I never heard of Karen Lewis until she was elected president of the Chicago Teachers Union as an upstart in September 2010, overturning the established leadership. I was intrigued and decided that I wanted to meet this woman. As it happened, I had a speaking engagement in Detroit in late September and was supposed to fly from Detroit to Los Angeles.
When i visited Chicago in the spring of 2010 to speak at DePaul and the University of Illinois, my host was Mike Klonsky, who seemed to know everyone. I met him through Deborah Meier, my former blogging partner at Education Week. For me, the fallen-away conservative, it was a trip getting to know Mike, because he had long ago been a leader of the SDS, which was a radical group in the 1960s that i did not admire. So meeting him and discovering that he and his wife Susan were thoughtful, caring, and kind people was an experience in itself.
I mention Mike because when I wanted to meet Karen in September, I asked Mike to put us in touch, which he did. She agreed to meet me at the Chicago airport, where I would stop on my way from Detroit to L.A.
In an email exchange, I told her that I would make a 90-minute layover so we would have time to talk. “Oh, no,” she said, “that’s not enough time.” So I arranged a four-hour layover. When I landed in Chicago, Karen and her husband John were there to meet me. We drove to a hotel in the airport complex, where we had breakfast, then went to an empty meeting hall to talk.
We talked and talked and talked. I brought her my book as a present, and she whipped out her own copy, which was underlined in many places.
She told me about herself, her childhood, her education, her life as a teacher, why she ran for union president, what she hoped to achieve. I told her about my life, my childhood, my transition away from the think tank world of the right. She was right. We needed four hours. When we parted, there were hugs all around, and I had a new and close friend.
Since that time, I have stayed in close contact with Karen.
There are so many things that impress me about Karen. She understands what good education is and she knows that the children of Chicago are not getting it because of endless budget cuts and a Mayor and Board of Education who show by their actions that they don’t care about the children in the public schools for which they are responsible.
Karen told me that in her first meeting with Rahm Emanuel, he said that 25% of the kids in the Chicago public schools were uneducable. She rightly took offense, and it has been warfare between them ever since.
Karen understands that Rahm wants to privatize the schools by closing as many public schools as possible and handing off the children to private managers of charters.
Karen understands that the hedge fund managers and billionaire philanthropists promoting privatization are destroying public education while claiming to “save” poor children. I was reminded of her words last fall when I was at a small private dinner in Chicago with the city’s leading supporter of charter schools, who is a major equity investor. As we debated charters, I told him that the charters were skimming the most able children and leaving behind those they didn’t want. He defended the practice of skimming and excluding. He said he didn’t care; he wants to provide good schools for the most able; the others are not his responsibility, not his problem. He also doesn’t care if he destroys public education so long as he can “save” those few enrolled in charters.
One advantage that Karen has in dealing with the big shots in Chicago is that she graduated from Dartmouth. They can’t intimidate her with their Ivy League background. She can say to them, “Listen, buster, I wore the green jacket too.” The green blazer is a Dartmouth tradition. Karen was the first African American woman to graduate from Dartmouth.
I respect Karen Lewis. She is a woman of integrity and courage. She cares deeply about children and wants each and very one of them to have a good education and have a decent chance to have a good life.
I admire Karen Lewis. She hates hypocrisy, lies, deception, and cant.
Right now is a terrible time for the children of Chicago. They are at the mercy of powerful people who make decisions that hurt the children and shatter their communities. They are lucky to have Karen Lewis fighting for them.
I am proud to call Karen Lewis my friend.
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. What a fine tribute. The character, toughness, intelligence, and leadership of people like Karen Lewis (and you, Dr. Ravitch) give me hope.
I grew up a Reagan-loving Republican in a wealthy Chicago suburban town. A heavy GOP stronghold. I started to find my own way of looking at things eventually, but if you would have told me back then that I’d be so impressed with a Chicago labor leader I would never have believed it. Karen Lewis is the real deal, a sincere education labor leader who cares for the children and the profession and is in a position to do something about it. One of the reasons I think Chicago teachers rose up, seemingly out of nowhere, is that 1) Rahm is the best union organizer ever (Karen even says she had little to do with that, and 2) We were all fed up in our classrooms and she was a leader, the first I’ve experienced, who spoke with OUR voice. Even the parents rallied around her to a large extent.
We need more Karen Lewis’s, far less rahm’s and arnies and their ed reformer types on the right.
“I am proud to call Karen Lewis my friend.”
Diane, I am proud, as an NBCT in a public system, to call Karen Lewis a true leader, a real union advocate, an awe-inspiring compassionate human who IS confrontational and oppositional. Last but not least, I am fiercely proud to call Karen Lewis the quintiessential role model for national union presidents and newer up-and-coming leaders who are more localized.
Ms. Lewis inspires me through her actions, which follow her words, and I don’t even know her personally. That’s how powerful she is.
I join you and millions of other educators and parents throughout the nation who salute Karen Lewis.
There are so many of us who have changed our motivational paths and hopes because of Karen Lewis and you. We are ALL each other’s role models and support system, and together, we will conitnue to accelerate the swinging back of this pendulum, and our society will be fairer, more just, healthier, and even more verdant because of it.
I f Rahm Emanuel believes that 25% of Chicago students are “uneducable,” then here is a proposed alternative.
Establish boarding schools where children of poor families who live in dangerous neighborhoods may be sent. Take them aware from crime-infested surroundings, and place them in live-in schools where they will be in safe environs and be better able to direct their energy to school work. Wouldn’t parents, especially single mothers, jump at that opportunity to have their children removed from their dangerous neighborhoods and placed in a safe learning environment? Why don’t some of the millionaires-billionaires turn their attention and their money to such an experiment if they truly care about improving the education of poor and deprived children?
Or we could just, I dunno, make the neighborhoods safe. You really think sending young children to live away from their parents is a good idea?
Marginalized populations have been sent to boarding schools before. Look how great that worked out for Native Americans: http://www.amnestyusa.org/node/87342
Vivan Gruder,
The benefactors you mentioned want all the things you suggested.
They just don’t want to pay for it.
Vivian, We did that for about 200 years but learned that segregation leads to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_sYn8DnlH4
Karen and Diane, your voices, and the many voices of others who blog, advocate and fight for children, teachers and parents, are voices of character and truth. Thank you, and the many others, for real leadership, courage and wisdom.
President Obama, you have lost the respect of countless educators through your administrative choices and affiliations. As I watch lives, public schools and communities being destroyed by your policies, I weep for the destruction, and continually question your silence. History and conscience will one day be your judge, but I will proudly and honorably stand with the voices of lifelong educators fighting for the cornerstone of democracy, public education. I ask, who do you stand with?
Oh my. He stands with corporate power. When he wowed us with his speeches about “a new democracy” we heard what we wanted to hear. But he has staked his career on the side of privilege.
http://www.mintpressnews.com/a-closer-look-at-the-joyce-foundation-shows-obamas-ties-to-chicago-school-privatizations/164972/
Karen Lewis is a class act who, unfortunately, has been well smeared and demonized by the media. So many people buy into the media image of her as a “typical angry black woman”. I’ll even admit to being stunned the first time I heard her speak – guess I had bought into it too, much to my shame. How it is that so many people idolize a man who throws around the f word while demonizing a woman who fights for children is beyond me and makes me sad for society.
Excellent tribute, Diane.
BTW, though, if you were in Chicago, you were at DePaul. DePauw is in downstate Indiana.
Dienne, I will fix that!
So, why all of the anti-union bias when people like Karen are just taking care of hard-working middle class people? It is because of an orchestrated attack on the middle class (evidence: the “Powell memo”) which sees unions as an obstacle to corporate power. You are right that it has nothing to do with the children and everything to do with power.
You’re so right about Karen Lewis. When all other unions were doing nothing and playing it safe, Lewis pushed ahead and risked a strike for what was right. I really, really wish we had someone like her in Los Angeles. I always admired Chicago’s union, they always did a good job of advocating for their teachers, for their students. This type of advocacy and leader is very hard to find. That’s what unions need now, bold, decisive advocacy for teachers and students. Unfortunately now, we seem to have unions who merely react to what the districts are doing and collect dues that are not being used to protect its members. We need more union leaders like Karen Lewis.
this woman is a true leader,
I would gladly fight with her and her teachers in the streets of Chicago or anywhere against the system.
If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine.
-CHE
While I never met Karen, this NYC gal sees her as a real friend of both teachers and students. She will NOT be bought by Gates or others, and for this reason she should be a national leader. It took Chicago teachers years to realize their union leadership stopped caring about them. And thankfully they elected CORE. The question is, when will other union locals step up and say “it’s time for a change!”. I am livid over the apathy that took place in the last NYC, UFT elections with approximately 20% of in-service teachers voting. Folks, you get what you pay for, or in this case don’t pay for.
Karen Lewis rocks!! And Karen, if Rahm continues to destroy what’s left of Chicago schools, run for Congress. Get national recognition. Become the next senator. Lead Democrats back to their roots. And please Hillary, if you do become the next president, I know you have close ties with Weingarten, but Karen should be your Secretary of Education!!
Watch out for Hill. .. . She is a pro-reform herself. . . . of course as usual, the pickings will be slim, but she is a neo-liberal. . . . .
If what you say happens, may she NEVER corrupt Lewis and may Lewis NEVER allow herself to become corrupted.
Yes, you are right. Hillary Clinton has many people fooled. If people would just look at her and Bill’s records, they wouldn’t be in awe of her. I want to see a woman President as much as any woman, but she would be a serious mistake, imo.
Hillary was on the board of Walmart.
Have get Elizabeth Warren to run.
Hillary oversaw the standards and testing program in Arkansas if my memory serves me right.
I suspect that to be true as well. But it will be interesting to see what she says during the campaign. I just hope someone asks her who is on her short list for the job and she doesn’t pull a switcheroo like Obama did.
I know I can’t trust Weiner, Thompson, Quinn and Spitzer. They are all aligned with reformers. Voters have reached a point where they know what pols say during the campaign is total BS. So they push the lever with one hand and cross their fingers with the other.
Modern day heroines , the both of you.
Ravitch and Lewis, 2 sheroes I’d love to spend 4 hours with anytime, anywhere! Two really cool chicks!
Rahmbo is an idiot,
This is a tough time for ALL school children, but especially those in our urban areas. I have only recently befriended Karen Lewis, and she is thoughtful, wise, and passionate about learning and seeing that EVERYONE gets an opportunity. Her friendship came at just the right time for me, as I feel that this battle being waged is overwhelming…
Diane, you are also a beacon of light in my life. To know how you put the needs of our kids above being right is a model for all learners in the world!
BTW, I have evidence of a charter school on my campus that is screening applicants for their test scores before they apply… I know my district (LAUSD) is not keeping an eye on this, as I have sent them my evidence and gotten no response.
I watched Karen Lewis on democracy now when the strike was on, was awestruck by her. She has a presence about her that mixes strength and compassion….very admirable qualities.
Thanks for this wonderful post. When Karen Lewis spoke at the Occupy the Department of Education event in DC this past spring, she explained exactly how public education fits into the big socioeconomic picture we’re facing today. She truly knows how to defend the people she represents–the teachers, yes, but the kids and parents, too. That’s why she’s one of the few union leaders I trust and respect.
I have read and written quite a bit on Karen Lewis, and I think she is wonderful.
She’s the real deal– no accepting of reformer money.
I appreciate that; I suspect with her being such a high-profile individual, reformer offers could have been made if for no other reason than to stop her voice.
This publication “Radical America” was started by Paul Buhle and others for SDS. You might be surprised, maybe you’d like it Diane.
http://library.brown.edu/cds/radicalamerica/
When I am asked what I think about my union leader, Karen Lewis, I always say that she is inspiring and the only one who was brave enough to stand up to Rahm and the rest of the city. She has changed the way Chicago parents and community members look at CPS. They are actually behind us now, and are fighting for our public education. Karen is an amazing speaker and the woman has major chutzpah. If anyone took 5 minutes to listen to one of her speeches, they would realize how much the media makes her look like a monster and they would learn why she is someone who is going to be known as part of history. She is truly a force to be reckoned with and I think we are going to see her make waves for a long time to come.