Archives for category: Unions
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Tomorrow, Wear Red for ED to Support Chicago Teachers

By dianeravitch
September 9, 2012 //
8

I will be wearing red in solidarity with the Chicago Teachers Union tomorrow, in support of whatever decision they make. If they should strike, they have my support. If they don’t, they also have my support. I am not giving my support unthinkingly or blindly. I support their right to bargain collectively. Knowing Karen Lewis, I believe she has the best interests of the children of Chicago in her heart. I believe in her and I believe in the teachers of Chicago.

One of our readers, GatorbonBC, posted the following comment.

If you know me well, you know I hold our WEAR RED FOR ED close to my heart. I also hold my CHICAGO teacher friends very close to my heart. They have taught me so much over the years. So, please… wear RED tomorrow. Show SOLIDARITY with Chicago teachers. They are fighting the same fight we are all fighting for our KIDS. They are fighting against high stakes testing, against the closing of public schools, against privatization via charter schools and virtual learning, against funneling public tax dollars to corporations … and against blaming teachers for everything wrong with our schools. FAIR CONTRACTS… please stand with Chicago. ~Wear Red for Public Ed !

Categories Chicago, Education Reform, Unions

A Parent Reviews the Parent Trigger Movie

By dianeravitch
September 9, 2012 //
6

It seems as though all the really big publicity for the anti-union, anti-public school film “Won’t Back Down” is coming from parents and teachers. Here is a review by a parent.

But that really isn’t so, as NBC’s Education Nation is making a big deal of it, and will have a private screening at the New York Public Library for the upper crust. And you can bet that all the corporate funded activists who want to privatize public education will try to turn this into the fiction version of “Waiting for Superman.” Well, same producer, same goal.

This writer, who was president of her school’s PTA, says the movie demonizes the union. She wonders how the actors–who all belong to the Screen Actors Guild–feel about making a movie that attacks another union.

She writes:

I am all for parent power.  I am all for getting rid of the crappy, demoralizing teachers who should not be allowed to step foot in a classroom.  But, this movie made me sad.  I was really hopeful in the beginning of the film because it was about teachers and parents working together – not something you usually see in movies.  This wasn’t some public school movie where the wide-eyed liberal white teacher swoops in to the minority student school and teaches them violin and magically makes their lives better.  We don’t need any more of those either.  But, this was really a giant anti-union propaganda film that missed the mark.  And that’s too bad because it had the chance to really say something about how parents and teachers can make change – and how hard it really is to find great leadership, and what can happen if we put kids first.  There was NO mention of lack of funding at the school by the way, or lack of professional development for teachers, after school programs, etc.  Seems if you just hang lots of butterflies in the hallway and paint the halls you make a great new school.  That’s an insult to all the parents and teachers who really do work their butts off to make their schools better everyday.

But then, what would you expect from a movie funded by Philip Anschutz, a billionaire who funds anti-public school think tanks and other causes whose goal is to decimate the public sector and privatize everything?

 

Categories Corporate Reformers, Parent trigger, Parents, Unions

Will Chicago Teachers Strike?

By dianeravitch
September 9, 2012 //
13

Tomorrow is Decision Day in Chicago.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has tried to bully the Chicago Teachers Union and its leader Karen Lewis.

Lewis was elected by the members because they knew she would stand up for them.

Emanuel has the support of the Wall Street hedge fund managers organization, somewhat absurdly called Democrats for Education Reform. He also has the other big-monied people in Chicago, as mentioned in this article in the Chicago Tribune, including billionaire Penny Pritzker.

The article mentions that DFER staged a protest at union headquarters to oppose a strike. I wonder how many hedge fund managers send their children to Chicago public schools. I am trying to imagine hedge fund managers marching in front of union headquarters and carrying signs. I am guessing that what happened was that they “staged” a protest, meaning that they hired out-of-work actors to carry protest signs. Maybe the unemployed actors have children in the Chicago public schools.

The great thing about having Karen Lewis there is that every teacher in America knows she will stand strong for them. She will not sell them out. And she will not sell out the children.

She knows that teachers’ working conditions are children’s learning conditions.

Both Rahm and Penny know that too. That’s why they don’t send their children to the schools for which they are responsible. They send their children to a school with small classes, lots of arts and physical education, a great library, experienced teachers, and a full curriculum. The school where they send their children doesn’t give standardized tests and does not evaluate teachers by their students’ test scores.

Categories Chicago, Emanuel, Rahm, Unions

Parents Make a Difference!

By dianeravitch
September 9, 2012 //
2

Last spring, Jeb Bush and Michelle Rhee tried to push the phony “parent trigger” legislation through the Florida legislature. It seemed to be a slam-dunk, since the legislature is controlled by Republicans and the governor is Republican, and the skids were greased to turn more public schools over to the charter corporations. These corporations give generous campaign contributions, so the table was set to add to their portfolios.

But they forgot about the parents, the alleged beneficiaries of the “trigger.”

Florida parent organizations turned out in force to oppose the “trigger.” They knew what the game was, and they knew it was not for their benefit that Bush and Rhee and ALEC were so eager to “empower” them with the ability to give their public school to a corporation. The Florida PTA and groups like Testing is Not Teaching, Fund Education Now, and 50th No More opposed the “trigger.”

Parents made a difference. They understood that the goal of the “trigger” is to shoot public education in the heart. They convinced enough Republican senators to vote against the bill that it ended in a 20-20 deadlock in the state senate. Of course, the forces of greed will return again, but parents will organize again.

Parents in Chicago are organizing to support the Chicago Teachers Union. One group, the parents of the 19th Ward, have been outspoken. I got this email today:

I wanted to share this post, which was written by Nellie Cotton, an involved Chicago Public Schools parent, an activist who speaks truth to power in a snap, a strong CTU supporter and a woman I am so happy to call my friend. Nellie has agreed to let me forward her post. I think it speaks to the experience a lot of parents have had in CPS, but not a lot have taken up the cause as brilliantly as Nellie.
 
Maureen Cullnan
19th Ward Parents
I was just thinking of how I became involved in all this and of all the wonderful people who have helped me become empowered. Please forgive me for rambling.
 
All this first started about three years ago when due to budget cuts, we were going to lose positions. One of those was an exceptionally gifted and beloved teacher, Miss Susan Cummings. Miss Cummings is simply amazing as a teacher. Her love of teaching and her “spark” are palpable. I felt helpless. Not knowing what to do, I approached my LSC for guidance, only to be told this happens, nothing you can do against CPS and, by the way, “Where were you when this issue first came up? “
 
I could not let this rest. My daughter Cecilia (she was Miss Cummings’ student)  and I went door to door with a petition demanding her position not be cut. We collected 261 signatures and went to a board meeting to present them, sent copies of the  same stuff every Tuesday and Thursday to our congressman, House Speaker Michael Madigan, and to Mayor Daley. I went to the monthly CPS school board meetings. Then one day as I had given CPS CEO Ron Huberman my weekly packet, I coincidentally met that dynamo ,Karen Lewis. She was president-elect of the CTU and she introduced me to Jesse Sharkey, who took my information and urged me to join CORE, any parent groups, or my LSC because “Parents and teachers must work together to be effective.” 
 
I knew then she was a dynamic force. 
We are grateful we still have our Miss Cummings!
  
Fast forward to Mayor Emanuel pushing longest day on CPS schools. Again I was shot down by my LSC, as this was a done deal, I was told. CPS had several staff people come talk to the parents and tell them it was a done deal, accept it.  
 
I couldn’t!  I knew better.  
 
My mother picketed and boycotted in order to get a high school built in Pilsen.  I had been active in keeping Pope John Paul II school open!   Again I started with petitions, signs and red bows on trees. I asked to use Lawler Park to have an informational meeting and, honestly, did not have a real grasp on all the issues at the time.  I was struggling with medical issues, my Mom was terminally ill, and I was just going on faith. 
The day of my meeting, I realize now that I had no grasp of the issues. I was going on moxie alone. I was so blessed to have Maureen and Christine contact me out of the blue and take time to do a presentation on the issue at hand. I was blown away. They came armed with information and passion. They are incredible! Through them and because of them,  I have met so many other fantastic people that are affecting positive changes and inspire me every day. Wendy Katten, Erica Clark, Kelly, Jennie, Becky, Laura and Jimmy, The 19th Ward Parents,  I am proud to know you, you guys ROCK! And so many others …
 
If nothing more,  this journey has afforded me the opportunity to meet such incredible people. Thank you for advocating for what truly matters!
 
Nellie Cotton
CPS parent
Categories Bush, Jeb, Chicago, Education Industry, Florida, Parent Groups, Parents, Unions

Charter Schools and Magnet Schools

By dianeravitch
September 9, 2012 //
35

A reader asked me to describe the differences between charter schools and magnet schools

This is what came to mind.

I welcome readers’ thoughts about other differences.

Magnet schools and charter schools have superficial similarities. They may or may not be selective. Their differences are greater than their similarities.

Magnet schools were initially created by local school boards in the late 1960s and 1970s to promote racial integration. The idea behind them was that a theme like the arts, or the sciences, would attract so many applicants that the school could select a racially diverse student body. Charter schools rarely seek racial integration; many charter schools are one-race, one-ethnicity. The UCLA Civil Rights Project warns that charter schools are more segregated than the districts in which they are located.

Another significant difference is that a magnet school is part of the public school system, the result of a decision by a democratic board to create a school for a special purpose. By contrast, a charter school requires a transfer of public funds to private management; it is a form of privatization.

The magnet school is subject to the same laws, rules and regulations as other public schools; the charter is exempt from most of the laws, rules and regulations applied to public schools.

Magnet schools don’t boast of their higher scores because everyone understands that they have a selection process and do not represent a random representation of all students; charter schools do boast of their higher scores (when they have them) and claim to be “better” than public schools and deserving of more public and private funding.

Magnet schools have the same funding sources as public schools; charter schools have private boards which are able to raise additional funding for them. In some districts, like New York City, charters spend more than public schools.

Another difference is the workforce: where unions are permitted by law, public school teachers are part of a union or collective bargaining unit; this is not true for charters. Nearly 90% of charters do not have unions.

Some charter schools are owned by for-profit corporations; some part of the tax dollars they receive are paid to investors and stock-holders. Some charter schools are nonprofit but pay exorbitant executive salaries and management fees; it is a matter of record that some high-profile charter leaders are paid $300,000-500,000 annually to oversee a small number of (non-profit) charter schools. The charters pay a hefty management fee to those who run them. A well-known charter chain in New York City is paid a management fee of $2,000 per student, all from taxpayer funds. That’s a nice income for a “nonprofit.” One charter in Pennsylvania pays a management fee of $16 million to chief executive officer, whose for-profit company supplies all goods and services to the charter.

No public schools are run by for-profit organizations.

Magnet schools are part of the public system; charters are part of a separate system, which has its own interests, its own lobbyists, its own separate advocacy organizations.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Unions, US Education

An Inquiring Mind Wants to Know

By dianeravitch
September 9, 2012 //
12

A new reader has joined our discussion and is looking for answers to important questions. I assured this reader that we have explored these topics in some depth; that we know that the purpose of reform is to eliminate unions; to get rid of tenure; to cut the budget for schools; and to privatize the greatest extent possible, with profits where possible for smart investors in “reform.”

I invite the new reader to hang out with us and join our discussion.

Any advice for the new member of our discussion group?

Please forgive me if I am pulling this conversation back to farmed-out ground (I’m new); but is it fair to say that the gist of the corporate-backed educational “reform” movements today is generating cheaper teachers?This is how the equation boils down for me (a public school teacher). As I’ve been trained to show my work, my thinking is that the greatest “reform” that privatization and charter school movements bring is the elimination of union contracts. And that the primary consequence of eliminating unions in any field is lower labor costs.If the above argument holds water, is it acceptable to eliminate the obfuscating phrase “educational reform movement ” and replace it with the clearer “reducing educator salary” movement? Or, more simply, the “labor-busting” movement? Or the “cheapness” movement?In a similar vein, I am wondering if Dr. Ravitch and others have exposed the cant behind the argument that problems with tenure stem from unions. There don’t seem to be many general-public sources pointing out that no one from a public teacher’s union awards tenure to teachers. Every single public decision to grant tenure is made by an elected school board, advised by its appointed educational managers. If the nation’s schools are saddled with incompetent tenured teachers, the blame falls on leadership and management, does it not? From all the complaints being voiced about tenure that outsiders — many from the world of corporate management — it seems pretty clear to me that the nations educational managers apparently couldn’t recognize an incompetent teacher if they got hit with a hammer by one of them. What is eliminating tenure going to help this group of apparently bumbling crop of managers transform into brilliant predictors of pedagogy? At least tenure forces educational decision-makers to live with the consequences of their incompetence. Lifting the pressure of having to evaluate their teachers in three years and educational managers will be even less accountable for their bad decisions. In the world of corporate management, weakening the chains of accountability is an insane act — something that you would think the corporate nabobs nattering about our schools would understand. Unless they absolutely do understand what they are saying is absurd but don’t care, since the real goal isn’t improving our schools at all.
Categories Corporate Reformers, For-Profit, Privatization, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Tenure, Testing, Unions, US Education

Why The Chicago Teachers Union Deserves Support

By dianeravitch
September 8, 2012 //
37

http://withabrooklynaccent.blogspot.com/2012/09/press-statement-on-chicago-teachers.html


Press Statement on Chicago Teachers Strike
Dr Mark Naison, Fordham University

The Chicago Teachers strike is an incredibly important development because it is a the first time a union local has threatened to strike against education policies pushed by the Obama Administration through its Race to the Top initiative, policies, in my judgment, that have had incredibly destructive consequences for Urban school systems and distressed urban communities

The policies pushed by Rahm Emmanuel, which are being simultaneously implemented in New York and many other cities, involve evaluating teachers and schools on the basis of student test scores, closing schools whose test scores fail to meet a certain standard and firing half their staffs, replacing public schools with charter schools, some run as non profits and some run for profit, and trying to weaken teacher tenure and introduce merit pay

The first three components have been already introduced in Chicago and the mayor wants to intensify them and legnthen the school day. The union is saying enough is enough.

I support the union in taking this stand for the following reasos

1. Closing schools, many of which have been a bulwark of neighborhoods for generations, has been a complete disaster. It has destroyed one point of stability in the lives of young people who have precious little. It removes teachers who have been a part of students lives. It is not an accident that Chicago has seen a serious uptick of violence since Emmanuel became mayor. Young people in distressed neighborhoods need to see community institutions strengthened and teacher mentors protected. School closings and staff turnover take away needed anchors

2. Rating teachers and schools on the basis of student test scores, and threatening to close schools and fire teachers if the proper results aren’t achieved have not only ratcheted up stress levels in schools, they have led to the elimination of art music, sports, school trips and even recess for test prep. The result is that more and more teachers hate teaching and more and more young people hate school, increasing the drop out rate in neighborhoods which desperately need schools to become community centers where young people want to go. The union wants to make schools welcoming places where students want to come by reducing class size, and bringing back sports and the arts, and strengtheining struggling schools rather than closing them. That makes a lot of sense to me

3. Favoring charter schools over public schools has resulted in the systematic creaming off of high performing students by the charters and the warehousing of ELL and special needs students, along with students who have behavior issues, in the remaining public schools. The result is that overall academic performance in the district has not improved

4. Removing teacher tenure and job protections has resulted in the most talented teachers leaving the city system or trying to move from low performing schools to high performing ones where they are less likely to be fired. The result is an accentuation of racial and economic gaps in performance

Basically, what the union wants is to strengthen neighborhood schools an invest in making them places where students are nurtured and want to come, rather than stress filled test factories which the Emmanuel plan and Race to the Top guarantees

The union, in this instance is far better advocate for the children
of Chicago than the mayor

I am available for interviews on my cell all weekend (917) 836-3014

Mark D Naison
Professor of African American Studies and History
Fordham University
“If you Want to Save America’s Public Schools: Replace Secretary of Education Arne Duncan With a Lifetime Educator.” http://dumpduncan.org/

Categories Chicago, Democrats, Emanuel, Rahm, Obama, Privatization, Race to the Top, Unions, US Education

Killing Unions Hurts the Middle Class

By dianeravitch
September 7, 2012 //
11

I link two different articles here, each of them explaining the dilemma in which we find out society today.

On the one hand, there is the potential strike of the Chicago Teachers Union. This situation pits a Democratic mayor against the city’s public school teachers, who stand united (98% voted to authorize a strike). They should have been his allies. President Obama will need their votes in two months.

On the other, there is a growing realization that the new jobs created since the recession of 2008 are low-wage jobs. The middle class is losing ground. Many new college graduates find themselves working at a fast-food chain or in retail sales, not making enough to pay off their student loans. The jobs they expected to get have disappeared.

What is happening to our country? The middle class is shrinking. The rich are getting richer. Income inequality is growing. The ranks of the poor and the near-poor are expanding. There is a full-court press to eliminate collective bargaining or reduce the power of unions, rendering them toothless.

The attack on unions is an attack on the middle class. It is an attack on an institution that builds a middle class. Unions were an essential part of the movement to create a middle class, allowing poor people to find jobs with a pension, health benefits and a decent wage. As unions wither, the middle class will shrivel even more.

Unions were an important ally in the civil rights movement and they have been fundamental in promoting the economic progress of black and Hispanic workers.

Consider this guest post on the Shanker Blog by Norm and Velma Hill, veterans of the civil rights movement and the union movement:

With a lot of prodding from [A. Philip] Randolph, the AFL-CIO… came to recognize the deep connection between labor rights and civil rights. The civil rights movement has moved the same way, acknowledging organized labor as by far its strongest ally. In a 1961 speech, Dr. King spoke to this, declaring that “Negroes are almost entirely a working people. Our needs are identical with labor’s needs: decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education and respect in their community. That is why blacks support labor’s demands and fight laws that curb labor.”

That is why the labor hater and the race baiter is virtually always a twin-headed creature, spewing anti-black epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other. That is why, at the time of King’s assassination in 1968, he was preparing to lead a march in Memphis, Tennessee, in support of black sanitation workers who were striking for union recognition. And that is why, for generations of black Americans and other minorities, a “good” union job was understood to be a path to the middle-class.

Still today, the benefits of trade union membership for African Americans, women, and other minorities are clear. According to one recent estimate, the wages of black union members are 31 percent higher than the wages of African Americans who are not union members. The union wage advantage for women workers is 34 percent; for Latino workers, it’s a whopping 51 percent. That being true, the decline of the union movement should be of special concern. In the mid-1950s, about one-third of the workforce belonged to unions. Today the proportion is down to not much more than 10 percent.

Some black and Hispanic entrepreneurs have done well during this period of growing income inequality. But black and Hispanic poverty remains deep and entrenched. Destroying unions eliminates the good jobs where black and Hispanic workers earn more. Access to the middle class becomes harder when unions are eliminated.

As the non-union charter sector expands, teachers’ unions are weakened. 88% of charter schools are non-union. It is easier for them to fire expensive teachers or to fire teachers who don’t conform or to fire whistle-blowers. There is no evidence that non-union charter schools are systematically more successful than public schools with unions. Here and there, you will find a high-flying non-union charter school, but you can find many more high-flying unionized public schools. On average, charters do no better than public schools when they enroll the same students and have the same resources.

So, yes, we need a rebirth of unionism. Yes, working people need protection from predatory employers who care only for lowering costs, no matter what the human cost. This country must restore a balance and sanity to its policies, and that won’t happen as long as the most powerful figures are joined in an effort to destroy unions and to privatize public education.

P.S. A personal disclaimer: I do not belong to a union. I never have.

Categories Chicago, Economy, Education Reform, Emanuel, Rahm, Obama, Unions

AFT Statement Supporting CTU

By dianeravitch
September 6, 2012 //
7

Just received from AFT press office:

AFT Statement in Support of Chicago Teachers Union 

WASHINGTON—Statement of AFT President Randi Weingarten in support of the Chicago Teachers Union.

“Yesterday, on a call with her fellow AFT executive council members, including the union’s three national officers, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis reported on the status of the CTU’s ongoing negotiations with Chicago Public Schools, the CTU’s hope for a settlement, and its preparations for a strike if a settlement is not reached.

“Chicago’s teachers want what is best for their students and for Chicago’s public schools. And they want to work in an environment that respects their work and their role as partners with administrators in ensuring that every Chicago child has a chance to succeed. The AFT and its members stand with the CTU.

“Chicago teachers have already agreed to a longer school day—and offered ideas to make it not just a longer day but a better day by investing in art, music and other subjects that expand and enrich our children’s minds. And they’ve galvanized parents and community to support these ideas.

“No one takes a strike lightly. CTU members feel that a clear message has been sent by the school district that they and their work are not valued. This message is demonstrated not simply by the school board’s denial of agreed-upon pay raises, but also by Chicago Public Schools’ exclusion of the CTU from conversations it had with outside groups about potential school closings.

“CTU President Lewis and CTU members are committed to working around the clock to reach a fair, substantive agreement that keeps them where they want to be: on the job, in the classrooms, educating Chicago’s students. That will remain their goal if a strike is not averted.”

 
Categories Chicago, Unions

Rightwing Foundation in Chicago Backs Rahm

By dianeravitch
September 6, 2012 //
9

The Heartland Institute in Chicago, a major advocate for charters and vouchers, has issued a statement supporting Rahm Emanuel and urging him to be firm in resisting the demands of the Chicago Teachers Union. Is Mayor Emanuel at the right convention?

Heartland Institute Education Expert Reacts to
Chicago Teachers Union Strike Threat

The Chicago Teachers Union on Wednesday filed unfair labor practice charges against Chicago Public Schools, and CTU President Karen Lewis says the union will not extend its Monday, September 10 deadline to reach a new contract or go on strike.

The following statement from Joy Pullmann of the Chicago-based Heartland Institute – a free-market think tank – may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Tammy Nash at tnash@heartland.org and 312/377-4000. After regular business hours, contact Jim Lakely at jlakely@heartland.org and 312/731-9364.

“The Chicago Teachers Union is playing a game of chicken with taxpayer dollars, parent patience, and children’s futures. Their threats to strike, bluffs or not, should be seen for the craven malfeasance that represents what’s wrong with the incredibly expensive and ineffective Chicago Public Schools.

“Chicago teachers make about a third more than the average Cook County worker, and they receive far better pensions. The city is as broke as its hobos. Mayor Rahm Emanuel shouldn’t blink, and voters should demand the union stand down.”

Joy Pullmann
Research Fellow, The Heartland Institute
Managing Editor, School Reform News
jpullmann@heartland.org
312/377-4000

 

Categories Chicago, Emanuel, Rahm, Unions
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