Give The Mayor Credit School Graduation Rates Are Up

One day not long ago, when I was ranting and railing—as I’m apt to do—about the utter dysfunction of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s school policies, a fellow named Peter Cunningham cut me short.

First let me say something about Mr. Cunningham: he is, among other things, a former press aide to Mayor Daley and to U.S. education secretary Arne Duncan. Plus, he’s pals with Mayor Rahm.

And the mayor is free to use that line in his next reelection commercial.

But not so long ago, such tolerance was widely vilified as “social promotion” by the people running our city.

It’s sort of like the way Mayor Emanuel says he’s helping low-income mental health patients by closing their neighborhood clinics.

For her efforts, Woestehoff was jeered by the powers that be. “PURE is a paid advocacy group with a vested interest in preserving the status quo,” Vallas said in one press release from 2000, when he was the schools CEO. “It opposes high standards, accountability and the elimination of social promotion.”