From Crain’s Chicago Business:

 The man who in many ways was Mayor Richard M. Daley’s top aide in recent years has gone into the private-equity business.

   Ron Huberman — former head of the Chicago Transit Authority and Chicago Public Schools and a one-time mayoral chief of staff — has begun work as operating executive with Chicago Growth Partners and Prairie Capital.

   Though the two Chicago-based firms have separate ownership, they have jointly invested in some deals in the past, and Mr. Huberman will work for both.

   In a phone interleave and a press release, Mr. Huberman said his task will be to find investment and buyout opportunities in three fields he knows well: education, transportation and security. (Mr. Huberman once worked as a Chicago Police officer, eventually rising to deputy superintendent, and headed the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communication, developing the current 911 phone system.)

   “I think there is a great opportunity to build some great companies here with outstanding investment returns,” he said. “Their sector focus fits very nicely with my operating experiences.”

   Said Prairie Capital founding partner Steve King, “We think Ron can helps us seek out companies that help our public sector organizations become more efficient.

   Mr. Huberman said neither firm currently does business with the city or any city agencies. 

http://whatsforschoollunch.blogspot.com/

The blog also reminded me of one of my favorite lists from McSweeney’s:

TWO LIST OF COMPLAINTS

BY STUART ZEHNER

1. Complaints My Middle-School Students in Korea Had About Our School’s Food.

“The rice is cold.”

“The kimchi is dry.”

2. Complaints American Middle-School Students Would Have If They Were Served Korean Food.

“There’s an entire fish in my soup.”

“The fish in my soup still has eyes.”

“The fish in my soup with eyes is full of fish eggs.”

“What is this?”

“They made me eat off a metal tray with chopsticks.”

“I was served a vertebra.”

“This salad is clearly made from the bush in the front of the school.”

“I told you last week I don’t like fish eggs!”

“The menu says we’re having chicken anus for lunch.”

“The live baby octopus you served me stuck to my throat and died.”

“There wasn’t any pizza.”

“This is dog meat.”

“It’s too spicy.”

“The rice is cold.”

“The kimchi is dry.”

More lists here if you like that sort of stuff….
http://mcsweeneys.net/links/lists/

I would love to see a slow motion video of how these creatures make the jump from head to head.  Do they see a human head coming in and start preparing like “Get ready to jump ship!” ?

Honestly, I am almost ready to just give up and live with the little buggers in itchy harmony.  The combing, the washing, the picking.  Hours a day of that could be spent wasting in front of the TV or computer!

My current dilemma is what to do about my son’s blue blankie that he sleeps with every night.  It is a ball of string that is one vigorous wash cycle away from falling apart.  I’m wondering whether I can microwave this every night to kill any offending creatures?

Oh, and a P.S. – If you’re the guy I was sitting next to on the Metra train today, talking about my blog (yes, I randomly accost strangers and direct them to CPSObsessed.com,) don’t worry, my head is clear.

Here’s the Amazon link that includes a sample video:

http://www.amazon.com/Here-Comes-Science-Might-Giants/dp/B002FKZ4UO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1255494540&sr=8-1

He inquired as to why my son hasn’t attended school yet this year.  I said “Oh my God, you’re the TRUANT OFFICER!”  If you read any old kids books (such as the Beverly Cleary series) you hear a lot about truant officers who come and check up on absent kids, but I thought that was an outdated position.  Actually I don’t think this guy claimed to have any authority but rather was serving to remind me to send my child to school in case I’d been having him play Nintendo DS for the past 2 weeks while I watched soap operas.

I explained that my son did miss the first day of school due to lice (always good for getting someone to take a step back from you) but that he’s been there every day since.  He seemed to believe me.

Those in CPS are probably familiar with the method for informing parents that their child is absent.  You get a recorded message from your child’s school (that somehow distorts the voice to sound oddly scary) well after 1pm on the day they’re out.  If you’re the parent of a little kid, chances are that you know your child’s whereabouts, but if you have a teenager they may have gotten into all kinds of trouble before you find out that they never made it to school.  Gone are the days when Mrs. Horlick from my high school office would make a stern call to the parents early in the morning to find out where you were.  She knew every parent’s voice and could immediately detect a fraud.  Bah.

THE PRINCIPAL STORY portrays the challenges principals face in turning around low-performing public schools and raising student achievement. This intimate, emotional one-year journey is seen through the eyes of two dynamic principals: one in only her second year in the Chicago Public School System; and the other, a seven-year veteran in Springfield, IL. The film reveals the struggles these leaders face as they keep their focus on improving teaching and learning amid the competing demands of managing their staffs and engaging their students and communities.

On Tuesday at 9:30 pm and Saturday at 3:00 am (better set the Tivo for that one.)

http://www.wallacefoundation.org/principal-story/Pages/default.aspx

I think we’re close to being “cured” but I want to be totally sure because I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy (well, if I had one I might go shake my head in their general direction.) It’s not so much the creepiness of the lice themselves that get you down, it’s the ongoing process of treating, combing, and doing laundry that make me glad I wasn’t a scullery maid back in the olden days. It is HARD work! Well, for me. My son has enjoyed a week of Nintendo and movies as I pick his head but he misses seeing other kids.

Word is that CPS has no policy preventing kids from attending school with lice on their heads since its not and actually illness. Our school had a big outbreak last year and guess who got on their soapbox about how kids should be free and clear before attending? Heh heh. So now I have to put my money where my mouth (or head) is. I can cope but I really don’t know what we’d do if I were a working parent.

We’ve been through a few treatments and are now on to the more out-of-the-box solutions so we’re both sitting here with heavy heavy conditioner on our heads covered by shower caps. I’m praying that nobody comes to the door because we look like greasy-haired cafeteria workers.

I hope everyone has a good first day tomorrow. Report back with any good stories. All you Kindergarten parents try to keep a dry eye.

The exciting news is that yours truly (that would be me) will be one of the guests interviewed!  Woo hoo!

I’ll be on air this Friday Sept 4^th at 8 am representing the “obsessed parent.”  Quite fitting, indeed.  The guy from the station told me that they’d have some other obsessed parents throughout the month and I dared him to find others more obsessive than I have been.

The whole month of discussion on WBEW should prove interesting so tune in when you can.  And especially this Friday to hear me (hopefully) not make a total fool of myself.   If you have any good stories that represent any obsessive thing you have done in the school search process, please share and I may mention them.

If you can’t pick up the station on the radio, you can listen live on the web site.

More about the station:
Vocalo.org is a project of Chicago Public Radio, a new station that takes a different approach to public broadcasting—more informal and participatory.  In our case, public radio is made largely by the public:  Many of the stories and conversations we air have been contributed by listeners.  We do not play any NPR content—no “All Things Considered,” no “This American Life.”  Instead, our staff hosts a live broadcast from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. that mixes these listener-contributed stories with live talk segments and an eclectic smattering of local music.  (When we’re not doing a live-hosted broadcast, we’re in “mixtape” mode—an automated, semi-random shuffle of listener-created material.)
Every month we pick a theme to explore—not that it’s the only thing we talk about, but it’s a conversation that continues throughout the month—and education is our theme for September.

Somehow now that I’m the parent, the whole school supply shopping seems wrought with stress.  The first shock as a CPS parent involves learning that we are required to purchase paper towels, various sanitizing products, and tissue.  This brings on confusion until another parent explains the paltry budgets of our fine school system and why we need to provide what used to be considered the basic supplies in a school.

The rest of our lists have been pretty standard.  But I still find things to stress about.  With a background in advertising/marketing I take it seriously when a teacher lists a specific brand name.  When she says Crayola crayons does that mean she finds that brand superior in some way and wants only that brand?  If I buy Rose Art will my child be looked down upon?  Or God forbid if I buy crayons at the Dollar Store?  What about the Target brand of plastic bags?  Do I go for quanitity of tissue or box attractiveness?  And for the second year in a row I am confused about what type of paper I’m supposed to buy.  Does “primary” mean the baby kind with the dotted line halfway up? Or is it regular notebook paper?  So many decisions.  So many questions.

I thought it would be fun this year because my son gets to pick out 2 folders and a pencil case.  For some reason all the pencil cases at Target looked really girly but he did find a blue camo one.  The folder selection was equally paltry, dominated by High School Musical.  We scavanged and finally came up with Harry Potter and Spiderman (because yes, those franchises need to rake in even more money.)  I suppose my parents rolled their eyes when I went for the Partridge Family and Josie and the Pussycats school supplies.

Despite the stress, I still geek out a little when it comes to school-supply shopping.  I love looking at all the markers and crayons and blank paper.  Somehow it makes me remember the excitement of starting a new school year.  I can’t tell if my son is feeling any of that yet.  He’s mainly lamenting that 1st grade means no snack time.  And he hasn’t even been told yet that the afternoon fun time doesn’t happen either.   Or that his new room won’t have air conditioning.  Or that the grades are actually A’s, B’s etc.  Best to roll the news out slowly.

Happy shopping!

A few things I’ve noticed:

Parents have their choice of half- or full-day Kindergarten.  Full day costs $350 per month.  Parents were split half and half in their choices (but in the past more chose full-day… this year is likely a result of the economy.)

Kindergarten classes have about 20 kids per class (well, most of know the reality of this from friends in the suburbs.)

Parents are given a school calendar that has literally every upcoming date that they’ll need to know for the year — from days off to PTA meetings to family reading nights to fundraising events and fun fairs.   These are events that I’ve typically found out about around 48 hours before they occur (or as a friend of mine pointed out, if we even DO find out ahead of time.)  I expressed my awe of the calendar and my sister asked how I could even function without one.  Somehow we learn to adapt in CPS I suppose.

Schools have big, nice (tuition-based) before- and after-school programs, summer camps, and care on days off school.

Well, the really sad one: We drove by a big school and she pointed out that it’s where her kids will be going to high school one day.  It took my a few minutes to realize how nice it must be to know that when your child isn’t even in Kindergarten yet.  For pretty much all of us, that will be a complete unknown for years to come and a source of anxiety that most people in the outside world don’t need to worry about.

The one thing I’ll say in our favor is the school buildings.  I love the big old CPS school building with all their character and charm.  I love that many were built over 100 year ago and I like to think about what the schools must have been like back then (before electricity?)  I love the hardwood floors and the high ceilings and big windows and big staircases.  And school offices with big wooden counters and hallways with strange doors that are located 6 feet off the ground.  Huge boiler rooms that could be the setting of a horror film.

Many schools around the country were built during the Baby Boom when the style seemed to resemble a prison – big cement blocks, blandness everywhere.

So with our big classes, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants scheduling, high school insanity, and cool old buildings, I’d say that CPS wins hands-down in the “character” department.  I hope we can all continue to embrace it.