[ Breaking Up Is Hard To Do ] Chicago Teachers Union leadership party splits up
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do ... Think of all that we've been through the old song by Neil Sadaka is the current sentinments in Chicago Teachers Union election politics.
In a new development in the CTU internal officer elections this year, the ruling CORE caucus has split up. The new group formed is called the REAL caucus.
From all we can gather, this caucus is made up of disaffected CORE members who disagree with the direction of the current Union leadership. Some of the concerns include the top down authoritarianism of Stacy Davis Gates operates with and the millions of dollars of CTU dues money that has been spent on politics that has never been accounted for. A more significant issue is the behind-the-scenes manipulations by Jackson Potter over the years to influence any decisions in the Union, despite falsely claiming he wants to be back in the classroom and be a teacher. Jackson is one of the founders of the CORE caucus and was Chief of Staff for many years with Karen Lewis up until 2018. When he left his position and went back to the classroom. At that time CTU members were starting to question the political spending and the financial solvency of the Union.
As soon as he got back to the classroom, he started to run for CTU positions on the Union Executive Board and lost against Drew Heiserman. Jackson kept trying to run for different positions until he was successful in becoming a Trustee.
Now, he's back running for Vice President on the ruling party's ticket.
It seems like he's tired of being a classroom teacher all of a sudden, or was that just a fake move to somehow trick people into thinking he was really going back to the classroom to help out the system. Jackson somehow got a position at Back of the Yards High School, a brand new school with brand new facilities. What's interesting about the Back of the Yards there's multiple reports from students and parents that it's a kick-out school like a charter, so if students don't conform to the rules, they get removed, so it's not truly an open Community School that takes and services all students.
Not too Social Justice or inclusive but that is a story for another day.
The other and more disturbing aspect of Jackson's manipulations is what do his actions show students and families regarding stability and continuity of educational services to the neediest of families in our city.
What message does it show when a political ideologue can jump back and forth from Union positions in and out of the schools for political purposes.
The members of REAL that we know about are Katie Osgood, Natasha Carlson, Drew Heisman, Joey McDermott. Substance News asked Joey McDermott for a statement on this new caucus and we have not been provided one at the time of writing this article.
The following is from an event notification from Facebook.
Come and join the newly formed REAL Caucus for a discussion around what the Chicago Teachers Unions needs to be truly rank & file! The event will be hybrid to accommodate all needs. Please reach out to Katie Osgood to arrange to attend in-person.
Do do do
Down dooby doo down down
Comma, comma, down dooby doo down down
Comma, comma, down dooby doo down down
Breaking up is hard to do
"Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" is a song recorded by Neil Sedaka, co-written by Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. Sedaka recorded this song twice, in 1962 and 1975, in two significantly different arrangements, and it is considered to be his signature song. Between 1970 and 1975, it was a top-40 hit three separate times for three separate artists: Lenny Welch, The Partridge Family and Sedaka's second version.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_Up_Is_Hard_to_Do
