This article seems to imply that Barack Obama, while he was an Illinois state senator, could have entered the fray and helped push Paul Vallas's proposal for more control in the prinicpal firing process that now is virtually controlled at the local school council level. If only that was the worst problem with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). I wish that was the case, but we (parents of CPS students) have so many other problems that are more important. I'll list a few that come to mind: 1) class size 2) teacher support 3) No Child Left Behind 4) socio-economic issues. My child attends one of the better CPS elementary schools. But there are 30 kids in her class. That in not atypical. I have volunteered in that classroom and 30 is at the verge of being unworkable, unless you have a full-time aide.

I am happy to see that CPS has a program to bring in new teachers who are very motivated to teach (many of them professionals in other areas), but who may not have the proper education courses. CPS will hire them and require them to take proper courses during the summer. In my view, CPS badly needs an infusion of new blood eager to give education life in a system that sometimes sucks the life out of its teachers.

Here is a point that I think is more interesting. Vallas's children did not attend CPS schools. Obama's children do not attend CPS schools. Maybe because they didn't have the personal experience of trying to get the best for their children in the system, they were not motivated to enter the fray. Keep in mind the current CEO, Duncan, does send his children to CPS schools. Maybe that will make a difference.

Also central to the question is whether politicians should pick a side in every single dispute they come across. Russo thinks Obama could have helped iron things out. But there was no middle ground to this debate: Vallas wanted to take the final say away from the local boards, while the local boards wanted to keep it with them.

As the saying goes, "Doing nothing is doing something." By remaining silent, Obama sent the message he hadn't changed his previous position of supporting the local boards, but managed to avoid making enemies in Vallas' camp which he surely would have done had he publicly opposed them. And the end result was exactly what Obama had hoped for: his side prevailed but he didn't end up taking heat over it. A shrewd move on his part.