More for the Have's

For the fourth day, in the past week, Mayor Emanuel announced plans to provide more funding to a school in very good shape.   Walter Payton College Prep High School will receive $17 million in order to expand.  The school is bursting at the seams and had to turn away many applicants this year.   Building a new annex will increase enrollment.

That's good news for the Payton folks and another poke in the eye of schools and communities still lacking toilet paper, air conditioning, daily supplies and teachers.   I am aware of many schools that face such daily difficulties.   Of course you can imagine how people feel who saw their neighborhood schools shut down this past spring.

By the way, anyone who thinks that the spring closing were strictly about the space being underutilized are sadly mistaken.  The closings had just as much to do with money as how many students were attending the various shuttered schools.

As I said the other day, whether intended or not, the perception is that the 'have's' continue to be well taken care of while the 'have not's' are largely (or completely) ignored.   Put yourself in the place of a disadvantaged school and community - if possible - and it's hard not to see why people feel the way they do about what is taking place.

Dick