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Steven Singer: The Silence of the Reformers and the Chicago Charter Strike

By dianeravitch
December 9, 2018 //
15

Steven Singer notices a deafening silence from Reformers, who say nothing in response to the nation’s first charter chain strike in Chicago. Come to think of it, the Reformers were silent last spring, during the historic Teacher Revolt in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Co,orado, Noth Carolina, and Arizona.

Are the Reformers on the side of teachers who want smaller classes and a decent salary? No se.

Singer writes:

Charter school teachers in Chicago are in their fourth day of a strike.

Yet I wonder why the leaders of the charter movement are quiet.

Where is Peter Cunningham of the Education Post?

Where is Shaver Jeffries of Democrats for Education Reform?

Not a word from Campbell Brown or Michelle Rhee?

Nothing from Bill Gates, Cory Booker, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton?

Not a peep from Betsy DeVos or Donald Trump?

This is a historic moment. Teachers at various charter schools have unionized before, but it has never come to an outright strike – not once since the federal charter school law was established in 1994.

You’d think the charter cheerleaders – the folks who lobby for this type of school above every other type – would have something to say.

But no.

They are conspicuously silent.

I wonder why.

Could it be that this is not what they imagined when they pushed for schools to be privately run but publicly financed?

Could it be that they never intended workers at these schools to have any rights?

Could it be that small class size – one of the main demands of teachers at the 15 Acero schools – was never something these policymakers intended?

It certainly seems so.

Here is the answer, Steven. Charters were funded to kill unions. You guessed it. Now you know it.

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Class size, Corporate Reform, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization, Teacher Pay, Unions

Breaking News: Fred Klonsky Reports Tentative Agreement in Chicago Charter Strike

By dianeravitch
December 9, 2018 //
6

Fred Klonsky reports a tentative agreement in the UNO/Acero charter teachers’ Strike.

“The bargaining team for more than 500 striking CTU members at 15 UNO/Acero charter schools reached a tentative agreement with management just before 5AM this morning. The strike has been suspended.

“Teachers and paraprofessionals will hold a rally and press conference at 1PM today at CTU headquarters to share more details about the tentative agreement, which aligns pay for educators and paraprofessionals with pay scales in CPS schools over the course of the agreement, reduces class and includes language in the contract that sets terms for sanctuary schools for students and families.”

The strike and the tentative agreement underscore what Gordon Lafer wrote in his important book <em>The One Percent Solution. The reason that corporations, ALEC, the Koch brothers, the DeVos family, and the Waltons are desperate to eliminate unions is that they raise the wage scale and even non-union workers have higher expectations. By getting rid of unions, they lower expectations.

Categories ALEC, Charter Schools, Chicago, Education Reform, Koch Brothers, Unions

Chicago: Charter Strikers and Parents Rally on Sunday at 1

By dianeravitch
December 8, 2018 //
1


NEWS ADVISORY:

For Immediate Release| ctulocal1.org
CONTACT: Chris Geovanis, 312-329-6250, 312-446-4939 (m), ChrisGeovanis@ctulocal1.org
1 PM, Sunday, Dec. 9: Rally with Acero strikers, parents, allies. CTU HQ, 1901 W. Carroll, Chicago
CTU charter strikers to rally with parents, allies as strike could move to week 2

No deal yet as clouted charter CEO continues to dodge negotiations, while management balks at smaller class sizes/better treatment for low-wage paraprofessionals and parents join strike pickets.

CHICAGO—Since Tuesday, CTU educators at UNO/Acero schools have held the picket lines with parents and protested for more classroom resources, smaller class sizes, sanctuary protections for their immigrant students and fair wages—particularly for low-wage paraprofessionals.

Strikers will rally with parents, neighborhood residents and labor allies on Sunday at 1PM at their CTU union hall at 1901 W. Carroll Ave.—steeling their forces for either a celebration that an agreement has been reached or a fifth school day on the picket lines Monday.

The strike is the first of a charter operator in the nation. It began almost five years to the day after the charter operator’s previous CEO was forced to resign for doling out insider contracts and living large on public dollars that should have bankrolled schoolbooks and student supports. Those distorted priorities persist under Rangel’s replacement, clouted CEO Richard Rodriguez, say strikers, some of whose paraprofessionals earn barely a tenth of Rodriguez’ $260,000 per year salary.

Friday, UNO/Acero management filed unfair labor practice charges—a ULP—against the CTU, based on bogus allegations that even the charter operator’s lawyers described as ‘hearsay’ and the union described as a desperate press stunt. On Saturday, Latinx elected officials publicly blasted Rodriguez, telling him to either reach a fair agreement with strikers or resign.

Rodriguez has yet to attend a bargaining session, despite seven months of contract negotiations and almost around-the-clock bargaining since the strike began on December 4. For a time on Friday according to a local alderman, his voicemail said he was ‘out of the country’.

Educators’ demands are simple and reasonable: lower class sizes for students, sanctuary for students and other members of our school community, and fair compensation for educators, especially teacher assistants and other low-wage support staff.

Management admitted in their ULP that the strike pushed them to agree to CTU demands for sanctuary schools, culturally relevant curriculum, and restorative justice practices—all issues that management called non-starters before CTU members hit the picket lines.

Rodriguez has run the charter network since 2015, as it has rebranded to distance itself from a 2013 scandal that forced out its founder, political powerhouse Juan Rangel. As a Rangel protege, Rodriguez has held some of the city’s most coveted patronage positions over the last twenty years—including as head of the Chicago Transit Authority. He has no education background.

Rodriguez is paid more to run 15 Acero schools than CPS CEO Janice Jackson earns to run more than 500 public schools. Wages for UNO/Acero paraprofessionals can be as low as barely ten percent of Rodriguez $260,000 annual salary.

# # #

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Chicago, Class size, Education Industry, Education Reform, Fraud, Funding, Parents, Privatization, Teachers, Unions

Chicago: Mike Klonsky Reviews Rahm’s Bragging about His Education Accomplishments

By dianeravitch
December 6, 2018 //
21

I sat in the Green Room at the Washington Post and watched Rahm Emanuel boast about his education accomplishments as his chancellor Janice Jackson smiled and agreed that he was the best mayor ever.

I had a hard time watching because I was sick to my stomach thinking about Rahm’s decision to close 50 public schools in one day, which I considered to be a major tragedy.

Jonathan Capehart, the moderator, asked about that decision, but Rahm spun it into a personal triumph.

Nothing was said about the dramatic decline of Chicago’s black population since 2000. About 200,000 people of color left Chicago The city blew up public housing, closed public schools, all in the segregated black community. Was this a policy of ethnic cleansing?

It worked!

Mike Klonsky reviewed Rahm’s lies here, at least it’s his part one.

Eve Ewing wrote the human and inhuman cost of school closings in her book, “Ghosts in the Schoolyard.” She taught in one of the schools he closed.

A Chicago station tallied the number of schools closed:

Chicago has closed or fired staff at 200 public schools since 2002, nearly 1/3 of entire district, affecting 70,160 children. Many new schools opened as replacements have already closed. https://interactive.wbez.org/generation-school-closings

This is nothing to boast about. This is disruption on a grand scale, treating black children and families like tissue paper.

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Closing schools, Cruelty, Disruption, Education Industry, Fraud

Chicago: CTU Charter Strike Enters Second Day

By dianeravitch
December 4, 2018 //
11

A news bulletin:

NEWS ADVISORY:

For Immediate Release| ctulocal1.org
CONTACT: Chris Geovanis, 312-329-6250, 312-446-4939 (m), ChrisGeovanis@ctulocal1.org
Wednesday, 6:30 a.m., Dec. 5: Picket lines continue at Acero campuses
Wednesday, 10:00 a.m., Dec. 5: Press conference and rally at Chicago Board of Education, 42 W. Madison. St.
CTU charter educator strike against UNO/Acero enters second day

Picketing continues at 15 UNO/Acero sites, culminating in a rally downtown at the Chicago Board of Education.

CHICAGO—CTU teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff at 15 charter schools run by the Acero charter network formerly known as UNO will enter the second day of their historic strike—the first against a charter operator in U.S. history—starting with 6:30 a.m. picket lines outside of their schools.

Educators will then rally and hold a press conference at the board of education at 10AM to update the press and public on the status of bargaining, in advance of the Chicago Board of Education’s monthly meeting. CTU President Jesse Sharkey will raise strikers’ issues at the CPS board meeting at 10:30 a.m. Those issues include why CPS has allowed the charter operator to stockpile tens of millions of public dollars designated for students’ education instead of investing those funds in classrooms.

Management and the CTU bargaining team remain far apart on critical issues that include: class size, sanctuary school community language in the contract, fair compensation for paraprofessionals, and lower class sizes, which are currently set at 32 students per class—four more than what Chicago Public Schools seeks to meet at district-run schools. CTU members have called those class sizes both outrageous and unsafe for students, particularly children in kindergarten through second grade, where one adult simply does not have the capacity to safely supervise, let alone educate, 32 young children.

Management continues to refuse to include language in the contract that would provide assurances that Acero would follow federal law in providing special education services to students, and refuses to include a commitment in the contract to ensure that its schools operate as sanctuary schools, a virtually no-cost commitment that would provide protection for UNO/Acero’s overwhelmingly Latinx student population.

# # #

The Chicago Teachers Union represents nearly 25,000 teachers and educational support personnel working in schools funded by City of Chicago School District 299, and by extension, the nearly 400,000 students and families they serve. The CTU is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers and is the third-largest teachers local in the United States. For more information, please visit the CTU website at http://www.ctunet.com.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Chicago, Class size, Education Industry, Privatization, Teacher Pay, Teachers, Unions

CEO of UNO/Acero Lashes Out at Strikers and “Outside” Interests

By dianeravitch
December 4, 2018 //
8

The CEO of UNO/Acero Charter Schools, Robert Rodriguez, is angry that his teachers went out on strike. He blames the union and “outside” interests who are anti-charter. Apparently, he does not take seriously his teachers’ demands for higher pay and smaller class sizes. He disrespects them by not hearing their voices.

He released this letter.

This is a video of him reading his letter.

In his letter and statement, he describes Acero as “one of the best performing charter networks in Chicago.”

Dana Goldstein wrote in the New York Times, however, that “At Acero schools, a quarter of students met standards on state exams in 2016, the same percentage who met standards in the Chicago district schools, according to a report from the Illinois State Board of Education.”

If that is what it means to be “one of the best performing charter networks in Chicago,” that speaks poorly of the entire charter sector.

Categories Accountability, Chicago, Class size, Education Industry, Privatization, Teacher Pay, Unions

Dana Goldstein on the Chicago Charter Teachers’ Strike

By dianeravitch
December 4, 2018 //
1

Veteran journalist Dana Goldstein now covers education for the New York Times.

She writes here about the Chicago charter teachers’ strike:

Over 500 educators in Chicago began the nation’s first strike at a charter school network on Tuesday, shutting down 15 schools serving more than 7,000 children. Teachers for the Acero Schools network rallied at local schools to call for higher pay and smaller class sizes, among other demands.

The action is the latest mass teacher protest in a year when educators have closed ranks in places where organized labor has historically been weak — first in six conservative or swing states where teachers walked out of classrooms, and now in the charter school sector, where unionization is sparse.

All of the picket lines have formed out of a dispute over public dollars — whether education funding is adequate, and what percentage of the money should go toward educator pay and classroom resources versus other costs.

“Everyone is feeding off each other and hearing this rallying cry,” said Martha Baumgarten, a fifth-grade teacher at Carlos Fuentes Elementary School in the Acero network and a member of her union’s bargaining committee. “A lot of this comes down to lack of funding. But teachers across the country are seeing each other stand up and say that’s not O.K. We’re not going to support budgets and politics as usual.”

Charters are funded by taxpayers but independently managed by nonprofit organizations, like Acero, or by for-profit companies. Educators at Acero earn up to $13,000 less than their counterparts at traditional public schools in Chicago and cannot afford to live comfortably in an increasingly expensive city, according to the Chicago Teachers Union, which represents the striking workers.

The chief executive of Acero, Richard L. Rodriguez, earns about $260,000 annually to manage 15 schools, a similar salary to that of Janice K. Jackson, the chief executive of the Chicago Public Schools system, which includes over 500 schools.

In addition to higher pay for teachers and support staff, the union is asking that more money be spent on special education services for students and on a program that allows classroom assistants to continue their education and become lead teachers. The union also argues that Acero’s class sizes — up to 32 students at every grade level — are too high.

Acero says the comparatively large class sizes allow it to serve more families, noting that many of the network’s schools have wait lists. It acknowledges that its teachers, who earn an average salary of $65,000 per year, are making less than their peers in traditional schools, but says that is because of inadequate funding from the state. Mr. Rodriguez earns a salary that is competitive given his duties managing the network’s facilities and real estate, it added.

Helena Stangle, a spokeswoman for Acero, said that after the network’s teachers unionized in 2013, management has repeatedly agreed to reduce hours and shorten the work year for teachers, but that to do so any further would erode what makes the schools attractive to parents.

“The focus of the discussion today is maintaining our own identity as a network of schools,” she said. The promise of an extended school day and year is “a real differentiator and important to our families.”

The strike comes shortly after a midterm election in which a burst of progressive Democratic energy led to defeats for charter school advocates in Illinois and other states.

That teachers in a charter network were able to organize, let alone walk out of their classrooms en masse, is notable given the history and aims of charter schools.

Only about 11 percent of the nation’s 7,000 charter schools are unionized, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

Although the union leader Al Shanker helped popularize the concept of charter schools in the 1980s, intending them as laboratories for educational innovation, he became a fierce critic when reformers began using charter laws to open nonunion schools. The reformers hoped that student performance would improve outside the bureaucratic constraints of contract work rules, and that underperforming teachers could be fired more easily. Results in the charter sector have been mixed. At Acero schools, a quarter of students met standards on state exams in 2016, the same percentage who met standards in the Chicago district schools, according to a report from the Illinois State Board of Education.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Chicago, Class size, Education Industry, Privatization, Teacher Pay, Unions

Chicago: First Charter Chain Strike in History! Sad for Waltons and Reformers!

By dianeravitch
December 4, 2018 //
17

More than 500 Teachers at the UNO/Acero charter chain in Chicago went on strike today, the first charter chain strike in history! How sad for the Waltons, the DeVos family, the Koch brothers, the Arnold Foundation, and DFER, who have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the charter industry in hopes of breaking the teachers unions. Sad!

The UNO chain was founded by Juan Rangel, a favorite of the political leadership of the city and state. They showered millions on Rangel and his UNO organization. So did the Waltons. He paid himself $250,000 a year, but burned through teachers. But then things went terribly wrong, and Rangel had to resign. Why? “Ultimately, says a former UNO employee who requested anonymity, Rangel’s Achilles’ heel may have been that he ‘thought charter schools don’t have to play by the same rules as public schools.'” Rangel’s organization collected a 10% management fee and hired his relatives for every part of the operation. The state gave him $98 million to build new charters, and UNO handed out fat contracts to friends and relatives, not realizing that the state contracts forbade conflicts of interest. When CTU went on strike in 2012, Rangel boasted that his charters were non-union, were open and had room for new students.

How times have changed!

From the Chicago Teachers Union:

It’s official: over 500 CTU members at 15 UNO/Acero charter schools are on strike—the first strike of a charter operator in U.S. history.

Our educators are fighting for more resources for our students, and better working conditions for our educators. Management instead has refused any wage increase for our underpaid paraprofessionals, insisted on class sizes of 32—four more than the target for CPS classrooms, refused to increase short-staffed special education positions, refused our efforts to bring nurses into each school, refused to provide wrap-around services for students, and even refused to include sanctuary school language in our contract for our overwhelmingly Latinx students.

CTU members at UNO/Acero work hundreds of hours more than CTU members in district schools, for an average of $13,000 per year less. Paraprofessionals—the backbone of our school communities—earn even less. Management’s take of public dollars went up more than $10 million this year—while spending $1 million LESS on classroom resources.

We’re fighting to end the bad practices of the charter industry and win the schools our students deserve—and you can help! Scroll down for a list of schools with addresses, and join strikers on those picket lines starting at 6:30 AM, Tuesday, December 4.

Today, Tuesday at 1:30 PM, we’ll picket and rally at Acero headquarters, 209 W Jackson Blvd. in downtown Chicago. We’ll be back on the picket lines Wednesday—and for as long as it takes to win the contract and resources our students and educators deserve.

Watch our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds for more information upcoming actions, next steps and how you can get involved. Learn more about management’s failures at the bargaining table—and what we’re fighting for for our students. Our educators’ working conditions are our students’ learning conditions—and we’re fighting to improve them both. Join Us!

Watch our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds for more information upcoming actions, next steps and how you can get involved. Learn more about management’s failures at the bargaining table—and what we’re fighting for for our students. Our educators’ working conditions are our students’ learning conditions—and we’re fighting to improve them both. Join us!

School

Address

Neighborhood

BrightonPark

4420 S. Fairfield, Chicago

BrightonPark

Clemente

2050 N. Natchez, Chicago

Galewood

Cruz

7416 N. Ridge, Chicago

RogersPark

Fuentes

2845 W. Barry, Chicago

Avondale

Santiago

2510 W. Cortez, Chicago

HumboldtPark

Idar

5050 S. Homan, Chicago

GagePark

Soto

5025 S. St. Louis, Chicago

GagePark

Tamayo

5135 S. California, Chicago

GagePark

LasCasas

1641 W. 16th St., Chicago

Pilsen

Marquez

2916 W. 47th St, Chicago

BrightonPark

Zizumbo (VMC)

4248 W. 47thSt, Chicago

ArcherHeights

Garcia (VMC)

4248 W. 47thSt, Chicago

ArcherHeights

Paz

2651 W. 23rd St, Chicago

LittleVillage

Torres (VMC)

4248 W. 47thSt, Chicago

ArcherHeights

Cisneros

2744 W. Pershing Rd, Chicago

BrightonPark

Chicago Teachers Union • 1901 W. Carroll Ave. • Chicago, IL 60612 • 312-329-9100
http://www.ctulocal1.org

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__,_._,___

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Education Reform, Privatization

A Washington Post Discussion about Education

By dianeravitch
November 25, 2018 //
35

I will be in Washington, D.C., on Thursday for a “discussion” about education. I put the scare quotes around discussion because the schedule is jam-packed, and there won’t be enough time for any in-depth discussion of anything. But hope springs eternal.

A few things on the program of interest.

What will Rahm Emanuel say about Chicago? Will he boast about the historic day in 2013 when he closed 50 public schools in a single day, displacing thousands of African-American children?

What will Arne Duncan tell us about how federal policy can reform the schools, after seven years of trying?

I understand this two-hour event will be live-streamed and available online.

WASHINGTON POST LIVE
Education in America
November 29, 2018
4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Washington Post Live Center

4:00 p.m.
Opening Remarks

Kris Coratti,
Vice President
of Communications and Events, The Washington Post

4:05 p.m.
Educating in America’s Urban Cores: A View from Chicago
A case-study of the opportunities and challenges facing the city of Chicago’s public school system — from funding to demographics to violence in schools.

Rahm Emanuel,
Mayor, Chicago
@ChicagosMayor

Janice K. Jackson, EdD,
CEO, Chicago Public Schools @janicejackson

Moderated by
Jonathan Capehart,
Opinion Writer,
The Washington Post @CapehartJ

4:30 p.m.
The View from the
Ground: Tackling the Challenges of K-12 Schools
Educators and prominent
activists on the front lines of America’s K-12 classrooms offer perspectives on the social, academic, safety and resource challenges facing students and teachers, including the aftermath of this year’s nationwide teacher strikes. Speakers will also discuss
how access to technology affects student learning.

Lori Alhadeff,
Member, School
Board of Broward County, Florida @lorialhadeff

Geoffrey Canada,
President, Harlem
Children’s Zone

Mandy Manning,
2018 National Teacher of the Year, Joel E. Ferris High School, Spokane, Washington @MandyRheaWrites

Randi Weingarten,
President, American
Federation of Teachers @rweingarten

Moderated by
Nick Anderson,
National Education
Policy Reporter, The Washington Post @wpnick

4:55 p.m.
The Case for Social and Emotional Learning
The majority of students and young adults report that their schools are not excelling at developing their social and emotional learning (SEL) skills. This session will highlight the importance of SEL, direct from the viewpoints of today’s youth.

John Bridgeland,
Founder and CEO, Civic Enterprises

Interviewed
by Victoria Dinges,
Senior Vice President, Allstate Insurance Company

Content
by Allstate Insurance Company

5:10 p.m.
Education 360:
Defining the Debates
National education leaders debate the most pressing issues facing the U.S. education system, including school choice, standardized testing and federal, state and local funding for public schools. These experts will also discuss how well K-12 institutions are preparing students for higher
education and the jobs of the future.

Bridget Terry Long,
PhD, Dean, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University @bterrylong

Robert Pondiscio,
Senior Fellow and
Vice President for External Affairs, Thomas B. Fordham Institute @rpondiscio

Diane Ravitch, PhD,
Professor, New
York University and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education (1991-1993) @DianeRavitch

Moderated by
Valerie Strauss,
Education Reporter,
The Washington Post
@valeriestrauss

5:35 p.m.
The National Landscape:
Evaluating Federal and State Education Reform Efforts
Where do Washington and
the states go from here on education reform? Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and former Michigan Gov. John Engler discuss the role of the federal and state governments in crafting education policy and look ahead to what’s next on the agenda
for the nation.

Arne Duncan,
Managing Partner, Emerson Collective and Former U.S. Secretary of Education (2009-2015) @arneduncan

John Engler,
President,
Michigan State
University and Former Republican Governor of Michigan (1991-2003) @MSUPresEngler

Moderated by
Christine Emba,
Opinion Columnist
and Editor, The Washington Post @ChristineEmba

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Chicago, Common Core, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, Emanuel, Rahm, Every Student Succeeds Act, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Privatization, Race to the Top, Testing

Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider on School Closings in Boston

By dianeravitch
November 20, 2018 //
8

Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider talk here about school closings in Boston. Berkshire recently read sociologist Eve Ewing’s phenomenal book about school closings in Chicago, so the podcast approaches the Boston events from the perspective of the victims. If, like me, you seldom listen to podcasts, here is the transcript.

It is simply a matter of fact that corporate reformers never close schools in white communities, only in communities where parents are apparently powerless. The school closings serve the purposes of gentrification. The excuse is always “test scores,” but the effect is replacement of one group of people by another, more affluent group. It happened in Chicago, it will happen in Boston.

Boston plans to close schools serving some of the city’s most vulnerable students, so they can be redistributed to other schools. As the exchanges in the program show, these students will suffer from the changes and the displacement.

I urge you to listen or read this segment

Categories Accountability, Boston, Chicago, Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization
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