While searching the web, I have come across several blogs and articles. Check out a few of their comments:
Also, a Sun Times article on Sunday March 11, 2007 stated that LSC chairman Tom Ramos Jr. was a city worker, I did a little research and I am positive that this Tom Ramos Jr. is the same Thomas R. Ramos, Jr. who is a Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation laborer. Is he HDO? Is that why Daley is attempting to intervene? That's the next thing we'd like to know. If someone could find out.


A March 2, 2007 article in the Sun Times says:
There is a internal investigation of Tom Ramos, stemming from a bribery allegation reported to the inspector general by ousted principal Jones. Inspector General Jim Sullivan confirmed that he is investigating several allegations against Ramos on a tip from Jones, one including a charge that the LSC chairman "solicited a vendor for $400."

Posted by: JulieWoestehoff January 23, 2007 at 01:29 PM
I used to be on the council and I know that Tom Ramos Jr. is only there for personal gain. Mrs. Jones refused to allow him to take several members on a trip because it wasn't for student benefit. He wanted to spend money that was suppose to used by students. When he no longer had a child in school, he got guardianship of a relative so he could get Mrs. Jones out as principal. I wish the board of ed would get involved.


Posted by: former lsc member January 25, 2007 at 06:46 PM
I was at the last meeting 1-20-07 and it was completely disgusting! I am a student at Curie highschool and it scared me to see the people on the LSC who will ultimetly be deciding our fate. several of the LSC members didnt even speak english! my mom asked one of the members, in spanish, what she knew about curie and the woman didnt know anything; this was the same woman that looked over to Ramos when it came time to vote. She didnt have a clue what was going on! Also, Valle who was translating, wasnt translating everything. There were several instances where a young man from the audience stood up and patched up her translating job! she was only translating what she wanted. I was dissapointed with the whole situation there. I know thats how politics work but its not right and change will only happen if we stand up and are not intimidated!

Posted by: February 01, 2007 at 04:59 PM
I sure hope that if you are truly interested in what is going on at Curie you will take the time to read all of this. I will certainly not state any of my personal information here for fear of retribution. I also will not state any names since this is not the point here. The Edwards School LSC went through this same issue two years ago and at that time there was no blog to report on the things that were taking place. A current member of the Curie LSC was a member of the Edwards LSC two years ago and was the ringleader of the troubles started there. She was quite emboldened by PURE who took advantage of lack of interest in LSC elections to get a small renegade group the power to make very important decisions about the future of our communities. It is amazing that we give parents the power to make decisions in schools when those parents don't even have a grasp on their own children. I would think that it would be most important to first be sure that the parent representatives children are meeting the established benchmarks before allowing them to dedicate so much time to some other endeavor. It is also interesting to see unemployed individuals who have time and skills to dedicate to making these decisions but don't have the time or skills to get a job. My point here is simply what is happening at Curie is what happened at Edwards and many other schools in the system. We give the most precious of positions to the least qualified simply because many of the majority are too busy taking care of their own children and working to notice what is happening at a given school until the damage is done and it is too late. And PURE has learned to take advantage of this low voter turnout and participation. They completely orchestrated the election at Edwards simply by getting a small handful of people out to vote while noone else even knew what was going on. At Edwards, 30 votes out of 1,200 students will get you this power. This is a huge problem. PURE is making the selections of principals and not LSC's. I have nothing against language at all. What I do have a problem with is parents who have to look at someone in order to be told how to vote. And this happened at Edwards countless times. They are not looking at that someone because they don't understand the language, they are looking because they want to be sure that they are being directed properly by who put them in that position in the first place. Lastly, at Edwards there was a huge push to get a Hispanic in as principal. The LSC even nearly made the crucial mistake of advertising that the applicant must be Hispanic before PURE corrected them and informed them of the legal implications of doing that. But Edwards is a school of 90% Hispanic students. Curie is a high school of a much more diverse cultural body. Having a Hispanic at Curie as principal would not be nearly as necessary. Do we have any Asian candidates? That would throw everyone for a loop. This current LSC will not approve a renewal of Jones' contract, guaranteed. And then the real fun will start. Watch the parade of candidates come through and see what the real motivation is here. At Edwards, the final three candidates were all Hispanic. The outgoing principal was African American. I don't really think that anyone else was seriously considered. This is completely about getting a Hispanic in the position of control at Curie High School. Which would not be a bad thing by itself. But it is the motivation that is behind this that is wrong. No candidates will matter if they are not Hispanic which means you are throwing out a huge portion of the pool of candidates and limiting the possibilities for the students. I will predict now with 100% accuracy that by the end of this LSC's cycle the principal at Curie will be Hispanic. I just hope we are not overlooking the most talented and qualified person for the job because of other motives.