pic's original context in the huffpost - Mayor Daley attempted reroute the media when pressed about CPS admission polices today
DALEY NEWS
At 7:55, Mayor Daley took his Wednesday breakfast at the University Club at a Special Olympics fundraiser. He did not, however, take questions until later in the morning at a separate appearance, after his coffee, OJ and bacon had a chance to settle.
He'd need his stamina for his heated exchange with the press following his 10:40 dedication of the new Mark T. Skinner Elementary School.
The $41.6 million Skinner school has been long-viewed as the elementary school equivalent of Whitney Young. Hence, questions regarding the unresolved Chicago Public Schools clout admissions scandal surfaced. Mayor Daley defended the controversial process that has allowed principals at nine elite public high schools to handpick five percent of their students:
“You have to have confidence in principals. Say a child gets a C-plus. You know that child can achieve. He or she could be a slow reader. Or they’re not a good tester. This idea [that] you’re gonna test everybody — you’re gonna have very few people in the 99.9 percentile,” Daley said.
“They can take a C student and that C student can all the way go to a B or an A student. If everybody’s an A student, then you’re not gonna improve learning at all in any education system. You have to have confidence in principals in giving opportunities to young people and young families.”
"But, what about about clout admissions? Doesn’t the discretion inherent
in the five percent pick open the door to political intrusion?" a reporter asked.
But, of course, Da Mayor has the utmost confidence in the integrity of Chicago's public officials:
“There’s no political intrusion,” Daley said. “You have someone calling. Yes, there’s been an alderman call on behalf of their child. But, the principal is gonna say, ‘This is not right for your child. I can get this child in. But, they’re never gonna compete. They’re never gonna move ahead. So what is the best interest of the child?’”
The Chicagoist begs to differ:
Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd) and Anthony Beale (9th) were the two aldermen who had children admitted via the phone calls to the principal, Whitney Young H.S.'s Joyce Kenner, but both deny using any sort of pressure to get their children admitted.
DALEY CHATTER
Oprah throws her weight behind the Olympic bid (not a fat joke - promise):
Oprah Winfrey will join Chicago's Olympic bid team in Denmark next week -- a final lap in the competition to win the 2016 Games, the Sun-Times has learned.
But Air Jordan will not take flight to Copenhagen (okay, I'll cop to the bad Jordan pun):
And the most famous athlete associated with Chicago, two-time Olympic basketball champion Michael Jordan, is absent from the group of 26 announced Wednesday by the Chicago 2016 bid committee.
Chicagoans for Rio 2016 created a buzz on the Windy Citizen and elswhere on the Internet, making their counter-intuitive case for a Latin American-based games:
Chicagoans For Rio, told GamesBids.com they are a small group of private citizens that wanted to add a different perspective. They say they are "proud of our city, ... who love to show off our city, but who don't feel hosting the Olympics is necessary in order to do so".
Coincidentally (?) the group makes its appearance in the wake of Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's statement that Brazil needs the games more than Chicago.
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Len Kody
South Sider. Comics Writer. Daily Daley Contributor. Editorial Intern. More
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