Duncan had list of favor-seekers

[tonysam]

Subtitle: List now part of probe to find out if clout played a role in admission to city's elite schools


School reform Chicago-style:

When U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan ran Chicago Public Schools, his office quietly kept a log of elected officials and others seeking to help kids win admission to the most coveted schools in the system, a former top Duncan aide said Monday.

That list has now come under the scrutiny of both federal officials and the schools inspector general as part of a probe of whether clout played a role in admissions to Chicago's elite schools, sources said.

Calls listed on the annual "logs'' included anyone who contacted the schools CEO's office seeking help in placing a student, such as a parent concerned about their child's safety, said David Pickens, who was a top assistant to Duncan and is now chief of staff to the president of the Board of Education.

But the logs also held the names of elected officials, "a lot of aldermen,'' businessmen, local school council members and Board of Education employees who wanted to get kids into selective enrollment or magnet schools, Pickens said.

...

Principals mostly refused to accept kids who had not been accepted through the normal process. However, over the years, he said, almost all college prep principals accepted at least a few students through this procedure, except for Northside College Prep, which never once said "Yes.''

Lots, lots more at Chicago Sun-Times

[LisaM]

1. Please let this be true

so we can get rid of this guy. He's slipping under the radar during the big Health Care celebration.

[earthside]

2. Any reason ...

... to fire this schmuck.

[Hannah Bell]

3. surprise, huh? what's the quid pro on the quo?

[tonysam]

4. The Chicago Tribune went into even more detail over this sleazy practice

While many Chicago parents took formal routes to land their children in the best schools, the well-connected also sought help through a shadowy appeals system created in recent years under former schools chief Arne Duncan.

Whispers have long swirled that some children get spots in the city's premier schools based on whom their parents know. But a list maintained over several years in Duncan's office and obtained by the Tribune lends further evidence to those charges. Duncan is now secretary of education under President Barack Obama.

The log is a compilation of politicians and influential business people who interceded on behalf of children during Duncan's tenure. It includes 25 aldermen, Mayor Richard Daley's office, House Speaker Michael Madigan, his daughter Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, former White House social secretary Desiree Rogers and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.

Non-connected parents, such as those who sought spots for their special-needs child or who were new to the city, also appear on the log. But the politically connected make up about three-quarters of those making requests in the documents obtained by the Tribune.
...

The list surfaced amid a federal probe and an internal investigation into admissions practices at the city's top high schools. Until Monday, the district had not revealed it had kept such a list.

Chicago Tribune

The New York Times has also reported on the controversy:

In Chicago, Obama Aide Had V.I.P. List for Schools

[lutefisk]

5. Duncan was just trying to "buffer principals from all the outside pressure" ... what a load of crap!

“Arne Duncan asked David Pickens to respond to all of these requests, some of which came from him, some from lots of other people, as a way to try to manage a process that was putting a lot of pressure on principals,” said Peter Cunningham, who handled communications for Mr. Duncan in Chicago and is now assistant secretary of the Department of Education. “This was an attempt to buffer principals from all the outside pressure, to get our arms around something that was burdensome to them. It was always up to the principal to make the decision. Arne never ever picked up the phone.”

. . .

“The fact that his name might be next to some of these names doesn’t mean he was trying to get the kid in a school,” Mr. Cunningham said. “He was only asking after someone said, ‘Hi, Arne, is there any way to get into this school?’ ”

Mr. Cunningham said he did not believe principals would have felt any special pressure because Mr. Duncan was the source of the inquiry. “We were always very clear with them that it was up to the principal to make the decision,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/education/24chicago.html?hpw

[Starry Messenger]

6. I wondered when more would come out about him

All of that media pablum about basketball was so much horseshit.

[tonysam]

7. Kick this one. n/t

[Grand Taurean]

8. Arne Duncan is Obama's Alberto Gonzalez.

In each case the appointee is a personal friend of the President who received the job for that very reason.

[Dinger]

9. K & R

Let's pile up all the shit we can, and show this bum the door!

[tonysam]

10. Keeping this kicked. n/t