On Friday, Mayor Brandon Johnson dismissed Dr. Allison Arwady as Commissioner of Public Health for Chicago, a position she held for four years. This was part of the “transition” from one administration to another.
“Every administration must be prepared for the transition. My administration was no different. Transition is hard for everyone,” Johnson said.
It may be the first time a Chicago Mayor has quoted a dead rapper. However, the questions posed by the media were not about Johnson quoting “the face of West Coast gangsta hip-hop in the ’90s.” The questions were about why Arwady had been fired more than three months into Johnson’s tenure.
Before running for mayor, Johnson worked as an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union. The CTU and former Mayor Lori Lightfoot had serious disagreements over the reopening of schools during the pandemic.
In my article about Johnson’s victory in the run-off against former Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, I mentioned that the CTU now controls the city.
Cities have been controlled by one particular industry in the past. Detroit and Pittsburgh were both company towns before unions destroyed their industries.
Teaching is not an industry, and public schools are not companies. In Chicago, schools are used to fund a radical-left political apparatus. The $2 billion spent on schools could be considered ancillary funding for “progressive politics”.
The fact that a union-friendly toady is now in Chicago’s office should be a source of fear for every Chicagoan.
Was I wrong?
The Chicago Tribune expressed its anger at Johnson’s “unconscionable firing” of Arwady.
The CTU’s loyalty to Johnson is what makes the difference. It did everything it could to stop Lightfoot and Arwady from opening the schools and getting the children back into the classroom. This was in addition to the kids who had already returned to school in Chicago, the suburbs of Chicago, Europe, and many other states in the U.S.
There is no other entity, except the CTU, that believes Arwady was wrong to try to reopen Chicago schools. This is because the data shows that Arwady, Lightfoot, and the CTU were correct to press the union for Chicago students to return to school.
The CDC had been prepared to recommend that schools reopen in February 2021 — but the teacher’s unions were able to get the ear and influence of former CDC director Rochelle Walensky. This unprecedented move allowed the teacher’s unions to dictate and recommend policies regarding school reopenings.
“Documents show that Director Walensky underplayed how far CDC departed past practices to allow AFT influence the policymaking process.” CDC actually allowed AFT to insert language in the Operational Guidelines that increased the likelihood that schools across the nation would remain closed beyond February 2021, according to the report.
Arwady’s fight against CTU’s refusal of reopening schools in Chicago cost her. Johnson also made it clear that there is a new sheriff on the block, and his initials are C.T.U.
