For the most part, Chicago's public schools are awful. There is some irony here-- because not only did Barack Obama choose to send his daughters to private schools, he chose Arne Duncan, who ran the city's schools until Obama named him his Education secretary.But there are some good schools within Chicago's system--for the smarter students.
Or for students with parents who have smart connections.
The Chicago Tribune explains:
While many Chicago parents took formal routes to land their children in the best schools, the well-connected also sought help through a shadowy appeals system created in recent years under former schools chief Arne Duncan.The clout list was maintained by a top Duncan aide--whom the Trib said created it at Duncan's request.
Whispers have long swirled that some children get spots in the city's premier schools based on whom their parents know. But a list maintained over several years in Duncan's office and obtained by the Tribune lends further evidence to those charges. Duncan is now secretary of education under President Barack Obama.
The log is a compilation of politicians and influential business people who interceded on behalf of children during Duncan's tenure. 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.
Non-connected parents, such as those who sought spots for their special-needs child or who were new to the city, also appear on the log. But the politically connected make up about three-quarters of those making requests in the documents obtained by the Tribune.
The Marathon Pundit family lived in Chicago until 1999--one of the reasons we left is that we did not want to subject our daughter to the city's schools.
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