Members and leaders of three unions representing workers in the Chicago Public
Schools (CPS) system criticized the city’s recent round of school actions in a joint
report issued Tuesday, saying school closings hurt children,
struggling neighborhoods, and working families.
They’ve called on the Chicago Board of Education, CPS and Mayor Rahm Emanuel not to close any schools.
“Strong
schools are supposed to create strong neighborhoods,” said SEIU* Local 1 spokeswoman Izabela Miltko. “We
all believe that Chicago needs to protect and invest in its children and
not tear apart communities, tear apart schools.”
The Chicago Teachers Union
led a bus tour of blighted neighborhoods slated for school actions Thursday, providing legislators, stakeholders and members of the press with
a first-hand glimpse of communities they say are being “destabilized” by Chicago Public
Schools’ (CPS) school closures.
The Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates are being presented with the "outlines of an agreement" today, according to the Chicago Tribune, and could vote as soon as Sunday on whether or not it's time to end the strike.
"We have the outlines of an agreement on the major issues, but it's not for this (negotiating) committee to decide if we have a deal," CTU attorney Robert Bloch told the newspaper. "It's for the membership of the union to decide that, and it's for the House of Delegates to determine whether we'll suspend the strike."
While students and teachers could be back in school as soon as Monday, depending on how the House of Delegates votes, the union released a video today illustrating the state of Chicago public school conditions and the uneven allocation of resources and programs in a new video that acts as a response to negative TV ads about the strike by school reform groups.
The following is a statement from Chicago's 6th Ward Alderman Roderick T. Sawyer on the Chicago Teachers Union strike and the well-being and education of the city's less fortunate children.
There is currently a lot of confusion about the state of Chicago
Public Schools and what is going on for our students. Recent reports
state that both sides are close on the questions of compensation, but we
must take this time to work towards and actual solution that helps our
children. I want to make clear that I support the teachers union, but I
believe that both CTU and CPS should acknowledge that there are serious
issues we need to address if we are going to do what is best for our
children.
Budgetary realities are real and accountability is necessary,
but we cannot ignore the challenges that face some of our
neighborhoods. I just cannot understand any education plan that acts
like violence, poverty and other societal ills have no effect on the
ability of a student to learn.
Day one of the Chicago Teachers Union strike ended much the same way it began: with thousands of teachers united in protest.
Whereas the morning saw dozens of discrete groups of teachers arriving to picket outside of their respective schools,
the late afternoon's mass protest brought a sea of red CTU shirts to the
heart of downtown Chicago outside of the Chicago Public Schools
headquarters.
In three days, Chicago Public Schools teachers will see their contracts expire. This morning, members of the Chicago Teachers Union
along with dozens of public school parents and students rallied outside CPS
headquarters, calling on the Board of Education to negotiate
non-salary issues.
Since November 2011, the CTU has
negotiated with the Board of Education for a fair labor contract. The
union presented the board with proposals for art, music and foreign
language classes for all students, smaller class sizes, properly staffed schools
and fair compensation for teachers, among other education-improvement
efforts.
Members and leaders of three unions representing workers in the Chicago Public
Schools (CPS) system criticized the city’s recent round of school actions in a joint
report issued Tuesday, saying school closings hurt children,
struggling neighborhoods, and working families.
The Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates are being presented with the "outlines of an agreement" today, according to the Chicago Tribune, and could vote as soon as Sunday on whether or not it's time to end the strike.
The following is a statement from Chicago's 6th Ward Alderman Roderick T. Sawyer on the Chicago Teachers Union strike and the well-being and education of the city's less fortunate children.
Day one of the Chicago Teachers Union strike ended much the same way it began: with thousands of teachers united in protest.
In three days, 