Morning Bell: Choice for the Powerful, But Not for the People
Conn Carroll /
On April 6, 2009, Secretary Arne Duncan’s Department of Education sent letters to the families of 216 low-income children in the District of Columbia informing them that the $7,500 scholarships they had been awarded by the Department are now being rescinded. Instead of being able to send their children to the school of their choice, these DC parents now have no other option but schools that they believe are too violent and too disorganized to properly educate their child. Education Secretary Arne Duncan simply did not care what the parents of these 216 children thought was best for their child.
But now we find out that when Secretary Duncan was CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, he took a decidedly different approach to the wishes of Chicago’s politically powerful families. The Chicago Tribune reported yesterday that while he was Chicago schools chief, Secretary Duncan maintained a log of politicians and influential business people who sought better placement for their children in Chicago’s public schools. From the Tribune:
It includes 25 aldermen, Mayor Richard Daley’s office, House Speaker Michael Madigan, his daughter Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, former White House social secretary Desiree Rogers and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.