A highlight of the Expo was this staged mini-rally.

Fr. Pfleger of St. Sabina extolled his roll helping to shut down a "failing" school near his church.

Generous support for the event included free parking, bags of junk food and lots of publicity.

Clear Channel is a media monopoly that owns over 1200 radio stations and lots of bill boards.

Walgreens is a corporate contributor to the Renaissance School Fund.

Rufus Williams declares his unequivocal willingness to close "failing" schools. This includes firing all staff, including the cooks, janitors, engineer and office staff. Though staff are given the chance to reapply, the hired consultant, Academy for Urban School Leadership, prefers to replace experienced teachers with it's own less expensive rookies.

Hoy is owned by the Chicago Tribune

The Red Eye is also owned by the Chicago Tribune.

This "charismatic" man of the cloth lead the beginning of the rally in prayer. He then went on to condemn neighborhood schools and their teachers, ignoring inequitable funding, the loss of living wage jobs and other vanquished social supports

Students from Robeson High School question CPS Board President Rufus Williams. Go here for full details: http://2009cpshearings.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-schools-expo-131.html#comments