From a small union local:
We are a small local of about 300 members and have become fascinated with what you are doing not just for yourselves, but for ALL of us. A million thank you’s are not enough for what you are doing for every teacher in America…. the informed, the uninformed, the unionized, the non-unionized. You are fighting to restore a sense of dignity to our profession. You are telling the word that we are tired of being kicked around and you are making people take notice! At no point in the last several years have important education issues been discussed in the MSM the way you have made them this week. In my decade as an educator your fight is the most inspiring, moving, heartening, and important thing that has happened to public education. You’ve been the main topic of talk of the faculty room this week. Our local donated to your solidarity fund. Individual members of ours have donated to it. We wore red on Monday. We wore red again today. We sent pictures of us in red to the AFT and NYSUT. We have tweeted them out. Our local’s blog (thepjsta.org) has been updating our members on your fight for several weeks now and the blog has had a record number of hits. We will support you in every way we possibly can. We can not possibly repay the debt of gratitude that we owe you. Whatever you need from us, name it. Your fight truly is our fight and there couldn’t be a better, more courageous group of educators in America to fight it. Stay strong CTU!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The teacher bashing was key to changing public perception about teachers because in order to squeeze money out of cash-strapped districts, you have to cut personnel. It certainly was unfair and hurt, but it was just a tactic in a larger war to privatize a public good.
This is about Rupert Murdoch’s Wireless Generation and Apple iPads delivering online tests 4 or more times a year to every child K-12 in Chicago. And re-selling student data to CPS to evaluate every teacher.
This is about a brutal teacher eval methodology based on junk science. It is imposed at the same time as tough common core tests that most believe children will do poorly on. And all to provide an excuse to fire roughly 6,000 CPS teachers and vastly increase class sizes.
This is about remaking the 3rd largest school district in the nation as a scalable market for Rupert Murdoch’s and Apple’s benefit. This is about hedge fund managers placing their bets on these companies getting huge contracts in the largest school districts — that is why they have flooded Chicago with tv and radio ads demonizing teachers.
And this is about Democrats raising billions of dollars in campaign funding.
LikeLike