Column: Nasty, expensive school board elections for Chicago? Hard pass. – Chicago Tribune*

Eric Zorn: "The campaigns in smaller districts are usually fairly quiet because the stakes are usually fairly low. But in Chicago, the stakes are always very high, the battles intense, the feelings raw. And the city’s mayor, who has appointed nearly every member of the Chicago Board of Education since its founding in 1872, is ultimately responsible for the results in the classroom."