STOP THE ChicagoUnionTeacher CONTENTS AROUND THE UNION 5 President’s Message 6 Letters 8 Retiree Corner CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT rahm- 11 Infiltration of the Professional Personnel Leadership Committees OUR DISTRICT 16 CPS CEO’s Amended Guidelines Regarding Rehiring 22 Risk of Suspension Is Higher in Schools Serving the Most Vulnerable 23 Democracy Award Given to Two Chicago Public Schools 26 Empowering Students in Police Interactions RAuner NATIONAL 31 Use Recertification to Build Your Union WORLD 33 Puerto Rico Needs Debt Relief Based on Justice aTtAcks POLITICS: SETTING THE COURSE ∕ CHARTER AGREEMENT ∕ SPED CLASS SIZE POLITICS: SETTING THE COURSE ChicagoUnionTeacheroctober 2015 / vol. 79 / number 2 34 Challenging the Education of Rauner and His Democratic Enablers ChaLlenging tHe 38 2015 General Assembly Recap gOvernor's gRue Some DESTROYING our schools Harming our communities serving the rich and powerful eduCatiOn aGeNda 40 It’s Time That the Wealthy and Corporations Pay Their Share ■ Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner has ■ As Mayor, Rahm has laid off 7,000 ■ Bruce Rauner owns nine homes 40 been a top advisor to Chicago Mayor teachers and severely cut retirement worth a combined tens of millions of A Note From Alderman Sue Sadlowski Garza Rahm Emanuel on school closings and income for thousands of seniors who live dollars. Rauner spent more than 41 The Intersection of Politics and Teacher Evaluation other harmful education policies. and spend money in our communities. $100,000 to join an exclusive wine club. Juan Rangel, the disgraced former CEO His friend Rauner wants to cut even Asked whether he’s a member of the 1 TEACHER EVALUATION of charter-school giant UNO, has also more from the limited income of the percent, he responded, “Oh, I’m 44 Education Experts Urge Reversal of Deeply Flawed Vergara Ruling been a close advisor to Rahm. Rangel elderly. probably .01 percent." stepped down as UNO’s CEO after a 46 A Laundry List of Problems With New edPTA Teacher Assessment ■ Both Rahm and Rauner oppose a ■ After leaving his White House job, series of corporate scandals and minimum wage hike of $15 an hour for Rahm made $18 million working for two federal investigations into UNO’s misuse s CHARTER SCHOOLS working families in Chicago despite the years in private equity—essential to his of public funds. Cover design by 50 CTU Enters Agreement With Union at Chicago Charter Schools need in our communities. An early 2014 success was Rauner’s support. How did Eric Ruder and ■ Both Rahm and Rauner back budget poll found that nearly two-thirds of Illinois he make so much so quickly? According Annie Zirin SPECIAL EDUCATION cuts for public schools and sending voters support a minimum wage of $10 to Ron Suskind, a Pulitzer Prize–winning school money to private an hour. former reporter for the Wall Street 51 Special Education Class Size and ISBE Waivers organizations beyond the democratic Journal: "Paying someone who will be a control of our communities. future government ofcial a lot of money IN CLOSING for doing very little? On Wall Street, we 54 Delegates Not Present call that an investment." A Rahm-Rauner agenda threatens ALL OF US. 55 In Memoriam We must build our capacity to fight misguided politicians, well-financed corporate school Contribute to reformers, and people who want to turn back the clock on workers’ rights. Visit CTUnet.com/PAC, and make a monthly donation of $5, $10, or $20. the CTU PAC. THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE ChicagoUnionTeacher EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ∕ Stephanie A. Gadlin Sisters and Brothers, ASSOCIATE EDITOR ∕ Ronnie Reese CONTRIBUTING WRITERS ∕ Some of wealthiest people in our coun- This issue of Chicago Union Teacher Carol Caref, Ph.D., Jim Cavallero, Susan Sadlowski Garza, Stacy Davis Gates, Brian Harris, try, guided by schemes that have made focuses on the political climate in which Kurt Hilgendorf, Jennifer Johnson, Joseph McDermott, Kathy Murray, them fortunes in the private sector, have our union finds itself today—our legis- Jackie Umbles, Larry Vigon, Samantha Winslow converged to set the government’s agenda lative victories, and how movements at for public education. Among these people the local, national and international levels CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS ∕ is the Illinois governor, whose first legis- work to combat the so-called reformers Lynn Friedman, Howard Heath, Jennifer Johnson, Sarah Jane Rhee, Adam Romanowicz lative session—the 99th General Assem- who have adopted an agnostic attitude bly—has been marred by sparring over his towards the important social issues of our ADVERTISING MANAGER ∕ April Stigger so-called “Turnaround Agenda.” As Chi- time. Too often I have heard from those GRAPHIC DESIGN ∕ Eric Ruder cago public school educators, we all know who represent the interests of the corpo- what “turnaround” is code for, which is a rate elite that in order for transformation PRODUCTION ∕ Eric Ruder ∕ Progress Printing Corp., Inc. changing of the guard where trusted, vet- to take place in education, we must eran ideals and principles are tossed aside remove it from the realm of politics and OFFICERS for strategies that call for competition, the broader social context in which oper- choice, deregulation and incentives. ates. This is disingenuous. In fact, it is Karen GJ Lewis, NBCT ∕ PRESIDENT Rauner and the like have demeaned through politics that so-called “reformers” Jesse Sharkey ∕ VICE PRESIDENT our profession, discriminated against our commit their greatest transgressions. The Kristine Mayle ∕ FINANCIAL SECRETARY students, accelerated privatization and opposition to our vision for schools and Michael Brunson ∕ RECORDING SECRETARY justified anti-union attacks that have communities across Chicago has used chased away scores of education profes- politics to resist our efforts to secure the the greatest predictor of what each child TheChicago Union Teacher is published eight times a year in September, sionals. These interests that fear democ- schools and city that all Chicagoans gets from their education should be their October/November, December, January, February, March, April, May/June. racy and wish to exclude us from deci- deserve. equal and inherent dignity and worth. TheChicago Union Teacher is the official publication of the Chicago Teachers Union, sion-making power want us to believe The type of private education that Bill Our contract demands, in particular, are which is the exclusive bargaining agent for teachers, counselors, librarians, clinicians that they are the saviors of our children Gates can buy for his children looks very inextricably linked to these outcomes. and paraprofessional and school-related personnel in the Chicago Public Schools. and communities, but they are not. It different than the one he promotes Our students deserve small class sizes, makes me proud to see our members and through privatized charters. The type of nurses, counselors, fully funded special Chicago Teachers Union • Local 1 • American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. many of the families that we serve reject elite selective enrollment public education education services and a well-rounded these notions, and instead, call for the that Bruce Rauner secures for his chil- curriculum. Our families deserve publicly TheChicago Union Teacher is affiliated with the International Labor Communications Association expansion and democratization of edu- dren based on power and access is very funded neighborhood schools, livable and the AFT Communications Network. cation through an elected representative different than the type found at the char- wages, safe streets and democracy in edu- school board, in conjunction with expan- ter that bears his family’s name. This cation. As a union, we are at our best Chicago Teachers Union affiliations include the Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL), sion of the public sector to secure jobs, suggests that the value a child receives when we secure these needs and challenge the Illinois State Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (ISFL-CIO), housing and vital services in our schools from an education is equal to the resourc- the political dynamics to secure the pro- the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), and communities. es securing that education, but in reality, tection of those we serve. the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). 222 MERCHANDISE MART PLAZA In solidarity, SUITE NO. 400 CHICAGO, IL 60654-1016 TELEPHONE: 312-329-9100 E-MAIL: [email protected] (GENERAL) Karen GJ Lewis, NBCT [email protected] (ADVERTISING) WWW.CTUNET.COM CHICAGO UNION TEACHER october 2015 5 LETTERS LETTERS Support the Campaign for aldermen to protest the idea of unaf- Exactly who is “The Ugly”? If we are Clinicians to fordable charter school expansion professionals, why would we address Zopp defends no-bid SUPES contract vote Take Lunch during a time of declining enrollment. any person in this fashion? Addition- If Rahm wins the charter school ally, I am very offended that anyone Andrea Zopp, an experienced circumstances, simply because Mayor prosecutor and former executive Rahm Emanuel wanted to hire some- Recently the Chicago Teachers expansion, he will be forced to close would choose to list information director of a non-profit organization one who could close a ton of neigh- Union developed a campaign for cli- schools to balance the budget. Don’t regarding any person’s family and whose mission is to improve the lives borhood schools in Black nicians to take a lunch period during let a crisis go to waste, get rid of a background next to a poorly Photo- of African-Americans, is claiming communities. the school day. More often than not, political enemy and reduce pensions... shopped graphic of this person wield- innocence in approving the $20 mil- Ms. Zopp also claims that there clinicians find themselves unable to all he has to do is to reduce or elimi- ing a chainsaw. Where is the benefit lion no-bid SUPES contract while she was urgency in approving a principal take their lunch period, a hard-fought nate neighborhood schools.