FORMER CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS JOINS PANEL DISCUSSION ON EDUCATION

Jean-Claude Brizard, the former Chief Executive of Chicago Public Schools, will round out the panel of experts who have been asked to lead a discussion at Howard University on solutions to the struggles of urban schools. Prior to his appointment in Chicago, Brizard held leadership positions in several large urban Districts – including New York City ( as Regional Superintendent ) and Rochester, New York ( as Superintendent of Schools). While in those leadership positions, Brizard developed a new framework for monitoring and managing data so as to keep children motivated and support staff in their mission to provide the best possible education to their students. For their efforts, Brizard and the students and staff of these urban districts saw record increases in student achievement, graduation rates and on college readiness benchmarks. Indeed, Mr. Brizard’s three decades + experience in urban education uniquely positions him (along with Doctor Perkins and Vice Provost Peters) to lead this important discussion regarding solutions to problems which face urban schools.

Steven A. Levine

An amazingly destructive legacy in Chicago. And you wonder why public school parents overwhelmingly supported striking teachers against Emanuel, Brizard and the corporate teach to the test, narrow the curriculum agenda.? Here’s a piece from the Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/31/jean-claude-brizard-sever_n_2050284.html
“Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard is getting a handsome severance package that includes $250,000 and an overwhelmingly positive review after just 17 months on the job.

In addition to his quarter-million-dollar severance — formerly his yearly salary — Brizard will get full health benefits for him and his family, and perhaps most surprisingly, what the Chicago Tribune calls a “glowing letter of recommendation for future prospective employers.” Brizard signed a two-year contract with CPS in April 2011 and it was set to expire in May of next year.

The letter of recommendation is said to praise the embattled former-CEO for raising test scores and graduation rates. In reference to Brizard’s education agenda. The Tribune reports the letter says “some have called it a masterpiece.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel handpicked Brizard for the CEO post, reports WBEZ, but many speculated Brizard would be on the way out following the Chicago Teachers Union’s historic walkout. Emanuel named CPS interim Chief Education OfficerBarbara Byrd-Bennett as CEO the same day Brizard’s departure was announced.

Brizard came to CPS from the Rochester, N.Y. school system where he was given avote of no-confidence by 95 percent of the Rochester teachers union, the Sun-Times said in 2011.”
Teal Wilson

I have to say this about Chicago public schools. I went to school in the south suburbs, in the late 60’s and graduated in early 70’s. We had swimming, archery, basketball, track, volleyball, cheer leading, and football for the young men. We had band, art and you name it we had it. My husband on the other hand went to school in Chicago [vocational school] whatever that is. He showed me the school he went to a tiny tiny school that looked no bigger than Lincoln’s house in Peoria Illinois. Chicago has not upgraded their schools, they have concentrated on a few select school like Walter Payton School and maybe a handful of others. My husband came out of those schools with a sub-standard education. In comparison to the schools in Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, Elmhurst, Villa Park, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Orland, Plainfield just to name a few. They have it all. Chicago urban education is sub-standard and will always be that way. It’s not the politicians or parents fault — it’s what is expected and that’s what kids are given in the city. My grandson in 5th grade [Schaumburg] was bringing home a laptop to do homework on. The school allowed the kids to check them out like a book. He learned the computer when he was very young so much so that when he went to high school he took a class where he built a CPU as a class project. The children that go to Chicago public schools are ill-prepared for the real world, which is technology based. They can’t go downtown to get a job. Some of them weren’t taught to speak well. Their language and writing skills are not what they should be. I remember Van being the head of the CPA–to no avail nothing changed.
Zimboni Xavier

This guy is a clown, political flunkie, and a paid-for yes man. Adding this clown to this event will only serve to transform the event into a circus. His presence in Chicago was disruptive and disastrous to public education and to Black public school students.
VanWhite

We can all be glad that Doctor King did not heed the advice of those who mimicked and mocked, for example, Bayard Rustin – who people also referred to as a “clown” and other bigoted names. We can not close our doors to anyone. Our situation is to dire our circumstance to desperate to push folks away simply because we dissagree on strategies. Furthermore name calling – ie “clown” – is the simplistic tool that our oppressors used to demean and belittle our leadership. You don’t have to call Mr. Brizard a leader but you can not be a leader yourself when you use name calling to describe another man.
- Zimboni Xavier
  
  VanWhite, I was being polite by calling Brizard a clown. It is not doing injustice to point out and criticize wrongdoers and those who do us harm. One only has to study Brizard’s brief legacy to understand why I label him (deservedly) a clown. A neo-liberal clown, at that. People like you will get caught up on a descriptive label… as an escape hatch strategy to avoid confronting and condemning evil. No words that I use to describe Brizard can compare to the destructive things he did to students (mostly Black) in the Chicago Public School system. I would urge you to investigate Brizard’s record and the damage he did.
  
  He was one of a number of highly-paid, neo-liberal negro lackeys serving the interests of disaster capital, crytpo-fascists, and the ruling elite in Chicago. Brizard is a clown, comprador, and a political stain.