And meanwhile back

...in Chicago, where Secretary Duncan got the education experience he has, his successor was coming in for close questioning by the Education subcommittee of the City Council on school closures on the Race to the Top prequel, Renaissance 2010. From the Tribune:

"Clearly, I'm hearing we need to do more ... to improve the process," Huberman said. "The easy answer here is not to do [closings]. It's my opinion that walking away from this would be a mistake."

Huberman said that it's tough to defend a school where 2 percent of the students are meeting state standards that he said are already too low.

A crowd of people seemed to disagree.

Cecile Carroll, education organizer for community group Blocks Together, said Huberman's suggestions for improvement would not involve the community in the decision-making process. Carroll said the hearings would just advance the typical format, in which people yell at school officials.

Others testified before the committee, saying that school closings had not been shown to work and decrying the district's attempts at reform. Huberman and other top-level district leaders left the chamber before public testimony began.

Is there something about covering education that leads to these great, straightfaced *zing* lines, by the way?

PURE has information on what the closures have meant.