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A Great Story about the Strike

By dianeravitch
September 20, 2012 //
5

Harold Meyerson wrote a great story about the strike in the Washington Post. Please read it.

The mainstream media, the pundits and the editorial writers were so hostile to the strike that it is refreshing to read someone who really understands what happened in Chicago. Meyerson sees the strike not just as a job action, but as a strike against the national faux-reform movement, which demands incessant testing and pushes privatization.

He gets it.

And as you would expect, someone writes in response and says the teachers are not the union, the union is not the teachers. Oh, please. Who were the 98% of teachers who voted to authorize the strike? Who was it that donned red T-shirts and overflowed the streets of Chicago? Let me say it slowly: The union is the teachers. The teachers are the union.

Regardless of what the media said and wrote, teachers tell of the support from police, firefighters, transit workers, parents, and ordinary citizens who honked their horns and gave a thumbs-up.

Meyerson understood who supported the strike, who opposed it, and what the issues were (and continue to be).

The mainstream media did not. They echoed one another, and their sponsors.

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, Testing, Unions

How Chicago’s Children Were Educated by the Strike

By dianeravitch
September 20, 2012 //
1

This reader commented about how the strike enhanced her grandchild’s education:

The strike taught my grandchild and so many more children like her that people should stand up for what they believe in; to thoroughly read any document you sign; to join with people who have the same causes because many things can’t be done alone and that democracy is messy and hard to achieve, but worth it in the end. Not one week, or even one semester of civics, social studies or so called critical thinking instruction could teach that.. We saw and marched with the teachers, we heard them asking for fairness and we felt and agreed with their pain. If anything, our children were helped to have a greater appreciation for their teachers because they believe that the teachers stood up for them. What a great way for a new start!

Categories Chicago

Karen Lewis Explains How CTU Won

By dianeravitch
September 19, 2012 //
11

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now interviews Karen Lewis and other CTU teachers about the strike. Lewis explains how the union patiently built alliances with parents and communities, fighting school closings and agreeing on the needs of children.

Karen Lewis reminds us that the great victory of the union was that teachers stood together in solidarity instead of compliantly accepting whatever was dealt out to them. The very fact that the union went out on strike reminded teachers that they are in the same boat and that together they are powerful.

The message that CTU sent the nation was that so-called “education reform” is a fraud. It does not have the support of teachers. It is all about testing, carrots and sticks. And it is not in the best interests of students.

Ultimately what the CTU wanted was a rich curriculum for all children, with the social services and small classes that children nee.

The news from Chicago: The union is alive and well, is unified and strong, and is ready to stand up for the needs of students and for teachers, not only in Chicago but across the nation.

Want a laugh? Watch her take down equity investor Bruce Rauner, who was “a few classes behind her” at Dartmouth. Yes, Bruce, the union is the teachers, and the teachers are the union. They are not separable. Don’t forget: 98% of the teachers voted to authorize the strike, even though Jonah Edelman’s Stand for Children [aka, Stand on Children] said it would never happen.

Categories Arts Education, Chicago, Corporate Reformers, Curriculum, Education Reform, Unions

Did the Strike Hurt the Kids?

By dianeravitch
September 19, 2012 //
8

Corey Robin evaluates whether the strike hurt the kids, as the critics of CTU allege.

Categories Chicago

Does Rahm Emanuel Really Believe in Accountability?

By dianeravitch
September 19, 2012 //
16

When you watch Amy Goodman’s interview with Karen Lewis, you will hear Mayor Rahm Emanuel speak eloquently about the importance of accountability. He wants principals to be accountable. He wants teachers to be accountable.

But does he really believe in accountability? As Lewis points out, the school board appointed by Emanuel is accountable to no one. Their decisions may be rejected by parents and communities, but the board is not accountable.

Does Rahm Emanuel believe in accountability for the principal and teacher of his own children’s school? They don’t take standardized tests. They are not held accountable for test scores. By Mayor Emanuel’s terms, he has chosen a school for his children where no one is accountable.

Is accountability only for the teachers and principals of the Chicago public schools?

Categories Accountability, Chicago, Emanuel, Rahm, Unions

What the CTU-CPS Contract Includes

By dianeravitch
September 19, 2012 //
1

Fred Klonsky summarized what the union won in the contract negotiations.

This is the contract approved by 98% of the delegates. It will be submitted to the membership for final approval.

Frankly, the biggest threat that lies ahead for the teachers is that Rahm Emanuel will continue closing schools and opening non-union charters. Given that he controls the school board, and given that he has a low opinion of public education, watch for continued privatization in Chicago.

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Emanuel, Rahm, Privatization, Unions

Conservative Pundit: Rahm Got Rolled

By dianeravitch
September 19, 2012 //
20

Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute bluntly declares that Mayor Emanuel was defeated by CTU. Hess clearly prefers the Scott Walker style of crush-the-unions and take no prisoners.

His scorecard is interesting.

It is a good counterweight to those who say that CTU did not win enough concessions.

Remember this was a negotiation, not a battle to the death. The great thing about the strike was that it happened. Teachers got a spine and a voice. That’s the news.

Categories Chicago, Unions

One of the Best Articles About the Strike

By dianeravitch
September 19, 2012 //
2

This article was written by Dean Baker, a macroeconomist. It appeared in Al Jazeera. Baker is in no way influenced by the big-name pundits who disdain teachers.

To give you a flavor of the wisdom here, this is how it starts:

“We don’t know the final terms of the settlement yet, but it appears that the Chicago public school teachers managed to score a major victory over Rahm Emanuel, Chicago’s business-oriented mayor. Testing will not comprise as large a share in teachers’ evaluations as Emanuel had wanted; there will be a serious appeals process for teachers whom the school district wants to fire, and laid off teachers will have priority in applying for new positions. 

“If these seem like narrow self-interested gains for the teachers and their union, think again. Teaching in inner city schools is a difficult and demanding job. 

“Most of the children in Chicago’s public schools are poor. Their families are struggling with all the issues presented by poverty. Many of the schools are in high crime areas and serious crimes often take place on school premises. It can be a lot harder job than working for a hedge fund. 

“It will not be possible to get committed and competent people to teach in the public school system if they cannot be guaranteed at least a limited amount of job security and respect. The $70,000 annual pay that was ridiculed as excessive by so many pundits would not even be a week’s salary for many of the Wall Street types who do nothing more productive than shuffle paper. 

“The widely held view in the media, that the school teachers and their union are an anachronism, turns reality on its head. The so-called “school reform” movement is by now old news. These people have been more or less calling the shots in public education for the last two decades. Their policies have been tried and failed. 

“The reformers have made great promises about the potential of charter schools that would be free of the encumbrances of teacher unions and government bureaucracies. It turns out that charter schools are more likely to underperform public schools than to out-perform the public schools they replace.

“The story on high stakes testing for keeping and promoting teachers is mixed at best. High stakes testing encourages teachers to teach to the test. It also can and does encourage cheating. When scores have risen because teachers have taught to the test, it doesn’t mean the same thing as when scores rise because students are actually getting a better education.”

This is a thinker who hits all the crucial points.

Now if only some of our major pundits would stop, look, and listen. 

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Education Reform, Emanuel, Rahm, Parents, Teachers and Teaching

Rev. Jesse Jackson Gets It Right

By dianeravitch
September 18, 2012 //
1

Who is hurting the kids? Reverend Jesse Jackson knows.

A lot of pious preaching came from reformers who opposed the Chicago teachers’ strike. They said, “You are hurting the children by keeping them out of school.”

We never hear them say that the Mayor and the school board are hurting the children by denying them small classes, decent facilities, a good curriculum, social workers, the arts, and well-maintained facilities.

The money’s all gone, the reformers say, but there’s always enough to give subsidies to developers and big corporations. The only time the till is empty is when the topic is public schools.

Categories Arts Education, Chicago, Parents, Students, Teacher Evaluations, Testing, Unions

Chicago Teacher Strike Ends

By dianeravitch
September 18, 2012 //
34

You have heard the news by now that the strike is over. I was lecturing in Chattanooga and meeting with leaders of the community from 2 pm until now. My brother tweeted to ask why I was behind the curve. Oops, offline.

Pundits and commentators will be poring over the Deep Meaning of all this for weeks and months to come. There will be countless articles about Lessons Learned.

Personally, I think we have a good idea already about why the teachers went on strike. No, it wasn’t greed or money. The compensation piece was more or less settled before the strike. Pundits and talk-show hosts who take home hundreds of thousands a year will express outrage that teachers–teachers!–might make $80,000. I ask you, who adds more social value–a first grade teacher in Chicago or a talk show host on national radio or TV?

Why did they strike? After 17 years of reform and disrespect, they were fed up with the bullying. They were tired of the non-educators and politicians telling them how to teach and imposing their remedies. Reform after reform, and children in Chicago still don’t have the rich curriculum, the facilities, and the social services they need.

They were sick of the incessant school closings. They were sick of seeing charter schools open that get wildly uneven results yet are praised to the skies by Arne Duncan and now Rahm Emanuel. They knew that the charter schools are non-union and that the Mayor will use them to break the union.

In the end, the union pitted itself against Rahm Emanuel, Arne Duncan, Chicago’s business and civic leadership, and the Race to the Top. It took on the most powerful forces in the city, and yes, even President Obama, who remained neutral.

And by taking a stand, by uniting to resist the power elite, these teachers discovered they were strong. They had been downtrodden and disrespected, but no longer. They put on their red T-shirts and commanded the attention of the nation and the admiration of millions of teachers. Powerless no more, they showed that unity made them strong. 98% voted to authorize the strike, and 98% voted to end it.

The union was fortunate in having Karen Lewis as its president. She was one of them. She had taught chemistry in the Chicago public schools for more than 20 years. She is one of the few–perhaps the only–union leader in the nation who is Nationally Board Certified, a mark of her excellence as a teacher.

Not only is she a teacher through and through, she is a graduate of Dartmouth. She is neither impressed nor intimidated by the elites who flaunt their Ivy League credentials. Hers are as good as theirs. Maybe better. She is a woman of valor.

Karen Lewis gave courage to her members, and they gave courage to her.

The strike is one of the few weapons available to the powerless. Without the union, the teachers would have been ignored, and the politicians would be free to keep on reforming them again and again and again.

The strike transformed the teachers from powerless to powerful.

The teachers said, “Enough is enough. With us, not to us.”

Regardless of the terms of the contract, the teachers won.

Thank you, CTU.

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Race to the Top, Teachers and Teaching, Unions
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