An Estimated 4,000 Turn out for CTU Rally
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Page 3 Page 9 Page 10 Page 12 Page 22 Volume 73 Number 8 June 2010 UNIONThe Official PublicationTEACHER of the Chicago Teachers Union An estimated 4,000 turn out for CTU rally By Jenny Celander, and then heading back towards aside by Chicago police officers officials and to Mayor Daley Associate Editor the Board of Education building. during the protest and given a that we are willing to put our The crowd — much larger citation for leading a rally that force behind stopping these cuts n May 25, an than originally expected — shut closed down city streets without and avoiding class size increas- estimated 4,000 down both Washington and having the proper permit. es,” said President Stewart. students, parents, Clark Streets during downtown The Chicago Teachers Union “We are united in this fight and community rush hour. had obtained a permit in prepa- and we’re not just going to members joined “We had originally hoped to ration for the march but had not stand aside and let the Board OChicago Teachers Union mem- circle City Hall,” CTU President anticipated closing streets for do this.” bers as they marched in opposi- Marilyn Stewart explained. the event. Rally participants carried tion to the Chicago Board of “But, once we had done that “I think this really sent a mes- signs as they marched demand- Education’s proposed class size people were still streaming sage to Chicago Public School (Continued on page 4) increase and budget cuts. up from the Board. We had Protesters began at the Board nowhere to go, there were so of Education headquarters at many of us. We were complete- 3 Read President Stewart’s last column of the school year. 125 S. Clark St. and surround- ly stopping traffic. The participa- ed City Hall before gathering tion was amazing.” DE 6 Catch the latest news from the capitol in this month’s From outside of the Thompson Center President Stewart was pulled I Springfield. 12 Meet this month’s featured member, Dan Coyne. 16 Learn more about the district’s first unionized contract school. INS AL i R WHY NOT o Chicago Union TeacheR T i staff D e l Melani L. Davis A TEACHER Editor l Jenny D. Celander Associate Editor l Augustine Johnson AS CEO Advertising Manager l eDiToRiAL boARD John A. Ostenburg Editor Emeritus, Chairperson Melani L. Davis AT CPS? Jenny D. Celander Chicago TeacheRS Huberman’s hires, that wasn’t that ing tasks. And if test scores go Union oFFiCeRS long ago!), it would be a shock. down as a result, of course Mr. l Marilyn Stewart Dr. Barbara Eason-Watkins, Huberman and his cronies will by John Ostenburg President Editor Emeritus the former chief education offi- say it’s because of the ineffec- cer at CPS, had been a teacher. tiveness of the teachers. l Mary A. McGuire Recording Secretary Hundreds of bureaucrats Where’s she now? On her way And around and around it push paper in and out, to Michigan to be superinten- goes. l Mark A. Ochoa and around and about, the dent of a school district that Recently 4,000 demonstra- Financial Secretary offices and cubicles at the wisely prefers educators over tors responded to President l Linda Porter expensive Chicago Public businesspersons when it comes Stewart’s call for a massive Treasurer School headquarters at 125 S. I to running its schools. demonstration at the Chicago The CHICAGO UNION TEACHER is published Clark St., which just happen to CTU President Marilyn Board of Education offices and eight times a year in September, Oc- be located in one of the highest- Stewart observed some time at City Hall to voice outrage tober, November, December/January, rent districts in the nation. ago that within CPS, the fur- at the way CPS officials are February, March, April and May/June. Every time two or three ther someone gets from direct making educationally unsound The CHICAGO UNION TEACHER is the official publication of the Chicago Teachers representatives of the Chicago contact with students, the more decisions about our schools. Union, which is the exclusive bargaining Teachers Union go over to the they receive in salary and the The demonstrators’ message CPS complex for a meeting, agent for teachers, school clerks, library greater their influence in decid- to Mayor Daley and Mr. Huber- assistants, vision/audiometric technicians, they sit across the table from ing educational policy. There’s man was simple: don’t jeopar- teacher assistants, school community repre- two, three, or four times as a disconnect there somewhere. dize educational quality because sentatives, and related services personnel. many people – most of whom Now CPS is facing a ma- of your flawed decision-making. Chicago Teachers Union • Local 1 Ameri- are lawyers or who hold master jor crisis in funding. All those Don’t make the kids of Chicago, can Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. of business administration business-types don’t seem to and their teachers, suffer be- The CHICAGO UNION TEACHER is affiliated (MBA) degrees. have been too successful in cause your business approaches with the International Labor Communica- What they don’t have, getting the schools to operate in have been a disaster. For a tions Association and the AFT Communi- though, is any background the black. Just like their business change, step out from behind cations Network. whatsoever in education. counterparts on Wall Street, that protective smoke-screen Chicago Teachers Union affiliations Search the structure of the se- they’ve failed. But who now is you’ve created and see things include the Chicago Federation of Labor nior echelon at CPS and finding supposed to pay the price for for what they truly are. (CFL), the Illinois State Federation of La- a teacher is about as likely as their failure? The teachers. The Chicago Public Schools bor-Congress of Industrial Organizations discovering a polar bear whose Actually, it’s kind of reminis- need to be given back to the (ISFL-CIO), the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organiza- natural habitat is Utah. cent of what happened on Wall educators. Enough is enough. tions (AFL-CIO), the Illinois Federation Start at the top: CPS CEO Street, isn’t it? Although the Business people should go back Ron Huberman? He came from of Teachers (IFT), and the American ne 2010 business moguls are the ones to running businesses and leave Federation of Teachers (AFT). U j the Chicago Transit Authority. who created the Wall Street education to the educators. Before that, he worked for May- 222 Merchandise Mart Plaza • Suite 400 • mess, it’s the taxpayer who was Only in public education do you R Chicago, IL 60654-1016 or Richard M. Daley. Before stuck with the bill. And at CPS: find the top decision-makers to he that, he was a cop. Teacher? 312-329-9100 • Switchboard ac although the business moguls be persons who are not trained e 312-329-6235 • Newspaper Office T Umm. No, I don’t think so. are the ones who created the in the least bit with handling the And look at those who have mess, it’s the teacher who is tasks they are given to oversee. Email: [email protected] nion been hired by Mr. Huberman [email protected] U stuck with cleaning things up. Might that not be the reason since he assumed top-dog status [email protected] go The CPS solution to its current why things are such a mess? at CPS. If one out of ten has any Website: www.ctunet.com ca problems is to stuff more kids Think about it: a teacher as hi experience at all in any school C into each classroom, making it CEO at CPS for a change. How setting (other than as a student, • increasingly difficult for teachers could we possibly make things 2 and given the age of many of Mr. to fulfill their highly challeng- any worse than they already are? P R e S i D PReSiDenT’S en T ’ DIARY S R l On April 28, Presi- e dent Stewart attended P by Marilyn Stewart, President the PSRP meeting o rt n planning for our May 25 held at Dett Elemen- rally, my goal was to have tary. There, she and enough people to do what Chicago Teachers the police officers had Union staff members done a few months prior answered questions duringI their rally — surround and concerns of those City Hall. It seemed that if we in attendance. could have enough participants to circle the block, that would l On Monday, May send Mayor Richard Daley a 3, President Stewart message about the power of been hard-earned and, because most significant ticket I’ve ever attended the monthly our movement. of that, I will not blink. gotten! Chicago Federation As I led the group — walking As a 29-year teacher in CPS, We closed a street in the of Labor Executive with teachers, PSRPs, parents, I have been around to see us middle of downtown during rush Board meeting. students, community groups and build and improve our contract hour! But, equally as important our brothers and sisters from the and teaching and learning was the familiar faces of those l On May 4, President CTA and the postal service — I conditions. And, in my term as who marched before, mixed Stewart attended was overjoyed to find that when President of this Union, my team with the faces of our newer the Amalgamated we had looped around the has even had to improve upon teachers and PSRPs geared up Labor Council Meet- building three times, hundreds what was lost during the previ- and ready for battle.