Damn That Antonucci, Beats Me to Kirk/Randi Story

When I heard the story about challenges to Illinois Senate candidate Mark Kirk's claims that he was a real teacher:

According to the NY Times: "a year in London at a private school and part-time in a nursery school as part of a work-study program while he was a student at Cornell University."

--- I said to myself: He has more teaching time that Randi did. But before I could blog about it EIA's Mike Antonucci came up with this:

U.S. Rep. Mark S. Kirk (R-IL) is being accused by his Democratic rival of overstating his teaching experience. His campaign failed to issue the obvious response:

“Rep. Kirk has enough teaching experience to lead a national teachers’ union.”

From the Village Voice:

“[Weingarten] has been on union leave since 1997, accumulating a total of nine years of pensionable city time though she only did one semester of full-time teaching.”

Make sure to click the above link to the Voice piece - it is priceless even thought it was written by the vicious anti-teacher/UFT Wayne Barrett. [See Afterburn for a section.]

I once heard Randi claim on NY1 that she taught 5 classes a day for six years. Or I think I heard it because it is hard to believe that someone would lie so openly and feel they could get away with it. Foolish me! You hear that Joel Klein is not an educator. But even he taught for 6 months or so during the Vietnam great draft escape (I was one of them too). Funny how Randi talks about her minimal teaching experience while Klein never seems to mention it. Even though he taught full time I know full well that it must have been hell for a new and untrained teacher - the 6 week special! He went running the minute he could. But so did many others, so I am not blaming Klein for that. What I blame him for is not having exhibited even a clue to how schools really work based on even that minimal experience.


Why would someone use a claim to have been a teacher as a positive talking point when teachers have been degraded for so long. You know the "those who can do, those who can't teach" mantra? It turns out that Kirk wsa trying to use his "experience" in controlling a nursery school class as a resume for how he would function in the US Senate. Hmmm. He may be on to something. But it turns out he didn't even run the nursery school class.

Follow-up reports say that Kirk wasn't even a nursery school teacher at all but came in to "play with the children." The Huffington Post piece says, "As a former nursery school and middle school teacher," Kirk said in a March speech to the Illinois Education Association, "I know some of what it takes to bring order to class." His supervising teacher said "Kirk was not responsible for "bringing order" to the nursery schoolers."

Well, if he wins (it is the Obama Senate seat by the way) Kirk can go in and play with the Senators.

------------
Afterburn
The VOICE Article:

In urging Klein "to walk in the shoes of teachers" .... she described how she'd done it, claiming that she "taught, sometimes full time, sometimes part time, at Clara Barton High School for six years." Actually, records reviewed by the Voice indicate that she taught 122 days as a per diem teacher from September 1991 through June 1994, roughly one in four days. She then did what she told the Voice was her only full-time term in the fall semester of 1994, followed by 33 days as a per diem teacher in the spring of 1995.

I don't believe that Randi actually went in even as a per diem sub and taught a full load. People at Barton said she usually had 2 periods of teaching and then left.
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Why that graphic? Just a representative of the look on people's face, whether Randi or Klein or the Teach for America crew as they escape from teaching.

Gothamist Reporter Briana Parker on Labor Rally at City Hall

Gothamist Reporter Briana Parker has written an account of the rally at City Hall on Wednesday, titled "Our City Needs Saving! Municipal Workers to the Rescue"

Briana, a Hunter HS grad is entering her sophomore year at Smith College.

Story and pics are at

http://gothamist.com/2010/06/17/our_city_needs_saving_municipal_wor.php?

The daughter of an elementary school chapter leader from Brooklyn, Briana also took this photo.



Excellent foreground. That old guy with the hat in the background is grimacing at the cars on Broadway that wouldn't honk. Or he's just constipated.

DC Union Elections Ignored by AFT - Well Sort Of

Funny how when it comes to Randi's people they can do anything but she did get involved in the DC elections over the composition of the election committee. That in effect killed the election before the contract vote. To what ends will she go? I bet the AFT/UFT/Unity caucus war room is figuring out ways to undermine CORE in Chicago. It certainly looks like there will be no representatives honestly elected from DC at the AFT convention in July. My guess is that Parker is acting under the advice of the AFT because the election of Nathan Saunders would put another hostile big city AFT leader in office.

Norm

Washington Teachers' Union Election Tampering: Time To Impeach George Parker?

Did Tweed Give Principals a Quota on Holdovers in Attempt to Bump Summer School Numbers?

UPDATED: June 18, 8am

THIS MIGHT NOT BE AS BAD AS IT LOOKED. HERE IS A MEMO FROM A PARENT:

Here is what the principals were told. It is actually a good policy.

"principals may presumptively promote two students without portfolio review by Community Superintendent; any additional promotion recommendations require that the principals send portfolios for review to Community Superintendents."


In the their own version of Monopoly, the NYCDOE seems to have given principals the equivalent of 2 Get out of Jail cards, at least based on this email I received from an elementary school teacher.

Norm, I wonder if this is happening all over the city:

As you know, principals were notified which students did not pass the state tests. There weren't given the actual scores, they just got a list of students with the phrase they "did not meet standards" next to their names. My principal was told she could only appeal two students of the few that did not get the benchmark test score. Even though more than two could have had portfolios assembled to appeal for promotion! How is that legal? Of course children who did not meet standards must attend summer school! Is the city trying to fund summer programs? I just wonder what other nonsense the DOE is cooking up in relation to the test score nonsense, considering twice as many students as last year did not meet the so-called criteria!!!

I was reading this on the train home from the rally yesterday when 3 teachers from an elementary school in Brooklyn got on. I showed them this email and they said it was true. That a 2 child limit for exemptions from being held over throughout the system, no matter the size of the school or the number of kids in danger. Hey, got to fill those summer school slots. Summer school is part of the ed deform blueprint and we can't go outside those lines.

Let us know if this is true in your schools. Better yet, if you can get ahold of any directive, send it along. Right now we are hearing that district supt are telling this to principals. Are they trying to hide the paper trail?

Bad photoshopping by me so don't blame David.
STRIKE THAT. DAVID CAME ACROSS WITH ANOTHER BEAUT!

-----
Make sure to check out recent posts on Norms Notes. Lots of juicy articles.
CORE Update: Emergency Board Meeting 6/15/2010
Class Size Versus Teacher Raises in Chicago

Pondering Legal Implications of Value-Added Teacher Evaluation

Today: INDYKIDS 5TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AND FUNDRAISER

Date: Thursday, June 17, 2010

Time: 5:30-8:30PM

Where: Town Tavern, 134 W 3^rd St (b/t Ave of the Americas & MacDougal St)

Directions: Take the A, C, E, B, D, F, V to the W 4th St.; walk one block south to W 3^rd

Special: $15 donation gets you one free drink and $3 beers/$4 wells

-Auction for cool prizes

-Bake sale

-Coloring in the IndyKids coloring book

Please make a donation to IndyKids, whether or not you can be there on June 17!

IndyKids is sustained though individual donations and grants. Due to the economic crisis, some grants were not renewed this year. We really need your support! The IndyKids budget is small, so your donation makes a big difference in the life of IndyKids. Think about the impact you can make. Every $50 contribution pays to print 700 additional copies of the newspaper. That’s 700 more kids who you help to reach with a fuller understanding of the news and the world.

HOW TO DONATE

1. Donate online at: www.indykids. org

2. Write a check made out to “IndyKids” and mail it to the address below.

3. Donations of $50 or more are tax deductible if made out to the IndyKids fiscal sponsor, the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center. Write your check out to “UC-IMC” and send it to IndyKids at the address below.

MORE INFO:

We’re very excited and proud to say that IndyKids is turning five this year! Although we are only five, we realize that many of our friends are of drinking age, and so we will be offering a drink special all night ($3 domestic beers, $4 wells) and one free drink for those guests who can give a suggested donation $15.

WHAT IS INDYKIDS?

IndyKids is a free newspaper, website and teaching tool that aims to inform children on current news and world events from a progressive perspective and to inspire a passion for social justice and learning. It is geared toward kids in grades 4 to 8 and high school English Language Learners. IndyKids is produced monthly during the school year with five print editions and four online editions.

CONTACT:

WEB: www.indykids. org

EMAIL: info@indykids. org

PHONE: 212-592-0116

ADDRESS: P.O. Box 2281, New York, NY 10163

Did Alex Russo he really say that?

This tidbit came in from Leonie on the increasingly clueless Russo:

"... so many of the tests kids take have little or no effect on their lives (or, I would argue, the lives and careers of most teachers and educators)."

If so, I wonder what universe he must be living in.

http://scholasticadministrator.typepad.com/thisweekineducation/2010/06/tests-no-way-to-be-certain-about-cheating-explosion.html

June 16 - Blooms Day

See today's Times op ed on Blooms Day, (June 16 from Joyce's Ulysses) - The ‘Learning Knights’ of Bell Telephone - where corporate leaders felt they needed people with liberal arts education:
"The sociologist E. Digby Baltzell explained the Bell leaders’ concerns in an article published in Harper’s magazine in 1955: “A well-trained man knows how to answer questions, they reasoned; an educated man knows what questions are worth asking.” Bell, then one of the largest industrial concerns in the country, needed more employees capable of guiding the company rather than simply following instructions or responding to obvious crises."

"The capstone of the program, and its most controversial element, came in eight three-hour seminars devoted to “Ulysses.” The novel, published in 1922, had been banned as obscene in the United States until 1933 and its reputation for difficulty outlived the ban. The Bell students “found it a challenging, and often exasperating, experience,...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/opinion/16davis.html?ref=opinion

Afterburn
I never read Usylsses. The only time I read Joyce was in freshman English - and barely survived.

Antonucci's EIA on CHI: Teamsters in the House

There are few out there with more knowledge and a better understanding of the underlying forces in teacher union politics (more so about the NEA than the AFT) than the Educational Intelligence Agency's Mike Antonucci - once you get past his spin. Mike loves to dish dirt on the unions - he will ignore the most extreme malfeasance from the people running schools while reporting on a union leader who sneezes into his sleeve.

I get criticism from my leftie friends - and my UFT enemies like Leo Casey (I'm too busy to find Leo's links) - for even mentioning Mike, one of the early bashers of teacher unions. I've been on his list since being connected through Sol Stern (I think) many years ago. Now there are some strange bedfellows - but I have had some of the best discussions with both of them over the years. You learn a lot more from trying to defend your policies when not preaching to the choir.

For a while I though Mike had forgotten where Chicago was and was going to send him a map. Finally, his long-awaited comments appeared yesterday. There is some cogent analysis and truths buried within, though from his distance he is missing some essential differences between CORE and Debbie Lynch's PACT reform slate that need to be examined.

One of his key points is that the Chicago teacher union staff - the equivalent of the UFT's district and field reps - are unionized - unlike in the UFT (I have more info on why and will deal with that in a separate post.) When he refers to the "reform crowd" he means the ed deform crowd. CORE represents the real reform crowd. Call it Real Ed Reform - RER.

First, here is Mike's post, followed by my comments and an after burn follow-up.

The Education Intelligence Agency

COMMUNIQUÉ – June 14, 2010

On the Web at http://www.eiaonline.com

Is Chicago the Flip Side of DC? Once again, EIA finds itself in the role of wet blanket, smothering the fiery claims of those who want the events in a single district to be replicated everywhere else. Last week I tried to douse the enthusiasm of the reform crowd who saw the DC teachers' contract as a harbinger of the future for other troubled urban districts.

This week, it's the turn of the old guard unionists who think the results of the Chicago Teachers Union leadership vote is a portent of a new wave of militancy from teachers, in reaction to the recent beatings public employees' unions are taking in press and public opinion.

The Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) united other opposition groups and achieved victory for presidential candidate Karen Lewis and her slate. Lewis defeated incumbent president Marilyn Stewart by a 3 to 2 margin.

First, let's not deny the obvious. CORE did campaign on taking a harder line against the district administration, and that's how it won. In fact, that's the only way an opposition slate ever wins a union election, particularly in the AFT.

Few remember now that Stewart won election to the CTU presidency in 2004 by criticizing incumbent Deborah Lynch for being insufficiently protective of teachers' interests. "This is a labor union, not a university," Stewart famously said. Stewart promised to focus the union on contract enforcement and filing grievances.

Stewart was criticized for jumping on the protest bandwagon too late - only rallying against layoffs and budget cuts when it became clear her own reelection was in doubt. In 2004, that criticism was also leveled against Lynch (see item #5, here) who faced Stewart in a runoff after layoff notices were sent to 2,180 teachers and 1,300 support personnel. Lynch appeared at a media event to protest the layoffs during the runoff campaign.

Lewis's election may have large implications for the Chicago Public Schools. Her politics are significantly to the left of the machine Democrats who run the city and the school system. "What drives school reform is a single focus on profit. Profit. Not teaching, not learning, profit," she said in her post-election press conference.

Nevertheless, she may find her platform difficult to implement. It includes repealing mayoral control, stopping school closings and reconstitutions, and bargaining class size. But those will be easy compared to her plan to "cap CTU officer and staff salaries to the average teacher salary prorated over 12 months."

She may get her way with the officers, but the staffers are represented by the Teamsters, and their contractually guaranteed minimum base salary for next year is $101,517.80. So good luck with that.

Lewis could reverse the trend of outsiders becoming insiders, but history isn't on her side. The last "next big thing" was A.J. Duffy in Los Angeles. He survived his reelection challenge, but was also criticized for too much compromising. A lot of same kinds of internal reforms Lewis proposes were instituted in Miami after the Tornillo scandal. It's hard to argue that any of this led to a mass movement for teachers' unions - in either direction.

One of the aspects of the 2001 Chicago election was that the UPC (Unity, Chicago version though thoroughly inept) that lost the election kept control of many staff positions through the Teamster contracts Mike talks about. The old guard UPC used these political operatives to undermine Lynch with the members, though she did lose support on her own. I assume, they will try to do the same with CORE (and don't forget, they will have the help of Randi and the AFT who I bet are already plotting strategy on how to undermine and divide CORE and bring the UPC back into power.) Addressing this issue will be quite a task for CORE.

I saw some comments on the Substance site urging CORE to not sign these contracts. Hmmm. Could be interesting with the Teamsters involved. {I have more info on the difference between the UFT staffers who have no union and will follow up later.]

CORE does not come across as "old guard unionists." From the people I hung with in LA this past summer many of the leaders are fairly young, progressive teachers with a social justice outlook. They say they have been building connections to the parents and communities and to students. Real connections at the school levels, not the kinds of leadership to leadership connections we see from the UFT.

The CORE platform (make sure to read Karen Lewis' speech):

Repealing mayoral control, stopping school closings and reconstitutions, and bargaining class size.

It may be difficult but nowhere as difficult in NYC where the union doesn't even have these items in its platform. At least with CORE there's a chance for a fight.

Norm
---------------
After Burn
I got to hang with Mike in the press section of the AFT convention in 2004 and we had some excellent discussion. It was Mike who picked up the ball immediately when the FMPR from Puerto Rico appeared at that convention with their disaffiliation from the AFT and reported on the rift extensively (though I was too dense to see it at the time.) There has been some glee at seeing the autocratic, blood-sucking AFT take a hit. (Since then through Angel Gonzalez' friendship with Rafael Feliciano, the president of the FMPR, GEMers have developed close contacts.) If you search the ednotes blog or Mike's EIA site (http://www.eiaonline.com) you can find the links to his reports over many years.

Mike incidentally reported yesterday that he uses the Network Solutions and faced similar problems that Substance (as reported here yesterday) has, speculating that there was no cyber attack on either of them. I mean, who would want to attack EIA other than Leo Casey. Hmmm. Leo also doesn't like George Schmidt very much. Hope Leo has an alibi.

Mike was born and bred in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn and I in East NY a mile or two away, so we grew up not far apart (though he is much younger.) East Brooklyn - Feistyville.
-------
Double After-burn
Speaking of Chicago, my wife has gotten me to start reading "The Devil in the White City" a book about the Chicago world's fair in 1892.

TODAY: Join GEM and the CPE at Today's Rally

Rally against the budget cuts with the

Coalition for Public Education and the

Grassroots Education Movement

Wednesday June 16th, Start gathering at 4pm.

From 4pm-4:30pm gather outside

Brooklyn Bridge train station on the City Hall side (4,5,6 Train Lines).

At 4:30pm March to Tweed Courthouse (DOE Headquarters)

52 Chambers Street

New York, NY 10007

Join the City-Wide Rally

Against Budget Cuts!

WEAR RED!!!

WEAR RED!!!

WEAR RED!!!

BRING BANNERS, BRING FLAGS, BRING DRUMS...

MAKE SOME NOISE!!!

Join us on Broadway for the City Hall Rally .

If you can't find us call Akinlabi Mackall at (646) 824-4723.

Directions: 4,5,6 trains to Brooklyn Bridge train station.

Bring your colleagues, family, friends and neighbors! It will take all of us standing together to stop these devastating cuts!!!

Calling All Volunteers!

We need your help to spread the message. Please meet up with John L to help pass out fliers and see Diane for a clip board and sign-up sheet.

For more info:

CPE
www.forpubliced.blogspot.com

GEM
http://grassrootseducationmovement.blogspot.com/

Substance Web Site Under Cyber Attack, Needs Assistance

Those of you following the Chicago union story know that George Schmidt's Substance, in the midst of a media blackout, is our major source of information. But if you try to get into the site it is like watching grass grow. Here is a request from George:

6/15/10

I've spent the better part of the day monitoring the attack on SubstanceNews and on the phone with Network Solutions about it. I've learned some very interesting things, and was wondering if you could ask ICE people, when they have the time, to do the following:

Please go to the Substance website at

www.substancenews.net

Every eight to twelve hours and e-mail me a copy of what happens

My email for this is

Gnschmidt@aol.com

I am beginning to document this third time we were sabotaged by Network Solutions since January, and how this always happens at a mission critical time. In January they were supposedly "sweeping for hackers" and had our site stats down a total of four full days (January February 2010). In April, they let another site basically piggy back on Substance, and CPS blocked us for a week from local Chicago schools access. This time, within 24 hours after our announcing the CORE victory, there have been a half dozen different Network Solutions explanations about why nobody can get to Substance.

So I need to document each iteration, and from different places. We're at this point working with lawyers. Needless to say, these problems haven't hit all (or even most of) the site hosted by Network Solutions. While it's an honor in a way, we can't let them continue to disrupt us every time we're in the middle of some large scale political activity here in Chicago or elsewhere, and that is precisely what they have been doing and are continuing to do as I write this.

Thanks for your help,

George N. Schmidt

Editor, Substance

www.substancenews.net

In Defense of Michelle Rhee

From Paul Moore

Recent events have really tested my confidence in Chancellor Rhee. I mean everyone around me is calling her a pathological liar or a degenerate sociopath incapable of human warmth or an enabler of sex with underage girls or a bumbling incompetent who was never qualified to run a convenience store much less the DCPS. It's hard to believe they're all wrong but I will cling desperately with the Washington Post to a time, not so long ago, when things were not so clear about the capabilities and competencies of our Michelle of Arc.

My mind wanders to the lovely picture of Michelle on the cover of Time magazine gently sweeping a classroom with a broom. And isn't that where she shines? Those incomparable people skills! The leadership by example! How many $275,000 a year Chancellors will get in there with the custodians to keep things in order.

Then there are the echoes of the soon-to-be president Barack Obama saying Michelle's name to a national TV audience. Even though he treats her name like it was poison now it was thrilling at the time. Misty watercolor memories of the way we were.

And I remember how loyal she can be when her man gives special tutoring to 16-year-old girls, lots of 16-year-old girls. You know when Michelle falls she falls hard, as many as 50 e-mails a day. How many other women in a position of great power would risk it all to cover up child molestation? It's the stuff of romance novels and indictments. Thankfully the one DC teacher that had sex with the student wasn't her betrothed and he could be RIFed several months after the incident.

But the greatest source of solace has always been that celebrated but mysterious period of Michelle's life that has only been explained by one man. Through the dogged investigative reporting of the WAPO's education maven Jay Mathews we now have the facts and a mountain of documentation to chase away all the doubters. Thank you Jay, how sweet to recite the tale!

"The Fable of Michelle Rhee" by Jay Mathews.

Once upon a time, there was a young Ivy League missionary with a couple years to kill before getting on with her life's work. Rather than backpacking through Europe or climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro after a safari in Africa, our intrepid heroine plunged into the mean streets of Baltimore where children who live in poverty test poorly.

One day the missionary-princess was struck down like St. Paul on the way to Damascus. "Sit the poor children in a circle," the voice told her. And sit them in a circle she did.

Her students forevermore scored like rich children on tests. And they all lived happily ever after.

Just take my word on that. I swear its true. No, no really, stop laughing. How rude. Ok, that's enough, get up off the floor. Geez, its a fairy tale. You know like Pinocchio?

Note to Bill Gates: I think Anita Dunn is going to need more money. This is starting to look like an episode of Mission Impossible.

--Adrian Fenty, spokesmodel for the Federal City Council.

--------------------------------
More from Paul Moore

Musings on DC and the USA

---------------
More on Rhee from THEMAIL

Conflicts of Interest

Dear Unconflicted Readers:

As I wrote in the last issue of themail, apologists for Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee argue that there was no conflict of interest or self-dealing when she negotiated agreements with foundations that donated millions of dollars to the DC Public Schools, and allowed the foundations to condition those gifts on the requirement that the leadership of DCPS not change — in other words, that she keep her job. The first defense of Rhee is that she didn’t personally negotiate the agreements with the foundations that guaranteed her job. That’s factually wrong. Bill Turque’s useful description of the prolonged negotiations between DCPS and the Washington Teachers Union (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcschools/2010/06/on_the_road_to_a_deal_gridlock.html) contains this passage: “After a seven-hour meeting in mid-December [2009] ended with handshakes and high-fives, the talks were over in earnest. But the tentative agreement wasn’t complete because Rhee had to sell the deal to the private foundations needed to help finance the contract’s rich financial package, including a 21.6 percent raise and the performance pay plan. In 2008, Rhee said the commitments were firm. But the length of the talks had taken a toll. ‘Apparently [the foundations] were a little more difficult than she anticipated,’ Schmoke said. Rhee said that because of confidentiality agreements, she was limited in what she could tell private funders at the Broad, Robertson, Walton and Arnold foundations about the talks while they were ongoing. ‘The donors were waiting for a long time. They thought we were going to do this in July of 08,’ Rhee said. By the time a deal was finally at hand, she said, the funders didn’t feel compelled to rush.” Obviously, some part of the negotiations with the foundations may have been carried out by Rhee’s subordinates, but just as obviously Rhee was in charge of those negotiations for DCPS. If she objected to a clause that guaranteed her continued employment, she could have had it removed.

The second defense is that the foundations’ agreements contained nothing of personal value to Rhee. That can’t be taken seriously. Guaranteed employment is of value. The agreements may not have contained clauses that called for a raise in Rhee’s pay, but they contained clauses that were of greater personal value to her than a raise would have been — the threat that the millions of dollars the foundations were promising DCPS would be withdrawn if Rhee were fired. If someone approached your employer and guaranteed it millions of dollars of business on the condition that it continued to employ you, wouldn’t that be of value to you?

The third defense of Rhee is that this kind of job guarantee clause is common in grant agreements, that “everyone does it.” There are two responses to that. The first is simple: prove it. Show us the agreements that the DC government has entered into with foundations, nonprofit organizations, or corporations in which a gift to government is conditional on the government administrators of a department or agency remaining in their jobs. If there are such agreements, we need to have them exposed; we need to know what other government officials are negotiating that benefit themselves. The second is that even if other government officials have negotiated such deals in their own interest, it is still wrong. Public officials are supposed to deal in the public’s interests and on the public’s behalf, and not to benefit themselves.

The final defense of Rhee is that the agreements with the foundations were actually signed by the DC Public Education Fund, rather than by DCPS. But the Public Education Fund acted solely as a pass through, and not as an independent dispenser of the funds. DCPS was the designated beneficiary of the funds; there was no chance that the DC Public Education Fund would give them to another organization; there is no evidence that it acted in any way independently of DCPS or Chancellor Rhee. Rhee and Fenty created the DC Public Education Fund, and the director of the Fund is a close personal friend of Rhee’s, who even hosted Rhee’s engagement party.

In the end, the argument that the Office of Campaign Finance has no reason to investigate the charge that Chancellor Rhee had a conflict of interest or acted in a self-dealing way in negotiating the foundations’ gifts with these conditions fails — unless it is means simply, “We like Rhee; don’t question anything she does.”

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

What drives school reform is a single focus on profit. Profit. Not teaching, not learning, profit. - Karen Lewis

A new day in the Chicago Teachers Union

Lee Sustar looks at the far-reaching impact of the reform victory in the CTU.

June 14, 2010

KAREN LEWIS didn't waste any time laying out her vision for the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU)--and challenging the political and business interests driving corporate school reform.

"This election shows the unity of 30,000 educators standing strong to put business in its place--out of our schools.

Corporate America sees K-12 public education as a $380 billion trust that--up until the last 15 years--they haven't had a sizeable piece of. So this so-called school reform is not an education plan. It's a business plan, and mayoral control of our schools and our Board Of Education is the linchpin of their operation.

Fifteen years ago, this city purposely began starving our lowest-income neighborhood schools of greatly needed resources and personnel. Class sizes rose, schools were closed. Then standardized tests, which in this town alone is a $60 million business, measured that slow death by starvation. These tests labeled our students, families and educators failures, because standardized tests reveal more about a student's zip code than it does about academic growth.

And that, in turn--that perceived school failure--fed parent demand for charters, turnarounds and contract schools. People thought, "it must be true, I read it in the papers. It must be the teachers' fault." Because they read about it, every single week. And our union, which has been controlled by the same faction for the last 40 years--37 out of 40--didn't point out this simple reality.

What drives school reform is a single focus on profit. Profit. Not teaching, not learning, profit."

Lewis' statement left the Chicago press corps literally speechless. Only one reporter managed a couple of questions. The local media simply isn't used to an assertive teachers' union leader--certainly not one who declares that she's standing up to the politicians and business interests that have made Chicago a laboratory for "school reform" for the last 15 years.

Read Lee's full piece at: http://socialistworker.org/2010/06/14/new-day-for-chicago-teachers

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After burn: Gary does it again

A GBN News exclusive:

"NY City Mayor Michael Bloomberg today reiterated his assertion that BP executives should not be blamed for the ongoing Gulf oil spill. But this time he went even further, telling reporters at a City Hall news conference that accountability should be laid squarely on the shoulders of those who are truly responsible– the teachers unions."

MORE at:
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2010/06/mike-dont-blame-bp-blame-teachers.html

Catching Up

With the breaking news about Chicago (still little press coverage over a youthful caucus taking over the union in the heart of Daley/Obama/Duncan territory - the very people who confronted Duncan on a regular basis while the union leadership was mute) I've had trouble keeping up with events and news.

I spent last week up in Manchester, NH at meetings with the FIRST LEGO robotics crew. People come to these partner conferences from around the nation and even from other countries - New Zealand and Israel were in the house.

I drove up there with a bunch of people, including two teachers at some of the most elite NYC private schools. Their school year ended early last week. I always gain a lot of insights when I talk to private school teachers. One of them taught in a public school for a few years where I first met her through robotics. Her classroom was a wonderland. She left over high class size, a lack of resources and most interestingly, the arrival of a new principal, who no matter how good you were, wanted her own people. Since this principal has arrived many of the talented teachers there (I knew a whole bunch of them) have left.

So much for all the sturm und drang about giving principals the major role in deciding on teachers layoffs. This teacher and her colleagues would make a good poster for seniority.

By the way, these private school teachers, both fairly young are the people the DOE is supposedly looking for. Not. They have tremendous progressive educational concepts and would never tolerate the public school crap. Maybe that says something about a lot of things here in NYC (more than we like to think about).

They agree with much of what we all have been saying and if they were in the public schools they might very well be part of a movement to fight back against the ed deformers. But they just want to teach in a supportive educational environment. I know, I know, they are teaching kids of people who pay upwards of $30,000 a year. And they have small class sizes - the schools won't accept kids if they have to push beyond a certain number. And they do counsel kids out. They offer lots of scholarships - of course the parent has to apply. Hmmmm, looks like charter school-ville territory.

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After burn

There were lots of highlights to my trip. I hung with a long-time buddy retired NYC high school robotics teacher, a retired engineer who taught for a few years. Also a current high school teacher who was given 2 days off to attend and an engineer for a major NYC company. Both volunteer a lot of time. On Weds, we were invited to the founder of FIRST's home for dinner. He is a major inventor whose house is as unique as can be. Level after level of interesting stuff. Chess playing machines and all sorts of goodies to explore. A media room, a full machine shop, a lighted baseball field outside - we couldn't take pictures so I can't share much. We had lobster dinners for over a hundred people in the helicopter hanger. I'm still wiping the lobster goo off myself. I've got to start using those bibs.

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I've been involved with putting on these robotic events in NYC almost since the first day I retired in 2002. This program is worth every penny as a team concept beyond sports. I handle registration and team recruitment and can provide any info needed. If your school is interested in FIRST LEGO League robotics, registration is open at https://gofll.usfirst.org/. You can also check my robotics blog: http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/. Or contact me. Last year we had 150 teams in NYC from all parts of the city -public, private, community-based, home schooled. We hold an event in each borough in January, 80 teams make the finals at the Javits center in March and the champion is eligible to go to St. Louis for the World Festival in April.

CORE Core Values and UFT/Unity Caucus: NOT

Note the CORE core values - most are completely opposite from where UFT/AFT/Unity Caucus stands. Norm

Susan Ohanian Notes on CORE Victory:

Hardworking, idealistic teachers have shown that even within the AFT, change is possible. They may show us that revolution is possible.

From the CORE web site:

We support:

• Capping CTU officer and staff salaries to the average teacher salary prorated over 12 months.

• Limit standardized tests. Ban using test results to punish, label or denigrate schools, students or teachers.

• Repeal mayoral control of schools and restore our right to collectively bargain class sizes, counselor loads and stop school closings and reconstitutions.

• Lead legislation to fund all schools equitably and return all TIF (Tax Increment Financing) funds to each school taxing district.

CORE ran a smart, idealistic, grassroots campaign. If they can stick to their principles, they will have a powerful impact on public schools across the country.

For starters, let's hope they can take this spirit to the upcoming AFT convention in Seattle.

Let's hope Randi Weingarten is shaking in her shoes. And NEA is watching.

Susan

George N. Schmidt: http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1472&section=Article
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.


Sharon Schmidt reports:
Lewis thanks supporters at June 12 press conference

6-12-10 Karen Lewis, CTU President-elect. Election Acceptance Speech

I want to thank everyone who made today a reality – the CORE members who worked tirelessly for this day, the CTU members who voted for us, and the thousands of teachers, parents and students who stand up each and every day to improve and defend public education, often against some very powerful forces. On behalf of CPS students, I want to personally thank my fellow teachers and paraprofessional educators for the long hours you work off the clock every day under increasingly challenging circumstances. Thank you. We will work night and day to deliver on the trust you have placed in us.

Today marks the beginning of the end of scapegoating educators for all the social ills that our children, families and schools struggle against every day. Today marks the beginning of a fight for true transparency in our educational policy -- how to accurately measure learning and teaching, how to truly improve our schools, and how to evaluate the wisdom behind our spending priorities.

This election shows the unity of 30,000 educators standing strong to put business in its place – out of our schools. Corporate America sees K-12 public education as 380 billion dollars that, up until the last 10 or 15 years, they didn’t have a sizeable piece of. This so-called school reform is not an education plan. It’s a business plan and mayoral control of our schools, and our Board of Education, is the linchpin of their operation.

Fifteen years ago, this city purposely began starving our lowest-income neighborhood schools of greatly needed resources and personnel. Class sizes rose, and schools were closed. Then, standardized tests which, in this town alone is a $60 million dollar business, measured that slow death by starvation. These tests labeled our students, families and educators failures because standardized tests reveal more about a student’s zip code than a student’s academic growth. And that, in turn – that perceived school failure -- fed parent demand for charters, turnarounds and contract schools.

People thought it must be true, and it must be the teachers’ fault, because they read about it every week in the papers. And our Union that has been controlled by the same faction for 37 of 40 years didn’t point out this simple reality – what drives so-called school reform is a singular focus on profit. Profit, not teaching, not learning. Profit.

In Chicago, we’ve seen CPS close 70 neighborhood schools and open 70 charters that do no better. 6,000 Chicago Teachers Union members have lost their livelihoods – their jobs – their dignity – in the process. Countless children have lost their friends, and families have lost their schools that, for most, are a source of pride, tradition and safety.

Of course, just as our city’s social conditions must improve, many of our schools must improve too. But we have hundreds of thriving schools filled with dedicated, loving, and professional educators and administrators who are wise enough to empower teachers to lead.

Outside of the classroom, we need society to recommit to bettering all communities. We also need our parents to recommit to the education of their children. But inside the classroom, the only people who can improve our schools are professional educators. Corporate heads and politicians do not have a clue about teaching and learning. They have never sat one minute on this side of a teacher’s desk. But they’re the ones calling the shots and we’re supposed to accept it as “reform.”

As a Union of 30,000 united educators, we have a lot of work to do … and we know we can’t do it alone. We need to work together and rethink education policy here in Chicago. I am asking that Mayor Daley and Mr. Huberman line up their allies in Springfield, and we’ll line up ours, to stop this annual ritual of “crisis budgeting”. Once and for all we need to change how Illinois funds its schools -- 60% from property taxes and 30% from the state. We need to reverse that, flip it on its head, so ALL children, no matter the value of their family’s home, have equal access to quality education.

And while we’re in Springfield together, let’s make sure that the average CPS teachers’ retirement – just $39,000 a year, yes, that’s the average, $39,000 and that’s WITHOUT Social Security – is safe and sound. The law says our pension fund has to be at 90% … it’s about 60% now. We need to follow that law together.

Now, back home here in Chicago, we need to put ALL the financial details on the table, because teachers got pink-slips THIS week – and yet Chicagoans have not seen a clear, transparent and detailed CPS budget. We don’t KNOW the details behind this claimed 6 hundred million deficit, that’s just what we’ve been TOLD. It’s time for the Board to give citizens all the specifics – how CPS spends our money, on what and to whom. How the 250 million in TIFs that should go to schools each year are really spent. Chicagoans need to know how charters spend their taxpayer dollars because to date, we have not seen one charter school’s financials, not one.

CORE ran a clean campaign calling for a clean government. We called for budget transparency and a clear read on how social ills outside the schools impact our classrooms on the inside. Then we can start to change the conversation. Not what or who to cut, but how to save money and lower, yes, lower classroom sizes. Not whether yet another one-size-fits-all policy – the latest silver bullet – will work, but how each school can rebuild itself into a responsive learning environment. And certainly not whether open access for ALL children to high-quality public education is a luxury society simply cannot afford, but rather that true public education – great schools with great teachers – is the most important civil rights battle of our generation.

And we will change that conversation because the Chicago Teachers Union is now unified. Our teachers and paraprofessionals are poised to reclaim the power of our 30,000 members and protect what we love – teaching and learning in publicly-funded public schools.

At the GEM Blog: Video of Bronx Science Protest at Bloomberg's Home

Bronx Science Teachers Tell Bloomberg: Stop Harassment and Abuse

Michelle Rhee to NYC Teachers: Be More Like DC,

D.C. school chancellor Michelle Rhee says New York must learn from her groundbreaking union deal

I've been getting emails from teachers today who read the Michelle Rhee piece in the Daily News, where she has this quote, which needs no comment from me:

Use Randi Weingarten. I don't like to get in the middle of someone else's negotiation and I know that there is a long and complicated history between Weingarten and Klein. However, based on my experiences negotiating with Weingarten, she is very much able to see the direction the nation is heading in and the fact that unions need to be a part of the solution. Both Klein and Mulgrew should lean on her.

I posted it on Norms Notes:

See Accountable Talk: Rhee-Ductio Ad Absurdum

Perdido Street School: Much Ado About Rhee

Chaz' advice:
Michelle Rhee - Worry About Your Own Failed Administration And Schools. Mind Your Own Buisness When It Comes To Negotiating Our Contract.

Taking a Trip Through Cheating Land

When do we get the Ed deformers saying they're just shocked cheating has been going on? I've seen it since I first started teaching in the late 60's. Using old tests that were repeated was the way sophisticated people did it (collecting them did not always work as people had time to make notes for future ref even during the test). Others just erased.

From the Daily Howler: http://www.dailyhowler.com/

GABRIEL GETS IT RIGHT (permalink): Even as Steinhauer muses on hair, Trip Gabriel gets it very right on the front page of today’s Times. “CHEAT SHEET,” part of his headline says. “Pressed to Show Progress, Educators Tamper With Test Scores.”

Decades later, the New York Times is catching up with the problem of cheating on high-stakes tests in the public schools. (And yes, we’re talking about outright cheating, not about “teaching to the test.”) In the following passage, Gabriel describes a high-scoring school where the principal and assistant principal simply erased wrong answers and filled in right answers, after the students went home:

GABRIEL (6/11/10): Educators ensnared in cheating scandals rarely admit to wrongdoing. But at one Georgia school last year, a principal and an assistant principal acknowledged their roles in a test-erasure scandal.

For seven years, their school, Atherton Elementary in suburban Atlanta, had met the standards known in federal law as Adequate Yearly Progress—A.Y.P. in educators’ jargon—by demonstrating that a rising share of students performed at grade level.

Then, in 2008, the bar went up again and Atherton stumbled. In June, the school’s assistant principal for instruction, reviewing student answer sheets from the state tests, told her principal, “We cannot make A.Y.P.,” according to an affidavit the principal signed.

“We didn’t discuss it any further,” the principal, James L. Berry, told school district investigators. “We both understood what we meant.”

Pulling a pencil from a cup on the desk of Doretha Alexander, the assistant principal, Dr. Berry said to her, “I want you to call the answers to me,” according to an account Ms. Alexander gave to investigators.

The principal erased bubbles on the multiple-choice answer sheets and filled in the right answers.

This sort of thing has gone on for a very long time, ever since standardized testing began getting tied to “accountability” around 1970. We’ve been speaking to journalists about this sort of thing since the early 1970s. We started writing op-ed columns on this topic in the late 1970s, in the Baltimore Sun. We started discussing this topic in THE HOWLER in1999.

For decades, the mainstream press corps simply refused to come to terms with this problem. In recent years, the Times has been coming around quite smartly, doing serious work on this topic. About its “Cheat Sheet” series, the Times says this: “Articles in this series will examine cheating in education and efforts to stop it.”

The analysts whistled and cheered.

Gabriel’s piece is very much worth reading. We’ll note two omissions, skipping a third:

States can cheat too: This morning’s piece discusses the way teachers and principals can cheat on tests, driving up the passing rates of a particular classroom or school. But in recent years, something like cheating has sometimes occurred on a statewide basis. There is little doubt that some states have made their statewide tests easier over the years, without informing the public. This is an artificial way of driving up passing rates on a statewide basis. This may seem more innocent than the practice described in that excerpt from Gabriel’s piece. But when states drive up passing rates in this way, that’s basically “cheating” too. (It wouldn’t be cheating if the public was told that the tests had been made easier.)

In praise of security measures: Gabriel quotes John Fremer, an expert in this kind of cheating. “Every time you increase the stakes associated with any testing program, you get more cheating,” he sensibly says. At the end of his piece, Gabriel quotes a second expert who has “called for refocusing education away from high-stakes testing because of the distorted incentives it introduces for teachers.” But annual testing is very important; in its absence, school systems are free to tell the public any damn thing about student progress. Cheating could be greatly reduced by improvements in security measures—for example, by having unaffected proctors administer the tests, rather than affected teachers. (And by keeping the answer sheets away from affected principals.) This would cost money, and it would require planning. But it would be an obvious way to deal with this ongoing problem.

When it comes to issues like these, the mainstream press corps has been virtually ineducable down through the years. (Meanwhile, liberal journals walked away from black kids decades ago. We liberals don’t dirty our hands with such topics; we’re too busy calling conservatives “racist.”) In a very constructive way, the New York Times has been getting up to speed on cheating issues in recent years.

Today, Gabriel authors another top-notch piece. The analysts whistled and uttered a cry: May “Cheat Sheet” long prevail!

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.