Friday reading

A round-up of some worthwhile reads.

• City Paper of Baltimore has an interview with the new head of the Baltimore Public Schools, Gregory Thorton. Dare I say it sounds hopeful? (And I'm glad they're getting the bubblers fixed. It matters.)
• Rev. John Thomas has a good post on the loss of democracy around public schools, which were created to serve democracy. And yes, a quote from John Adams!
• Valerie Strauss at the Answer Sheet points out another rebellion on PARCC: Chicago's CEO of public schools doesn't want to do it. 
• In Politico's story on rebellion against the Common Core, Massachusetts is the "only state" allowing districts to do a Common Core test or not--" and they're doing it in violation of federal law." Not exactly true, as MCAS is Common Core-aligned as well, but the bit about violating the law makes us look rebellious!
• Interesting column on race, class, and Whitey Bulger as part of WGBH and the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism's series on the 40th anniversary of Boston busing.