A proposal to reprimand Lourdes Monteagudo, the beleaguereddeputy mayor for education, was defeated 23-15 by the City Council onFriday after Mayor Daley allowed her critics a forum to express theiranger.
Daley called the proposed resolution "politically motivated" andhad enough votes to easily prevent its sponsors from bringing it tothe Council floor for a debate.
The mayor conceded that Monteagudo's remarks had raised concernsamong aldermen and community leaders, so he allowed an hour ofdebate.
In a March 27 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Monteagudosaid she had enrolled her daughter in an exclusive Winnetka schoolbecause no city public high school was "good enough."
Monteagudo also said that Daley's school reform program wouldhelp improve the system so that someday she could urge her two otherchildren to enroll in Chicago high schools when they graduate fromelementary school.
The proposed resolution, introduced by Ald. Robert Shaw (9th),called for the $88,416-a-year deputy mayor to appear before theEducation Committee to explain her comments.
Although Shaw was short of the 34 votes he needed to suspend theCouncil's rules and allow immediate debate on the proposal, Daleysignaled to his floor leader, Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), to allowShaw to speak.
"Ms. Monteagudo indicted the entire school system by herremarks," Shaw said. "She misrepresented the facts when she said thatno (high) school had accepted her daughter. She was accepted at twoof the best schools in the city: Lane Tech and the Whitney Young Mathand Lab School. But they were not good enough for her, and I suspectthe entire school system is not good enough for her."
Thirteen other aldermen joined Shaw in support of the measure.
"If teachers and public officials put their kids back in thesystem, we would have a better school system," said Ald. DorothyTillman (3rd), who noted she had five children in the city's schools.
Ald. Luis V. Gutierrez (26th) offered the strongest defense forMonteagudo, saying: "I have my first responsibility to my children. .. . If you can't be a good parent, how can you be a goodpolitician?"
In other matters, the City Council: Deferred a vote on a proposal to impose a 1.5 percent-a-monthpenalty on the late payment of water and sewer charges. Sent to committee proposals jointly introduced by Daley andGutierrez to revamp the Building Code to allow limited use of plasticpipe and to allow the sale of up to 1,000 vacant lots for the mayor'saffordable-housing program. Sent to committee a proposal by Ald. Lemuel Austin Jr. (34th) toincrease the fines for individuals who violate the law that prohibitsthe placement of political campaign signs on city property. Theproposal would increase the range of fines to $50 to $500 from $10 to$200.
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