Christian Science Monitor story on CTU’s Karen Lewis quotes PAA’s Julie Woestehoff
by pureparents
“She comes from a place of understanding what it really takes to educate children, especially in Chicago.”
Julie Woestehoff has been with the Chicago non-profit organization Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE) for 20 years, and has been its executive director since 1995. She is the parent of two Chicago Public School graduates, a veteran elected local school council member, and writer of the blog, PURE Thoughts, which covers key education issues. Julie is a frequent speaker on topics of parent involvement, site-based management, and student testing, is regularly interviewed on national and local news, and was named one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Chicago by the Chicago Sun-Times in 2004. In 2003 along with the rest of the PURE staff, she won the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World Award, recognizing powerful grass-roots leadership. She also has a regular column in the blog Chicago Examiner and the Huffington Post.
Bloomberg Business Week quotes PAA’s Caroline Grannan
by pureparents
“The idea that busy parents can simply take over and run a school in their spare time is obviously magical thinking.” (Caroline) points out that charters overall don’t outperform public schools and suggests that instead of pulling the trigger, parents should assert their voices by voting in good school board members, getting to know administrators, and getting involved in schools.
