Rahm Emanuel's School Team

The lead into the Chicago Sun-Times story says it all: "Charter schools. Turnaround schools. And knowing where the money is." Among those guiding Rahm's hand-picked CEO Jean-Claude Brizard will be:

David Vitale

Vitale gives new meaning to the words top-down. The former bank president was even booted from his position as head of the Chicago Board of Trade for not being able to play well with others.  I wrote about him back in '05 (""Do we need a lot of public decision-making about replacing lug nuts? I don’t think so."--David Vitale") and here last October, remembering the Little Village High School hunger strike. Vitale once told me he thought  the hunger strikers' victory was "one of the greatest disasters in CPS history." Vitale saw the hunger strike tactic as "blackmail" rather than community and parent engagement. 

I'm pretty sure that Vitale is there to ride herd on Brizard. He and the corporate reformers will have the real power, not the new CEO.

Penny Pritzker

A member of the billionaire Pritzker family, Penny Pritzker is a huge charter supporter and a long-time education advocate. She was a contributor to Stand for Children, which led the writing of an Emanuel-backed school reform bill that trims teacher union power while giving CPS enhanced muscle to extend the school day and year. Her Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation contributes to the Academy for Urban School Leadership, the Young Wopmen’s Leadership Charter School and the Nobel Street Charter School network — all of which Emanuel wants to expand. Noble Street’s Pritzker College Prep is named after the Pritzker family. She also is chair of the Chicago Public Education Fund and led President Obama’s 2008 funding drive.