The April 2018 Issue of Substance
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We were forced to suspend subscriptions to our print edition a year ago, and after wishing we could get back into print have finally admitted that we can only continue as an online publication. Therefore, readers can no longer subscribe to Substance on paper, but those who wish to donate will be thanked.
Did CTU officers and staff violate union rules -- and the union's budget resolution -- by spending ALL of the $1.4 million allocated for various activities on the Chuy campaign 'loan'?...
In what can only be described as equivocation, Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey, at the April 2018 meeting of the union's House of Delegates, tried to dodge a specific question about the spending . . .
Illinois State Board of Education meeting hears the CPS Special Education Inquiry Report... CPS Needs to Make Changes...
The ISBE (Illinois State Board of Education) monthly meeting, held at the Thompson Center on Wednesday, April 18, 2018, was filled to capacity. This crowd was there due to the report of their investigation into . . .
Labor Beat's Larry Duncan has passed away...
"First Leo. Now Larry" was my first sentence after reading that Labor Beat's Larry Duncan had died. Rather than share all of those memories here now, it's more appropriate that we here at Substance simply . . .
Rallies against tax breaks for corporations say schools and communities must benefit from Amazon’s new ‘HQ2'...
As Chicago’s mayor and Illinois’s governor offer some $2 billion in corporate tax give-aways to Amazon – in a competition between cities to see which will offer the most public financing to become the site . . .
My life as a teacher...
[Editor's Note: The following was provided to Substance by Leo's wife, Sue Carrel. It is published here as Leo wrote it. I am hoping that many readers will add comments to this important story, and . . .
WBEZ's 'How Chicago School Construction Furthers Race and Class Segregation'
The WBEZ report “How Chicago School Construction Furthers Race and Class Segregation” illustrates that the plan to build a $75 million school in Dunning is part of an ongoing pattern of new construction disproportionately going . . .
Shoving match disrupts deposition in First Amendment case over Board of Education's right to ban some parents from Board meetings for all eternity...
A shoving match disrupted a deposition in a case involving the rights of parents and others to attend meetings of the Chicago Board of Education, resulting in one attorney being barred from a major case. . . .
Members First draws 250 CTU rank and filers to April 13 event...It's official that Members First will be challenging CORE in the 2019 Chicago Teachers Union election...
There were slightly more than 250 people attending a fundraising event at Cork and Kerry’s on the south side of Chicago for Members First, and they were enjoying pizza and other treats (including "Board of . . .
Filthy CPS schools prompt Kenwood HS supporters, CTU officials, to put on haz-mat suits in effort to highlight the need to clean up corruption in privatized custodial contracts at CPS...
Wearing bright yellow head-to-toe haz-mat (hazardous materials) suits, members of the Clean Kenwood Coalition, including officials of the Chicago Teachers Union, highlighted “unhealthy” conditions in Chicago Public Schools. They said the protective gear would let . . .
'Crisis' of substitute coverage in many Chicago schools!... CTU leadership gave up the rights of substitute teachers in the new contract... no preps for subs!...
Although it was not included in most of the contract discussions at the recent leadership training for the Chicago Teachers Union, the substitute "crisis" has been growing. And one of the reasons is that the . . .
Leo Gorenstein, fierce partisan for unions, teaching, public education and equal rights, dies of Lou Gehrig's disease...
Leo Gorenstein, one of Chicago's fiercest partisans for public education and equal rights, died on Monday, April 2, 2018, after a lengthy battle with Amyotrophic-Lateral-Sclerosis-ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease). During his career of . . .
CPS to spend $100 million on unneeded, northwest side school
The only explanation for Chicago's plan to spend $100 million on an unneeded school on the northwest side is racism.
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) officials say it’s to ease overcrowding at Taft high school, . . .
BOARDWATCH...
The Chicago Board of Education (BOE) held its monthly meeting on Wednesday, March 21, 2018, at its headquarters at 42 West Madison Street, lower level. Present were board members Mark Furlong, Alejandra Garza, Jaime Guzman, . . .
