Wacky World of Public Ed: Rahm Responds to Criticism From Public School Principals

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Contrary to recent allegations by several Chicago Public Schools principals that they’re being silenced, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Wednesday that he welcomes ideas and even criticism from principals.

Emanuel said he has even implemented some of their ideas, responding to the latest complaints that his administration tries to control the message. Blaine Elementary School principal Troy LaRaviere accused Emanuel’s administration of silencing principals in an op-ed published in the Chicago Sun-Times on Saturday. Several of the hundreds of CPS principals have signed their names to comments on LaRaviere’s blog, troylaraviere.blogspot.com, and at www.Catalyst-Chicago.org, expressing similar concerns.

“If a principal has a concern or an idea, [schools chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett’s] attitude, my attitude is, ‘We want to hear about it if there are concerns,’ ” Emanuel said at an unrelated announcement in Bronzeville, where he he took reporters’ questions for the first time since Saturday.

The great moments of public education!