MORE CHICAGO HOPE AS CORE SWEEPS

I'm throwing it up as it comes. (I'll fix typos later).
Watch how the major and minor (NY Teacher) press deals with this election.

Last summer in LA when I hung with the CORE crew they figured they had a chance to make the run-off but I don't think even they thought they could come this far this fast. There are dangers inherent in trying to run a union without consolidating their supporters into a cohesive force, especially when the enemies are out there - the press, the political forces and most dangerously from the AFT/UFT union hierarchy, though watch the Randi/Mulgrew phony words of support for Lewis, who they will try to coopt and split from her CORE supporters. Lewis has to beware the Debbie Lynch effect who won in 2001 but lost enough support to lose by a hair in 2004 (though that was questionable too). What we will see is 150 CTU AFT delegates go to Seattle next month.

It is interesting that all the political parties within the union united behind CORE- some of the electeds are from PLP and others from ISO. So far trying to do that in NYC has not been successful, with certain factions closer to TJC and others closer to ICE. Maybe things will change now and some CORE-like caucus will emerge in NYC.

For those 9% dissenters in NYC, Stewart won overwhelmingly in the 2007 elections.

Norm


Kenzo Shibata sent a message to the members of C.O.R.E.-The Caucus of Rank and
File Educators.

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Subject: CORE Wins!


From Substance News (http://www.facebook.com/l/3d1df;substancenew.net):

CORE, led by Karen Lewis, wins CTU election in landslide, with Lewis defeating
Marilyn Stewart 12,080 to 8,326

George N. Schmidt - June 12, 2010

Karen Lewis has been elected president of the Chicago Teachers Union, and CORE has won the leadership of the 30,000-member CTU by a landslide. Lewis, a Martin Luther King Jr. High School Chemistry teacher, headed the slate of candidates from the caucus called CORE (the Caucus of Rank and File Educators) and won a landslide victory on June 11, 2010, in the hotly contested Chicago Teachers Union runoff election. CORE not only won the top four offices in the union, but the other nine citywide offices, and all of the vice presidencies for high schools (six) and elementary schools (17). By the time the final vote counts were announced in the early hours of June 12, it was clear that CORE had completely defeated the United Progressive Caucus (UPC) and the six-year CTU president Marilyn Stewart.

The CORE victory, the size of which became clear early in the evening during the counting of the votes at the headquarters of the American Arbitration Association at 225 N. Michigan in Chicago, was a landslide. Karen Lewis defeated Marilyn Stewart by a vote of 12,080 to 8,326, with the other three CORE candidates for officers in the 30,000-member union each receiving more than 12,000 votes to fewer than 8,300 for each of CORE's opponents. The final vote
tallies were certified by the American Arbitration Association at 3:00 a.m. on the morning of June 12, 2010.

Senn High School history teacher Jesse Sharkey was elected vice president by a vote of 12,000 (to 8,233 cast for his UPC opponent Mark Ochoa).

Displaced elementary teacher Michael Brunson was elected recording secretary by a vote of 12,016 (to 8,200 cast for his UPC opponent Mary Orr).

Eberhart Elementary School Special Education teacher Kristine Mayle was elected financial secretary by a vote of 12,032 (to 8,191 cast for her UPC opponent Keith VanderMeulen).

All six CORE candidates for trustee were elected. They are: Jackson Potter, Jay Rehak, Lois Ashford, Eric Skalinder, Sara Echevarria, and Albert Ramirez. Their margins over their opponents' were roughly 11,900 to 8,000.

The three CORE candidates for area vice president were elected. The are Carol Caref (Area A), Jennifer Johnson (Area B), and Norine Gutekants (Area C).

All 17 CORE candidates for elementary functional vice president were also elected. They are: Beverly Allebach; Jeffrey Blackwell, Brenda Chandler, Susanne Dunn, Nathan Goldbaum, Alexandra Gonzalez, Francine Greenberg-Reizen, Lara Krejca, Garth Liebhaber, Joseph Linehan, Cielo Munoz, Annette Rizzo, Wade Tillett, Kevin Triplett, James Vail, Cassandra Vaughn, and Terri Wilford.

King High School chemistry teacher and CORE presidential candidate Karen Lewis (above) at the May 25 protest outside Chicago's City Hall. Lewis promoted an aggressive strategy of direct action by CORE and the CTU for more than two years, including the May 25 action, which was originally brought about by a motion from Jackson Potter, CORE co-chair. Substance photo by Garth Liebhaber.The acrimonious campaign saw Marilyn Stewart's supporters in the union's United Progressive Caucus spending in excess of a quarter million dollars (if one includes union staff time that was used to try and re-elect Stewart), but the CORE slate won handily.

Observers estimated that a total number of about 20,000 votes would be cast. The voting ended in the schools on the morning of June 11, and the counting began at the headquarters of AAA by 2:00 in the afternoon as hundreds of ballot boxes were delivered. The number of eligible voters in the 30,000-member union is approximately 27,000 (retiree members of the union were not allowed to vote). The union refused to provide Substance with an exact number of eligible voters
at the end of the campaign.

Above: Senn High School history teacher Jesse Sharkey (who is CORE candidate for vice president of the CTU) tried to get CPS Chief Executive Officer Ron Huberman to answer questions about the Board of Education's budget at the May 26, 2010 Board meeting. Huberman refused to "opine" in response to Sharkey's specific questions. For two years, CORE members have studied the CPS budget and challenged Huberman's claims about the budget, but CPS has refused to be specific. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.Because each candidate gets a
unique number of votes, but votes for caucuses generally fall in the same range, the number of votes for the presidential candidate generally reflects the success or failure of the rest of the caucus slate.

The CORE officer candidates elected with Karen Lewis were:

Jesse Sharkey, a Senn High School history teacher, who was elected vice president.

Michael Brunson, a displaced teacher currently working as a substitute teacher, who was elected recording secretary.

Kristine Mayle, a special education teacher at Eberhardt Elementary School, who was elected financial secretary.

Other CORE candidates who won citywide offices in the June 11 voting were six candidates for trustee (Jackson Potter, Jay Rehak, Lois Ashford, Eric Skalinder, Sara Echevarria, and Albert Ramirez) and CORE candidates for "Area Vice Presidents" (Carol Caref, Area A; Jennifer Johnson, Area B; and Norine Gutekanst, Area C).

The voting was also determining the 17 elementary school "functional vice presidents" and vice presidents representing school clerks and school community representatives.

The runoff election was held in all of the schools on June 11, 2010. The runoff came following a five-way race, the voting of which was held on May 21. In the five-way race, Stewart was opposed by two of her former supporters — former Vice President Ted Dallas and field representative Ted Hajiharis — and by former CTU President Deborah Lynch. Stewart had first defeated Lynch for the presidency in 2004, winning a second term in 2007, in a race organized by Dallas.

CORE candidate for recording secretary Michael Brunson (above at microphone during the April 28 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education) won handily as part of the CORE slate in the June 11 runoff election. At the time of his election, Brunson was a substitute teacher because he had been displaced from Aldridge school. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.

Some executive board seats had already been decided in May 21 voting.

In each category, the winner is the individual with the majority of the votes. Since the voting is for "functional vice presidents" for each of the major groups within the union, that means that some executive board members were elected prior to the June 11 voting. According to the CTU website, the CORE candidates for high school functional vice presidents won a majority in the May 21 voting, and the UPC candidates for teacher assistance and audiometric technicians won a majority in the May 21 voting. Although the high school vote totals are available on the CTU website (http://www.facebook.com/l/3d1df;www.ctunet.com), the union never published the complete totals for all PSRP candidates.

The union website was stating the following from the May 21 voting: "The winners for the High School Functional Vice president group are Sean Barrett, Valerie Collins, Lois Jones, Joseph McDermott, Adria Mitchell, and Zulma Ortiz." All are members of CORE.

The union website was stating the following about the PSRP results from the May 21 voting: "The winners for the Teacher/School Bilingual Spanish/Montessori Program/Educational Sign Language Interpreters/ School Social Service/ Instructor Assistants Functional Vice president group are Gloria Higgins, Myra Johnson, and Linda Williams." All are members of the UPC.

Kristine Mayle, who is CORE's candidate for financial secretary, one of four elected offices in the CTU, has spoken at Board meetings and hearings more than 30 times since she became active in CORE in 2008. Above, she is asking questions about the Board's revised policies for special education staffing at the May 26, 2010 Board of Education meeting. At the time of the June 11 CTU election, Mayle was a special education teacher at Eberhardt Elementary School in Chicago.
Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.The union website was stating the following about the PSRP results from the May 21 voting: "The winner for the Vision, Screening & Audiometric/Audio-Visual Technicians, Speech/Language Pathology Paraeducator, and Bilingual Assistants and Hospital Licensed Practical/ Health service Nurses Functional Vice president group is Arlene Williams." Williams is a UPC candidate.

Two other groups of PSRPs are being contested in the June 11 runoff.

After the CTU failed to publish the complete vote counts from the May 21 election (as of June 11, the vote totals for the PSRP candidates were still not up on the CTU website), CORE observers and canvassers on June 11 were prepared to demand that all observers and canvassers be provided with digital copies of the information before leaving the offices of AAA.
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Chicago Hope - UPDATED - 9am

The victory was so overwhelming, Randi and the AFT won't be able to help Stewart steal this one. Hopefully CORE will make use of people like George Schmidt (who declined to run with them to focus on making Substance a tool in the election) and former CTU President Debbie Lynch who finished third but endorsed CORE in the runoff. Keep checking Substance for details. Analysis on what it mean for all of us in the next few days. (Remember, there is no sell-out like New Action that will support the party in power no matter what to split and drain off votes from the opposition. See After Burn below for a touch of analysis.)

Substance Reports:

CORE, led by Karen Lewis, wins CTU election in landslide, with Lewis defeating Marilyn Stewart 12,080 to 8,326

Fred Klonsky Says:

Chicago teachers elect new leadership, sending a message to teacher union leadership everywhere.

June 12, 2010

It’s a stunning rebuke of business as usual. And it sends a message to teacher union leadership everywhere. Members of the Chicago Teachers Union overwhelmingly voted out the old and turned to the new, progressive, fighting leadership of the CORE slate.

Among CORE’s issues were: Capping CTU officer and staff salaries to the average teacher salary prorated over 12 months, limiting standardized tests and banning the use of test results to punish, label or denigrate schools, students or teachers. CORE has promised to work to repeal mayoral control of schools and restore the right to collectively bargain class sizes, counselor loads and stop school closings and reconstitutions.

But beyond their specific platform, teachers responded to CORE’s aggressive response, so untypical of so many teacher union leaders today, to the teacher bashing, union bashing politics of politicians at the local, state and national level, from Democrats and Republicans both.

Teachers are tired of the go-along, “sit at the table” politics that passes for teacher union leadership today. Chicago’s vote yesterday is the clearest sign of that.

Substance background report:

Marilyn's Merdy Mess... The UPC ends itself with the dirtiest campaign in the history of the Chicago Teachers Union

After Burn
The CORE story does not begin with its founding a little over 2 years ago. Having had their own media outlet that reaches so many Chicago teachers did not play an insignificant role. George Schmidt's Substance played a role in Debbie Lynch's election in 2001 and in this result.

I am planning on writing about the differences between NYC and Chicago soon but one major dif is our not having a Substance around. (The print edition of Ed Notes from 2002-2004 had this idea around it, especially after George's visit to a meeting I held at my house in the summer of 2002 but there seemed too many competing groups around - New Action (still viable as an opposition), Teachers for a Just Contract and Progressive Action Caucus. All 3 groups had a great dislike for each other and Ed Notes attempts to broker some kind of united front were rebuffed.)

I wonder what the New Action sell-outs will be saying - probably claim their example of "suck-up to the leadership under the guise of we all must stick together when under attack" was an inspiration to CORE.

Chance of Losing? Just don't hold an election: Randi Weingarten Ally Follows Course in DC

Typhoid Randi

[Washington DC teacher union president] George Parker REFUSED to provide the necessary information so that the elections committee could proceed with union elections. Now that's a way for Parker to stay in office.

Now if you New York teachers think this doesn't apply to you - after all Mulgrew, one of the 12 most effective labor leaders, [according to City Hall News] - won 91% of the vote because he talked like he was effective - the same type of shenanigans will take place if there is ever a contested election here. After all, Randi Weingarten is involved on Parker's side. She was quick to have the AFT intervene over a relatively minor issue on the constitution of the election committee, using that as an excuse to postpone the elections to give her pal Michelle Rhee time to get a vote on a new contract before Parker opponent Nathan Saunders could win an election and use his pulpit to campaign against the contract.

Randi won that round but then there was this pesky thing called an election that was SUPPOSED to still take place. A pro Saunders slate was elected to the NEW election committee.

Randi and Parker have to engage in these tactics because they don't have their own pet phony opposition like New Action to endorse the incumbent (like New Action has done in here in 3 straight elections and will continue to do forever) and create a distraction for the members. But I'll write more about how NYC differs from other cities in a future post.

See Candi's Peterson's Post:

No WTU Elections For You: If President George Parker Has Anything To Do With It

Now with the Chicago runoff between the Unity-like UPC and the chief opposition, CORE due to take place this Friday, observers are keeping an eye out for the kinds of procedural games the AFT (which has a full-time staffer assigned to work with the UPC) and the UPC might play. I would bet that they already have a procedural protest planned and all written up and ready to go just in case CORE, which ran a dead heat with the UPC in round 1 and has been endorsed by the caucus leaders of the next two finishers, might win on Friday. In round one over 30 ballot boxes were not picked up by the AAA and instead delivered by UPC staff people. This is Chicago. So CORE might have done even better.

Guess where such a protest goes? Why to Randi at the AFT. In 2004, the AFT clearly supported the UPC even though there were some serious doubts. So if there is a protest of Friday's election by the UPC people will be watching what the AFT does very carefully. Since CORE has a real base, unlike so many opposition parties which are heads with no bodies - see NYC for example - and if the election is stolen watch for a massive explosion in Chicago.

The election also has some impact on the AFT convention in Seattle on July 7-11. If CORE wins and sends 150 delegates - I know this pales in comparison to the Unity 800 - but if they start linking up with delegates opposed to Randi's taking the AFT down the ed deform road, there will be national implications.

But of course the real national implications for a CORE win would be for the Obama/Duncan program. Coming right from the belly of the ed deform beast of 16 years of mayoral control, having a group consisting of a lot of young, activist teachers take power would shake the tree. CORE has stood up over it's two plus years of existence against school closings and battled the charter school influx which has reduced the number of Chicago teacher union members from around 34,000 to 28,000. CORE stands firmly against the Race to the Top crap that the AFT is dishing out to help get laws changed.

Note how the press and the blogs have ignored this story. Anti-union "reporters" like Mike Antonucci who will expose a union leader for sneezing without using a handkerchief, seems to have forgotten where Chicago is despite the lovely reminders I send him.

And Alexander Russo, who writes the TWIE blog (which I don't read regularly but have not seen any reports on the Chicago election) along with the District 299 blog about Chicago education even though he lives in Brooklyn, also has precious little about the election on that blog. Living in Brooklyn must make it tough to cover. He should read George Schmidt's Substance so he would know what's going on. And all of you should too to see what the Unity-like UPC is willing to pull to hold onto power, with the support I might add of the Chicago power structure and behind the scenes, the AFT.

And here in NYC? We seem to be at least 3-5 years behind, but if you watch what Mulgrew has done in the two plus months since his 91% victory, you can see what is coming.

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About the graphic:
The other day, Michael Fiorillo branded Randi Weingarten "Typhoid Randi" for spreading toxicity through union compliance with the ed deform agenda. Just a few words to David Bellel and "Voila!"

Preliminary Election Results Show CORE to be in Runoff Election June 11th

Here is CORE's press release on the Chicago union elections, which win or lose in the runoff for CORE, is a cataclysmic event in teacher unionism with national implications - the AFT/UFT Weingarten/Mulgrew sellout policies have pushed teachers up against the wall. We'll be back later with some prelim analysis.

Read updates from George Schmidt at Substance:

Norm

_________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ CONTACT: Karen Lewis CORE CTU Presidential Candidate FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 22, 2010 CORE Media Relations Liz Brown Kenzo Shibata Preliminary Election Results Show CORE to be in Runoff Election June 11th In a five-way race for the leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union, a run-off on June 11, 2010 appears likely between the Caucus of Rank-and-file Educators (CORE), headed by CORE Presidential Candidate Karen Lewis and the incumbent party UPC. At the time of this release, the preliminary vote count stands at UPC 31.9%, CORE 30%, PACT 15.1%, CSDU 6.8% and SEA 5.6%. "What this election shows us is that teachers and PSRPs are fed up. CORE's success is we are a big-tent, grass-roots group led democratically from the bottom up. That was why CORE began in the first place - to activate and energize all members in running the Union. It also turned out to be a winning campaign strategy. I sincerely thank all of our supporters for their tireless work and dedication to our shared cause," said Karen Lewis. Throughout the campaign, CORE has called for an end to business as usual, transparency from both the CTU and Chicago Public Schools, and a unified effort to improve Chicago's public schools among its natural allies - teachers, students, parents and community members. "CORE invites all caucuses and Union members to join us to reinvigorate rank-and-file members and wake up the sleeping giant that is the Chicago Teachers Union. Now is the time to end UPC's decades long control of our Union that has been a disservice to members," said Lewis. This breakdown does not take in account the 35 ballot boxes that were not picked up from their respective schools. # # # CORE, the Caucus of Rank-and-file Educators, is a reform caucus of the Chicago Teachers Union that represents teachers and the students and families they serve. Meeting and Celebration Open to all those who support CORE in the June 11th Runoff Election CORE Slate 2010: Michael Brunson, Karen Lewis, Jesse Sharkey, and Kristine Mayle Monday, May 24th 2010 4:00-6:00 PM Letter Carriers Hall 3850 South Wabash Food will be provided. We will be raising funds, so please bring your checkbook.

Chicago union election today with potentially shocking results

UPDATE: Sat, May 22: Report from Sharon Schmidt indicated that Marilyn Stewart's UCP Will make the runoff along with CORE.

"At midnight, George reported from the AAA vote count that it looks like there will be a run-off between CORE and UPC. At 5:10 a.m. we are still waiting for final results."

Now we're down to the nitty gritty. If it turns out this way - UPC vs. CORE. All the forces from the AFT, the mayor, the Board of Education, the city and state labor feds, politicians, etc will do what they can to stop CORE. More updates later.

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Sources report the astounding possibility that CTU president Marilyn Stewart's caucus stands an excellent chance to not be one of the final two caucuses to make the runoff when the votes are counted tonight. This is bad news for Randi Weingarten and NYC's total dominance of the AFT, especially if CORE and Debbie Lynch's caucus make the finals.

Lynch supposedly despises Randi. Lynch was president of the CTU when Stewart's Caucus lost 9 years ago but Randi eventually stabbed her in the back to help Stewart take over. CORE is the more radical wing and if they win and join the 20 delegates from Detroit and if Randi fails in stealing the election from Nathan Saunders in DC, watch the fur fly in Seattle at the AFT convention in July. Not that there can be much of a challenge with the 800 Unity Caucus slugs conventionning on our dime, but I may be forced to pack up my trusty video camera and book a ticket to join the fun.

If Stewart gets knocked off it is also bad news for the Mayor Daley/Duncan and successor crowd because they clearly favor a sell-out union. Imagine if you will where BloomKlein would stand if an opposition ever threatened Unity. Squarely with Mulgrew. And it would be fun to see the NY Post jump on the Mulgrew bandwagon if there ever was such a threat.

Chicago is a weather vane for what is going to happen here. Stewart held a big fundraiser with a lot of politico bigwigs showing up and putting some cash on the table. They seem pretty nervous too, as do the other suck-up union leaders around the state. Read this article as Substance for more.

The Chicago union election is run by the AAA like here in NYC, but teachers can only vote today in their schools. AAA couriers come by to pick up the ballot boxes. There is no double envelope to protect the vote, but then again this is Chicago where elections are known to be stolen.

George Schmidt is at the count and will be reporting at Substance all night.

Friday, May 21, 2010, the Chicago Teachers Union will hold the election that may determine who runs the 30,000-member union for the next three years. I say "may" because according to CTU rules, a candidate has to get more than 50 percent of the vote to win. With five slates running on May 21, that is highly unlikely, if not mathematically impossible.

Substance will try to release the first vote count after the votes are tallied Friday night or Saturday, and then provide our readers with the schedule for the runoff election if one is necessary. We have devoted an enormous amount of time and space to the Chicago election because Chicago's version of corporate "school reform" — including the corporate version of "school reform unionism" practiced by the leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union under Marilyn Stewart — is the model for much of what is destroying public education in the USA today.

Thanks for tuning in,

George N. Schmidt
Editor, Substance

Rank and File Opposition (CORE) Sweeps Chicago Teacher Pension Elections

"In what can only be described as a stunning upset, two Chicago public schools teachers, Lois Ashford (O'Keefe Elementary School) and Jay Rehak (Whitney Young High School) decisively defeated two incumbents to win seats on the Board of Trustees of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund (CTPF) in an election held in all Chicago public schools and most of the city's charter schools on October 30, 2009." George Schmidt for Substance

George Schmidt called with the news yesterday and Substance is running a major article on its web site. There are lots of lessons for us in trying to build a movement within the union here in NYC.

Deteriorating conditions for public ed in Chicago, after 15 years of mayoral control are way ahead of NYC so a CORE type group emerging may have been inevitable. We should see the same type of development here within the next few years as the privatization movement accelerates. But the CTU has a much weaker leadership in terms of control than the uft. Core has a chance to actually win in the union election in May.

George's full article is at http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=966&section=Article

Here's another report from a CORE member:

Rank and File Opposition Sweeps Chicago Teacher Pension Elections

by Jesse Sharkey, Caucus Of Rank and File Educators (CORE)

Rank and File activists swept the election for the Chicago Teacher Pension Fund trustees (two were up for election) Friday night.

Jay Rehak, a teacher at Chicago's Whitney Young High School, and Lois Ashford, a teacher at O'Keefe Elementary were elected pension trustees to oversee the Pension Fund's $8 billion assets.

The election was significant because pension trustees will have to play an increasingly active role in defending the. The fund has been specifically targeted by, the new CEO of Chicago Public Schools, and many teachers fear their retirement is under threat. Huberman slashed the Chicago Transit Authority pension when he ran that agency in 2007, raising retirement age by ten years.

The election is also significant as an indicator of the popularity of the four main groups vying for control of the union.

Vote totals below indicate that CORE's candidates (Rehak and Ashford) beat out the current leadership's United Progressive Caucus candidates, Williams and Otero, while Finnegan--running with former president Debbie Lynch's Pro Active Chicago Teachers caucus, and Demeros (unaffiliated) brought up the rear.

The unexpected result signals that CORE may be the favorite to win the race for leadership of the CTU, coming up in May.

TEACHER TRUSTEE
Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund 2009 Teacher Election
Final Vote Summary - October 30, 2009

* Jay Rehak 6,551 23.72%
* Lois Ashford 4,842 17.53%
Nancy Williams 4,799 17.38%
Reina Otero 4,115 14.90%
Rose Mary Finnegan 3,037 11.00%
Aspasia Demeros 2,137 7.74%
Unexercised Vote 1,711 6.19%
Multiple Mark 428 1.55%
27,620

RELATED: HELP BUILD AN ALTERNATIVE TO UNITY CAUCUS IN NYC

Educators File Discrimination Charges Against Chicago Board of Education

ICE and GEM will be opening links to CORE next weekend in Chicago.



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts: Carol Caref, Teacher
CORE
June 10, 2009 (773) 791-5500
ccaref@gmail.com

Jennifer Purcell, Attorney
Robin Potter & Associates
(312) 861-1800
jennifer.n.purcell@gmail.com

Educators File Discrimination Charges Against Board of Education

Chicago Public Schools "Turnaround" Policy Unfair to African American Teachers

On Wednesday, June 10th, the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that school "turnarounds," a "Renaissance 2010" policy, have a disparate impact on African American teachers. Teachers who filed the charges contend that African American teachers suffer a disproportionately adverse impact as a result of the school turnarounds.

LINK to Charges

The charges filed fall under Title VII which prohibits not only overt, obvious, and intentional discrimination, but also practices that are fair in form but discriminatory in operation. Essentially, a "turnaround" constitutes a layoff policy that almost exclusively impacts African American teachers.

Wanda Evans, a teacher who worked at Orr High School for 11 years before it was turned-around, claims that the plan is designed to get rid of senior teachers and replace them with lower-salaried new teachers to save money; "I'm completely offended by the way veteran teachers have been treated, it's like a fast food special, let's get a 2 for 1." Ms. Evans has been nominated for Golden Apple and DRIVE teaching awards and now feels "swept right out of the door."

Lois Ashford, a member of CORE's steering committee, taught at Copernicus Elementary for sixteen years before losing her job to the "turnaround" process. "In my professional opinion, Ren2010 has been a disaster for everyone concerned: parents who have been left out of decision-making, students who are forced out of stable educational environments in their neighborhoods, and minority teachers who are being disenfranchised at an alarming rate for no other reason than they've taught for over 10 years."

For Karen Lewis, a teacher and co-chair of CORE, the turnarounds have undermined an entire sector of black teachers in the Chicago Public Schools. "Since the beginning of the year, I've met black teachers who are working as substitutes. They are in tears, not just about the loss of their jobs but also about the loss of their status in the community. These school and position closings are insidious and Draconian. They are based on only one measurement -- test scores -- which say more about socio-economic status than they do about teaching and learning."

"Turnaround" is a program where everyone at a school is fired, including teachers, cafeteria staff, administration, and every other employee on site. This program is a part of "Renaissance 2010" which is Mayor Daley's program to overhaul the Chicago Public Schools through privatization and destabilization of the city's schools.

CORE researchers, looking at statistics compiled by the Illinois State Board of Education, concluded that since 2002, when the term "Renaissance Schools" was first used in relation to the closing of Dodge, Terrell and Williams elementary schools, the percentage of African American teachers in CPS has dropped from 39.4 to 31.6. Currently, there are 2,000 fewer Black teachers working in CPS than there were in 2002.

CORE is the reform caucus of the Chicago Teachers Union that represents rank-and-file members. The group is composed of teachers, retired teachers, educational staff and other champions of public education who hope to democratize the Chicago Teachers Union and turn it into an organization that fights on behalf of its members and the students they teach.

Is Chicago Teachers Delegate Assembly an Evil Twin of UFT?

House of Delegates Denied Democracy

Read Rebecca Johnson's CORE (Caucus of Rank and File Educators) report of the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates meeting on April 15. No democracy there too? And Randi actually was at that meeting to witness it. Deja vu, Randi?

Randi Weingarten spoke for the longest time and [CTU leader] Marilyn Stewart claimed that the reason for doing this speech/press conference/rally during our House of Delegates meeting was Randi’s hectic schedule and her agreeing to come from New York to celebrate with Civitas* on short notice.

What? Randi speak for a long time? Say it ain't so.

CORE, a fairly new caucus, has been extremely active in the CTU. The Grassroots Education Movement here in NYC, which has people from ICE, TJC, ISO, NYCORE, Teachers Unite and others involved is reaching out to CORE to touch base.

Related:
Marian Swerdlow of TJC does an excellent DA report here in NYC but you have to subscribe to get it. Email me for the contact info: normsco@gmail.com

George Schmidt at Substance compares Arne Duncan to Alan Greenspan
"improving public education" in Arne Duncan's version of reality means more charter schools, the closing of low-scoring public schools, and various forms of choice and material incentives (including teacher merit pay). Duncan claims that he successfully brought those reforms to Chicago's public schools, although Substance has proven in each case that Duncan's claims are false and will continue to do so even more elaborately now that Duncan is trying to export the attacks on public education that he got away with in Chicago.

*They all also were there to praise teachers from three Chicago International Charter Schools (CICS)—Wrightwood, Northtown Academy and Ralph Ellison campuses—which have voted to become unionized. These schools are run by Civitas, one of the charter educational management companies CPS has allowed to open charters in Chicago.

CORE: Chicago Teacher Caucus Makes Waves

I spoke to Substance's George Schmidt briefly today and he tells me CORE (The Caucus of Rank and File Educators), a caucus in the Chicago Teachers Union, has had a galvanizing impact on the progressive educators in Chicago by leading the charge against the corporate, mayoral control-driven agenda. Their actions have even forced the regressive Marilyn Stewart Unity Caucus like CTU to join the parade. The mostly youthful CORE and the more senior Substance have established a close relationship, with some CORE members writing for Substance.

In NYC, the UFT holds a rally with supposedly 75,000 people and says - "Thank you, now go home and write letters to politicians." It's basically a one shot deal instead of building militancy and an activist network for further actions. The UFT leadership is afraid of activism because then questions might be raised as to how undemocratically the organization is run. Ed Notes and ICE believes in many of the positions of CORE in the CTU. Read these excerpts from the CORE newsletter in Chicago or click link below. See Ed Notes' previous post on LA Teacher Union action (Periodic Assessment Boycott by LA Teacher Union).

The parallel here in NYC (though we are years behind and have to deal with the monster Unity Caucus machine that is capable of cooptation and destroying of militancy) has been the recent activity on the part of ICE and NYCoRE (NY Collective of Radical Educators.)


The CORE Mission:

A group of dedicated teachers, Retirees, PSRPs and other champions of public education. We hope to democratize the Chicago Teacher's Union and turn it into an organization that fights on behalf of its members and the students we teach.

Angel Gonzalez sent this to ICE-Mail.

Let's build our NYC militant grassroots organization so that we can unite with Chicago, LA, Puerto Rico, and other regions to fight the privatization of schooling with the onslaught of School Closings, Charter Schools, High Stakes Testing, Deskilling of Students & Teachers, Lowering of worker wages & benefits, teacher firings & harassments, loss of union rights, etc. etc. etc. Let's organize the local struggles so that we can mobilize for the global fight for public education.
- Angel Gonzalez, ASC-ICE, JNJT-NYCoRE

(excerpts below)

Protest February 25th at the Board of Education

As opposition grows city-wide against Mayor Daley's undemocratic “school reform”, the Chicago
Teachers Union, CORE, and the GEM coalition will show its growing strength at the next meeting of the Chicago Board of Education. The last hearing saw over 500 protesters fill the streets around 125 South Clark Street and this month we hope for more.

Teachers should take a personal business day, if possible, and attend the Board meeting. Contact the Union to arrange buses from your school for the protest, which will begin at 3:30pm. Go to
COREteachers.org and join our e-mail list for updates on the opposition to Renaissance 2010!

Get Involved with CORE!
Visit COREteachers.org to read about the hearings on closing schools and upcoming actions, to join our mailing list, and to become a supporting member. The fight for quality public education needs CORE and CORE needs you!

GEM Coalition Unites Teachers, Parents, Community Groups
Dubbing themselves the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) six parent, community, and education activist groups joined ranks with CORE and the Chicago Teachers Union to form a new coalition opposing Mayor Daley's attacks on quality public education. The groups first began organizing together in the run-up to CORE's January 10th community hearing at Malcolm X College.

Friendly relations turned to energetic collaboration in preparation for the January 28th demonstration outside the Chicago Board of Education meeting that drew over 500 protesters.

GEM's web site strongpublicschools.org has fact sheets, alert bulletins, and links to coalition groups: Blocks Together, CTU, CORE, Chicago Youth Initiating Change (CYIC), Designs for Change, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), Pilsen Alliance, Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE), South Side United, Local School Council Federation, South
West Youth Collaborative, Substance News and Teachers for Social Justice.

http://coreteachers.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/2009-02-21-newsletter-core.pdf

Surrender of Tenure in Chicago....

...a precursor for New York

by George Schmidt

10/16/08

The Chicago Teachers Union has surrendered tenure in all but the flimsiest thought. Tenure exists now for teachers at "successful" schools, but not for teachers at "failing" schools. Since most of our schools are "failing" (Chicago is much more segregated than New York City, and with much more dense sections of complete poverty) that means just about everyone.

Basically, Chicago began surrendering tenure with the surrender of seniority in the mid-1990s, and has been surrendering since. There was a brief time under Debbie Lynch (2001-2004) when the union wasn't as big a part of the problem, but that is now over and things are worse than ever.

The CTU "Fresh Start" (peer lynching policy, I'm calling it) is based on the monstrosity from Toledo Federation of Teachers (Dal Lawrence) and is now being exported from Chicago via AFT to everyone else.

Randi knows this.

She's lying if she doesn't admit that she is giving away tenure, bit by bit, with Chicago serving as the role model and a couple of other places (e.g., Washington D.C.) coming in a close second because AFT isn't organizing and supporting resistance to people like Michelle Rhee. Of course, the greatest surrender of all is New Orleans. But that, too, is a much longer story.

George Schmidt
Editor, Substance

www.substancenews.net

Ed Note:
Chicago is years ahead of NYC in mayoral control and has had all the horrors that hit here years before. Ed Notes was out there warning people in the UFT about mayoral control from way back in 2001. On the day Randi came out in favor (May 2001) I went to an Executive Board meeting that night and placed a leaflet with the Chicago story in front of every UFT Executive Board member. Of course they knew and went along for the ride. Dumb? I think not. Mayoral control fits the AFT/UFT vision of education. Thus, they will not make a stand against it, though they will have their committee on governance make some namby pamby noises about checks and balances. And thus they will do nothing to try to stop Bloomberg from another term, the truest spirit of collaboration. Their problem is how to convince the members to go along. But they have the answer: scare them with the financial catastrophe that is to come, making reference to the strike in '75 as a failure. Sure, it was a failure because Al Shanker sold it out. We can expect nothing less than a total sellout – on mayoral control, on Bloomberg, on rating teachers based on test scores, on unfairly closing schools, on ATRs, on the rubber room, on grievances, on just about any issue you can bring up. The only hope is for teachers to wake up and forge a militant opposition to Unity.

Schmidt on RICO Investigation of CTU and Substance Coverage of NEA

Substance is putting up reports from the NEA convention written by Jack Gerson of Oakland. Many people have met Jack over the years, and he needs no introduction from me. I think that for NEA there will be multiple sources of information, and that will be good for all of us.

So starting late tonight or early tomorrow, you'll be able to read Jack's reports from NEA at www.substancenews.net.

Then, beginning next Thursday, you can read our staff reports from AFT on the same site.

Thanks again to everyone who convinced AFT that it was a good idea to let Substance cover the AFT convention.

We just got work yesterday that the feds are conducting a RICO kind of investigation into the recent silliness inside the Chicago Teachers Union. While these factual realities make great grist for Antonucci, we've got to be careful how loudly we cheer. If AFT gets through the Chicago convention without some major blowup based on Chicago's local stupidities (that's a huge plural), it will be a miracle.

At least we got our press credentials for the Substance team coverage. Janet Bass asked that we try to be "complete" and "accurate" and I promised her that's what we intended from the beginning. Accuracy doesn't mean that we agree with what we're reporting, but merely that we will begin with the facts and double check the main ones. For example, that RICO fact I report in the first paragraph of this e-mail is well sourced. Anyone who cares about Randi and our strength as a union (factions aside) might let her know that's brewing here in the host city of the upcoming convention. She's going to have enough headaches running AFT without having to deal with Chicago's sandbox stupidities.

By tomorrow night, we should have out Web updates well in hand, testing he functions on our newly re-coded site (it should be about five times faster) the next couple of days with Jack Gerson's reports from Washington, D.C. and then providing daily coverage from July 10 through July 15 from and about AFT.

George N. Schmidt
Editor, Substance

www.substancenews.net

Chicago Rules...

.... For Firing Teachers

.....has been circulating on ICE-mail (posted on Norms Notes.) No one knows the scene there better than George Schmidt. He comments here.

Chicago gave up seniority in hiring when the Chicago Teachers Union supported corporate "school reform" (and the original mayoral control model of governance) in 1995 during the debates over the changes in the Illinois School Code that were finally called the "Amendatory Act."

The details morph from year to year, but the drive since 1995 has been to create as large a number of "at will" workers in the school system as possible. This was one of the major dialectical thrusts of mayoral control from the beginning, and still is. With each passing contract (and each "reorganization" of each "failing" -- er, "underperforming" -- school) the pool grows larger.

The collaboration of the unions in the destruction of the bases of unionism here in Chicago is now a matter of history, although only Substance has reported it in detail. The AFT local here (the Chicago Teachers Union) just added a few more nails into the coffin of seniority rights in the new contract. But the nails had been driven in since 1995, under both the "old guard" (United Progressive Caucus) leadership (1995-2001; 2004- present) and the "reform leadership" of Debbie Lynch (2001-2004).

The executive model of governance, at the citywide level via mayoral control and at the school level via dictatorial principals' control, requires as many "at will" workers as possible, and as few true worker rights as possible. It's a mistake, in my opinion, to demonize some jerk like Jack Welch, since the policy he's teaching is being thrust on cities nationally (wherever the majority of children are minority and poor), an attack on teachers, and in most of those places there is no Jack Welch (but instead a committee of anonymous Chicago Boys types) to do the dirty work.

Strumming through some back issues of Substance (www.substancenews.net) can give you some of the details. But I'm going to have to write a book about it (after we reprint "The AFT and the CIA" and make some publication costs back on sales) to give people the full flavor. These people plan carefully and have a thousand bullshit versions of why it's "best" that way. They also exchange PR people to hammer you with "bad teacher" stories. That's one of the reasons why I warn people not to use the enemy's phrases -- like "Rubber Room".

Solidarity,
George N. Schmidt
Editor, Substance

www.substancenews.net (archives at www.substancenews.com)

Substance: Chicago teachers challenge Mayor Daley

It's nice to be in the middle of a breaking story.
This is one of the biggest stories out of Chicago this weekend. Share the access far and wide.
On Friday night, the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates met and after a tumultuous meeting "approved" a tentative contract.

Or didn't.

The complete and amazing story is now on the Substance website
www.substancenews.net

See the anonymous videos from inside the CTU House of Delegates meeting Friday night and Substance's Al Ramirez's two brilliant videos from after the meeting was over.

You can also blog it at http://www.substancenewsblog.blogspot.com/
or see the blog about the CTU activites at www.district299.com

It's been a busy weekend. Happy Labor Day,

George Schmidt
Editor

LA Dreamin'

Some very instructive points in this article and George Schmidt's comment comparing the reactions of teacher unions in LA, Chicago and New York. Debbie Lynch won election originally with what seemed to be a reform agenda over the Chicago equivalent of Randi Weingarten's Unity Caucus, though Debbie also had long-time ties to Al Shanker.

AJ Duffy in LA also won election with a slate of various caucuses that defeated an incumbent leadership that could be viewed as a Unity Caucus equivalent. But Duffy and his team have very different political points of view than the leadership in NYC and have a long-term strategy as opposed to the very short-term goals of the UFT which always looks for the quick PR value and then runs on to the next big thing. And there's got to be a different mind set between dealing with a mayor in LA who was a teacher union organizer and Bloomberg. But the problem with handing over control of schools to a mayor is that you never know who you might end up with. That is why any governance plan requires some serious level of oversight.

From almost the day I started teaching I thought the school system (and the UFT) was in serious need of reform. To see the reform movement captured by the likes of BloomKlein and their allies like Eli Broad nationwide is due to a great extent to the collaboration people like Randi Weingarten and other union leaders who are always defensive about protecting teacher rights because they have no vision for how a school system should look and seem more intent on impressing the powers that be and the press as to how "cooperative" they can be.

Actually, I believe they are way more in line with the BloomKleins of this world than they are with the rank and file teachers. Look at the connections with the Clintons who have played a role in these "reform" movements that end up with teacher bashing. And follow the line to Clinton billionaire buddy Ron Burkle who tried to buy the Tribune newspaper chain with Eli Broad, who has so much praise for both BloomKlein and Weingarten (he gave the UFT charter schools $1 million.)

Some of our colleagues in TJC have contacts in LA and we will monitor what is happening out there.

George comments: 6/10/07
The reason Debbie Lynch was ousted was that she didn't heed the voices of the "rank and file" against these bullshit corporate "reforms." And she just lost her bid to get back into office by a huge margin because her opponents (the Chicago version of Unity) successfully portrayed her as having sold out the membership during her brief three years in office (2001 -2004). The fact it, the "mayoral control" model of corporate school reform that the newspapers all back was in place in Chicago for six years (1995-2001) under Chicago's version of Unity before Debbie ousted them by opposing their sellouts. The exciting thing in Los Angeles is that the leadership of UTLA can't fall prey to this phony fascist version of "reform" despite what all the New Democrats" and their media are saying if the membership remains active. As we know in Chicago and you've also learned in New York City, mayoral control is not in the interest of teachers, children, or democratic public schools. No matter how big the opening bribes are. Hopefully, the Los Angeles union will reverse its support based on how much we've learned already in Chicago and New York (and Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, and now New Orleans... among others).

George N. Schmidt Editor, Substance Chicago www.substancenews.com

Union leaders in a bind
Reform-minded UTLA chiefs struggle to win over teachers
BY NAUSH BOGHOSSIAN, Staff Writer

With momentum growing for drastic reform at Los Angeles public schools driven by the superintendent and mayor, the politically powerful teachers union finds itself on the front lines of a potentially divisive battle.

United Teachers Los Angeles' own crew of reform leaders is walking a tightrope between privately backing reform efforts it has long sought, while publicly defending the rights of a rank-and-file that is being described as staunchly rigid and unaccepting of change.

Led by President A.J. Duffy, the small team of advisers is keenly aware that it must quickly and smoothly work to engender the support of its membership or risk jeopardizing the unprecedented alignment of leaders to spark a revolution at the beleaguered school district.

After decades of failed reforms, achievement scores lagging well behind the state averages and dropout rates estimated between 24 percent and 50 percent, the lives of more than 708,000 students and teachers hang in the balance - and with that, the health of the city itself.

"I don't think it's the union leadership any longer. It's a battle between the leadership being more reform-minded than the membership and the membership dragging down what the leadership wants to do in political and classroom advances," said Jaime Regalado, director of the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles.

"It's a tussle with the staunchly rigid rank-and-file where the reformers are on top, but they're being held back by a fear of change in the predominant majority of members."

Los Angeles teachers, who have been on the receiving end of countless promises while little has resulted from previous reform efforts, have become mistrustful of the district even as they have wielded considerable clout in district politics.

The divide is deep, especially in the wake of the backroom deal struck by the mayor with the union leadership to create Assembly Bill 1381, which would have given the mayor a substantial role in the school district.

Maclay Middle School algebra teacher Tim Henricks, who considers himself new to the profession with seven years experience, said what he sees is a membership divided, particularly between newer teachers and their more senior colleagues.

Younger teachers seem more receptive to ideas like charter schools or getting charter-like freedoms, while those who have been in the Los Angeles Unified School District system far longer may be more complacent.

"With charters, there's more freedom to do what you want without the LAUSD breathing down your neck. But the major concern is, what happens after five years and the issue (arises) of getting rid of teachers with just cause?

"It's the parents and the teachers - nothing really gets done without that, anything that's productive anyway, that moves in the right direction. Without our support, it's going to go nowhere."

Suspicious of reform
At Cleveland Humanities Magnet High, teachers have a long record of classroom success by working together closely to help students do well in core classes.

But they said that despite getting 40 percent of their graduates last year into University of California schools, they are facing increasing pressure to follow a standardized approach.
"Teachers are skeptical of the reforms that would seemingly help them because of all the strings attached," said Gabriel Lemmon, a 10th-grade philosophy teacher in the magnet program.

"Bureaucracy should fit itself around good teaching. Teaching should not fit itself around a bureaucracy."

For Duffy, the key to winning broad support for reform is local control.

"I've seen this district reorganize every 2 years for a new reform, and teachers are tired of putting their time and energy, their hearts and their souls into reforms that are not going to bring better student outcomes and more support for teachers in the classrooms and health and human service professionals at the school sites."

Mindful of election
With a union election coming next February, Duffy and his team will likely be treading carefully, especially with the district facing a deficit that might jeopardize its ability to win further increases on top of the 6 percent raise won this year.

"The union's leaders are not strongly moving forward with any reform agenda because it's a very fine line with the upcoming election," Regalado said.

And although AB 1381 is dead - defeated in the courts, with the mayor announcing he won't pursue appeals after he secured a majority on the school board - the sentiment of a "hostile takeover" is very much alive among the members who were split down the middle on support for the legislation.

As school board officials and the Mayor's Office are working quietly to develop a plan for Villaraigosa to oversee a "demonstration project" of low-performing schools, the union has sent a clear message to them: Let the schools come to you with the overwhelming consensus of teachers or we will be forced to oppose the move.

"The mayor has a nasty habit of jumping too quickly," said one official, who asked for anonymity. "What we're trying to get him to understand through back channels and get him to do is not move so quickly."

At a recent news conference announcing the mayor's decision to give up the legal fight for AB 1381, Deputy Mayor Ray Cortines emphasized that the mayor's team will not actively "pick" schools. Rather, it will look to schools that ask for the office's involvement.

Allaying fears
The mayor, a former UTLA organizer and committed union liberal, has insisted his agenda puts teachers first. He has formed an alliance with new Superintendent David Brewer III, won majority control of the school board control and embraced union leaders. But it will take all his powers of persuasion to assuage fears of the rank-and-file.

"The public schools in Los Angeles are not going to be able to change unless you have buy-in on the part of the teachers, administrators, and parents," said Kent Wong, director of the UCLA Labor Center.

"The fact that the mayor came out of the teachers union, and the fact that he's a very persuasive, charismatic leader, the potential still exists for the mayor to play an important role in shaping the discussion on how to best improve the schools in Los Angeles and getting buy-in from the teachers to make that happen."

Villaraigosa said he believes any reform effort has to come from the "ground up, not from the top down," and that the union is "key to any effort to reform our schools." He admitted there will be challenges with the union, but he repeatedly emphasized one point: his long-standing relationship with the powerful organization.

"I've got a long history with them and we go way back, and my expectation is that we'll be able to work just fine," he said. "Challenges are opportunities and I can't tell you that there won't be some challenges, but I can tell you that I've got a long history with them, a very, very long history, and I think it's one that will provide the foundation for a successful partnership."

Need for change
Brewer insists he wants to work with the union but also made clear he means those who share the reform vision.

"Believe it or not, there are people inside the union that really understand that they need to change, and we just have to work with those people," he said.

What the mayor, Brewer and the union are seeking to achieve are the same core reform concepts: Small schools, greater local autonomy with teachers and principals having more control over budget and curriculum, and streamlining the bureaucracy to redirect those funds to classrooms.

Few can deny that teachers would embrace all those ideas, but the key to getting their support will likely come down to the process and showing teachers they are valued as professionals who have something to say about the reform proposals.

Wong said with public education on the forefront of public discourse, teachers feel under attack.

"There is a concern on the part of many teachers that their input is not being fully appreciated, so they resent it when people use the discussion about school reform as an opportunity to make disparaging remarks about teachers, that it's their fault," Wong said.
Union leaders believe their fatal political misstep was the decision to strike the backroom deal on AB 1381 with the mayor without involving UTLA's governing bodies.

Now they are working hard to educate teachers about the different reform options and what they would mean to them.

"These changes cause so much uncertainty for many teachers - we're not the most revolutionary of folk - and uncertainty causes folks to get very conservative in their thinking," Cleveland High's Magnet Program coordinator Lemmon said.

"So I don't know. I hope that we do something, but it seems that bottom-up or top-down, at the end of the day, it all seems about the same."
naush.boghossian@dailynews.com
(818) 713-3722

George Schmidt on a bunch of stuff

The NY Times reported the other day:

Next year, the four pregnancy schools and the last seven New Beginnings centers for students with behavioral problems will be phased out because of low attendance and poor performance.

We always love to get Chicago's George Schmidt's reaction to things since he has been so accurate in predicting the impact of mayoral control/corporate style management on New York. Due to George's warnings as far back as 2001, Ed Notes opposed Weingarten's call for mayoral control when Giuliani was still nmayor and her total cooperation with BloomKlein since.

May 28, 2007

New Yorkers:

Despite the rhetoric that they are doing all of this "for the sake of the kids," it is likely, unless you put enormous pressure on them, that New York will follow Chicago on this one.

Here in Chicago, the same kinds of things were done. Programs that were serving children with serious problems were dumped, amid rhetoric about improving things. What was actually done was to dump the kids from the place of last resort. The trick was to repeat, over and over and over, about how this was being done to improve things for those kids, then make sure that nobody studied what happened to the kids who were thrown in the dumpster.

The same is true of the schools that served pregnant girls. The last thing on the mind of a pregnant thirteen-year-old girl with other problems is making a high score on a standardized test. Ditto getting to "school" every day on time. As a result, of course test scores and attendance are "bad."

But those schools here in Chicago provided medical, counseling and other services that couldn't be mesured by any simple "matrix" (to use that Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush word the CEO types love). The main points of the schools were to serve both people -- the mother to be and the unborn child. To even talk about the "failure" of these schools in terms of attendance rates and test scores is a little nuts.

Again here, the key will be to follow the "We've got a study on that" model pioneered here in Chicago.

Tell the world you're concerned about every kid you're dumping, promise to make sure every kid you're dumping is both tracked and provided with access to better services (across the board), and then ignore those kids.

Just about every major university in Chicago has collaborated with the Chicago Board of Education in this major form of dishonesty. There are no "studies" and for most of the kids that are dumped, this is a ruthlessly Darwinian move by those who rule the city to purge the system of them (and the social obligation to try and help them solve massive economic, social, educational and personal problems).

George N. Schmidt
Editor, Substance
www.substancenews.com

Addendum: 5/29/07

One of the things Chicago's corporate media has ignored about all of these localized recreations is that extreme expansion of local administrative overhead.

Some Chicago high schools that once had one principal and one assistant principal (like Bowen, where I last worked before I was fired and blacklisted) now have three "small schools". That requires one "campus manager" (to coordinate all those operations within one building), three principals, and at least one assistant principal for each of those small schools. Each of those seven people is now being paid (straight salary) more than $100,000 per year.

That type of "reform" is providing a built-in social and economic base (within a new corporate "reform" bureaucracy) for the Bloombergs (New York City) and Daleys (Chicago) of the world.

The people who are becoming "principals" in these configurations never believed in their fantasies that they'd be earning $100,000 a year, or that they would be looking at pensions of $80,000 per year just for singing the praises of corporate "school reform" under the fascist model of the "CEO" solution to urban education -- or keeping their mouths shut about how corrupt it is.

Update on principal salaries:
One of the things that the imperial mayors want to do is create a distinct class of people, based on salary and prospective pension, that is always at odds, because of simple economics, with everyone else in the school.

When mayoral control began in 1995, the salary of the averae principal in Chicago was around 25 - 50 percent more than the salary of the average veteran teacher. Over time, the Board of Education tweaked that so that now both principals and assistant principals are being paid between $100,000 and $135,000 per year, while teachers are topping off at $65,000 per year. It seems that when a "teacher" (and this includes principals) gets into six figure incomes and the prospect of a pension based on that, any loyalty to the classroom ends. That's what's happened here in Chicago. The huge salaries are then supplemented, post retirement, with consultancies.

It's a mini version of the "CEO model" of how things are supposed to work.

Keep an eye on what's happening in New York, since for all the differences you're still following the Chicago script (including the collaboration of the teachers' union with the worst of corporate "school reform").

Chicago, Chicago...

George Schmidt provides a preliminary analysis of the Chicago Teacher union election. There will be more to come.

May 21, 2007

The Chicago Teachers Union will be holding a press conference at 10:00 a.m. today, but the results of Friday's election have been widely publicized (both in the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times), so it's possible to begin a commentary.

I'm going to focus here for the most part on the past three years (roughly from Debbie Lynch's only contract through last Friday). There needs to be a separate analysis of the errors made in interpreting the 2001 election victory (and some widespread misinterpretations of what happened in 2001 in Chicago) if anyone is going to learn from these things. And I personally believe that a great deal can be learned, both by people who feel they are in the "opposition" to the leadership in the major AFT locals, and by those in power. (This is important because the leadership now running the Chicago Teachers Union is in as much danger as anybody. They framed the issues as narrowly as possible and "won" on that basis, but they are probably missing the fact that their base is a mile wide, and inch thick, and under major assault -- and not from the inside),

Just to clarify one other thing. I've been a member of the Chicago Teachers Union continuously since 1969 (except for two years when I was organizing full-time within the "G.I. Movement" against the Vietnam War -- see Dave Cortright's "Soldiers in Revolt" for some details). I ran three times for CTU president and got 40 percent of the vote in 1988 against Jacqueline Vaughn and the United Progressive Caucus. My last run was in 1994 against Tom Reece four months after Vaughn's death.

I have served at every level of the union from local school delegate (several schools during my 28 years in the classroom) to executive board (high school vice president) and staff (director of security and safety under Deborah Lynch). I was fired from teaching by Paul Vallas in 2000 (for the publication of the CASE tests in Substance) and have been blacklisted from teaching since, both city and suburb. I was denied the right to remain a union member by the UPC leadership from 1999 to 2001, reinstated (after paying full back dues) by Debbie Lynch in 2001, then denied the right to pay union dues and retain membership after Lynch lost in 2004. I'm currently a member of the Chicago Teachers Union (now, a retiree member) again, as well as a member of SEIU (Local 73) and SESU (the Service Employees Staff Union, which represents those who work for SEIU).

I'm also a persistent critic of privatization and other attacks on unions and public schools. In these things, my record goes back decades. I only offer this summary because some people -- here in Chicago and in New York -- always try to make disagreements within the union into union busting attacks on the union. Also, given the fact that our histories are always being rewritten by the (temporary) victors, it's important for us to share as much information about realities (as opposed to hagiographies) as possible.

This is relatively important for us both in New York and Chicago. Consider the following question: Who are the last five presidents of the National Education Association, and who are the leaders of the largest locals of the NEA?

Gotcha!

What we just learned from that simple question (and our inability to answer it) is that in the AFT, we have suffered from a lot of the cult of personality. This has been most true in Chicago and New York, but also in other major locals. Whether these choices (to have our leaders portrayed as larger than life people, from Al Shanker on) have been good for the union is another question. I suspect (but can't be sure yet) that Deborah Lynch may be the last leader of the Chicago Teachers Union to have taken on that kind of role as spokesman and media arbiter. (Note that she repeated for years that her most important mentor was Al Shanker).

Anyway...

That was just a couple of prefatory thoughts.

Although I'll be writing several news articles and at least one major analysis over the next two weeks (between now and the publication of the June 2007 Substance), the immediate facts that need to be known are the following:

1. For the past six years (literally, since May 18, 2001, when Debbie Lynch unseated the UPC and ended nearly 30 years of uninterrupted rule over the Chicago Teachers Union by that caucus), the United Progressive Caucus of the Chicago Teachers Union has run against Debbie Lynch. During the three years Lynch was President of the Chicago Teachers Union, the UPC did everything it could to sabotage Lynch's presidency, both from inside the union and in the schools.

There are dozens of examples of this kind of sabotage, which I'll be adding to my analysis in the coming week.

2. During the three years she was in power as President of the Chicago Teachers Union, Lynch failed to develop a coherent political organization in Chicago's more than 600 public schools and other work locations. In Chicago, there is no substitute for organized "precinct" level work, either in the public schools or in city politics. The inability (or failure) to organize a coherent political organization independent of the incumbency from 2001 to 2004 was a major problem that Lynch faced every step of the way. The reasons for this will require some energy on the part of people to discuss and analyze, and I'm not sure how many people will want to do this candidly.

3. During the three years after her defeat in the 2004 general union election and her ultimate removal from office after the heated battle that erupted over the question of the integrity of the 2004 election, Debbie Lynch and the main members of her leadership team returned to teaching in the schools. From those positions, they remained active in the union. However, their methods for broadening their base were not adequate to the task before them.

4. During those same three years, the UPC focused on a couple of narrow issues and handled them very well. The three main ones were (a) Debbie herself; (b) the contract provision that allowed principals to get rid of untenured teachers without cause; and (c) the relative cost of the health benefits in relation to the wage increase of four percent per year for the four years of the Lynch contract. (The Lynch contract wasn't signed until late 2003, but was effective -- thanks to retroactive -- from July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2007).

5. Instead of establishing her own broader agenda, Lynch spent a great deal of time and energy defending everything she did in that contract, including those aspects of it that were viewed by the majority of the membership as less than adequate. Placed on the defensive, she remained on the defensive by choice. This took place both in the media and in the union's daily affairs.

6. Early on in the Stewart administration, Stewart wiped out most of the major structural changes that Lynch had begun, including several committees that had been functioning to the benefit of the membership. Three of these I was directly involved in -- Delegate Leadership and Training; School Violence and Security; and Testing. Stewart simply abolished these committees. In other things, she simply purged any of Lynch's supporters from existing union committees and made every effort to return to the earlier status quo. Had PACT challenged each of these at the time and persistently from the beginning, it would have brought into focus what Stewart was doing. Instead, as noted above, PACT spent most of its time and energy focused on defending the record on the weakest things it had achieved.

7. Election rules. One of the most astounding things that the UPC was able to do was to return the Chicago Teachers Union to (almost) the place where elections had been prior to Lynch. Paper ballots cast in the schools. Although the election count is now done by the American Arbitration Association, the ballots are cast in the schools and are in the possession of the school delegate for several days during the election cycle.

8. Control of the union mechanisms. Throughout her three years in office, Marilyn Stewart was able to utilize an organization, which was clumsy but effective in many ways, to expand her base in the schools. This she did by emphasizing the contract and the issues, and downplaying personalities. Every month during the three years she was in office, Stewart (or her people) reached out to former supporters on Debbie Lynch, often bringing them into her caucus first through social events and later in marginal jobs (like committee service and a couple of other small things).

9. Stewart was also able to capitalize on one of Lynch's greatest weaknesses, the internal divisions in PACT. Former Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Howard Heath appeared on Stewart's ticket. That alone cost Lynch thousands of votes. Even though Heath had expressed reservations about Stewart, he agreed to run for union convention delegate, and his name was both a repudiation of Lynch and an affirmation of Stewart. This was especially true in the city's 300 black schools (out of a total of 600 public schools in Chicago, 300 are all-black -- among the students -- and majority black -- among staff, including teachers and administrators; this is not New York City style segregated; this is Brooklyn writ large).

10. From 2004 on, Stewart effectively cultivated African Americans, both in the schools and more generally across the city. During the 2004 election campaign, Stewart not only put her base in the schools, but also in the churches in those communities. She portrayed much of PACT's appeal as tokenism.

Now that the election is behind everyone, the challenge, articulated all along by Stewart and the UPC, is to get the strongest contract ever and re-unify the Chicago Teachers Union.

I don't know what opposition group(s) will present their platforms and people to the union's membership in the months ahead, but with a June 30 deadline for the current contract's expiration, the Chicago Teachers Union has its work cut out for it.

As I said, there will need to be more analysis in the coming months, and from many perspectives. I'm hoping to generate letters to Substance from many points of view, and we'll see what else comes forward.

George N. Schmidt
Editor, Substance
www.substancenews.com