CTU hosts citywide education 'Summit' on July 24, 2010 at Ariel Community Academy Elementary School
REPORTER'S NOTE: This is an unofficial report, and does not necessarily reflect the views of CTU, CORE, or even the people quoted in this article. I have not had an opportunity to check quotations, but wanted to offer a quick, general sense of what happened, based on my own notes.
Most of the crowd at the Education Summit sponsored by the Chicago Teachers Union on Saturday, July 24, 2010, had arrived by the time Karen Lewis began speaking at about 10:30 a.m. The flooding that morning had delayed a number of people who eventually got to the tightly scheduled event. West of the event, Washington Park had been turned into "Lake Washington" by the massive rains. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.More than 200 supporters of public education gathered on Saturday morning, July 24, 2010 for the Chicago Teachers Union “Save Our Schools Summit” at Ariel Elementary Academy on the South Side. The turnout would have been higher, but many union members were kept away by bad weather that caused flooding and traffic tie-ups on the Kennedy Expressway and other roads.
All attendees were urged to sign a “pink slip” for Mayor Daley, declaring that he should be removed as head of the Chicago Public Schools for abuses of authority, such as appointment of “a CEO and Board of Education that voted to fire 2,700 teachers and raise class sizes to 35 without looking at other options to cut costs.” The union plans to present thousands of signed pink slips to the mayor later this summer. [NOTE: For blank “pink slips” to distribute among your friends and neighbors, or to return signed “pink slips,” contact Norine Gutekanst at ngutekanst@hotmail.com.]
Summit attendees also received a sheet listing other actions they could take:
· Rally on Wednesday, July 28, at 8:30 a.m., Board of Education, 125 S. Clark St.
· Call Ron Huberman at the Board of Education, 1-773-553-1500, and say, “Find the money to improve student learning!”
· Call Mayor Daley at 1-312-744-3300 and say, “Find the money to fund our schools!”
· Call or visit your alderman and ask him/her to help find the money to stop classroom cuts.
· Talk to your religious leader and congregation about working together to stop classroom cuts.
The summit featured approximately an hour of inspirational speakers telling stories of what already has been done to fight school budget cuts, and urging further action.
Michael Brunson, CTU’s newly elected Recording Secretary, told how the Caucus of Rank & File Educators (CORE) organized to win control of the union and stood up to fight school closings and teacher layoffs. He quoted the late Howard Zinn, the “people’s historian” and activist. “He told me, ‘When you have a chance to get involved… do it. It’s fun, it will change you, and it will change things.’”
Williette Price, a displaced Literacy Coach, told how she organized a group that quickly grew from just two members to more than 200. They now meet regularly at Operation PUSH to strategize on ways to get the Board of Education to reinstate people in jobs that were lost in the recent budget cuts.
Kristine Mayle, CTU’s new Financial Secretary, said that CORE and CTU have reached out to form partnerships with other organizations to fight for public education. She then introduced other speakers.
Jeanette Smith, a parent representing the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), also serves as a Local School Council member at Mollison School. She drew cheers from the crowd when she declared, “The CPS policy of cutting from the bottom and not the top has hurt our children long enough!”
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis (above, speaking from the stage at Ariel Elementary School during the July 24 "Summit") used her purse to highlight a recent experience with the Chicago Board of Education's labor relations staff and lawyer. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt. Karen Lewis, CTU’s new president, carried a large purse as she stepped to the microphone. “I have my purse with me,” she explained, “because the Board of Education is trying to steal our money, and our children’s money.”
Before describing the recent [July 23] session where the Board invited the Chicago Teachers Union for “negotiations,” she gave some historical background. She reminded long-time employees that formerly hiring was done by the Board’s Personnel Department. The root of the word “personnel” implied that teachers and support staff both were considered to be “persons.” Later, the Board changed the name of the department to “Human Resources.” It is significant, Karen said, that recently the Board again changed the name — to the “Department of Human Capital.”
Historically, humans who were considered “capital” during the time of chattel slavery were paid no wages. The Board may be moving in that direction, for Board officials told her and the rest of the CTU negotiating team to find $100 million if they wanted to save 1,000 positions.
Karen, who vowed that the union would make “no deal behind closed doors,” did the math and asked if this meant the people in these positions would be paid $100,000 each. The Board officials gave no explanation of how they arrived at the formula of $100 million for 1,000 positions.
She also asked:
· If the union gave up $100 million, would that guarantee an end to further firings or layoffs? The Board said “No.”
· Would the Board release details of its budget, so the union could look for ways to save $100 million? The Board declined.
Karen then asked a rhetorical question of the audience at the Save Our Schools Summit: Did people know why salaries for teachers and support staff had gone from 62% of the Board’s budget in 2004 to 49% in 2009? As the Board spends more money on other things, it is also reducing total salaries due to the elimination of tenured and experienced teachers and paraprofessionals. This indicates that the current cuts are part of an “attack” on unionized employees and the children they serve.
“We must mobilize our communities against this attack,” she declared. In addition to standing firm against the Board of Education, she said it also important for us and all of our community partners to call state senators and state representatives, just as bill collectors call debtors. “Tell them, ‘You are late in your payments to children,’” Karen Lewis said.
Sonia Kwon, the next speaker, was another example of the “community partners” joining to fight the budget cuts. Representing a coalition of parents called Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education (www.ILRaiseYourHand.org), she said her organization has repeatedly asked Mayor Daley for his plans for fully funding education, but he has remained silent. She said that Raise Your Hand has realized that this silence is actually an answer, so the parents know they must continue to fight. “Our goal is fair, sustained funding,” she said.
Tom Tresser, a professor at DePaul University, then came to the microphone to explain how property taxes that used to support public schools are being siphoned off by Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Districts in neighborhoods all across the city. The result is that the mayor now controls TIF funds totaling some $1.4 billion, which can be spent, “who knows where, for who knows what” with no public oversight. He added that he is the Green Party candidate for Cook County Board President, where he will call for the total elimination of TIFs.
Marcos Ayala, a former principal and involved community member in South Chicago, spoke of the need for “working together.”
Rodney Estvan, a special education activist from Access Living, said Chicago Public Schools have 51,000 students with disabilities, yet in 2006 laid off 700 aides and attendants who work with the neediest of these students. Citing statistics – e.g., only 8 percent of 11th graders are reading at or above grade level – he said the budget cuts will make it harder than ever for students to get the services they need.
Rosita Chatonda of CTU discussed the organizing plan, and urged everyone to sign a “pink slip” for Mayor Daley.
Summit Summary, By David R. Stone, CPS Teacher & CORE member, drstone@ameritech.net
By: Lew Rosenbaum
Education Summit
Despite flooded roads which made travel difficult, teachers students and parents filled the auditorium of Ariel Community Academy on the south side of Chicago July 24 for a summit called by CORE (the Caucus Of Rank-and-file Educators of the teachers union, recent overwhelming victors in the hotly contested union election). Judging by today’s meeting, CORE is not going to rest on its election laurels. Karen Lewis, co-chair of the caucus and the new CTU president, spoke vigorously about the threats that come with concessions to the Board of Education and CEO Ron Huberman. While demanding budget transparency, Lewis pointed out that concessions to the powers that run the schools has led to firing teachers in spite of agreements. Tom Tresser, a Green Party candidate for Cook County Board President and a long time arts and community activist, revealed figures that show how the city is hiding a massive cash surplus created fom Tax Increment Financing districts (TIFs) that rightfully belongs to the schools and could close the funding gap that threatens schools, according to the city. Lewis was even more insistent as she closed her speech out, calling on her audience to call their state representatives, who have withheld state moneys from public education for years (long before the “budget crisis” started). She urged attendees to tell their representatives that, “when you don’t pay your house payment, you lose your house; when you don’t pay your visa card, they won’t let you use it any more.” Where, then, is the accountability for the state not paying its contractual bills?
Union leaders may have been thinking of the article in Friday’s New York Times that detailed how Washington D.C. school superintendent Michele Rhee just fired 5% of public school teachers under an agreement reached with AFT president Randi Weingarten. Earlier this year Weingarten accepted tying teacher evaluations to test scores. The result: Rhee fired 241 teachers (302 employees all told). The excuse? Most were given very low ratings based on test scores. Lewis and others object that this ratings system is flawed, without institutional efforts to give teachers resources to improve their own scores. They also point out that teachers are handicapped by under-resourced schools and community issues beyond their control. Most important, this system puts in the hands of administrators the same kinds of power to hire and fire that famously exists throughout private industry (and existed in teaching for many years) where hiring and firing is subject to the whim of the employer, all under the guise of objectivity — the same objectivity that we use to judge the success and failure of our students.
Underlying this process is the increasing automation of teaching. While the high stakes testing is largely detested by teachers who find that it undercuts any effort to stimulate critical thinking processes, at the same time it makes it convenient for grading larger classes with fewer and less experienced staff. It fuels a multibillion dollar private industry that feeds on new textbook publishing and testing. It is the leading edge of the educational corporate advance (comparable to that is seen in every service industry, from McDonald’s to Walmart to Barnes and Noble). Unleashing new technologies into teaching is not in itself inimical. But in the hands of private, commodity producing corporations it necessarily aims at making redundant a skilled work force.
CORE holds its next membership meeting at Operation Push Monday, July 26. Non CPS teachers are welcome to join as associate members.
July 28 the Board of Education meets again. Once again the charade of a public meeting will take place. Once again CORE is calling on teachers and community to attend an 8 AM rally in front of the Board building at 125 S. Clark St. and to stand with CORE in confronting the Board. Make no mistake, Lewis and the new CTU leadership are making efforts to meet and negotiate with the Board. At the same time, they recognize that meetings with the Board do not substitute for organizing and educating the CTU membership.