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Destructive '20th Day Rule' challenged from both ends and UNO's claims debunked... Teachers expose the truth about the poor UNO performance and take action to take back students from predatory charter schools' marketing claims

Sarah Chambers - October 15, 2012

The infamous "20th Day" hit the city's Track R (regular schedule) public schools on October 10, one month after the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012 had began and more than two weeks after the regular Chicago public schools had resumed classes. But once again, the combination of the infamous rule (which does not exist in any other school district in Illinois) and the misleading attack by the charter school marketing departments was taking its toll. The 20th day hit with a trail of destruction last Thursday, and the destructive effects have already taken a toll throughout schools across the city. One of the hundreds of schools hit by the rule was Saucedo, an elementary school on Chicago's Southwest Side.

Teachers at Chicago's Saucedo school built their solidarity during the strike and have now turned their attention to the dishonest raids by UNO charter schools on their schools' families and children. During the strike, UNO, like other charter schools, sent its marketing department out to try and recruit children, despite the fact that the nearest UNO school to Saucedo has mostly inexperienced teachers and is lower in test scores than Saucedo. 'Where are our teacher?' children were asking in a question that was certainly echoing elsewhere across the city.

'Why is our teacher fired?' cried out distraught students from two classrooms at Saucedo Scholastic Academy on Chicago's southwest side.

On this day known as Dooms Day to many teachers, the Chicago Board of Education looks at the number of students in each school and uses its computer formulas to disrupt the education there four weeks into the semester. If the average size of the classrooms in a school is not jam packed with 27 to 30 students, then the Board tells the principal how many "positions" to slash. The aftermath of these terminated positions include complete instability of the classes where the teachers were removed and the classes that must take in these students. After one month of preparation and instruction, some teachers are forced to move grade levels or subject areas to accommodate for the incoming students. This instability that CPS has promoted from the bottom up, with the 20th day policies and the revolving door of CEOs, has a tremendous effect on The learning and emotional well-being of our students.

At Saucedo Academy, the teachers and paraprofessionals said, "Enough is enough!!" and took measures to fight for their students, classroom,s and to save the teachers and positions. While others continued to challenge the destructive policy itself, Saucedo teachers also took to the streets to bring back the children whose families had been misled by the massive marketing drive of the local charter school, UNO.

The teachers hung colorful signs on the fence of the school in Spanish and English. "Now accepting students in K to 5th grade."

With phone calls, all the parents were also informed of the available spaces. One teacher stated, "We will do anything to save these positions."

As soon as teachers began spreading the word about the openings, more parents trickled in to enroll their children. The more students they received, the closer they arrived at saving the teachers' positions.

For the final push, teachers and others decided to step up tactics to reach out to parents that unknowingly enrolled their children in "lower performing schools." The "lower performing school? -- the nearby UNO charter schools.

The question posed to these parents was, "Did you choose the best school for your child?" In a flyer with a chart comparing the ISAT scores of UNO "Cisneros campus" with Saucedo Academy. With the facts, the teachers opened the parents' eyes to the truth about the charter school. In math, reading and the overall composite score, Saucedo Academy, a real public school, outperformed UNO Cisneros Charter School by 10% or more for each subject area.

To begin operation "Save our Classrooms," on Tuesday morning, October 15, a group of teachers passed their knowledge on to parents as they dropped their children off at the UNO School. The parents were responsive and gladly took the flyers. Needless to say, the security guards of UNO were not as supportive. One male security guard told the teachers, "You are not allowed to pass out flyers on the sidewalk in front of the school."

A teacher politely responded, "This is a public sidewalk. We are walking and passing out public information." She continued to hand out flyers in Spanish and English with a smile on her face. The security guard continued to press the teacher, "During the strike, the teachers could not picket here in front of the school. You must move to another sidewalk."

The teacher continued walking, speaking to parents as they drove by and gave them information about their underperforming privatized school. With the security guard now in a huff, he marched up to the group of teachers and stated, "A point person has been called."

With only a few flyers left, the group finished speaking to parents and passed out the rest of the literature. As they walked into school that morning, they had an extra hop in their step. One teacher, who asked to remain anonymous to Substance, stated, "The UNO deserves it; they flyer the neighborhoods all the time. The parents need to know the truth about the UNO charters."

The truth being that charters have a reduced number of special education students and they can kick out underperforming or misbehaving students. With their removal of a large population of "underperforming" students, they should have higher scores than traditional public schools. They can'tcompete with the experienced teachers of public schools that have a union to fight for a quality education that the students deserve.

Only a few hours after the UNO flyering, four more parents called to ask about enrolling their students in Saucedo Academy.

Others might not have been as pleased with the outcome. By the afternoon someone had removed the enrollment signs from the Saucedo fence. In spite of this deterrent, Saucedo's teachers won't back down. With their fighting spirit, they should be able to win back at least one teaching position by the end of the week.

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