are still being blamed for
society’s failures, wile the professors
continue to concoct ways to ignore
the facts and profit from the misfortune of those who live and work in
the inner city. ;
Page Thirty-Six
Delegates
Continued from Page Forty
whom applause was solicited, the
Officers’ Reports were canceled so
that the delegates could work on fixing the ten pages of contract proposals.
President Stewart included
a written report in the delegates
packet with one item of note warning teachers in the light of the
Kennedy High School violence that
they should not be dissuaded by
administrators from filing the
proper form, an Assault Form, not
an Incident Report.
The House voted to consider
the contract proposals submitted in
the Professional Problems Committee Report “one page at a time with
a carry-over for the continued provision, with the proviso that after
each page is accepted, the page will
not be considered again.” A vote at
a previous meeting had allotted a 15minute discussion per page.
Erin Doubleday, Chair of the
Professional Problems Committee,
did a brisk job chairing the discussion of the contract proposal pages.
Though the published version of the proposals had undergone
seven revisions from January to
April on the website alone, and
many other revisions in other venues, according to Lou Pyster, former
Union Director of Research under
Lynch and currently elected retiree
delegate, there were still many problem areas.
Proposal language guts ESP seniority
Maureen Callaghan, former
Union Treasurer and Officer Liaison
to Educational Support Personnel
(ESP) under Lynch, having been a
clerk for the schools herself, said that
in the current contract proposal language, the entire seniority clause
(Article 9-6.18, page 3, Layoff and
Reappointment of ESP) is lined out.
This is the seniority clause which in
the Lynch contract gave the ESP’s
seniority from the date of hire.
In January, 2006, the CTU
had some sheets with inconsistent
plans for ESP’s. Now in April they
wiped everything out and said it
should be done on seniority, although ESP’s already had systemwide seniority with the Lynch contract.
This clause written in 1998
by former Recording Secretary, now
lobbyist, Pam Massarsky, according
to Pyster, could not then be put into
the contract because of 4.5, the bargaining rights restrictions, but the
Board had agreed to make it policy
and then reneged. The PACT administration made the Board make it
policy and then put it in the contract.
An ESP delegate attempted
to correct this deletion after the page
had already been passed, and protested when she was told the rules
did not allow her to go back to address this. However, it is hoped by
many that there will be some correction made to this egregious error in
the general demands section of the
contract proposals to be considered
Substance May 2006
at the next House meeting.
Pyster said, “This is just one
more example of how the present
Union leadership does not understand the present contract and yet
refuses to work with Lynch (now
elected to the Executive Board) to
gain an understanding of it. Either
they do not understand it, or they’re
determined not to enforce it since
they are so invested in bad-mouthing the achievements of the Lynch
administration.”
He said that not only seniority was to be displaced in this new
contract proposal language, but also
the recall procedure by seniority
from date of hire by which hundreds
of ESP’s have been placed in positions. The present leadership, Pyster
said, has not enforced placing personnel in positions by monitoring
the vacancies of sixty days.
He offered as a contrasting
example how when the Stewart
team does enforce the gains in the
Lynch contract they so vilify, they
seem to do quite well, as indicated
by Class-size Committee Chair
Sharon Orlowek’s reports on the
monitoring panels for class-size
problems.
In the contract proposals,
however, he said, the leadership
seemed to follow the dictum, “When
in doubt, line it out.” The monitoring panels have been left out in these
contract proposals for Article 28—
Class Size, and should have been
added and then deleted. Also, principals can let go at the end of the
school year additional personnel
hired due to class-size issues.
Pyster said that another example of deletions-gone-wild was in
the health care provision where the
leadership deleted a line, and then
added the committee that had been
deleted.
Discipline contract proposal fiasco
corrected
In Article 30. Discipline, the
following key element for teachers
was lined out: “Said written statement shall include a summary of
any informational background or
prior action taken by the teacher
relative to the student’s behavioral
problems. The principal or the
principal’s designee will only reinstate the pupil after a conference on
classroom conduct and school rules
which will be held on non-instructional time and must include the
teacher.”
Saying that this deletion gutted the effectiveness of the discipline
article, Bill Malugen, delegate from
Roosevelt High School and a leader
of Chicago Educational Employees
Caucus (CEEC), restored this deletion to the article by a House vote,
leaving it as it stands in the present
Lynch contract.
Other problems addressed and yet
to be addressed
In Article 44, the CTU is trying to get rid of the 15 minutes
added to the work day, but doesn’t
ask for keeping the school year reduced by seven days as is in the
present contract. The seven-day re-
duction of the school year was the
trade-off for the 15 minutes added
to the work day. Further, the new
proposal language adds snow days
into the mix.
Lois Jones, delegate from
Schurz High School, and others tried
to correct this, but the motion failed.
“This is just political posturing for the people who don’t like the
15 minutes (seven of which are
teacher self-directed time),” said
Sarah Loftus, former director under
Lynch.
In a press conference regarding violence at Kennedy High
School, President Stewart said the
answer was more counselors. She
said that the ratio now was 400 students to one counselor. However, the
desired ratio she cited was closer to
the one presently in existence.
Allegra Podrovsky, delegate
from Kelvyn Park, was highly instrumental in several successful corrections made at the meeting.
Art, music, and computer
teachers were added to the article
giving teachers additional duty-free
prep time after a rather comical exchange finally led to a determination
that a principal could assign one
duty per week, but only if the
teacher didn’t have division,
Podrovsky was able to add.
The House also voted to delete the high school articles that
would promote seven 50-minute
classes, thereby losing teaching positions, while the principals would
still get funding for eight periods.
Also deleted was the advisory, advisory prep period, staff development period, and teacher collaboration period—all one per week. These
periods were deleted for the 42-, 45, and the 50-minute schedules.
A new article added a budget line item of $2,000 for physical
education supplies.
Noreen Gutekanst, delegate
from Inter-American School, succeeded in adding language that
would give schools kindergarten all
day and would allow for one teacher
instead of half a teacher at a school.
Former President Lynch succeeded in adding the following to
Article 36-16: At the end of each year
of this agreement the Board will provide 5+5 for up to 2,000 teachers and
ESP’s. She argued that this had always been in the top three demands
of teachers and that it was nowhere
in these proposals. Allegra
Podrovsky added that the ESP’s got
5+5 in the first year of the Lynch contract.
Kenneth Ladien, city-wide
delegate for cadres and substitute
teachers, moved to delete Article 328 on domestic partners and replace
it with benefits for substitute teachers who, he argued, kept our system
running, and were one-tenth of our
employees. A number of voices
called out a knee-jerk second, but
Chair Erin Doubleday kept saying
that he did not have a second.
I finally said loudly that I
seconded him. I was asked to stand,
as if to reveal myself as the enemy
of domestic partners. I explained
that I believed that everyone de-
served a second so they could speak
to their motion. (It only takes a
minute to vote down a motion, and
I don’t like the trickery of keeping
someone from speaking based on a
technicality. I sign campaign petitions that way too, feeling that anyone should be able to run.)
After Ladien’s motion was
quickly voted down, I took the mike
on that issue. I asked for greater
minds than mine to help me find a
way to give substitute teachers some
medical coverage. The page where
that would have been possible had
already been passed, and Ladien
had not made it to the mike in time
for his motion to be made there.
Greater minds declined to help me
find a way.
Perhaps just as the ESP’s
had missed the right moment in
these speed-ball contract proposal
corrections and might still make
their case in general demands at the
next meeting, so might a motion on
behalf of substitute teachers prevail.
Many other corrections were
made to approximately seven proposals pages at this meeting, too
many to describe here. The three remaining pages will be dealt with at
the meeting May 3rd.
Kenneth Ladien called for a
quorum vote a short while later. At
least 250 delegates were needed at
this 6:30 p.m. juncture of the meeting, and the count showed only 226
delegates present. Veronica Rieck,
delegate from Lafayette School,
moved to adjourn the meeting,
though we could still have had the
official question, comment, and motion period, albeit without the motions (unless the maker agreed to
have the motion deferred to committee) since without a quorum the
House cannot vote on anything.
“Outsider” parliamentarian upholds long-standing delegate complaints
I’ve deplored in previous articles that though the CTU acquired
Parliamentarian Barbara Hillman,
former IFT counsel, in November,
2005 as a replacement for Attorney
Jennifer Poltrock, the parliamentarian could not step in and correct parliamentary procedure at meetings
unless asked a specific question by
the president. I deplored that she
was not being utilized and her counsel was not being sought, while democracy fell by the wayside at the
Union meetings, with the Union
leadership ignoring all the rules.
I was outraged when in her
President’s Report in the January,
2006 issue of the Union newspaper,
President Stewart said it was unfortunate that the Union had to hire an
“outsider” as parliamentarian.
However, at this meeting,
where Stewart’s people (Gail
Koffman, Sharon Orlowek, Diana
Sheffer, Diane Blaszczyk, and
Veronica Rieck) were speedily moving to close debate on proposal corrections, the parliamentarian was
asked by President Stewart to an-
Continued on Page Thirty-Seven
Substance May 2006
Delegates
Continued from Page Thirty-Six
swer a delegate’s protest that Sheffer
was a Union employee. “What is she
doing moving to close debate?” he
asked, and demanded a decision
from the parliamentarian.
Parliamentarian Hillman
stated that only delegates can move
to close debate, something many
delegates have been saying during
the sixteen or so House meetings
under the Stewart administration
when we asked why Massarsky,
Sheffer, and Koffman were taking
the floor as if they were delegates.
Our outcries were ignored and ruled
out of order by an administration
that observes no order and has refused to follow Roberts Rules of Order, the Constitution, and the Bylaws.
[Koffman has had herself
elected one of the retiree delegates
since the January,2006 elections. At
the nominating meeting for retiree
delegates at the holiday luncheon,
she made a successful motion to
close nominations, even though the
rules stated that nominations would
be made until there were no more,
and there were many worthy candidates still waiting to be nominated.
We needed Parliamentarian Hillman
there too. Who thought we needed
to bring the rule book to a luncheon?]
Contract confusion
During the pre-meeting unofficial question period Lou Pyster
brought up the topic that the Board
and the CTU have now amended the
contract five times under the Stewart
administration without the ratification by the House of Delegates or the
members. The Union Constitution
states that amendments must be
taken to the members in referendums held at schools to be voted either up or down after discussion and
debate in the House, he said.
An exception would be a
new employee category which
would then not have this restriction,
he added.
Otherwise, he continued, no
matter if the amendment is good or
bad, the leadership cannot be the
only one to decide. They cannot put
an amendment in the contract that
only a handful of people have seen.
Not only the particular interest
group should be informed, but everyone should know. A letter to the
membership stating a done deed is
not a referendum and doesn’t count,
he said.
Vice President Ted Dallas
told Pyster that everyone had received copies of the amendments in
the mailings and ended the discussion by telling Pyster he was out of
order.
Some delegates speculate
that the leadership wouldn’t want
the amendment for lead teachers run
past the House because in it the principal can reduce the hours the
teacher works. In the contract proposal, this amendment to the contract, not ratified by the Union membership, is now being further
amended—an amendment to an
amendment which the leadership
had no right on its own to add to the
contract.
Regarding an amendment to
do with Probationary Appointed
Teachers (PAT), President Stewart
said that the amendment won seniority for PAT’s in closing schools.
“That’s already in the contract,” Deborah Lynch said to me
when I discussed this with her.
Pension Fund “Holiday”?
Lou Pyster also brought up
A Grim Fairy Tale
Continued from Page Thirty-Eight
the conference room in fifteen minutes,” announced Pammy. “We need
to talk.”
Scott was still anonymous
amidst the chattering crowd. He
lurked unobtrusively in the back,
sipping his coffee. Soon the
leadersheep entered and everyone
sat down.
“OK. Questions and concerns,” announced Pammy, who
was, as ewesual, clearly in charge.
“And before you begin, let’s calm
down. Ted, take notes.’
Ted was hobbling along in
great pain. “I’m not the secretary,”
he whined.
“No, you’re not,” she concurred. “You’re also not the president. Just do what I tell you.”
“But—”
“Do it or I’ll step on your
other foot,” she hissed. “Now,” she
began. “The biggest problem is going to be that old bugaboo, expense
accounts. As I have told you time
and time again, you need receipts to
back up any deductible expenses.
It’s up to the IRS auditor as to what
is allowed and what isn’t, but if you
don’t have a receipt—”
“—Forget about it,” said Ted.
“Now let us all remain calm,
and let us all KEEP QUIET,” she lectured, “because we certainly don’t
want any of our enemies, like that
evil Debbie, finding out about this
and using it to our disadvantage.”
She looked around the room,
searching for spies, but passed right
over Scott, luckily, once again.
“And if, by some strange
happenstance, this does become
public knowledge, just remember
that an audit does not imply any
wrongdoing.”
Everyone was just sitting
there, staring at her.
“Repeat after me,” she demanded. “An audit does not imply
any wrongdoing.”
They all repeated the new
mantra several times. Pammy
smiled and said “Very good. If I find
out that anyone here leaked this to
the news media, you will be excruciatingly sorry. GOT IT??”
Everyone nodded in agreement and began to quietly file out
of the conference room, heading for
Page Thirty-Seven
the topic of the Board-threatened
pension “holiday” or raid. When
Vice President Dallas said that the
Board had provided the pension
fund with $75 million to take care of
their obligation when the fund falls
below 90%, Pyster said that the
Board was offering $16 million on
paper, both for this year and next.
Vice President Dallas told
Pyster, “Louie, stop that. We know
you’re the expert.”
Pyster said that if the Board
doesn’t succeed in having the law
changed as it is attempting to do,
then the Board would have to pay
$69 million each year.
[Dallas should have known
about the $16 million the Board was
offering to pay, as our pension fund
trustees are also Union employees:
Treasurer Linda Porter, Field Rep
Maria Rodriguez, and Quest Center
Coordinator Connee Fitch-Blank.
The two pension fund lobbyists,
Eugene Bonds and Henry Anselmo,
reported at a pension fund meeting
April 18th that the CTU had spoken
to Senators Madigan and Jones to
stop the Board’s attempt to be excused or waivered from their obligation, but that the Board was still
trying for a pension holiday or raid.]
Reportedly, as long as the
legislators are in session, we won’t
know, according to Pyster. Below
80% (lowering the standard) doesn’t
seem to be live.
Delegates worry about a last
minute deal in Springfield. Will the
Pension Board go along with it? they
ask. Will the Union cave in and accept it in trade for some other benefit that the Union wants? Given that
the Union wants a pay raise, lower
health care premiums, schools to get
out seven days early, and the elimination of the extra 15 minutes teachers work each day, will the pension
be the thing that gives? Pensioners
don’t vote on the contract, and the
many young teachers newly in the
system now don’t yet believe that
pensions have anything to do with
them.
The pension fund delayed
sending out the campaign literature
the trustees said would go out after
the February 16th meeting, and only
sent out a “Don’t worry” message
in the March quarterly newsletter,
according to Pyster.
Pensioners, who might be
among those most worried about
any raid on the pension fund, and
their elected retiree delegates, of
which I am one, were not afforded
the monthly retiree meeting for the
month of April. When I asked Retiree Functional Vice President
Jackie Mooney why there was no
meeting, she said that it was up to
Financial Secretary Mark Ochoa.
Ochoa has not returned my call.
This, after Marilyn Stewart
administration’s series of discriminatory acts against their own elected
retiree delegates, who again were
not allowed to attend the March
Delegates Workshop, and not encouraged to lead the charge on
Springfield Lobby Day when this
year only a few Union officers and
staffers went to speak to the legislators and teachers could not go due
to an unusual ISAT schedule.
Have Marilyn and company
ever been taught to respect their elders and value their wisdon? I like
to say that if you’re lucky enough to
live that long, you too will become
a retiree. ;
their own cubicles, offices, or suites,
as their particular position required.
“Wait!!” she added. “There is
one other little item for consideration,” she said. “I’m sure some of
you claimed deductions for office
necessities. You better start bringing
those things back here, just in case
someone comes looking for them,”
she added. She was really angry,
because now she had to return her
diamond-encrusted stapler. It was
one of her favorite things.
It was an “ah ha” moment
for Scott.
Pammy was furious. The last
thing she wanted or needed was
media attention at a midnight fire in
the Merchandise Maart. She blatantly blamed a faulty ventilation
system as she momentarily contemplated setting the entire building on
fire, thereby completely destroying
all the evidence.
Things were clearer the next
morning. Once upon a time, the
CTEwe leadersheep realized that
their munificent pensions might be
all they had in their collective old
age, and they had to rethink their
previous position on bargaining it
away in order to bribe the
membersheep into accepting another crummy contract. It was a dilemma.
Once upon a time, it was a
good thing that the leadersheep and
staff of the CTEwe had nothing else
to do, like provide services to their
dues-paying membersheep, since
they had a lot of work ahead of
them, and a short time in which to
create, invent, and/or copy the pertinent papers.
And so it came to pass later
that week that the Chicago Fire Department was called in to extinguish
a series of unusual fires.
“Gee,” more than one fireman was heard to comment, “ I
didn’t know that copying machines
could melt like that. And then to set
the rugs on fire. Wow.”
To our subscribers.
The June issue of Substance
will be published after the
annual CPS budget hearings
and will be mailed to all
subscribers prior to June 30.
Have a pleasant summer.
One thing was certain, however. Chicago was a much safer
place. Not for the rioting high school
students, of course. For ducks.
In the midst of all sorts of
urban unrest, the city council had
finally passed an ordinance making
it illegal to buy, sell or serve foie gras.
Some people said “huh?”
“Oh, I see,” agreed Scott and
Millicent and Ewenice.
“O.I.C.” ;
Page Thirty-Eight
Substance May 2006
A Grim Fairy Tale
The Merry Month
of May —
Or Not
By Sister Grim
Once upon a time it was
springtime in the city of Chicago,
which was still unfortunately located in the sorry scandal-ridden
cheapskate state of Ill-A-Noise.
Longtime rumors of secession had proved to be just rumors,
after all, and everyone living within
the Ill-A-Noise borders was still subject to the whims and vagaries of its
variously elected and/or selected
politicians. It was embarrassing, after all, when the office of governor
became the fast track to prison.
Baaack in Da City Dat
Works, both major local newspapers, the Scum-Times and Scabune,
had tried, unsuccessfully, for many
frustrating decades, to embroil the
mayor in the ongoing Windy City
scandals. With no concrete evidence,
possibly because most of it was in
Lake Michigan around the feet of the
usual suspects, they eventually
came to the sad conclusion that the
mayor was nowhere near as dumb
as he sounded.
The only area of agreement
between state and city reporting was
on the subject of public education.
So, even though the much-maligned
membersheep of the CTEwe could
almost see the light at the end of the
tunnel as another school year
dwindled down to the final ten
weeks, they were still being bashed
regularly in print and the electronic
news media.
Late spring was a time of
truly fun activities, starting with the
semi-annual grade pick-up fiasco,
wherein lots of membersheep sat
around all day awaiting the arrival
of the parents and/or guardians of
the students who never came to
class, in order to inform said parents/guardians of the unsatisfactory
progress of the aforementioned
missing little miscreants.
Membersheep who dutifully
attended both day-long time-wasters were rewarded with a half-day
off on the actual, final, absolutely,
truly and conclusively last day of
school, which, thanks to the selected
leadersheep of the CTEwe, would
soon revert back to June 47th. Anyone unfortunate enough to miss one
session had to stay a few more hours
on the last day, sitting outside the
prince- or princessipal’s office like a
baaad kid. Anyone with the good
sense to miss both sessions had to
stay for the whole last day, still
parked on a bench outside the office
of the prince- or princessipal, dis-
played like a baaad example for all
to see.
It was almost heresy to deliberately miss grade pick-up twice.
Les Izmore had missed the initial
session due to serious illness, and
had been publicly scolded for it.
With not much more to lose, he decided to eschew the second session
as well, as a sort of science experiment. Many of the other
membersheep were scaaandalized
by such blatant disregard for the
rules.
“Where were you yesterday?” asked Ewenice, who was still
Toonice for her own good.
“Yeah,” added Millicent
Militant. “There were three, maybe
four parents to see you.”
“In an hour?” he asked.
Millicent laughed. “All day.
I gave them their grade sheets and
all the other paperwork. You didn’t
miss much.”
“But he’ll get a baaad rating!!” whined Nancy Naive.
“So?”
“He wasn’t there for the parents.”
“So? Do you have any idea
how many parents I call every day?”
he asked. “Do you know how many
even bother to call back?”
“What do you mean, so? Did
you just win the lottery or something? Do you want to lose your
job?”
Les just smiled. “We’ll see,”
he added, mysteriously.
It was also time for testing
once again. Students were expected
to demonstrate their improved academic skills after another year at
school; they were to do so by taking
exams that were poorly researched,
ambiguously written, and lacking in
validity. No matter. It was all part of
an ongoing pattern. It even had a
name: Design for Failure. It was the
first and only time that the Big Baaad
Bored of Education actually got
what it paid for. It was a poor situation for any students whose first language was not English: no allowances were made for extended time
for those students, who could, arguably, do much better with extra time
to accommodate the language difference.
If test scores did not improve
throughout the system, schools
would be closed, and teachers
would be fired, thereby providing
the Big Baaad Bored of Education
with more excuses to open charter
schools staffed with six-week wonders who had yet to “find” themselves. Since those schools didn’t
face the same scrutiny, however, it
was not a problem. The
membersheep of the CTEwe could
still be blamed for the lack of student progress.
It was a perfect time to reinvigorate the sport of teacher-bashing, since contraact negotiations between the CTEwe and the Big Baaad
Bored were set to begin, with the
much-maligned Lynch contract entering its final year. It was a sad fact
that never changed, no matter which
group was in charge of the CTEwe:
the membersheep were always portrayed as lazy moneygrubbers, overpaid and underworked, and there
were test scores to prove it.
The Scabune had already
launched a front-page story about
the depressing graduation rates and
the lack of college opportunities for
CPS students, and Baaarack
Obaaama, the junior senator from
the sorry scandal-ridden cheapskate
state of Ill-A-Noise, could find nothing better to do than promote merit
pay for teachers.
Once upon a time, like so
many times before, it was not a good
time to be a teacher. And if any of
them expected any help or defense
from the CTEwe, to which they all
paid sizable dues, they were saadly
mistaken. The sneakily selected
leadersheep could not bother writing letters to the editor, or appearing on talk shows to explain conditions and situations over which none
of them had any control. They had
other fish to fry.
Meanwhile, back at the opulent riverfront offices of the CTEwe,
there were big doings afoot, none of
which had to do with the dues-paying membersheep. There were many
meetings behind closed doors, accompanied by whispers and furtive
glances. Many of the leadersheep
were seen entering and leaving their
offices at strange hours of the day
and night. Individuals who had
never carried so much as a paper clip
before were now observed lugging
bulky leather briefcases and tote
bags back and forth.
Once upon a time, the bags
were lighter when they came in, and
much heavier when the leadersheep
carried them out again. Now, however, it was the opposite: many of the
field drips, hangers-on, and tripledippers could hardly drag the bags
into their offices.
Scott Skeptic, journalism
teacher-in-exile, began taking notes.
He was at the CTEwe offices doing
research work, and, amazingly
enough, the leadersheep were so intent upon their own activities that
they simply ignored him. It was perfect.
There were many oddities. It
seemed that lots of leadersheep were
wearing casts, slings, splints or bandages on their feet, ankles, elbows
or wrists; some had neck braces as
accessories for their designer duds.
Scott sought out a new-looking recruit and asked what had happened.
Once upon a time, as the
leadersheep, the field drips, and the
triple-dippers were gathered around
the money trough, someone mentioned the three deadly initials followed by the five deadly letters. It
was never established exactly who
said it; the effect was devastating
nonetheless.
As soon as they heard “IRS
audit”, everyone began scrambling
around in a mad stampede, which
is where many injuries were incurred. Of course, those like Pammy
Pretty were at a distinct disadvantage when trying to run in Manolo
Blaaahniks or Jimmy Choos—
“Those are fancy women’s
shoes, sir,” said the new-looking recruit in response to Scott’s quizzical
expression. “Very expensive and, in
my opinion, highly impractical.”
—but of course, the advantage was theirs when they just
stopped and stomped with their stiletto heels. Which is where many of
the puncture wounds were sustained. There was total panic for several minutes, until Pammy put her
foot down. Again. Right on the left
foot of Teddy, the Obsequious Toady,
who had been following her around
whining “Whatarewegonnado?”
over and over.
“FREEZE!!” she shrieked. It
worked. Everyone stopped where
they were, like statues. That was
when a lot of the neck injuries occurred, what with whiplash from
following, or being followed, too
closely.
There was calm for a while.
It was quiet except for the occasional
crash of some expensive decorative
object that had been dislodged during the disruption.
“There will be a meeting in
Continued on Page Thirty-Seven
Substance May 2006
Page Thirty-Nine
Subscripts
…QUESTION: When is a lawyer
not a lawyer? ANSWER: When it
is being counted by Catalyst in a
report on CPS administrative staff
cuts. Catalyst retained its position as
one of the top apologists for corporate lies about Chicago’s public
schools with the following report in
its April edition: “CPS Reorganization. Central office will undergo yet another reorganization, this time in an effort to cut $25 million in administrative costs… When the reorganization is
complete this summer, central office will
have trimmed its management hierarchy from nine lawyers to five…” Wow!
That’s a big cut in lawyers! If it’s
true. Which it isn’t. In late May, CPS
had more than 40 people (known as
“attorneys” and “counsel”) in its
Law Department, which anyone can
visit on the 7th Floor at 125 S. Clark
St. Chicago is the town that used to
pride itself on training reporters (before they became “journalists”) in
the boot camp of the old City News
Bureau (now dead). The editors at
City News used to drum into novices the mantra “Check it out!” There
was even a motto: “If your mother
says she loves you, check it out!” That
was back before journalists became
corporate propagandists. That was
before we had “school reform” and
constant public relations style adulation for all the things Mayor Daley
has done to the schools from the
foundation courtesans who write
and edit publications like Catalyst.
Maybe it’s the word “lawyer” that
confused the Catalystas. The Chicago Board of Education is stuffed
with “attorneys” and “counsels”,
but no one who sports the title
“Lawyer.” The problem is that the
Board of Education doesn’t list anyone as a “lawyer” in its budgets or
position files. A visit to the 7th Floor
at 125 S. Clark St. would find a lot
more attorneys than Catalyst would
have its public believe are there. At
the present time, CPS has one
“CORP COUNSEL” (a lawyer
named Patrick Rocks, at $153,000 a
year). CPS also has one “FIRST ASST
ATTY” (lawyer James Bebley, at
$138,000 per year) and seven ASSOC
ATTYs (lawyers all; we won’t list all
of them, but their pay ranges from
$110,000 per year to $129,000 per
year). That’s a total of nine people
working in the Law Dept. with three
titles indicating they probably do
law for a living. But the Law Dept.
also lists at least five people with the
title SNR ASST ATTRNY (we assume that means “Senior Assistant
Attorney”) at salaries of between
$90,000 per year and $110,000 per
year. And that’s not all. In the current CPS position file, the Board also
lists, by name, at least 28 individuals with the job title ASST ATTORNEY (which we assume means “Assistant Attorney”). Salaries this year
for an “ASST ATTORNEY” range
from about $70,000 to more than
$100,000. We did this Subscript
quickly and didn’t actually walk
through the 7th Floor to check it out
and count the lawyers. But we have
a hunch the 7th floor hasn’t been va-
cated since CORP COUNSEL
Marilyn Johnson went to work at the
Illinois Tollway more than four years
ago. We suspect our quick count has
left out several lawyers in the Law
Department. We’ve also left out
some lawyers who are working in
other departments (Special Ed
comes to mind). We’ve also left out
some people with more exotic job
titles working in the Law Department. But next time Catalyst’s editors want to continue their
cheerleading for Arne Duncan’s
“administrative cuts”, we’d advise
them to pick on something a little
less obvious that the massive number of lawyers and legal types that
fill the entire 7th Floor at the corporate HQ of CPS. It’s just to easy to
count the number and discover just
how bad Catalyst is at math. Our
suspicion is, however, that this is just
one small part of their overall job,
which is to provide constant propaganda on behalf of corporate school
reform in Chicago…
…We thought that Chicago’s loss
would be Florida’s gain and that
the preaching would finally be far
enough away from here so that we
wouldn’t have to listen to Mike
Klonsky repeating his talking
points about the virtues of “small
schools.” Alas, we were mistaken.
The Blogosphere and all that. In recent weeks, Klonsky has been in full
throat. He claims in his blog that
school violence would be reduced if
there were fewer security people in
the schools (honest, that’s the only
conclusion you can reach reading his
recent post about Clemente High
School). He’s also said that Cicero
would be gang and weapon-free in
its newest school if only the town
had listened to Klonsky and created
a half dozen or so “small” schools
instead of the new middle school the
town does have. Klonsky’s foray
into Cicero was prompted by the
finding of a gun on a student at the
new middle school. According to
Klonsky, the gun wouldn’t have gotten into the school if the school had
been officially “small.” Like a lot of
other theological arguments, this
one rests on faith, rather than on
evidence. But when you take together two of the latest Klonskyian
claims – that Clemente has too many
cops and that Cicero would be safer
with smaller middle schools – you
wonder how that works. It was
school security in Cicero that found
the gun. It’s been school security at
Clemente that people have been demanding more of, not less. Ah! if
only the schools had embraced the
religion of “small schools” everything would be fine, gangs would
disappear from Chicago’s streets
and schools and... Right…
…The way the right wing repeats its
talking points, you’d think that children would be crushed every day as
teachers run out of the schools at
three o’clock in the afternoon, jumping over children to get into their
cars and zoom away. We were re-
minded of how much the “debate”
over educational choice is dominated by a new breed of lies – urban
myths? – like the teachers running
home by the May 14 edition of “60
Minutes” which sandwiched another charter school huckster between Andy Stern (of the Service
Employees International Union) and
the Dixie Chicks. Stern heads a
union that is trying to organize the
unorganized, and was talking about
that. The Dixie Chicks are making a
country music comeback after being
bombarded with hatred by the right
wingers for criticizing George W.
Bush’s invasion of Iraq. In the
middle, “60 Minutes” put another
advertorial for charter schools, this
one coming from Harlem (New
York). As usual, one of the talking
points against public schools and
their evil unions was that the teachers rush to the doors at 3:00 and can’t
be fired like they were “hands” during the days of Charles Dickens.
We’ve heard that urban legend as
close to home as an Arne Duncan
press conference at Good Counsel
High School (er., Chicago International Charter School Northtown
Campus) and as far away as an op
ed in the Los Angeles Times by one
of David Horowitz’s clones. First
time we heard it in Chicago, though,
was 20 years ago, when Marva
Collins was developing the first versions of what has since become a
right wing script. Collins, whose
frauds were first exposed in the
pages of Substance, tailored her
scripts to those who funded her, denouncing public schools and unions
as her fame spread (in part, thanks
to “60 Minutes”, which did an uncritical feature on her in the early
days of the Reagan administration).
These same union teachers were
running out the door of the same
public schools into the same parking lots in the same way on “60 Minutes” back then as they were on May
14, 2006. Too bad “60 Minutes”
doesn’t do some fact checking when
the latest right wing ideologue
pushes another version of the same
old song. At least in the case of the
Dixie Chicks, the music is new…
…One of the saddest phrases to
anyone with heart goes: “Every
man (or woman) has his price.” As
the Board of Education goes through
another quarter of cuts, we read that
phrase and think of Chicago’s principals and all the good they might
have done. The fact is, the median
salary for Chicago’s 600 public
school principals is now $114,811 per
year. The highest paid principals
now make $132,000 per year, while
the lowest-paid are making $100,000
per year. (Eight are listed at slightly
less than $100,000 per year). The
median salary for assistant principals (who were made part of “management” by CPS in the early days
of corporate “school reform”) is now
$93,206 per year. Assistant principals
now range in pay from $79,000 per
year to $107,000 per year. As we answer the phone at Substance and
hear another story about some stu-
pid central office program that principals are cramming down the
throats of classroom teachers, we
realize the Mephistophelean logic to
what the Board did when it reorganized management at the local
school level. Once upon a time they
(or almost all of them) were classroom teachers. They knew you can’t
do those crazy things in a real world
of children and too few teachers. But
once they began getting six figures
(and the hopes of the pension that
would flow from that if they kissed
up long enough), they shelved their
experience and became company
people. The final betrayal usually
comes when someone in “management” sells out the last handful of
friends she had when she was a
teacher. Most principals in Chicago
(still) were once classroom teachers
(although that number is dwindling
with all the new management methods). They know better than to try
some of the things they are forcing
teachers to do. It’s a question of philosophy — and the “bottom line” of
those six figure salaries. The handful of principals who aren’t reading
“Management Secrets of Attila the
Hun” or attending those Paedia
seminars on “The Prince” are few
and far between. We’d like to hear
from our readers about both types
over the coming months. At what
point did you realize that a former
friend had sold you out? We’ll let
you know the precise price he received, including what his pension
is if he sold out his friends and
school ten years ago, back when
Paul Vallas was first “reconstituting”
high schools to save them...
…Subscripts hears that teachers at
the Rickover Naval Academy, currently housed within Senn High
School, constantly bad mouth the
students and teachers at Senn. It
was to be expected. “Good Teacher/
Bad Teacher” is one of the oldest divide-and-conquer games in the
books. And isn’t the whole New
Schools thing a divide-and-conquer
tactic poised on the edge of an even
bigger teacher bashing and union
busting scenario? After all, if teachers at Northside and Payton are allowed (even encouraged) to bad
mouth their colleagues at schools
that don’t have the privilege of selecting only the highest scoring (and
usually most middle class) kids,
why should anyone get angry at the
Navy militarists for doing the same
things from inside Senn?…
… Alderman Marge Laurino and
her political buddies are getting
ready to create a third scab school
in Laurino’s 39th Ward. Isn’t it time
that the Chicago Teachers Union
stop playing footsie with Laurino,
State Rep. Rich Bradley, and the
other northside politicians who are
trying to have it both ways? Laurino
and Bradley supported the AspiraHaugan charter school (and, more
quietly, the conversion of Good
Counsel) despite the fact that they
knew the schools would be run as
anti-union things...
Page Forty
Substance May 2006
Union News
April Chicago Teachers Union
House of Delegates meeting
By Theresa D. Daniels
The Chicago Teachers Union
(CTU) House of Delegates meeting
convened on April 5 th , 2006 at
Plumbers Hall, 1340 West Washington Blvd.
Mail ballot initiative for fraud-free
elections defeated
Only after the meeting had
been adjourned was the hot item of
the day addressed. After delegates
called out for a report on the mail
ballot referendum of the previous
day, Vice President Ted Dallas announced the vote tallies.
There were 14,612 votes (81
percent) for the union leadership’s
favorite “Keep Elections the Same,”
which they called Proposition One
and arbitrarily placed first on the
ballot. A distant third place went to
Proposition Two with 1,431 votes
(eight percent), which the President
Marilyn Stewart team promoted
half-heartedly in case the membership was leaning toward some kind
of mailed ballot. This proposition
would have had ballots mailed to
individuals at their schools.
And 2,039 (11 percent) votes
went to Proposition 3, which was
placed last on the ballot, though it
was the proposal that initiated this
referendum and was on the Pro-Active Chicago Teachers and School
Employees (PACT) petition that
started the mail ballot movement to
have ballots mailed to members’
addresses of record and tabulated by
an independent and certified
agency.
The American Federation of
Teachers (AFT) had recommended
that the CTU go to the mail ballot
(as do the teachers unions in larger
cities) after the disputed election of
2004, where 900 ballots went missing in an election with a 500 vote
margin. In this election, the AFT then
appointed the Marilyn Stewart team
as officers of the CTU.
The Stewart team campaigns
against the mail ballot
For almost a year since the
petition for a mail ballot referendum
was submitted by PACT at the May,
2005 House of Delegates meeting,
the Stewart team and her United
Progressive Caucus (UPC) have
campaigned against it both in the
Union newspaper and in expensive
mailings to the membership.
At first the argument against
the mail ballot was that the union
chiefs had to protect “residency privacy”— as if so many teachers were
hiding their true addresses while
required to live in the city, and as if
the Board of Education wasn’t mailing to their employees’ addresses of
record.
In later mailings to the members, the CTU argued that the mail
ballot would cost the Union
$100,000. In another piece of literature, while wearing their UPC hats,
they argued that it would cost the
Union $150,000.
While that sounds like a lot
of money, in fact, what many members don’t realize is how much this
“Corvette of Unions” spends on itself. $150,000 for this Union means
hiring one less crony whose salary
and perks cost more than that
amount, in a Union administration
which has hired plenty of cronies.
The Marilyn Stewart administration
has raised the culture of greed to an
art form.
Mail ballot referendum held with
no input from the House
After stonewalling on the
PACT petition from May, 2005 to
November, 2005 — when the Union
leadership finally announced they
had “verified” the 2,500 signatures
on the petition (such a lengthy process never before heard of) — the
Union chiefs, rather than put the
mail ballot to a referendum by the
membership for an up or down vote
in a timely way, kept insisting that
there was legal language that had to
be worked out.
While they were working
out their own alternatives to the
PACT mail ballot initiative, Marilyn
Stewart and company managed to
keep any discussion of the mail ballot from ever coming to the floor of
the House. This was achieved by
parliamentary maneuvering, with
Stewart calling delegates out of order or turning off the microphone if
she didn’t like the question or comment. With UPC affiliated delegates
and even CTU staffers mobbing the
microphones, as well as canceling
the official Question, Comment, and
Motion Period by calling for the adjournment of meetings. This has
been reported with great detail in
my previous articles in Substance.
[They can be found on the Substance
website: www.substancenews.com].
The final coup of this Union
leadership was to suddenly schedule the long-awaited referendum for
the day before the April House meeting which was in a time period when
the House would not have met for
two months. No chance for the discussion and debate in the House of
Delegates — the supreme authority,
as the Union Constitution and Bylaws defines the House.
All delegates were newly
seated in the House at the February,
2006 meeting, after January elections. Because of paperwork delays,
some were only seated at this April
meeting, the March meeting having
been canceled due to the Delegates
Workshop (which could have easily
fitted in a House of Delegates meeting, but didn’t).
This brand new House, with
a large number of first-time delegates (reflecting the exodus of experienced teachers retiring in great
numbers) had largely never heard
even the aborted attempts made by
some delegates to bring up the mail
ballot referendum.
When asked for comment,
former President Deborah Lynch
said, “It was definitely a set up.”
There was no chance to explain the importance of a fraud-free
election process for this Union. No
chance to remind people of the kind
of alleged fraud that had gone on in
past elections because of the opportunities for fraud that existed.
No chance to explain why
the UPC dynasty (President
Stewart’s caucus) could not be defeated until certain safeguards in the
process had been put in place by
PACT (Former President Lynch’s
caucus).
In one referendum, teachers
voted to have school-by-school vote
tallies published after elections,
something the UPC fought saying
that the Board could retaliate against
schools for voting a certain way. A
second ruling came from the Labor
Department and said the number of
ballots printed must be known. We
all know what can be done with
blank ballots both at the schools
(think 600 polling places where there
is no security for the ballots) and in
transport to the tabulating agency.
Only after these changes in
the Union election process was it
possible for Deborah Lynch and
PACT to defeat the UPC in 2001, and
that was not a close election like the
one in 2004 where Lynch “lost.”
Fraud is much easier to perpetrate
and much harder to detect in a close
election.
Teachers, already overburdened and exhausted by the teacher
torture in practice in Chicago, said
they voted their convenience in this
referendum on the mail ballot. They
said that it was easier to just vote at
the school, as long as you were there
anyway, instead of having one more
thing to tackle at home. They trusted
their delegates. Many hadn’t heard
that the AFT had recommended that
the Union go to the mail ballot so
that only the voter’s hand and the
tabulating agency could touch the
ballot.
Delegates fix contract proposals
Back to the union meeting.
After the naming of those who had
passed before us, a very short speech
by AFT Secretary Treasurer Nat
LaCour, and a litany of over twenty
names of sergeants-at-arms for
Continued on Page Thirty-Six