Count on Stephanie Simon of Reuters to get the story that eluded every other reporter.
She is the one that got the inside story on Louisiana, TFA, and for-profit investors.
Now she has the scoop on Chicago.
The strike in Chicago is not about money.
It is a national story.
It’s about the survival of public education.
Read her story.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is an old presentation by Matt Farmer, an outspoken parent advocate for Chicago teachers. It is a must see.
LOVE this video.
Just a guess, but doesn’t a State Supreme Court Chief Justice trump a trial lawyer?
“Counsel, let me stop you there, really, we don’t need that. We’re talking about a constitutional standard. We all here, we all have as much interest in students, in young people being educated as everyone does, and so whatever someone says about value of students is… frankly, is not appropriate. The question is, before us, is what is the appropriate constitutional standard, and has the state met that standard. That is the only issue before us.”
The CTU helped pass the evaluation revisions/provisions in SB7 See http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?GAID=11&GA=97&DocNum=7&DocTypeID=SB&SessionID=84&LegID=&SpecSess=&Session=
This was done by way of strong-arming on the part–especially–of the IEA (IL. Education Assoc.) and the IFT (IL Federation of Teachers). It was not something the CTU leadership wanted to green-light.
The mother’s quote at the end of the article lays bare one of the problems with the charters-as-elixir approach.
Those teachers are so strong, I keep praying for them that they stay strong so they can send a message out that teachers have had enough. I can’t imagine what is going through their heads either, I read a lot of quotes saying that they are desperate to get back into the classroom but they need to take a stand too. I think this is what we needed to get the real reform movement started!
It’s spot on. Too bad it can’t be read on the network news. It’s a call to action. Hopefully my teaching colleagues who have opted not to get “involved” or stay current on what’s happening in and TO the profession will read this. Heck, I ‘m passing out copies tomorrow. I’ll highlight the key parts. It’s the least I can do. Maybe then they’ll take note.
“opted’ GOOD word to use. I wonder it teachers ever stay current with what’s happening around them that is destroying their profession and public education. Just how professional are they?
It’s not just the survival of public education that is at stake; it is the survival of democracy and its institutions designed for the public good.
If you are against public education, you are against democracy and this country. Period. I don’t care which political party you belong to.
It is a clear assault on the middle class by the 1% who fund their own advocacy groups: DFER, Stand for Children, StandFirst, Advance Illinois.
This is how “noblesse oblige” is now translated: “where’s mine?”
We have a country and a political party that is eager to sacrifice its middle class to the billionaires in charge.
Very good article and I’m happy to see it in a major media outlet. My one concern, however, is the unquestioning use of the word “reform”, especially without quotes. The article does a good job of explaining what “reform” means, but it still accepts the word, which leads to talking about how teachers are opposed to reform, which again makes teachers sound entrenched and defending their own interests. We need a better word. Many commenters use the word “deform”, which certainly is accurate, but it can come across as childish name-calling (much like “RepubliCANT”, which is also quite accurate), especially to those who have been sold by the Mayor’s/president’s/media’s spin on the issue. I confess I don’t have a suggestion, but even in a favorable article, phrases about “teachers fighing reform” simply don’t come across well.
I share your concern about the language used to describe efforts to change public education. I agree with your point about the word “deform”. It works well in a few contexts, but certainly not all. Putting quotes around the word “reform” works to some extent, but I still think it cedes some of the positive associations of this word to the right’s privatization efforts. There may be no perfect solution, but thank you for raising this issue; words do matter.
ditto out here in Seattle – my math teacher brain as a psuedo math solution –
fire out union “leaders” sitting in state capitols and in DC, because with tens of millions in dues, someone out to be able to come up with effective counter messaging – I don’t have time to do it, I already have a full time job …
GO CHICAGO!
How about “supposed reform”, or “edudeform”, or “educational privatizers’ reform” or “corporate edureform” or use a synonym.
From Bing Thesaurus for reform
NOUN
Synonyms: improvement, reorganization, restructuring, modification, transformation, alteration, change, development, amendment
VERB
Synonyms: improve, restructure, revolutionize, ameliorate, remodel, reorganize, modernize, rearrange, upgrade, amend, restore
Or maybe for deform:
From thesaurus.com: deform
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: distort, disfigure
Synonyms: batter, blemish, buckle, contort, cripple, damage, deface, flaw, gnarl, grimace, impair, injure, knot, maim, malform, mangle, mar, misshape, mutilate, ruin, skew, spoil, twist, warp, wince
Antonyms: beautify, improve
Maybe malform, or distort, or mutilate, or misshape.
Thanks for sending this around!! It’s the only accurate piece of reporting I’ve seen, and I wouldn’t have seen it without you. Joanne
“We say no, teachers are not the root of the problem,” Pope told the group gathered in the bar. “The root of the problem is the way capitalism is destroying public schools.”
Possibility 3: Union governance, e.g. teachers unprepared to supervise the union staff (folks paid with union dues) who need guidance with their role in implementing CERD. See: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/hr/treaties/index.htm
“And two decades of reform have done nothing to close the racial gaps in achievement levels.”
Secretary of State Clinton assures the UN OHCHR that ARRA and RttT address that…
NPR seems to be getting it right too. They have regularly mentioned things like testing, privatization and bogus evaluation as reasons for the strike rather than pay (which the uninformed assume is the cause).
I have one bone to pick with this article. It described the results as being “mixed”… Mixed results? Let’s see, the “bright spots” are that charter schools that get huge infusions of cash or charter school who enroll students who want more time in the classroom and are willing “to follow a rigid code of behavior” do better than schools who DON’T get additional money and MUST accept all students… Oh, and when those high flying students are taken out of the mix, the schools enrolling the remaining students have not experienced any drop in their test scores. It doesn’t require a Ph.D. in psychometrics to see that the public schools are doing well!
http://academeblog.org/2012/09/11/if-this-doesnt-stop-in-chicago/
This strike was the only way the media was going to discuss reform. Maybe now, people will listen.
Here is another great article that “gets” it:
http://www.salon.com/2012/09/11/stand_against_rahm/
I am a Chicago native now in Bridgeport CT. This reporter surely sees the big problem expressed in the last few sentences. Paul Vallas and other reformers are pushing America toward 2-tier education as bad as before Brown v BOE. Separate and unequal. And tax payers are sending money to corporations not really to kids. How dangerous this trend is and what a fight to prevent