Comments on: Adding Insult to Injury: A Look Inside a CPS Principals Budget Meeting

By: Chicago’s Wrongly-ousted Principal, Troy LaRaviere: Still on the CPAA Ballot | deutsch29

Fri, 29 Apr 2016 02:32:31 +0000

[…] I have already written extensively about the details of this encounter in a post entitled, “Adding Insult to Injury: A Look Inside a CPS Principals Budget Meeting.” In the resolution, the board cites me for insubordination, in part, because Ruiz asked me why I […]

LikeLike

By: 10 signs that CPS is out of control

10 signs that CPS is out of control — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 16:01:47 +0000

[…] in 10 people who support neighborhood schools, leaving hundreds down in the street. Furthermore, principals' voices are disregarded, and to speak out against any CPS policy as a teacher puts your job in […]

LikeLike

By: kay conner

kay conner — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 02:09:50 +0000

Mr. LaRaviere-

Los Angeles Unified School District is presently looking for a new superintendent. How about applying for the job? We could really use you, your honesty, and your uplifting and respectful view of teachers and the jobs we do. We have great weather, great restaurants, great teachers, great students, great colleges . . . . . . . . . . . all we need is a great person/superintendent like you to complete the picture.
Seriously, please consider applying.

kmc, aug. 29, 2015 at 7:08 (pst)

LikeLiked by 1 person

By: THE PRESCRIPTION FOR ILLINOIS’ FINANCIAL HEALTH IN 2015? TAX THE RICH. | Media Colossus

Fri, 28 Aug 2015 21:44:30 +0000

[…] They’re cowards. The teachers, the hunger strikers at Dyett High School (#FightForDyett,) principals like Troy LaRaviere are […]

LikeLiked by 1 person

By: My Statement on CPS’ “Warning Resolution” | Troy LaRaviere‘s blog

Fri, 28 Aug 2015 13:30:44 +0000

LikeLike

By: scanloe

scanloe — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 20:42:23 +0000

Courageous post! Thanks taking risks and asking hard questions! It is much needed in our field!

LikeLike

By: Deanna Lange

Deanna Lange — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 22:35:09 +0000

👍👍👍👍👍👍👏👏👏👏👏👏

LikeLiked by 1 person

By: geauxteacher

geauxteacher — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 16:28:53 +0000

Troy – First, Bravo! But I have to take issue with your characterization of the concern that others are not standing up as making a “judgment.”

As the ever looming and evermore darkening cloud of HIGH EXPECTATIONS for students is being sold as the singular solution to improving public schools – raise the bar and they will jump over it – where does “expectation” for ourselves fit in? I don’t see the EXPECTATION for educators to stand up for themselves and for students as judgmental at all. I see it as the manifestation of Democracy, the foundation for which is vested in our public school systems – in the classrooms of our public schools – in the teachers standing before our students in those public schools. . . .and as an example that must be set before those students if we want to remain a Democracy or Democratic Republic.

We have to EXPECT others to stand up and speak out and we all know as educators that the expectation alone isn’t sufficient to achieve the desired result. A leader is not the same as an exemplar. A leader isn’t someone who is placed there or simply runs to the front of the line. A leader emerges from anywhere in the line or even from the end of the line and becomes an active force to bring others in line. The expectation for those others has to be there along with support, knowledge, encouragement. . . .

You are more than an exemplar. You are a leader. Turn around and look at all the prospective followers and let them know they are EXPECTED to step up. Hold the door open to the hallway and expect them to join you. Issue the invitation as though it has no opportunity for RSVP! Our strength is in numbers and the knowledge and determination educators offer!

Thanks again!

LikeLiked by 1 person

By: Jennifer R.

Jennifer R. — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 19:03:58 +0000

I began teaching when Paul Vallas took over the system, the first in a long line of mayoral appointees….boy does he make those years seem like the “good ol’ days” compared to the latest circus of Brizard and BBB (my personal favorite was Terry Mazany, but he was too ethical to keep around for long).
I agree with the previous poster that Claypool is ethical and will “clean up” (I think he is under orders by the mayor to demonstrate some measure of success to satisfy a growing public outcry)– but I fear it will be in the form of continued outsourcing of jobs/schools/services in the name of “saving money”. And I bet that in the next few months there will be “shocking” discoveries of financial mismanagement he will find that will generate some headlines. Remember the CTA storage warehouses he “discovered” not too long into his tenure at CTA?
Now that I am over 20 years in the system, my view is that the level of mismanagement and corruption is possible in Chicago because the true victims of chronic school underfunding are the black and brown children of the poorest neighborhoods who possess the least amount of power. Schools like mine on the northside (and yours) will find a way to fill in the holes punched into our budgets because we possess better overall resources from our communities. But schools in struggling communities will suffer critical damage from which they may never recover (and then the city will likely later turn them into charters). As long as these masses are kept from a meaningful education within the charade of “raising standards”, they will never rise high enough to threaten the existing political power structure. Those that do, are bought by the establishment and then turned into tools like Mr. Ruiz. I wonder how he can look himself in the mirror and not see that he, like so many other talented individuals of color, sell out his own people on a daily basis by continuing to reinforce the “soft bigotry” of our current political establishment.
I enjoy hearing your truth, and your voice is one that many many people are listening to. Keep speaking your truth to power and don’t let them buy you out.

LikeLike

By: CM Winters Palacio

CM Winters Palacio — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 13:50:13 +0000

Thank you, Principal Troy. I shuddered when I read your update yet was dutifully informed.

LikeLike