The CTU reached a tentative agreement with Chicago Public Schools. The CTU House of Delegates voted 364-242 to suspend the strike pending resolution of final issues. The settlement, which meets most of the CTU demands, will be voted on by the full membership within 10 days.
But the strike is not yet over. The sides are very close but the union wants an assurance that there will be no loss of instructional time for the students. They want to make up the instructional time, possibly by extending the school year. Thus far, Mayor Lightfoot says no.
The union made no concessions. For the first time ever, they have won enforceable guarantees about class sizes, though the agreed-upon limits are still too large: no more than 32 students in K-3. No more than 35 in upper grades. $35 million has been pledged for class size reductions, which will be lowered as funding permits. The agreement commits the city not to authorize any new charters, nor add to the current enrollment of students in charter schools.
No school tomorrow while the bargaining continues.
The settlement contains not only caps on class sizes, but guarantees about school nurses, and other important staffing issues. It also offers significant salary increases, which was not a contentious issue. The union really did fight for better conditions for their students. .
The Big Three—Governor Pritzker, the Democrats in the Legislature and House Speaker Madigan— have agreed to restore a democratically elected board to replace mayoral control and to restore full collective bargaining rights so Chicago is on the same footing as other districts in Illinois.
Now we wait to see how long it will take to assure that the students do not lose instructional time.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
32 students in a kindergarten classroom is insanity. Please tell me that the contract calls for a paraprofessional in every K classroom!
In my opinion, “no more than 32 students in K-3. No more than 35 in upper grades.” is also a version of insanity.
Teachers can’t give the individualized instruction when there are that many in classes. This is especially difficult when the majority of children are from poverty areas.
If this was an acceptable improvement, I wonder how bad the class numbers were before the strike.
It looks as if the teachers did a great thing by saying they were fed up with the conditions. Wish more states, including Indiana, would strike. It is unfair to children to let politicians take money from public schools.
I remember having a fifth grade music class with 27 kids, 7 of whom were behavior disorder. That group was too big.
“They want to make up the instructional time, possibly by extending the school year. Thus far, Mayor Lightfoot says no.”
I don’t agree with the union on this one att all. Couple of weeks of missing school is not such a big deal as we are all made to believe, plus the kids will hate the whole strike thing.
Besides, missing couple of weeks of CC material is also good for the teachers.
I assume this is about trying to recover lost pay during the strike.
I don’t know how long the school year normally runs in CPS. But personally, I would be very annoyed (or worse) if my kids’ school year got extended by two weeks (which would take it near mid-July) as a consequence of some labor dispute.
The teachers should get paid for their time during the strike.
Teachers should be paid by the hour, including all the time they spend correcting student work that they take home and the planning and lesson prep they do at night and on the weekends.
I don’t know the economics at CPS, but boy, this sounds low: “$35 million has been pledged for class size reductions.”
Agree.
I hope the K-3 teachers get an instructional assistant or an aide as those numbers are still far too large for K-3. I also hope it does mean that the younger students sit in front screens for extended periods.
I think you meant “does not mean that they sit in front of screens for extended periods of time.”
Class size caps, salaries, school nurses, charter school restrictions, and a democratically elected school board — huge victories! Way to go, Chicago teachers and public school supporters! Outstanding. This is a good day for the United States.
In the past, teachers unions voted mostly on wages and hours and benefits.
Now it falls to the unions to fight for and win the conditions of learning that children need, as well as basic necessities like a school nurse.
Oh, that they have truly enlightened and truly dedicated school board candidates ready and waiting: a majority of big-money candidates, and the entire reform game continues
I think the evidence is starting to show that Mayor Lightfoot was a Trojan Horse full of deceit and lies.
Arne Duncan is promoting the testing mania and the false belief that standardized tests are accomplishing a lot. We just need to look at school districts or states that are ‘successful’ and copy them. “They have had the courage to do things that are politically difficult and unpopular, such as evaluating teachers and implementing robust accountability systems.”
Duncan never learns how destructive this mind set is. How can this testing, which dominates schools, allow for more learning time and more wrap around services? What imaginary world does he live in?
……………………………
What we can learn from the state of our nation’s education
By Arne Duncan
Oct. 31, 2019
The latest results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are prompting some soul-searching about the limited gains over the past decade, but there are outliers worth saluting. More important, we should be analyzing what successful states and school districts are doing differently so that others can learn from them.
Let’s start with the District. Scores in the city increased by three points apiece in fourth-grade math, eighth-grade math and eighth-grade reading. In fact, among the 50 states plus the District, D.C. was the only one to post an increase in eighth-grade reading.
Another bright spot is Mississippi, which has the highest poverty rate in the country and is in the bottom five states for per-pupil education funding. This year, the state ranks No. 1 in the nation for gains…
All these districts have been serious about building capacity to support teachers. They have ambitious strategies around talent development, as well as high standards and high-quality curriculum. They share a deep commitment to transparency by keeping parents, principals and teachers fully informed about where they succeed and where they struggle.
They have had the courage to do things that are politically difficult and unpopular, such as evaluating teachers and implementing robust accountability systems. They didn’t succumb to anti-testing fever but instead worked to improve assessments so they required less testing time and more timely feedback for students, parents and educators.
They invested smartly in the things that students need: quality early learning, more learning time, high-quality curriculum, community schools, wraparound services and well-trained, well-supported teachers…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-we-can-learn-from-the-state-of-our-nations-education/2019/10/31/0e365c64-fbfa-11e9-8906-ab6b60de9124_story.html