State Rep. Jaime Andrade leaned over the little girl quietly doing her schoolwork and urged her to repeat aloud what she’d just told him.
“I would rather camp out here than go to Disneyland,” said Brentano Math and Science Academy third-grader Amelia Aguilera.
Andrade, in whose district the Northwest Side school sits, grinned.
State Democratic legislators kneeled close to students and offered them high fives Thursday — all in an effort to show that, contrary to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s recent assertions, city schools are not “almost crumbling prisons.”
“This school is made up of families, teachers, administrators,” Andrade said a little later, talking to reporters in the school’s library during a tour. “The school should not be judged by its structure.”
Rauner made his remarks about crumbling schools earlier this week, while touting Republican stopgap measures that, he said, would ensure schools can open in the fall. His remarks have sparked a Twitter campaign in which parents, teachers and students have mocked the governor, while detailing their school’s accomplishments.
In response, Rauner said Wednesday that he cares deeply about Chicago schools, saying the poor state of some of those schools has brought him to tears.
The Democratic legislators touring Brentano Thursday mocked Rauner’s tears.
“He weeps for our children . . . ,” said Democratic State Rep. Rob Martwick. “But I don’t see children weeping. I see children smiling. I see children learning. He sees fat, lazy public sector employees that need to be privatized. I see hardworking, caring, professional educators.”
