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Chicago Teacher Strike Ends
by Diane Ravitch
Diane Ravitch's blog September 18, 2012
http://dianeravitch.net/2012/09/18/chicago-teacher-
strike-ends/
You have heard the news by now that the strike is over.
I was lecturing in Chattanooga and meeting with leaders
of the community from 2 pm until now. My brother
tweeted to ask why I was behind the curve. Oops,
offline.
Pundits and commentators will be poring over the Deep
Meaning of all this for weeks and months to come. There
will be countless articles about Lessons Learned.
Personally, I think we have a good idea already about
why the teachers went on strike. No, it wasn't greed or
money. The compensation piece was more or less settled
before the strike. Pundits and talk-show hosts who take
home hundreds of thousands a year will express outrage
that teachers - teachers! - might make $80,000. I ask
you, who adds more social value - a first grade teacher
in Chicago or a talk show host on national radio or TV?
Why did they strike? After 17 years of reform and
disrespect, they were fed up with the bullying. They
were tired of the non-educators and politicians telling
them how to teach and imposing their remedies. Reform
after reform, and children in Chicago still don't have
the rich curriculum, the facilities, and the social
services they need.
They were sick of the incessant school closings. They
were sick of seeing charter schools open that get
wildly uneven results yet are praised to the skies by
Arne Duncan and now Rahm Emanuel. They knew that the
charter schools are non-union and that the Mayor will
use them to break the union.
In the end, the union pitted itself against Rahm
Emanuel, Arne Duncan, Chicago's business and civic
leadership, and the Race to the Top. It took on the
most powerful forces in the city, and yes, even
President Obama, who remained neutral.
And by taking a stand, by uniting to resist the power
elite, these teachers discovered they were strong. They
had been downtrodden and disrespected, but no longer.
They put on their red T-shirts and commanded the
attention of the nation and the admiration of millions
of teachers. Powerless no more, they showed that unity
made them strong. 98% voted to authorize the strike,
and 98% voted to end it.
The union was fortunate in having Karen Lewis as its
president. She was one of them. She had taught
chemistry in the Chicago public schools for more than
20 years. She is one of the few - perhaps the only -
union leader in the nation who is Nationally Board
Certified, a mark of her excellence as a teacher.
Not only is she a teacher through and through, she is a
graduate of Dartmouth. She is neither impressed nor
intimidated by the elites who flaunt their Ivy League
credentials. Hers are as good as theirs. Maybe better.
She is a woman of valor.
Karen Lewis gave courage to her members, and they gave
courage to her.
The strike is one of the few weapons available to the
powerless. Without the union, the teachers would have
been ignored, and the politicians would be free to keep
on reforming them again and again and again.
The strike transformed the teachers from powerless to
powerful.
The teachers said, "Enough is enough. With us, not to
us."
Regardless of the terms of the contract, the teachers
won.
Thank you, CTU.
===
Important school issues are `off the table'
by Jesse Jackson
Chicago Sun-Times September 17, 2012
http://www.suntimes.com/news/jackson/15204506-452/impor
tant-school-issues-are-off-the-table.html
The Chicago teachers strike has gotten national
attention, much of it presuming that the biggest issues
are pay and evaluation. But the Chicago Teachers Union
has stated that the two sides have been very close on
pay.
And union members have no objection to evaluation; they
just want a system not so skewed to standardized, high-
stakes testing. These tests aren't particularly good
ways to measure teacher performance and, even worse,
have the perverse effect of forcing teachers to teach
kids to take tests rather than to love learning.
But the big issues for these schools and for the
teachers aren't talked about because they are
officially "off the table." CTU teachers are most
concerned about class size, about adequate facilities,
about wraparound services from social workers to
nurses, about well-rounded curricula including art and
music and languages, about early childhood education
that helps children come to school ready to learn.
This isn't fancy stuff. One concern is classrooms that
reach temperatures of up to 98 degrees in summer; only
29 percent of schools are air-conditioned. Another is
about textbooks for the first day of school. Many of
Chicago's elementary and middle schools have no safe
place for recess, and few have age-appropriate
playground equipment. There are 160 elementary schools
without a library; 140 are in the poorer South Side of
the city. Even though a staggering 80 percent of inner-
city teen boys are exposed to violence, 675 schools
share about 205 social workers. Schools often must
choose between art and music, if they are lucky enough
to have either.
Too often, Chicago is not providing the basics in
public education for its most needy children. The CTU
published a report detailing these concerns. But under
state law, they can't negotiate about them unless their
employer agrees - and neither Mayor Rahm Emanuel nor
school officials will consent to enter into
negotiations about these crucial conditions.
When the teachers strike ends and children return to
class, teachers will get the blame for the performance
of the students. But they can't negotiate about
crushing poverty, broken families and hard streets that
impact the hearts, souls and minds of the children they
teach. And teachers can't even negotiate about the
quality of the facilities and the educational
opportunities provided by the schools where they teach.
It's not surprising that teachers react when a
contractually agreed 4 percent pay raise is revoked or
the school day and school year are lengthened without
negotiations. They are frustrated at the lack of
respect paid to the needs of the children they teach.
And they are bound to be frustrated at the lack of
respect paid to their own contracts.
No one likes teachers strikes. But teachers are on the
front line. In a time of spreading poverty and rising
hunger, with harsh exploitation of the poor by
landlords and payday lenders, poor children too often
come to impoverished schools.
Teachers take the rap for poor student performance
without having the power to change what gets in the way
of learning. Grading teachers on the basis of a
machine-graded test cannot substitute for schools with
playgrounds and social workers, classes with manageable
numbers, or roofs that don't leak.
Poverty, inequality, violence, race and investment
matter.
They must be a part of any long-term solution.
===
Chicago Teachers Union Leader Karen Lewis Pushed
Back - and Won Feisty firebrand has emerged as new
champion for millions of public school teachers
by Juan Gonzalez
New York Daily News September 17, 2012
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/chicago-teachers-
union-leader-karen-lewis-pushed-back-won-
article-1.1161008
Karen Lewis, who last week led 29,000 Chicago teachers
on a school strike heard across the nation, has
suddenly emerged as the new champion for millions of
frustrated public school teachers.
Many of those teachers are sick and tired of being made
into scapegoats by politicians and corporate honchos
who never spent a single day in front of a classroom.
They are fed up with overcrowded classrooms in rundown
buildings, with bureaucrats who keep hiring high-paid
consultants despite huge budget deficits, with new
state laws that tie teacher evaluation to their
students' test scores, with the constant closing of
neighborhood schools and the stampede to charter
schools.
But most of all, they are furious at the lack of
respect for them and their profession.
Until this week, no one - not even American Federation
of Teachers chief Randi Weingarten - had found a way to
turn back the tide of teacher bashing.
Then the feisty firebrand Lewis burst on the scene.
For a week, she went toe-to-toe against Chicago Mayor
Rahm Emanuel, the former Obama White House chief-of-
staff known for his short fuse, foul mouth and take-no-
prisoners style.
And by any measure, Lewis came come out a winner.
The preliminary deal that emerged over the weekend -
once it's approved by the rank and file this week -
will restore respect for teachers nationwide.
Lewis came out of nowhere in 2010, after two decades as
a top high school teacher, to lead an insurgent group
that swept out the old Chicago Teachers Union leaders.
That old leadership had meekly gone along for nearly a
decade with the agenda of Chicago's former public
schools chief, Arne Duncan.
And once Duncan went to Washington as President Obama's
Secretary of Education, his Chicago agenda became
Obama's Race to the Top. Duncan used federal aid to
states for more closures of low-performing schools,
teacher layoffs, merit pay raises, charter schools, and
more standardized tests.
It's the same agenda our own Mayor Bloomberg, a handful
of billionaire philanthropists and many Republican
leaders across America have been pursuing.
Lewis and her insurgent group vowed to challenge these
so- called reforms head on. Once in command, she forged
a close alliance with several Chicago parent groups
whose members were equally furious at being excluded
from educational decision- making.
Meanwhile, Mayor Emanuel showed Lewis' members complete
disdain. He rescinded a 4% pay raise in the existing
union contract. He sought to have 40% of teacher
evaluations based on their students' test scores. And
he vowed to close more schools without offering laid-
off teachers a chance to be rehired.
Little wonder that Lewis won a huge mandate from her
members for their first strike in 25 years.
Once the walkout began, Emanuel was forced to back down
on some major items. He gave up his demand for merit
pay. He agreed that least 50% of laid off teachers
would be rehired when new positions became available,
and to allow teachers to "follow their students" when
schools closed.
Pupil test scores will still count for 30% of a
teacher's evaluations, but teachers will have the right
to appeal those evaluations.
Lewis even won new "anti-bullying" provisions against
principals and supervisors, and new faculty diversity
commitments to stem Chicago's disproportionate firings
of black teachers in recent years.
The contract, moreover, calls for the school district
to immediately hire more than 500 art, music, foreign
language and gym teachers - welcome news to parents.
Which is why wherever public school teachers gathered
last week, the strike in Chicago was the subject of
conversation.
Finally, a group of teachers had stood up back against
all that bashing.
