From the Chicago Teachers Union:
For ten months we had absolutely no progress on key proposals. After only two strike days, we have seen considerable movement and crucial openings on issues such as homeless students, class sizes, staffing and other key issues that the mayor told us would not be open for bargaining. Today, we got a tentative agreement for specific staff positions to support Students in Temporary Living Situations (students who qualify as homeless). For Pre-Kindergarten classes, we won contractual guarantees that CPS will follow Illinois law in maintaining a ratio of 1 adult for every 10 students in a Pre-K classroom. We also won guaranteed naps for preschoolers in all-day pre-K programs. We won language that counselors will not be pulled from counseling to do other duties such as substitute teaching in a classroom. This will lead to greater counselor access for our students.
We also brought CPS a new counter-offer on class size, today. We need guaranteed caps on class sizes and we continue to fight for them. There are still many open issues, including prep time and steps for veteran teachers, as well as a raise capable of moving our lowest-paid paraprofessionals above poverty wages.
Our gains have only been possible thanks to the strength of our picket lines, the turnout at our afternoon protests and the support we’ve gotten from students, parents and community members. Keep it up!
Pickets Monday at 6:30am
Although we made progress over the weekend on important issues, this strike will need to continue Monday. Like Thursday and Friday, all CTU members are directed to picket at their schools, starting at 6:30 a.m. Although different schools have different start times, it’s important that our union operate as one. Keep talking to parents, students and community members about what we’re fighting for. Despite the expected rain, we need to keep up our strength to win what’s best for our schools and our students. Dress for rain, bring umbrellas and boots. Take turns coming inside. But keep those picket lines strong from 6:30 to 10:30!
Regional unity marches
In a number of neighborhoods, educators at schools near one another are coming together for particular actions tomorrow.
Southwest Side
CTU strikers will line Pulaski from Archer to 111th from 8:00am to 9:00am. Contact Organizing@ctulocal1.org for more information.
Hyde Park
Hyde Park “Nurse in Every School” Solidarity March for Justice
CTU, SEIU, National Nurses United and Graduate Students United at University of Chicago are combining forces to put muscle behind our call for adequate and equitable nurse staffing. Marches will start at area schools between 8:45 and 9:00 am and converge on Kenwood Academy at 9:45am.
You can email Michael Shea of Kenwood Academy for more information and coordination.
North Side
March at 2:00pm at Union Park
Our afternoon rallies have been incredibly effective in demonstrating our unity and the sheer scale of what we are fighting for. Keep coming!
Monday, we will march from Union Park, at the corner of Washington and Ogden. The location is accessible from the Green Line Ashland stop and by bus (Ashland, Ogden, etc.).
Afternoon Allied Actions
Raise Chicago Coalition
Youth will hold an action at City Hall at 1:00 p.m. to highlight the need for $15 per hour minimum wage AND the need for a fair contract that enshrines the resources schools need to combat things like overcrowded classrooms and housing issues.
Resist, Reimagine, Rebuild Coalition
The R3 coalition will host a Teach-In for Strikers so that they may learn about community based struggles that support and intersect with teachers demands for education justice. It will be held at Experimental Station (6100 S Blackstone) from 12:00 to 3:00 pm.
Art Build
The Grassroots Collaborative will be setting up an art build at the CTU Center Monday night from 5:00 to 8:00 pm to create signs and props for colorful and impactful actions later this week.
Image adapted by Jesus Sanchez of Social Justice HS from Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Striking is better in the rain. The more elements we fight, the more we win. Just keep those socks dry! Keep it up, Chicago teachers and community supporters!
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Solidarity!
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Glad to see that CTU is demanding a 10:1 student:teacher ratio for PreK, as is required in child care centers in Illinois!
However, they should also be demanding the same maximum group size, which is 20 kids, because children these ages can easily get lost in larger sized groups, as well as the same square footage required in IL child care center classrooms for PreK. That is 25 square feet of usable space (not counting shelves, cots and other materials in storage, etc.). This is really necessary because I have worked in many PreK classes in the public schools and while some classrooms are expansive, some have 20+ kids with two teachers crowded into classes that are are waaaay too small for so many people!
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Correction. That should have been 25 square feet PER CHILD. Sorry for the omission.
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CTU educators invite the Rev. Jesse Jackson to mediate CPS negotiations
CHICAGO, Oct. 21, 2019—On Monday, The Chicago Teachers Union invited city resident and skilled international negotiator the Rev. Jesse. L Jackson to negotiate a settlement. Rev. Jackson, president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, attended a bargaining session recently and spoke with both union and district officials about the lowering of class size, providing more wraparound services and urged a swift settlement.
More than 25,000 teachers, paraprofessional, clinicians, nurses and librarians went on strike on Oct. 17, after almost a year of trying to bargain a fair and equitable contract with CPS. With nine out of 10 schools on the South and West side of the city not being equipped with a school library or school nurse, educators bargaining the contract see Rev. Jackson as a welcomed voice of reason and fairness.
“Rev. Jackson is a respected resident of our city and great statesman for our nation. He has won the freedom of American hostages throughout the world and has broken countless labor stalemates throughout the country, and we welcome his participation in these negotiations,” said CTU President Jesse Sharkey.
“For the past four days, we have been on the picket lines for high quality neighborhood schools and we know that Rev. Jackson gets that,” Sharkey said. “For our students to thrive, CTU and CPS must find common ground on class size, staffing and many of the issues that have pushed us to go out on strike, and that will require an honest and open conversation. We know that Rev. Jackson will be fair and just and assist in bringing a resolution for the communities we serve.”
Rev. Jackson is an international peacekeeper, and has a track record of ending stalemates at the local, state, national and international level. For more than five decades, Jackson’s leadership has been a critical voice in ending various labor disputes in the auto, public transit, fire department and aviation industry. In 1987, he was a central voice and figure to ending the longstanding dispute between the CTU and then Mayor Harold Washington, which resulted in a strike.
“Every student in the city of Chicago should have access to great local public schools, and places that are safe, welcoming and meet their social and emotional needs. For that dream to become a reality, it will require that all parties come to the table with fairness, justice and equity in mind,” Rev. Jackson said. “While understanding the budget concerns being made by the mayor, I’m also very sensitive to the voices of educators, who are often the ones on the day to day front lines with the students.
“I pray that my voice at the table will be the catalyst necessary for a fair and equitable deal to be reached.”
Chicago Teachers Union • 1901 W. Carroll Ave. • Chicago, IL 60612 • 312-329-9100
http://www.ctulocal1.org
for the schools Chicago’s students deserve
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“Whose schools?” not “Who’s schools?” Grammar errors don’t help the cause.
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