chicago

has a school bureaucracy that is a hindrance to education, and a honey pot for the well connected. that is why chicago school funding is tightly controlled, coming directly from a line item on the property taxes, with taxing authority of it's own.

there always have been schools outside that structure, catholic schools and others. they served to buoy up some of the very schools that are being closed today. they gave parents choices to take their children out of failing schools. charter schools are not draining the public system, they are putting the catholic schools out of business. that should make a lot of du'ers happy.

i strongly support a strong public education system. i do not think that that means all schools are the same, or that all schools have to be controlled by the mothership.
i also support teachers unions. some of the charters are held by the union. many of the charters are voting to join unions. i think it is in the best interest of the teachers to join a union.
as long as charter schools get the same per pupil spending as the bureaucratic controlled schools, have an open enrollment policy, or a selective enrollment equivalent to that for similar public schools, i support diversity in outlook and teaching styles so that children can get the school that fits them. one size never has fit all.


chicago is a complicated place, the population can shift like the desert dunes. swathes of buildings are torn down, and a neighborhood disappears. someone builds there, and a neighborhood reappears. the school system is the same.

for the most part, it is not the city that has failed the schools. the state of illinois, tho constitutionally required to provide "the majority of funding for the common schools" does no such thing and never has. in the meantime, we do our best to manage a system in constant flux.

what we do not do is rob other areas of city governance and economic development to prop up empty schools in abandoned neighborhoods. that is not one of the available choices.

my tomatoes, mostly.

nralieghliberal, you should be very happy. we spread the dwarf tomatoes to many urban gardeners at our sale. and we are growing quite a few.
last year we were growing dirt, and this year we are growing seeds. trying a couple dozen tomatoes, as well as beans.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.584276938260656.1073741838.410796658942019&type=1

(baby chicks at the link)

my retirement plan

psst

hmmm. september appointment for genetic testing got bumped up

to monday. providing the doc's wife is not popping out a baby at the time.
that's a little spooky.

i just had a 3rd 1st degree relative dx'd with breast cancer. my doc was already nagging me about mammograms and all. now she wants an mri annually and an annual mammo on the other half year, so a screening every 6 months. i also have a strong streak of colon cancer on my dad's side.
i am eager to do this. for one, i have 3 daughters. 2, we also have autoimmune disease, with my youngest and i having abnormalities, and fibro. it doesn't fit in any slot, but we both struggle.
all clues are welcome.
besides, what geek wouldn't want to look?