VIEW ONLINE: http://dev.portside.org/2012-09-25/strike-transformed-teachers-powerless-powerful-cb SUBSCRIBE: http://portside.org/subscribe VISIT PORTSIDE.ORG: http://portside.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- "Strike Transformed Teachers from Powerless to Powerful" -cb <span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2012-09-25T00:00:00-05:00">September 25, 2012</span> By [node:field-author] [node:field-name-of-source] (Tue, 2012-09-25 00:00) <ul> <li> <font face="Tahoma"><a href="#favitch">Chicago Teacher Strike Ends - Diane Ravitch </a></font></li> <li> <font face="Tahoma"><a href="#jesse">Important school issues are `off the table' - Jesse Jackson </a></font></li> <li> <font face="Tahoma"><a href="#juan">Chicago Teachers Union Leader Karen Lewis Pushed Back - and Won - Juan Gonzalez </a></font></li> </ul> <p><br /> <font face="Tahoma">=====<br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="favitch">Chicago Teacher Strike Ends</a><br /> <br /> by Diane Ravitch<br /> <br /> Diane Ravitch's blog<br /> September 18, 2012<br /> <br /> <a href="http://dianeravitch.net/2012/09/18/chicago-teacher-strike-ends/"><span class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://dianeravitch.net/2012/09/18/chicago-teacher-strike-ends/</span></a><br /> <br /> You have heard the news by now that the strike is over. I was<br /> lecturing in Chattanooga and meeting with leaders of the<br /> community from 2 pm until now. My brother tweeted to ask why I<br /> was behind the curve. Oops, offline.<br /> <br /> Pundits and commentators will be poring over the Deep Meaning<br /> of all this for weeks and months to come. There will be<br /> countless articles about Lessons Learned.<br /> <br /> Personally, I think we have a good idea already about why the<br /> teachers went on strike. No, it wasn't greed or money. The<br /> compensation piece was more or less settled before the strike.<br /> Pundits and talk-show hosts who take home hundreds of<br /> thousands a year will express outrage that teachers -<br /> teachers! - might make $80,000. I ask you, who adds more<br /> social value - a first grade teacher in Chicago or a talk show<br /> host on national radio or TV?<br /> <br /> Why did they strike? After 17 years of reform and disrespect,<br /> they were fed up with the bullying. They were tired of the<br /> non-educators and politicians telling them how to teach and<br /> imposing their remedies. Reform after reform, and children in<br /> Chicago still don't have the rich curriculum, the facilities,<br /> and the social services they need.<br /> <br /> They were sick of the incessant school closings. They were<br /> sick of seeing charter schools open that get wildly uneven<br /> results yet are praised to the skies by Arne Duncan and now<br /> Rahm Emanuel. They knew that the charter schools are non-union<br /> and that the Mayor will use them to break the union.<br /> <br /> In the end, the union pitted itself against Rahm Emanuel, Arne<br /> Duncan, Chicago's business and civic leadership, and the Race<br /> to the Top. It took on the most powerful forces in the city,<br /> and yes, even President Obama, who remained neutral.<br /> <br /> And by taking a stand, by uniting to resist the power elite,<br /> these teachers discovered they were strong. They had been<br /> downtrodden and disrespected, but no longer. They put on their<br /> red T-shirts and commanded the attention of the nation and the<br /> admiration of millions of teachers. Powerless no more, they<br /> showed that unity made them strong. 98% voted to authorize the<br /> strike, and 98% voted to end it.<br /> <br /> The union was fortunate in having Karen Lewis as its<br /> president. She was one of them. She had taught chemistry in<br /> the Chicago public schools for more than 20 years. She is one<br /> of the few - perhaps the only - union leader in the nation who<br /> is Nationally Board Certified, a mark of her excellence as a<br /> teacher.<br /> <br /> Not only is she a teacher through and through, she is a<br /> graduate of Dartmouth. She is neither impressed nor<br /> intimidated by the elites who flaunt their Ivy League<br /> credentials. Hers are as good as theirs. Maybe better. She is<br /> a woman of valor.<br /> <br /> Karen Lewis gave courage to her members, and they gave courage<br /> to her.<br /> <br /> The strike is one of the few weapons available to the<br /> powerless. Without the union, the teachers would have been<br /> ignored, and the politicians would be free to keep on<br /> reforming them again and again and again.<br /> <br /> The strike transformed the teachers from powerless to<br /> powerful.<br /> <br /> The teachers said, "Enough is enough. With us, not to us."<br /> <br /> Regardless of the terms of the contract, the teachers won.<br /> <br /> Thank you, CTU.<br /> <br /> ==========<br /> <br /> <br /> <a name="jesse">Important school issues are `off the table' </a><br /> <br /> by Jesse Jackson<br /> <br /> Chicago Sun-Times<br /> September 17, 2012<br /> <br /> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/jackson/15204506-452/important-school-issues-are-off-the-table.html" target="_blank">http://www.suntimes.com/news/jackson/15204506-452/important-school-issues-are-off-the-table.html</a><br /> <br /> The Chicago teachers strike has gotten national attention,<br /> much of it presuming that the biggest issues are pay and<br /> evaluation. But the Chicago Teachers Union has stated that the<br /> two sides have been very close on pay.<br /> <br /> And union members have no objection to evaluation; they just<br /> want a system not so skewed to standardized, high-stakes<br /> testing. These tests aren't particularly good ways to measure<br /> teacher performance and, even worse, have the perverse effect<br /> of forcing teachers to teach kids to take tests rather than to<br /> love learning.<br /> <br /> But the big issues for these schools and for the teachers<br /> aren't talked about because they are officially "off the<br /> table." CTU teachers are most concerned about class size,<br /> about adequate facilities, about wraparound services from<br /> social workers to nurses, about well-rounded curricula<br /> including art and music and languages, about early childhood<br /> education that helps children come to school ready to learn.<br /> <br /> This isn't fancy stuff. One concern is classrooms that reach<br /> temperatures of up to 98 degrees in summer; only 29 percent of<br /> schools are air-conditioned. Another is about textbooks for<br /> the first day of school. Many of Chicago's elementary and<br /> middle schools have no safe place for recess, and few have<br /> age-appropriate playground equipment. There are 160 elementary<br /> schools without a library; 140 are in the poorer South Side of<br /> the city. Even though a staggering 80 percent of inner-city<br /> teen boys are exposed to violence, 675 schools share about 205<br /> social workers. Schools often must choose between art and<br /> music, if they are lucky enough to have either.<br /> <br /> Too often, Chicago is not providing the basics in public<br /> education for its most needy children. The CTU published a<br /> report detailing these concerns. But under state law, they<br /> can't negotiate about them unless their employer agrees - and<br /> neither Mayor Rahm Emanuel nor school officials will consent<br /> to enter into negotiations about these crucial conditions.<br /> <br /> When the teachers strike ends and children return to class,<br /> teachers will get the blame for the performance of the<br /> students. But they can't negotiate about crushing poverty,<br /> broken families and hard streets that impact the hearts, souls<br /> and minds of the children they teach. And teachers can't even<br /> negotiate about the quality of the facilities and the<br /> educational opportunities provided by the schools where they<br /> teach.<br /> <br /> It's not surprising that teachers react when a contractually<br /> agreed 4 percent pay raise is revoked or the school day and<br /> school year are lengthened without negotiations. They are<br /> frustrated at the lack of respect paid to the needs of the<br /> children they teach. And they are bound to be frustrated at<br /> the lack of respect paid to their own contracts.<br /> <br /> No one likes teachers strikes. But teachers are on the front<br /> line. In a time of spreading poverty and rising hunger, with<br /> harsh exploitation of the poor by landlords and payday<br /> lenders, poor children too often come to impoverished schools.<br /> <br /> Teachers take the rap for poor student performance without<br /> having the power to change what gets in the way of learning.<br /> Grading teachers on the basis of a machine-graded test cannot<br /> substitute for schools with playgrounds and social workers,<br /> classes with manageable numbers, or roofs that don't leak.<br /> <br /> Poverty, inequality, violence, race and investment matter.<br /> <br /> They must be a part of any long-term solution.<br /> <br /> ==========<br /> <br /> <a name="juan">Chicago Teachers Union Leader Karen Lewis Pushed Back - and<br /> Won </a><br /> Feisty firebrand has emerged as new champion for<br /> millions of public school teachers<br /> <br /> by Juan Gonzalez<br /> <br /> New York Daily News<br /> September 17, 2012<br /> <br /> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/chicago-teachers-union-leader-karen-lewis-pushed-back-won-article-1.1161008" target="_blank">http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/chicago-teachers-union-leader-karen-lewis-pushed-back-won-article-1.1161008</a><br /> <br /> Karen Lewis, who last week led 29,000 Chicago teachers on a<br /> school strike heard across the nation, has suddenly emerged as<br /> the new champion for millions of frustrated public school<br /> teachers.<br /> <br /> Many of those teachers are sick and tired of being made into<br /> scapegoats by politicians and corporate honchos who never<br /> spent a single day in front of a classroom.<br /> <br /> They are fed up with overcrowded classrooms in rundown<br /> buildings, with bureaucrats who keep hiring high-paid<br /> consultants despite huge budget deficits, with new state laws<br /> that tie teacher evaluation to their students' test scores,<br /> with the constant closing of neighborhood schools and the<br /> stampede to charter schools.<br /> <br /> But most of all, they are furious at the lack of respect for<br /> them and their profession.<br /> <br /> Until this week, no one - not even American Federation of<br /> Teachers chief Randi Weingarten - had found a way to turn back<br /> the tide of teacher bashing.<br /> <br /> Then the feisty firebrand Lewis burst on the scene.<br /> <br /> For a week, she went toe-to-toe against Chicago Mayor Rahm<br /> Emanuel, the former Obama White House chief-of-staff known for<br /> his short fuse, foul mouth and take-no-prisoners style.<br /> <br /> And by any measure, Lewis came come out a winner.<br /> <br /> The preliminary deal that emerged over the weekend - once it's<br /> approved by the rank and file this week - will restore respect<br /> for teachers nationwide.<br /> <br /> Lewis came out of nowhere in 2010, after two decades as a top<br /> high school teacher, to lead an insurgent group that swept out<br /> the old Chicago Teachers Union leaders.<br /> <br /> That old leadership had meekly gone along for nearly a decade<br /> with the agenda of Chicago's former public schools chief, Arne<br /> Duncan.<br /> <br /> And once Duncan went to Washington as President Obama's<br /> Secretary of Education, his Chicago agenda became Obama's Race<br /> to the Top. Duncan used federal aid to states for more<br /> closures of low-performing schools, teacher layoffs, merit pay<br /> raises, charter schools, and more standardized tests.<br /> <br /> It's the same agenda our own Mayor Bloomberg, a handful of<br /> billionaire philanthropists and many Republican leaders across<br /> America have been pursuing.<br /> <br /> Lewis and her insurgent group vowed to challenge these so-<br /> called reforms head on. Once in command, she forged a close<br /> alliance with several Chicago parent groups whose members were<br /> equally furious at being excluded from educational decision-<br /> making.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile, Mayor Emanuel showed Lewis' members complete<br /> disdain. He rescinded a 4% pay raise in the existing union<br /> contract. He sought to have 40% of teacher evaluations based<br /> on their students' test scores. And he vowed to close more<br /> schools without offering laid-off teachers a chance to be<br /> rehired.<br /> <br /> Little wonder that Lewis won a huge mandate from her members<br /> for their first strike in 25 years.<br /> <br /> Once the walkout began, Emanuel was forced to back down on<br /> some major items. He gave up his demand for merit pay. He<br /> agreed that least 50% of laid off teachers would be rehired<br /> when new positions became available, and to allow teachers to<br /> "follow their students" when schools closed.<br /> <br /> Pupil test scores will still count for 30% of a teacher's<br /> evaluations, but teachers will have the right to appeal those<br /> evaluations.<br /> <br /> Lewis even won new "anti-bullying" provisions against<br /> principals and supervisors, and new faculty diversity<br /> commitments to stem Chicago's disproportionate firings of<br /> black teachers in recent years.<br /> <br /> The contract, moreover, calls for the school district to<br /> immediately hire more than 500 art, music, foreign language<br /> and gym teachers - welcome news to parents.<br /> <br /> Which is why wherever public school teachers gathered last<br /> week, the strike in Chicago was the subject of conversation.<br /> <br /> Finally, a group of teachers had stood up back against all<br /> that bashing.</font></p> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Portside aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it. 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