What's in the CTU Contract and Will There Be a Backlash?

Let's put this contract in the context of 17 years of ed deform in Chicago. Does anyone want to compare it to Cleveland, Washington and other cities? Was the CTU strike a line in the sand to send a message to the ed deformers but delivering little in substance? We will find out more today.

No deal was going to be in place until two or four layers of real democracy had examined it and held the deal — not the personalities — accountable. -- G. Schmidt

 

MORE's JULIE CAVANAGH DID A GREAT JOB ON MSNBC CHRIS HAYES THIS MORNING - HERE'S THE LINK.

I was at a meeting the other night where there were already hints of blow back when one person said "we must hold the CTU leadership feet to the fire." Listen, not everyone will be happy. Clearly there will be 30% on evals but that is state law, so that is a given. Rahm wanted to escalate each year. Sadly nothing so far on class size.

9AM UPDATE FROM MICHAEL FIORILLO:

My understanding is that Illinois state law requires some test-based teacher evaluations, so that was the benchmark upon the CTU was negotiating. The next step for the CTU is to work towards changing the law, but if by striking they have been able to lessen the damage caused by these evaluations, they have made real progress.

Not knowing the details of the tentative agreement, it's premature to judge it overall. Nevertheless, teachers (and all working people) across the country own the CTU a debt of gratitude: they took on a very broad coalition of Power, stood up the bullying of Emanuel and the lies of the media, reawakened people to the power and potential of collective action, and have started to change the terms of the debate. The CTU was also able to keep Weingarten from helicoptering in and betraying them. As Norm's report on his encounter with Mark Sternberg suggests, there is no doubt much anxiety at Tweed, TFA, StudentsFirst,  the foundations, etc. 

And at 52 Broadway and AFT headquarters in Washington.

Can't we at least take satisfaction and feel some gratitude in the CTU wiping some of the smugness and arrogance off the faces of these bastards, and showing that the destruction of the public schools will not be passively allowed to happen? 

This was an epochal strike, one that will be seen as the opening round in the battle to reclaim public education. After decades of being slandered and knocked back on our heels, the CTU has shown that we can fight back and begin to reclaim the territory that is rightfully ours. They deserve our thanks and support.

George Schmidt posted on what may be in the contract this morning: CTU press release gives some inkling of the content of the deal so far

The Bargaining Team is expected to share new details about proposed contract language which includes a number of victories for teachers, paraprofessionals, clinicians, and students.
The earliest teachers and other school personnel could return to their schools could be Monday; however, no decision has been made to do so. Delegates, the elected leaders of their schools, have the authority to suspend or lengthen the strike. They could also ask for at least 24-hours to talk to individual members in their schools before making a decision on what to do next. The 29,000-member CTU has been on strike since Sept. 10.

“We are a democratic body and therefore we want to ensure all of our members have had the chance to weigh-in on what we were able to win,” said CTU President Karen GJ Lewis. “We believe this is a good contract, however, no contract will solve all of the inequities in our District. Our fair contract fight has always been about returning dignity and respect to our members and ensuring resources and a quality school day for our students and their families.”

The new proposed CTU/CPS contract will:  *Secure Raises & Ensure Fair Compensation:* The CTU wants a three-year contract. It will secure a 3% raise in the first year, 2% raise in the second and 2% raise in the third, with the option to extend to a 4th year by mutual agreement at another 3% raise.

*Defeat Merit Pay*: The CTU successfully fought the star of national misguided school reform policies. The Board agreed to move away from “Differentiated Compensation,” which would have allowed them to pay one set of teachers (based on unknown criteria) one set of pay versus another set of pay for others.

*Preserve Steps & Lanes:* The new contract will preserve the full value of teachers and paraprofessionals career ladder (steps); and, it will increased the value of the highest steps (14,15 and 16)

*Provide A Better School Day:* The Board will hire 512 additional ‘special’ teachers in art, music, physical education, world languages and other classes to ensure students receive a better school day, a demand thousands of parents have called for since last year

*Ensures Job Security:*Creates a “CPS Hiring Pool,” which demands that one-half of all of CPS hires must be displaced (laid-off) members.
 ·*Adds An Anti-Bullying Provision: *No more bullying by principals and managerial personnel. The new language will curtail some of the abusive practices that have run rampant in many neighborhood schools.
·*Paraprofessional & Clinicians Prep Time:*The new contract will guarantee preps for clinicians.
 ·*Racial Diversity:*The CTU continues to fight the District on its
 lay-off policies that has led to a record number of African American educators being laid off and eventually terminated by the District. The new contract will ensure that CPS recruits a racially diverse teaching force.
·*New Recall Rights &

Tackling School Closings:* Acknowledging, the CTU will continue its ongoing legal and legislative fight for a moratorium on all school closings, turnarounds and phase-outs, the new contract requires teachers to “follow their students” in all school actions. This will reduce instability among students and educators. The contract will also have 10 months of “true recall” to the same school if a position opens.
 ·*Fairer Evaluation Procedures:* The new contract will limit CPS to 70% “teacher practice,” 30% “student growth” (or test scores)—which is the minimum by state law. It also secures in the first year of implementation of the new evaluation procedures there will be “no harmful consequences” for tenured teachers. It also secures a new right—the right to appeal a Neutral rating.
 ·*Reimbursement for School Supplies:*The contract will require the District to reimburse educators for the purchase of school supplies up to $250.
 ·*Additional Wrap-Around Services:* The Board agrees to commit to hire nurses, social workers and school counselors if it gets new revenue. Over the past several months, the CTU has identified several sources of new revenue, including the Tax Increment Financing program.
 ·*Books on Day One:*For the first time, the new contract will guarantee all CPS students and educators have textbooks on day one and will not have to wait up to six weeks for learning materials.
·*Unified School Calendar:* The new contract will improve language on a unified calendar. The District will have one calendar for the entire school district and get rid of Track E and Track R schools. All students and teaching personnel will begin on the same schedule.
·*Reduced Paperwork:*The new contract ensures the new paperwork requirements are balanced against reduction of previous requirements. 

I think the spin above means there were some victories but there will be critics (I saw nothing on class size -- even a minimal "no sizes over 40 would be something.) Here's a great chance to keep embarrassing Rahm this when he sends his kids to schools with 20 in a class).

I received emails this morning from people here in NYC about a "Unity style sellout." I don't agree. I imagine Unity will spin this as "We got all this without striking." My sense is the very fact the CTU went on strike is a victory. But how will that play with the membership, a crucial point, given that CORE has to run for re-election this spring. (History shows from the Debbie Lynch contract 10 years ago that bad blowback to a disappointing contract can blow you out of the water.)

An interesting article in Substance pointed in the direction critics will take this:

Capitulation in Chicago? Reading the news on a Friday night, it sounds that way by Steven Lendman

 By the time this article circulates, it may be all over but the shouting, finger-pointing, and bitterness among rank-and-file loyalists over another union sellout. As this is written, it looks that way. It won't surprise. Across America, union bosses keep prioritizing their own positions and welfare over workers they represent.
Instead of fighting for rights they deserve, they capitulate to corporate and government scoundrels. Wisconsin public workers learned the hard way. The state was ground zero to save public worker rights.

By the time this article circulates, it may be all over but the shouting, finger-pointing, and bitterness among rank-and-file loyalists over another union sellout. As this is written, it looks that way. It won't surprise. Across America, union bosses keep prioritizing their own positions and welfare over workers they represent. [They] hint darkly that the strike is 'illegal' because teachers are talking about issues the Board refuses to allow into the union contract."
They include class size, recalling laid off veteran teachers, proper year-round classroom temperatures, and others. They're major ones essential for all contracts.

I heard from one parent leader late last week that there will be great disappointment amongst Chicago parents who supported the strike if the CTU doesn't bring back something positive on class size. I'm still hoping they do but not holding my breath.

Did anyone think they would purge the contract of any evaluation based on test scores? They did seem to win a partial victory in their version of the ATR pool by requiring half the teachers hired come from the laid-off pool. (Rahm has to protect those TFAs, of course.)

There is going to be great drama played out with whatever the final deal looks like. There is some thinking out there that the CTU could have played their cards given the national scrutiny in more effective ways. Like, I thought they should have emphasized that they are not traditional union bosses (as the writer above calls them) but they are teachers who saw their kids being hurt in addition to teachers and they forced them to take action 4 years ago to move to take over their union from the real bosses.)

After all the excitement of the strike from teachers all over the nation, when the results undergo analysis, expect disappointment with what was and could have been won. To me it looks like there were some victories but watch the ultra left go wild.

My guess is there was a lot of symbolism in the strike led by people just two years out of the classroom and still feeling its way politically. Like who ever heard of Karen Lewis (other than us ed freaks) until a week ago? At the minimum, the strike has pushed many of the issues it was about into the national debate (see Julie Cavanagh on MSNBC this morning and Megan Behrent yesterday) as just one example

So even if they didn't bring back all the bacon, they have moved the ball up the field, bloodied their arch enemy Rahm Emanuel, tainted Arne Duncan and Obama on their ed policies and turned themselves into heroes to teachers all over the nation.

My sense was that there was a limit on how long they could only sustain a strike of a mostly younger team of teachers who the leadership (CORE) is trying to mobilize into a potent force -- and managed to pull them out for enormous rallies, along with parent support. But was that limit reached in one week? Could they have stayed out a month and impact on the presidential race?

And then there is the possibility the teachers actually turn down the contract in the House of Delegates today or in the follow-up referendum of all the members, which I imagine will have to take place after they go back.

See Substance on the democratic process where George Schmidt makes the point that the CTU tried to make the point time and again that they are the anti-union bosses building a democratic union movement. (See the video I put up yesterday of Karen Lewis saying that even if she tried to order people around they would laugh at her -Exclusive Video: Karen Lewis, at the AFT Peace and Justice Caucus, AFT Convention 2012)

Here are excerpts of what George wrote (click the title to read it all):

No Deal?... 'This is what democracy looks like'... House of Delegates meeting at three in the afternoon on September 16, 2012.... The same democracy that transformed the Chicago Teachers Union and transfixed the nation calls a halt to media frenzy about ending the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012.

By George N. Schmidt - September 16th, 2012 |
For weeks before the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012 began, the union's leaders have been warning the union's members not to believe anything they read, heard or saw in the corporate press. "Aren't the corporate media the worst place to learn the truth during a strike?" CTU vice president Jesse Sharkey, less than three years from a history teachers' classroom at Chicago's Senn High School, repeatedly reminded the unions members and delegates at rallies and meetings which eventually became too numerous to list for the history books. And with her almost trade-marked smile, CTU president Karen Lewis had tried (and failed) to remind reporters from the corporate media that the strength of the movement she was leading was its democracy.

And yet, as the first week of the strike ended and the size of the protests and rallies continued to grow, news reports kept looking for a reality that the strike (and the movement that created it) had rendered obsolete in U.S. history: the Chicago "union boss." For all the talk about "accountability" from those in the ruling class who want accountability to only go one way, when the real accountability of democratic leaders was in front of them, those who thought they were telling Chicago what was real were completely missing the truth that was before their own eyes.

No deal was going to be in place until two or four layers of real democracy had examined it and held the deal — not the personalities — accountable.

For weeks before the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012 began, the union's leaders have been warning the union's members not to believe anything they read, heard or saw in the corporate press. "Aren't the corporate media the worst place to learn the truth during a strike?" CTU vice president Jesse Sharkey, less than three years from a history teachers' classroom at Chicago's Senn High School, repeatedly reminded the unions members and delegates at rallies and meetings which eventually became too numerous to list for the history books. And with her almost trade-marked smile, CTU president Karen Lewis had tried (and failed) to remind reporters from the corporate media that the strength of the movement she was leading was its democracy.

And yet, as the first week of the strike ended and the size of the protests and rallies continued to grow, news reports kept looking for a reality that the strike (and the movement that created it) had rendered obsolete in U.S. history: the Chicago "union boss." For all the talk about "accountability" from those in the ruling class who want accountability to only go one way, when the real accountability of democratic leaders was in front of them, those who thought they were telling Chicago what was real were completely missing the truth that was before their own eyes.

No deal was going to be in place until two or four layers of real democracy had examined it and held the deal — not the personalities — accountable.

It was always a bit more than many in the media and an era of one-liners, sound bites, an "Gotcha!" could grasp. It is a form of learning disability that has its really dramatic exemplars, my favorite of which is Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Having covered more than 40 of his press conferences during his first year in office, it eventually struck me that the man's mind was not only addled, but crippled. He really believed the world could be manipulated like he sort he had been doing with the 24-hour news cycle inside the Beltway. But of course, not matter how big the ego, he is only a spare part in the machine of empire.

The plodding drama of democracy in the Chicago Teachers Union, even as it unfolded month after month, was more than most people in that ruling arena could grasp.

And now come the next steps: [READ MORE]

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Exclusive Video: Karen Lewis, at the AFT Peace and Justice Caucus, AFT Convention 2012

Don't call them reformers or even deformers. Call them what they are: privatizers. Don't call them Stand for children. I call them Stand on children. -- Karen Lewis

Karen was a panelist discussing rank and file teacher movements in a video I taped on July 27, 2012 at an AFT P&J caucus meeting. All the panelists were excellent.

In this video, which I edited down to 12 minutes, Karen touches on organizing efforts of CORE from their beginnings in 2008 with 8 people, each of whom recruited 8 more. Two years later they were running the union.




http://youtu.be/wvn32-AXMOU

Karen Lewis Slams "Chicago Cash Strapped" Bull and Phony Charter Demand

The mayor loves to tout unsubstantiated statistics about how popular charter schools are among Chicago parents. Today he used a new number: Now apparently the waiting list is whopping 19,000 students. Wow—that’s a lot of children who were “so unfortunate” to not get a seat at a coveted charter school.

Really? Then why did only a few hundred families show up at last year’s New School Expo, even though Chicago’s corporate elite spent so much money on promotional advertisements and even provided a free shuttle bus to Soldiers Field. Why did the UNO Charter School Network admit at the press conference at St. Scholastica last month that its organizers were going to go door-knocking in the neighborhood to try to recruit a couple hundred families to open the school this fall? Why did Andrew Broy of the Illinois Charter School Network say this week that there are several thousand slots still available at Chicago charter schools for parents who didn't want to wait out the strike?

Chicagoans need to understand what is happening to our school system. The mayor and his hedge fund allies are going to replace our democratically controlled public schools with privately run charter schools. This will have such disastrous results; people need to rise up and refuse to allow this to happen. --- Karen Lewis

We've been saying the same thing here. That there is artifical/phony demand pumped up by the charter lobby. Make charters show us the names of people who sign whatever it it they throw in people faces.

Don't mistake it, the strike had to do with charters and TFA in many ways -- I have to elaborate more in this --- and don't expect that the CTU won a moratorium on charters --there was no way to stop that train at this time but it will stop as the weight of crooked charters drag the charter movement down the drain --- and don't think that the charter teachers aren't supporting the strike.
 
By the way the Chicago/CORE group put up a resolutions at the AFT calling for a moratorium on charters and closing schools and a great testing accountability reso for the corporate leaches) and guess who rigorously opposed all these resos? Yes our pals in Unity Caucus with people like Jackie Bennett and Queens HS Dist Rep playing a big role -- so the next time you read or hear their bullshit just ask then what they did in Detroit.

Here is my morning post on more land grabs by Eva and Hubby Eric in Williamsburg Greenpoint (I'll report on the big enchilada, Washington Irving HS in Grammercy Park later): Parent Brooke Parker Won't Back Down as Eva and Eric Keep Glomming Up School Buildings (Condos, Here We Come)

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Letter from CTU President Karen Lewis: ‘Students Suffer in Low-Performing Charter Schools’

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/13846/letter_from_ctu_president_karen_lewis/

By Karen Lewis

Karen Lewis (Chicago Teachers Union / Flickr)

The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is so cash-strapped that it plans to close and consolidate under-utilized schools, with rumors that it could be upwards of 120 schools this coming year. Many people would consider this to be fiscally prudent. Mayor Emanuel is of course going to blame the soon-to-be agreed upon new union contract.

What the public does not understand, however, even though both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times have been writing about it for months, is that CPS is also simultaneously planning to open 60 new charter schools in the next few years. That decision was made last year under the “Gates Compact” in which CPS went into an agreement with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to increase charter schools in Chicago.

The CPS district has seen declining enrollment over the last decade, as have many other urban districts, because urban sprawl is sending our families to far-flung suburbs like Oswego where the housing is much larger and much cheaper than in the city. This is not because Chicago schools are “failing”—this is an urban planning phenomenon that we have seen many times in the last century. Illinois’ farmlands are being converted into towns, and just as the highways of the 1940s and 1950s allowed for suburban commuters to live comfortably outside the city and quickly get to work downtown every day, the Metra and I-355 have been expanded out to Oswego and other suburbs to help push that housing development.

Thus, the decline in enrollment in CPS District 299 is a natural phenomenon. Populations ebb and flow over the decades.
But, what is not natural is the city’s push for unprecedented charter expansion. The mayor loves to tout unsubstantiated statistics about how popular charter schools are among Chicago parents. Today he used a new number: Now apparently the waiting list is whopping 19,000 students. Wow—that’s a lot of children who were “so unfortunate” to not get a seat at a coveted charter school.

Really? Then why did only a few hundred families show up at last year’s New School Expo, even though Chicago’s corporate elite spent so much money on promotional advertisements and even provided a free shuttle bus to Soldiers Field. Why did the UNO Charter School Network admit at the press conference at St. Scholastica last month that its organizers were going to go door-knocking in the neighborhood to try to recruit a couple hundred families to open the school this fall? Why did Andrew Broy of the Illinois Charter School Network say this week that there are several thousand slots still available at Chicago charter schools for parents who didn't want to wait out the strike?

Chicagoans need to understand what is happening to our school system. The mayor and his hedge fund allies are going to replace our democratically controlled public schools with privately run charter schools. This will have such disastrous results; people need to rise up and refuse to allow this to happen. As a parent, do you really want your child wearing a three-piece polyester suit every day to school and pay a fine every time your child’s tie isn’t on straight? Do you really believe that it’s okay for a school to punish your child with a three-hour detention because he or she wanted to eat some Flaming Hot Cheetos?

And then of course, there is the dismal achievement outcome of the majority of charter schools. Urban Prep brags about its 100 percent college-bound rate when the average ACT score of its student is only 16. Where are those students going to college?

Finally, and most importantly, there is the cost. Mayor Emanuel says we will have to close and consolidate public schools to save money to pay for the new union contract. Does anyone in the public have any idea how much money it costs to open a brand new charter school and pay for the first few years while the school gets up and running? Hundreds of millions of dollars! CPS has an entire department dedicated to soliciting charter proposals, reviewing them, and then supporting the charter during its “incubation period." During this incubation period, the school is not held accountable for its test scores, because CPS understands that of course the school will not do well initially.

This is what we want for our children? Parents don’t want their kindergartner, 5th-grader or 9th-grader acting as a guinea pig for a charter school that might eventually become a good school. There is not a single charter management network that can say that all of its campuses are doing well.

Mayor Emanuel and his charter -school friends are complaining that the Chicago Teachers Union strike has kept students out of school for a few days—what about the years that students suffer in low-performing charter schools that are still trying to figure out how to manage themselves as an academic institution? Even the hedge fund billionaires that are behind this push admit that every charter school is not going to succeed—so why are we doing this? Why aren’t we simply looking at what already works, at the 30 percent of CPS’ neighborhood elementary schools that are scoring 85 percent and above—some at 100 percent—on state tests? Why aren’t we replicating that?

Parents and Other Unions Support Chicago Teachers

The people running the Chicago union today were at the top level of their profession as teachers when they were elected 2 years ago. I got to know many of them when they were still in the classroom and much of their conversation was about the kids. They were as much driven by what ed deform was doing to their kids as what it was doing to teachers.....Even if they end up settling for relatively few gains on the surface, they have won already in the minds of teachers all over the nation.  – Ed Notes

 buoyed by energetic rallies in which even parents inconvenienced by the strike waved placards in support. Other unions were joining in, with school custodian representatives saying their members will walk off the job this week as well. -- NY Post

"This union figured out they couldn't assume the public would be on their side, so they went out and actively engaged in getting parent support," Bruno said. "They worked like the devil to get it." --Robert Bruno

 To get this level of support amongst the members, a union leadership has to engage the membership who will then engage the parents. To do that requires breaking the level of cynicism that exists amongst the rank and file towards the leadership. And there was plenty of that in Chicago before CORE took over in 2010, only two years after their founding. To inspire trust in the leadership the rank and file has to sense that the leadership is on their side. Maybe some view it as symbolic, but the large cuts in salary Karen Lewis and the others took made an impact. And helped balance the budget of a union in debt when they took over. They used money saved to hire organizers to prepare the teachers for whatever come. I know some of these organizers and still much of their talk is about the kids.

A leadership also has to be democratic both at the union level and within the caucus that runs the union. Don't discount the fact that CORE has to run for re-election this May and at last count there were 4 other caucuses. As far as I can tell, the leadership has mobilized the entire union in this strike and in the outreach to the community.

To win friends, the union has engaged in something of a publicity campaign, telling parents repeatedly about problems with schools and the barriers that have made it more difficult to serve their kids. They cite classrooms that are stifling hot without air conditioning, important books that are unavailable and insufficient supplies of the basics, such as toilet paper.
"They've been keeping me informed about that for months and months," Grant said.
It was a shrewd tactic, said Robert Bruno, professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
"This union figured out they couldn't assume the public would be on their side, so they went out and actively engaged in getting parent support," Bruno said. "They worked like the devil to get it.

In a short time, an upstart group of relatively young teachers convinced 92% of browbeaten teachers under 17 years of mayoral control, that a strike, even in Leo Casey's vaunted you have to consider "the climate of the times," was not only feasible, but offered an opportunity to reverse the direction of ed deform and turn it into real reform.

Will they succeed? It depends how you define success. There are many dangers in what they are doing and sometimes in the midst of an action like this, logical political direction can get buried. But a national debate has been opened up that was not taking place before. Not only about the policies of ed deform but about the direction the national and many local teacher unions have been taking (Anthony Cody vs. Randi Weingarten on NPR). Even if they end up settling for relatively few gains on the surface, they have won already in the minds of teachers all over the nation.

I hear here all the time from cynical older teachers how the young teachers have no union tradition or interest in the union. Maybe here in New York (and I'll let you guess why). Have you seen how young so many of the Chicago teachers are? How did they get to this level of consciousness and knowledge -- every Chicago CORE member I met is incredibly astute. At the chapter leader meeting yesterday I had conversations with people in Unity Caucus who barely had an idea of what was going on in Chicago. And don't forget how Unity opposed every progressive resolution on testing, charter schools and closing schools coming out of Chicago at the AFT convention.

The people running the Chicago union today were at the top level of their profession as teachers when they were elected 2 years ago. I got to know many of them when they were still in the classroom and much of their conversation was about the kids. They were as much driven by what ed deform was doing to their kids as what it was doing to teachers.

And parents and community seem to sense that.

As the teachers walk the picket lines, they have been joined by parents who are scrambling to find a place for children to pass the time or for baby sitters. Mothers and fathers - some with their kids in tow - are marching with the teachers. Other parents are honking their encouragement from cars or planting yard signs that announce their support in English and Spanish.
Unions are still hallowed organizations in much of Chicago, and the teachers union holds a special place of honor in many households where children often grow up to join the same police, firefighter or trade unions as their parents and grandparents. -- NY Post

So how did the CTU in a time of much vilified teacher unions manage to get public support?

To win friends, the union has engaged in something of a publicity campaign, telling parents repeatedly about problems with schools and the barriers that have made it more difficult to serve their kids. They cite classrooms that are stifling hot without air conditioning, important books that are unavailable and insufficient supplies of the basics, such as toilet paper.
"They've been keeping me informed about that for months and months," Grant said.
It was a shrewd tactic, said Robert Bruno, professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
"This union figured out they couldn't assume the public would be on their side, so they went out and actively engaged in getting parent support," Bruno said. "They worked like the devil to get it.

To those that disparage this fact, I don't see Stand For Children (last) out there being able to mobilize parents to march against the teachers. I heard their leader debating Diane Ravitch on NPR yesterday and he claimed to be grass roots. He must be smoking that grass.


Update: SCHOOL JANITORS FILE NOTICE TO JOIN STRIKE

Mark Naison: Can Michelle Rhee lead 50,000 people through the streets of Chicago? Bill Gates? Arne Duncan? Jonah Edelman? Hell no! But Karen Lewis can! And that's the message that needs to go out to teachers around the country! They are not condemned to be passive victims of Corporate Ed Reformers! United, they have the power to fight back and defend their students from policies that will deaden their minds, weaken their bodies and make them hate school!

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

WSJ and NYT On Karen Lewis

Ms. Lewis "has thrown down a national gauntlet, of sorts, and said mayors and other reformers won't define teaching—teachers will define it," said Barbara Radner, director of the Center for Urban Education at DePaul University. "This is about the soul of teaching and who is going to define it going forward." -- WSJ

This is a good report from the WSJ and does a better job than the NY Times. The national press is getting the message that this is no typical teacher strike and is as much over ideology and the soul of teaching as anything else. They are also getting the message that the public supports them. You don't see any of the astroturf groups out there protesting the teachers. That is due to the amazing work in the community the union has done.

One thing the press isn't reporting is Karen Lewis' salary. When she took over the new union leadership cut salaries severely and at one point Karen was making less than the old guard field reps. They managed to close an almost $4 million deficit left by the old Unity style corrupt UPC. Basically, Karen earns a teacher salary plus the equivalent of per session pay to cover all the extra time she puts in. It's less I bet than a 100 people in the UFT.

Many of us here in NYC are very familiar with the people running CORE.

See NY Times on Karen: Teachers’ Leader in Chicago Strike Shows Her Edge


The press loves to emphasize the leader and ignore that there is a real force behind Lewis and in fact she is the person out front. That is not an easy place to be but she was chosen because she can handle it. There are so many other strong voices in CORE. And she is responsible to them. CORE is so different from Unity and has given those of us working in MORE a model to work from. If you watch the Al Ramirez (one of the 2 originals in the group that became CORE) you will see the leadership and organizing abilities they bring to the table.

MORE Chicago Solidarity Event - Aug 23 2012

I have a great Ed Notes exclusive video of Karen appearing as a speaker at the AFT Peace and Justice caucus in Detroit which I will put up. You get Karen unfiltered through the press. (I also taped Karen in Seattle in 2010 just a few days after CORE took over the union - if I can find that I can put up an edited piece).

In Chicago, Standoff Built Over Two Years

By STEPHANIE BANCHERO

CHICAGO—A teachers strike that shut down the nation's third-largest school district for a second day Tuesday had its roots in the election two years ago of union head Karen Lewis, who harnessed growing teacher anger over school reform efforts here that were targeting teachers' performance and closing poor-performing schools.
With rank-and-file support to launch Chicago's first teacher strike in 25 years, Ms. Lewis, a high school chemistry teacher, has positioned herself as a champion of resistance to the national education-reform movement, making Chicago a central battleground over control of U.S. public schools.
Enlarge Image

Zuma Press

Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis, in Chicago on Tuesday, harnessed growing teacher anger over school reform efforts in the city.
Thousands of teachers picketed Tuesday, staging boisterous rallies at the Chicago Public School headquarters and calling for Mayor Rahm Emanuel's ouster. City leaders said the two sides were close to agreement. But union officials said dozens of issues in the contract negotiations remained unresolved.
Parents struggled to juggle children and work. Many fretted over the disruption. Krystyna Sobek, a maintenance worker in downtown Chicago, said she had to ask her parents to watch her 11-year-old daughter.
"I feel that she should be in class," she said. "I'm thankful because I do have my mom, and without her, where would I take her? Pay for day care? That would be hard for me."

Related Video

• Watch More Video From the Chicago March

Chicago teachers take to the picket lines for the first time in 25 years in dispute over Mayor Rahm Emanuel's longer school day, job security and class size. WSJ's Caroline Porter and Douglas Belkin report. Photo: AP.
Other parents joined picket lines. Erica Clark, a member of Parents 4 Teachers, brought her 16-year-old son. "The main point is that parents, teachers and communities are rallying together, doing what they need to do," she said.
City officials said 18,000 of the school system's more than 350,000 students had attended more than 140 schools staffed to provide basic activities and serve meals on Monday. The city announced it would extend the program to six hours a day to make it easier for working families.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the 1.5 million-member national group that includes the Chicago union, joined the heads of other public-sector unions, including those representing nurses and police, in an appearance Tuesday to show support. The leader of a union that represents some school custodians said his members might start striking Friday in solidarity.
"To say that this contract will be settled today is lunacy," Ms. Lewis said, dismissing opponents as "rich people who think they know best."
Mr. Emanuel said Tuesday the strike was unnecessary. "It's not about getting rid of people, it's about raising the standards, raising the qualities in the schools," he told a news conference.
Ms. Lewis, the daughter of teachers, had been little involved in the union over two decades of teaching. In 2008, she joined the fledgling Caucus of Rank and File Educators.

Teachers on Strike

View Slideshow

Jean Lachat/Reuters

Teachers walked the picket line outside Anthony Overton School in Chicago Monday.
The group felt union leaders were doing too little to fight the overhauls favored by then-Mayor Richard M. Daley and Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan, who is now President Obama's Secretary of Education, including the expansion of charter schools and closing low-performing public schools.
Ms. Lewis took the top union job in June 2010 with a mandate to take a more adversarial role. She has since reveled in the spotlight, with a cheeky and sometimes aggressive style.
Reform efforts by Mr. Emanuel and others to tie teacher salaries and tenure to student test scores were unfair, she said, and didn't address larger problems created by poverty, poor curriculum and a shortage of counselors and social workers.
Ms. Weingarten, while showing solidarity with Ms. Lewis on Tuesday, has embodied a more collaborative approach to national school reform. She has supported teacher contracts—including one in Cleveland—that effectively weakened tenure rules and linked teacher evaluations to test scores.
The Chicago teachers' previous contract, negotiated by Ms. Lewis's predecessor, gave teachers a total wage increase of 19% to 46% over the contract period from 2007 to 2012, according to a fact finders report issued in July. Chicago's average teacher salary is now $71,000 a year, according to the city.
But some teachers were angry because they felt the union didn't do enough to prevent the closure of dozens of poorly performing schools and increase the number of charter schools, which generally hire nonunion teachers.
Advocates say schools that are too dysfunctional should be closed so students can go elsewhere. They say charters offer an important alternative to low-performing public schools and can experiment with new teaching approaches without the constraints of union contracts.
Campaigning in early 2011, Mr. Emanuel pledged he would institute a longer school day at Chicago schools, which he said was among the shortest in the U.S. Once elected, he appointed a district chief with a track record of challenging unions, and appointed a school board whose first vote was to rescind a 4% raise slated for last year.
Ms. Lewis derided Mr. Emanuel's longer school day as "baby sitting and warehousing."
Earlier this year, Ms. Lewis orchestrated rallies and sit-ins across the city, including one at Mr. Emanuel's home, to protest the mayor's policies. In June, when their contract expired, teachers voted to authorize union leaders to call a strike.
To address teacher anger over the longer school day, Mr. Emanuel in July agreed to rehire more than 400 laid-off teachers.
The city is now offering teachers a new four-year contract that includes salary increases of 3% in the first year, and 2% annually for the remaining years. In addition, teachers are eligible for raises based on years of service.
Union leaders have said salaries aren't a sticking point. They said they were fighting over proposals to change teacher evaluations, and the union's call for job security for dismissed teachers—as well as other issues including more school counselors and more air-conditioning.
Ms. Lewis "has thrown down a national gauntlet, of sorts, and said mayors and other reformers won't define teaching—teachers will define it," said Barbara Radner, director of the Center for Urban Education at DePaul University. "This is about the soul of teaching and who is going to define it going forward."

—Caroline Porter contributed to this article.

Write to Stephanie Banchero at stephanie.banchero@wsj.com
 

Karen Lewis: Why We're Striking in Chicago

Published on Monday, September 10, 2012 by Common Dreams

'Join Our Fight for Education Justice,' says CTU President Karen Lewis

by Karen Lewis

Teachers, paraprofessionals and school clinicians in Chicago have been without a labor agreement since June of this year. Following the inability of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to reach an agreement over benefits, the role of standardized tests in teacher evaluations, and physical improvements to schools that teachers say are harming both teacher and student performance, the CTU has announced that a city-wide stirke will begin today -- the first teachers strike in 25 years. Pickets are expected at 675 schools and the Board of Education. The following are remarks from CTU President Karen Lewis.

 

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis speaks at a press conference Sunday night. "We have failed to reach an agreement that will prevent a labor strike." ( E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune / September 9, 2012 )

Negotiations have been intense but productive, however we have failed to reach an agreement that will prevent a labor strike. This is a difficult decision and one we hoped we could avoid. Throughout these negotiations have I remained hopeful but determined. We must do things differently in this city if we are to provide our students with the education they so rightfully deserve.

Talks have been productive in many areas. We have successfully won concessions for nursing mothers and have put more than 500 of our members back to work. We have restored some of the art, music, world language, technology and physical education classes to many of our students. The Board also agreed that we will now have textbooks on the first day of school rather than have our students and teachers wait up to six weeks before receiving instructional materials.

Recognizing the Board’s fiscal woes, we are not far apart on compensation. However, we are apart on benefits. We want to maintain the existing health benefits.

Another concern is evaluation procedures. After the initial phase-in of the new evaluation system it could result in 6,000 teachers (or nearly 30 percent of our members) being discharged within one or two years. This is unacceptable. We are also concerned that too much of the new evaluations will be based on students’ standardized test scores. This is no way to measure the effectiveness of an educator. Further there are too many factors beyond our control which impact how well some students perform on standardized tests such as poverty, exposure to violence, homelessness, hunger and other social issues beyond our control.

We want job security. Despite a new curriculum and new, stringent evaluation system, CPS proposes no increase (or even decreases) in teacher training. This is notable because our Union through our Quest Center is at the forefront teacher professional development in Illinois. We have been lauded by the District and our colleagues across the country for our extensive teacher training programs that helped emerging teachers strengthen their craft and increased the number of nationally board certified educators.

We are demanding a reasonable timetable for the installation of air-conditioning in student classrooms--a sweltering, 98-degree classroom is not a productive learning environment for children. This type of environment is unacceptable for our members and all school personnel. A lack of climate control is unacceptable to our parents.

As we continue to bargain in good faith, we stand in solidarity with parents, clergy and community-based organizations who are advocating for smaller class sizes, a better school day and an elected school board. Class size matters. It matters to parents. In the third largest school district in Illinois there are only 350 social workers—putting their caseloads at nearly 1,000 students each. We join them in their call for more social workers, counselors, audio/visual and hearing technicians and school nurses. Our children are exposed to unprecedented levels of neighborhood violence and other social issues, so the fight for wraparound services is critically important to all of us. Our members will continue to support this ground swell of parent activism and grassroots engagement on these issues. And we hope the Board will not shut these voices out.

While new Illinois law prohibits us from striking over the recall of laid-off teachers and compensation for a longer school year, we do not intend to sign an agreement until these matters are addressed.

Again, we are committed to staying at the table until a contract is place. However, in the morning no CTU member will be inside our schools. We will walk the picket lines. We will talk to parents. We will talk to clergy. We will talk to the community. We will talk to anyone who will listen—we demand a fair contract today, we demand a fair contract now. And, until there is one in place that our members accept, we will on the line.

We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters throughout the state and country who are currently bargaining for their own fair contracts. We stand with those who have already declared they too are prepared to strike, in the best interests of their students.

This announcement is made now so our parents and community are empowered with this knowledge and will know that schools will not open on tomorrow. Please seek alternative care for your children. And, we ask all of you to join us in our education justice fight—for a fair contract—and call on the mayor and CEO Brizard to settle this matter now. Thank you.

Karen Lewis is the president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU).

CHICAGO STRIKE ECHOES GROWING NATIONAL HIGH-STAKES TESTING RESISTANCE

Randi on the NewsHour. Why no Karen Lewis who can really defend the strike?

The strike is bringing so many issues to the surface. I know some people at AFT and UFT HQ are sweating it out.

“You have a situation where the teachers feel totally and completely disrespected,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the parent union of the striking teachers. In this case, she said she blamed Mayor Emanuel for an aggressive push to extend the length of the school day and for a promised raise that was later rescinded. “He created the seeds of a lot of frustration and mistrust,” she said.

Yeah, it's about respect - we ain't got none in NYC. The longer day  - Randi already gave that one away. A promised raise that was later rescinded by Bloomberg-- oops, where did that 4% raise everyone but teachers got go to? Wait a minute. Is Randi saying the same conditions exist here in NYC for a strike? No, Chicago has Rahmbo and we have mild-mannered Bloomberg.

Teachers also clearly saw the strike as a protest not just of the union negotiations in Chicago but on data-driven education reform nationwide, which many perceived as being pushed by corporate interests and relying too heavily on standardized tests to measure student progress....a teacher, said he believed the city was ultimately aiming to privatize education through charter schools and computer programs that teach classes online.

Shhhh, Randi, don't tell anyone what it's really all about.

FairTest                                            

National Center for Fair & Open Testing

for immediate release, Tuesday, September 11, 2012

CHICAGO STRIKE ECHOES GROWING NATIONAL HIGH-STAKES TESTING RESISTANCE;

EDUCATORS, PARENTS AND COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS SEEK

ASSESSMENT REFORMS NOT DRIVEN BY STANDARDIZED EXAM RESULTS

The Chicago teachers strike is the latest example of the growing national resistance to failed, top-down, test-driven educational policies, according to the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest).  

“Across the nation, parents, teachers, and school leader are rising up to say ‘Enough is enough’ to so-called reforms based on standardized exam misuse,” explained FairTest Public Education Director Bob Schaeffer. “From Texas to Long Island and Washington to Florida, people with first-hand knowledge of the damage being done to academic quality and equity are pushing back against the out-of-touch politicians and their funders who insist on doubling down on strategies that have not worked.“ Schaeffer is the author of “Resistance to High Stakes Testing Spreads,” the cover story in the current issue of District Administration magazine.

FairTest Policy Analyst Lisa Guisbond added, “The Chicago strike is the tip of the iceberg of teacher frustration with policies that blame educators for problems largely caused by the impoverished settings in which their students live and the city’s own misguided polices. Instead of punishing front-line teachers, policy makers at the city, state and federal levels must be held accountable for their failures to create conditions in which all children can learn." Guisbond recently wrote "New School Year: Doubling Down on Failed Ed Policy"

FairTest Executive Director, Monty Neill concluded, “The attempt to improve Chicago schools through increased use of high-stakes tests over the past 20 years has been a colossal failure. The damage is worst in classrooms serving the city’s neediest children. Mayor Emanuel’s scheme to evaluate classroom educators based on their students’ test scores, a technique independent experts say is severely flawed, is certain to make the situation worse.” Dr. Neill will be a speaking on a panel on “How do we measure teacher performance?” at the “Schools for Tomorrow Conference” on Thursday morning, September 13 in New York City. 

FairTest initiated the National Resolution on High-Stakes Testing, which was cosponsored by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries, and Chicago Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE), among other groups. So far, more than 400 organizations and 12,000 individuals have endorsed the Resolution.

The Nation: Chicago Teachers Push Back Against Neoliberal Education Reform

The rejection of the service model by CTU’s new leadership is reflective of a long debate in the labor movement—should unions serve their members, existing as an organization outside of the membership, or should the union be made by the members? This is partly why the media’s focus on Lewis is so problematic; her leadership is more of an anti-leadership. A central goal of the CTU now is to have members take control of their union and their workplaces.

This is one interesting article on the Chicago union leadership touching on the role of the strike in union building. Have you seen how many young, female teachers there are on the picket line? Have you heard stories of scabs crossing the lines? Is this a 100% strike? I love this closing line:

a spokesman for Stand for Children Illinois, a pro-education reform group that is a favorite charity of hedge fund managers, saying, “Teachers need to decide if they’re going to be part of this [reform] process or not.” They have, but it’s going to be on the terms of the 99%.

Featured are two Chicago CORE founders I know: Kristine Mayle and Al Ramirez. Al has been very helpful to us here in providing information on how CORE organized itself.

Here is a video I made of Al skyping along with another CORE member, Kim Bowsky, to the MORE Chicago solidarity event a few weeks ago.


MORE Chicago Solidarity Event - Aug 23 2012


The Nation piece is at this link. But I'm also posting.

As one email just came in that Matthew should be the ed reporter for The Nation instead of Dana Goldstein.
 

Chicago Teachers Push Back Against Neoliberal Education Reform 
by Matthew Cunningham-Cook

Picket lines can be sordid affairs. When a union is on strike or locked out—like the recent Caterpillar strike in Joliet, Illinois or the Cooper Tire & Rubber lockout in Ohio—the smell of receding worker power can permeate the air. The air in Chicago has none of that. At schools across the city, 29,000 Chicago teachers and education professionals are on strike—demanding both a fair union contract and a radically different vision of school reform than that propagated by nearly the entire nation’s political class. At the largest teachers’ strike in two decades, educators are fired up to fight for wraparound services for students, with more school social workers, counselors and psychologists; a holistic educational environment where all students have access to school libraries, world languages, art, music, physical education; and the preservation of the tenure system—because good teachers are made through experience in the classroom.

The corporate media’s initial dispatches on this fight have been disappointing. Instead of reporting on what the Chicago Teachers Union’s vision for education is (explained quite clearly here), they have instead zeroed in on the CTU’s demand for a 20 percent wage increase (which corresponds to a 20 percent increase in their workweek) and the so-called “personal feud” between CTU President Karen Lewis and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Along these same lines, media reports have emphasized the “dire” fiscal situation of the Chicago public schools—failing to note that the Chicago district spent $25 million on strike contingency plans, that the schools could gain $43 million if the city stopped providing slush funds for wealthy developers or that the state recently gave a $528 million tax break to the owners of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

This strike is the product of twenty years of “education reform” practiced on the backs of Chicago’s students and teachers. As the city witnessed the social destruction that accompanied high-stakes testing and mass school closures in neighborhoods already deprived of resources, a small group of teachers started fighting back against the reform agenda. As education historian Diane Ravitch observes, it was the first movement in the nation “where teachers have stood up to DFER [Democrats for Education Reform], Stand for Children [and] other anti-union, pro-privatization, anti-teacher groups.”

Al Ramirez was one of the co-founders of the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE). “I was working on a movie about school closures, and we began posing the question, What do we do about it?” Ramirez’s group started book study groups, hosted public events with education activists and ultimately came to realize that the union was “ineffective at fighting back.” That’s when they began to ask themselves, “What kind of union do we want?”

The answer was a union founded on the principles of member-directed communal action, mutual solidarity and systemic analysis. CORE began having meetings on a consistent basis, including a biweekly potluck at Karen Lewis’s house, as well as doing the kind of organizing against school closures that the old-guard leadership of the CTU simply was not doing. The former CTU president, Marilyn Stewart, failed to appear at meetings where school closure decisions were made.

The policy of school closures for schools considered failing was a policy initially propagated by Mayor Richard Daley and his longtime schools chief and current Education Secretary Arne Duncan. The Renaissance 2010 program, as it was called, closed schools in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, especially where there was nearby competition from charter schools.

The current financial secretary of the CTU, Kristine Mayle, won election in 2010 on the slate led by Lewis. She had gotten involved as a result of a school closure as well—a thread that unites most of the original members of CORE.

“My school was set for closure, and we called our delegate, and she said ‘get your résumé together.’ We wanted to force them to stand up for us, and we realized we were better equipped to do it than they were. CTU back in the day used to be a fighting union, it had become a service model or company union, and we wanted to change that up,” Mayle said. The rejection of the service model by CTU’s new leadership is reflective of a long debate in the labor movement—should unions serve their members, existing as an organization outside of the membership, or should the union be made by the members?

This is partly why the media’s focus on Lewis is so problematic; her leadership is more of an anti-leadership. A central goal of the CTU now is to have members take control of their union and their workplaces. As a result of this strategy, back in June, 90 percent of the membership, including 98 percent of those who actually cast a ballot, voted in favor of authorizing a strike. Under the new leadership, an internal organizing department was created with seven staff members and the union’s House of Delegates was expanded to include at least one delegate from every building.

For too long at the CTU, the folks at CORE felt that union policy was directed by a tiny group of highly paid bureaucrats who had little connection to the actual conditions on the ground. What’s funny is that this directly correlates to the situation at Chicago Public Schools in general. Rahm Emanuel complains about teacher salaries, even though his own salary is $216,000 per year. Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard has never taught a day in a Chicago public school. The Chicago Board of Education president is a banker, and one of its members is the powerful billionaire Hyatt heiress Penny Pritzker.

On the picket line, there is a palpable sense that the teachers who created the fighting-est teachers union in the country are about to do the same to their school system. The city is awash in red, and honks in favor of the strikers are cacophonous. Reuters recently quoted a spokesman for Stand for Children Illinois, a pro-education reform group that is a favorite charity of hedge fund managers, saying, “Teachers need to decide if they’re going to be part of this [reform] process or not.” They have, but it’s going to be on the terms of the 99%.

Matthew Cunningham-Cook

September 11, 2012  

 ================

The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Chicago teachers strike and challenge corporate reform model of education

RT @CTULocal1: Teachers went into 63rd street police station to use bathroom and got a standing ovation from police #FairContractNow for all city workers!  http://tl.gd/j85t8g

For the best coverage on the strike this morning, go to Democracy Now’s coverage of the strike:

Striking Teachers, Parents Join Forces to Oppose “Corporate” Education Model in Chicago



I'm snatching this from PAA affiliate at the Seattleeducation blog:
http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/chicago-teachers-strike-and-challenge-corporate-reform-model-of-education/

Here are the specific stories on the strike:

More than 29,000 Chicago public school teachers and support staff have gone on strike today after union leaders failed to reach an agreement with the nation’s third-largest school district over educational reforms sought by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. It is the first teacher strike in Chicago in a quarter of a century. Unresolved issues include the cost of health benefits, the makeup of the teacher evaluation system and job security. Emanuel, who is President Obama’s former chief of staff, wants teacher evaluations tied to the standardized test results of students. We hear the voices of union leaders, teachers and parents on Chicago’s strike.

Chicago Public Teachers Stage Historic Strike in Clash With Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Education Reforms

To discuss the Chicago teachers’ strike, we’re joined by two guests: Phil Cantor, a teacher and strike captain at Chicago’s North Grand High School and member of Teachers for Social Justice; and Rhoda Rae Gutierrez, the mother of two public-school students in Chicago and a member of the grassroots group, Parents for Teachers.

Striking Teachers, Parents Join Forces to Oppose “Corporate” Education Model in Chicago

The showdown in Chicago — the nation’s third largest school district — pits teachers against Mayor Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s former chief of staff. Emanuel remains a close ally to Obama, while many of the policies at issue in Chicago are being pushed on a national scale by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, former Chicago public schools chief. We’re joined by Pauline Lipman, professor of education and policy studies at the University of Illinois-Chicago, director of the Collaborative for Equity and Justice in Education and member of Teachers for Social Justice.

Chicago Teachers Strike Could Portend Referendum on Obama Admin’s Approach to Education Reform

I think the strike is also a referendum on the Weingarten/Mulgrew/Casey policies of collaboration and surrender under the "climate of our times."

[More on this aspect later]

Karren Lewis Saying, Doing All the Right Things

Include poverty, exposure to violence, which increased exponentially this summer; our students experience homelessness, hunger. Evaluate us on what we do, not on what we cannot control. -- Karen Lewis

Ich bin Ein Chicago Teacher --- John F. Kennedy (paraphrased)

Info coming fast and furious. Here is a video of the morning picket at the Chi board of ed http://youtu.be/nLjQZw8usq0

Ravitch reports on An Open Letter to the White House

President Obama must let the nation's teachers know that he is with them. He can do so by disassociating himself from Rhee's anti-teacher agenda, as well as from policies pushed by his own Race to the Top.

And he could go to Chicago and tell Rahm Emanuel to settle with the teachers and do what is right for the children of Chicago.

Hell, NO! I won't back down from refusing to vote for either anti-public education candidate.

President Lewis at news conference: we have failed to reach agreement that would have prevented a strike.

We must do things differently if we want to give students the things they need.

We've restored arts and language . . . .
Board has agreed that we will have textbooks on the first day of school, and not have to wait six weeks.
We are not far on compensation.

But are far apart on benefits.
The evaluations would result in almost 30 percent or our members being discharged in two years.
Still too much based on student test scores.
Too many factors beyond our control.

Include poverty, exposure to violence, which increased exponentially this summer; our students experience homelessness, hunger.

Evaluate us on what we do, not on what we cannot control.

We are facing a possible decrease in teacher training.

We have been lauded by district and colleagues across the country with teacher training to strengthen teachers' craft.

We need air conditioned classrooms. Sweltering 98 degrees classrooms are not acceptable for students or our parents.
We continue to stand in solidarity with parents, clergy,
For a better school day, an elected school board.

We have under 400 social workers.
We call for more social workers, audiologists, nurses.
Students are subjected to an unprecedented exposure to violence.
Need wrap around services.

Hope the board will consider this.

We are committed on staying in discussion.

This announcement is made now, so that parents are informed.

We ask all of you to join in our education justice fight.

-------

To stay informed about the strike, pickets and solidarity events via text:

Chicago Teachers Solidarity Committee - Text ctsc2012 to 23559

Chicago Teachers Union- Text ctu1 to 69238 

The most important sources of information to go to will be the Chicago Teachers Union website (http://www.ctunet.com/ <http://www.ctunet.com/> ) and the CTU Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/ctulocal1 <https://twitter.com/ctulocal1> ), as well as the Chicago Teachers Solidarity Campaign Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/ ChicagoTeachersSolidarity

Here are a couple other websites and blogs to look at over the coming days:
Substance News: http://www.substancenews.net/
<http://www.substancenews.net/>
Catalyst Chicago: http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/
<http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/>
Teachers for Justice: http://www.teachersforjustice.org/
<http://www.teachersforjustice.org/>
Matt Farmer: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-farmer/
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-farmer/>

-------

Dear Supporters,

Tonight, Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) made it official: "In the morning, no CTU members will be inside our schools." This is the first time in 25 years that Chicago teachers are going on strike.

There are many ways to support the CTU as they go forward with this strike.Your support is crucial to winning. The city of Chicago needs to see that the people of the city will NOT accept anything less than the schools our students deserve. Please show your support in whatever capacity you can. There will be events happening throughout the city and throughout the day:

DIRECT ACTION & ORGANIZING:

• Walk the picket lines with the teachers! Every school will have a picket from 6:30-10:30am. We encourage people to join pickets at the school nearest them, to connect with other parents and community members in their neighborhoods. Those coming in from out of town or who otherwise would like to picket at one of the schools that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) will attempt to keep open during the strike, use this map.
• Picket outside of CPS Headquarters! The CTU wants to maintain a presence outside of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) headquarters throughout the day. Beginning at 5am, head over to 125 S. Clark St. and join the picket!
• Join the afternoon rally! At 3:30pm, the CTU will hold a rally, march, and speak-out, also in front of CPS Headquarters,125 S. Clark St. WEAR RED! RSVP on the Facebook event page and invite your friends and family!
• Join the CTSC organizing meeting! If you want to be directly involved with our organizing work as the Chicago Teachers Solidarity Campaign, we will be meeting directly after the rally at 7pm, at 1642 W. Van Buren, Teamsters Local 705. This will be CTU Strike Headquarters for the duration of the strike.

ONLINE & OTHER WAYS TO SHOW SOLIDARITY:

• Follow & Share! We have a website, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. Follow us and share our updates with all your friends and family!
• WEAR RED! Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, wear RED on Monday, to show that you stand in solidarity with the CTU.
• Call the mayor and the school board! Tell them that you stand with the CTU and you want them to negotiate a fair contract that gives our students the quality schools that ALL students deserve! Mayor Rahm Emanuel: 312-744-3300; CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard: 773-553-1500
• Get on our Text Alert System! Text "@ctsc2012" to 23559 to be added and get updates on negotiations, pickets, rallies, and other events.

Remember, this is OUR fight, the fight of working class people for the soul of public education. The Chicago Teachers Union is bravely leading us in this battle, but it will take all of us to win. Education should be a right, not a privilege. We must all stand together and demand a quality public education for ALL students.

In Solidarity,

Chicago Teachers Solidarity Campaign
http://ctscampaign.weebly.com/