But it has been quite a ride.
Norman, I am not
sure I would have believed anyone had they told me I would be where I
am today back in 2010, when I was elected vice president of the Chicago
Teachers Union. I grew up on a dirt road in rural Maine, raised by a
single mother who was an elementary school teacher and editor of a
poetry journal. I was just a kid who wanted to change the world. Those
were pretty big aspirations, I guess, but I never imagined life would
unfold the way it did. But here I am, and I am forever grateful. And
now, it is my time to move on.
What set CTU
leadership apart in those early years is similar to where we find
ourselves today. We were a group of educators whose schools were being
closed, meeting at protests, public hearings and the Chicago Board of
Education in defense of our classrooms and colleagues. My personal start
came in 2004, when Chicago Public Schools — under mayoral control and
led by CEO Arne Duncan — sought to close dozens of traditional
neighborhood schools as part of its Renaissance 2010 plan.
My school, Senn
High School, was slated to be turned into a military academy. So I began
organizing, and found a group of like-minded and strong-willed teachers
doing the same. One of those teachers was Karen Lewis, a bright and
brilliant voice who would soon become known to our union, and our world,
as a beloved and fearless union leader.
At the time, I
had no dreams of being a labor leader for the next decade. I was just a
teacher whose school had been threatened with closure, and I was
surrounded by educators in similar situations who were fed up with
conditions in CPS. We wanted members’ rights to be respected, but soon
realized that the forces working against educators were not just a reform movement, but a deform
movement that used the turnaround model, charter proliferation and
layoffs of Black educators as a pathway to a school district accountable
not to people, but to profit.
We were in a
battle for the soul of public education, as Karen, Financial Secretary
Kristine Mayle, Recording Secretary Michael Brunson and I took office at
the end of Mayor Richard M. Daley’s term. Ron Huberman was CPS CEO.
Rahm would arrive the next year. Soon-to-be 2023 Chicago mayoral
candidate Duncan was the U.S. Secretary of Education, and also the
architect of Renaissance 2010, which allowed a wave of privatizers and
education reformers to close nearly 100 traditional neighborhood schools
while opening 100 charter schools.
We had seen the
joy of teaching fall under attack by moneyed interests and corporate
hacks, and we wanted to protect schools and honor classrooms by making
our union more responsive and more effective. In the eyes of many around
our city, and our country, we succeeded.
I have been
extremely fortunate to work alongside brilliant minds in Karen, Vice
President Stacy Davis Gates, Financial Secretary Maria Moreno, Recording
Secretary Christel Williams-Hayes, CTU Chief of Staff Jennifer Johnson,
Grievance Director Zeidre Foster, Organizing Director Rebecca Martinez
and a host of rank-and-file leaders. Among Union officers, Stacy is to
me what I was to Karen: a steady force that I have leaned on during the
most turbulent of times. Christel is our soul, and Maria is our heart. I
remain confident in my decision to move on because our union is strong,
with not only capable leadership and staff, but more than 25,000
members and a deep bench of activists stretching from Austin to the
lake, and from Howard Street to the 10th Ward.
We have faced
budget cuts, pension insecurity, a pandemic and a revolving door of CPS
CEOs, but throughout it all, we gained invaluable experience and changed
the narrative around public education in Chicago. It was shocking for
many — our enemies, especially — to see teachers take the lead. But we
knew there was power in our rank and file, and that bread and butter
unionism, despite being the foundation of traditional labor, wasn’t
enough.
It wasn’t enough
then, and it isn’t enough now as we face right-wing forces that want to
break our union, ban books, end anti-racist curriculum and unmask
children during a pandemic.
During the last
two years, as we all collectively struggled to survive COVID-19, our
union secured a moratorium on school closings, historic safety
agreements, the restoration of our bargaining rights, an elected
representative school board and a multi-million dollar settlement for
Black educators impacted by racist turnaround layoffs. We will have a
nurse and a social worker in every school by 2024. We have students
recognizing the power of their voice, and their action, to fight for the
schools and the city they deserve. Community organizations in places
like Brighton Park, Kenwood-Oakland, Pilsen and Logan Square, many of
whom were doing this work long before our union, have grown even
stronger.
This country
was built on the labor and sacrifice of women, and our sisters Stacy,
Maria and Christel are ready to fight even harder for classrooms and
communities with smart, bold and dependable leadership. Our union will
remain a force, and our dogged defense of public schools and the
willingness to speak truth to power are not going anywhere.
But I am.
Because it is time. My mother passed away in October of 2020, followed
by a brutal school reopening campaign and Karen's death in February of
2021. My wife, Julie, has stood beside me and experienced all the stress
and heartache that I have felt in nearly two decades of this work. My
youngest son, now an underclassman in high school, was a toddler when I
first took office. My oldest son is navigating college life hundreds of
miles away.
So my fourth
term in CTU leadership will be my last. I will serve until June 2022,
but will not seek re-election as president of the Chicago Teachers
Union.
I am immensely
proud of our union’s work, and the commitment that our educators bring
to their classrooms every day. We are part of a movement, and as an
educator at heart, I view myself as a leader in that movement. I never
planned on a decade-plus of union leadership, because I do not think
that is the goal of movement work. Movements have to change as people
change, with new leaders and new vision stepping to the fore.
I will not be
leaving the movement, the labor struggle or this union. I will return to
where my journey began: the classroom. I will do so with fondness for
my time in leadership, because I had the joy and privilege of
representing educators who care.
I am confident
in the future of our union because I know the human quality of our
members — how much love they bring to this profession and their schools
every day, and how much they value the humanity of our students and
school communities.
I thank them for
electing me to lead, and for everything they have given to me, the
labor movement, our school communities, our union and our city.
In safety and solidarity,
Jesse Sharkey
CTU President
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