would not expect much from Arne. Since Arne Duncan didn't know how to lead, inspire and build a strong professional community within neighborhood schools in a systematic way, he along with Mayor Daley and the Chicago Commerce Club came up with the great con, by letting cronies open charter schools. These schools would then cherry pick students and either not accept students with special needs or would squeeze them out. These schools would not be held accountable to the same standard as the neighborhood schools. The Chicago Sun-Times is finally investigating the corruption in the Charter Schools. The teachers are usually inexperienced and not certified teachers. Even the charter school administrators are now anxious since a good portion of their start up money was given by foundations and businesses. With the downturn in the economy, they are worried. Look folks, Arne didn't know how to work the professionals he had available in the classrooms. He could have have implemented a longer instructional day for the students. By the tenth grade, a CPS student has about one academic year less of instruction time then a comparable student in the New York City schools. With a longer school day, teachers would finally be able to meet regularly in same grade and cross team cycles to analyze student work, target areas that need improvement and evaluate the progress in a proven manner to build high performance schools. Truth be told, Arne cut corners and had his marketing team put lipstick on the pig that was his "enlightened" reform policy. I too wished Obama picked Professor Linda Darling-Hammond.