Chicago Teachers Union Boss Karen Lewis: Arne Duncan ' He’s Completely And Totally Unqualified To Do This Job'

Flashback. November 2011 Chicago Magazine interview between reporter Carol Felsenthal and Chicago Teachers Union boss Karen Lewis:

CF: So you have an issue with [Secretary of Education, former CPS CEO] Arne Duncan?
KL: Yeah, because he has a bachelor’s in sociology from Harvard and played basketball [he’s an education expert]? I think he’s completely and totally unqualified to do this job. And to me, it’s sort of indicative of how education is such a political tool now, as opposed to [his] having a real bent toward education. I think this is a way for Obama to try to make an olive branch with Republicans. There’s this mentality that outsiders and people with no education background are the… experts…. They want to privatize public education…. Arne’s policies here were a disaster.

CF: Give me a couple of examples.
KL: The whole idea of school closings and turnarounds and charter schools…. [When they closed a school] children were not going to other schools, especially in high school. They were choosing not to go to school…. They had never thought about the ramifications of what a school closing means. So if I close a school here, now this means that my children have to walk through gang territory…. There was just no understanding of community…. There was somebody sitting with a spreadsheet and making decisions without having any experience in that community.

Great moments in public education! Karen Lewis is tougher on Arne Duncan than most Republicans. This interview is well worth reading. Karen Lewis represents the coming crack-up of the Democrat party coalition.