Explore our content

All types | All dates | All authors
Chicago Teachers Union
Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
8:40pm
Thu Mar 21
1 comment

Chicago Teachers Union, Advocates Speak Out Against School Closures (VIDEO)

Standing outside one of the schools slated for closure, Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis had heated words for Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Board of Education today.

Today, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) released a list of 61 school buildings that will be closed. Six of those schools will be turned around while the other 54 will be shuttered outright. Eleven schools will be consolidated.

Calling the school actions a “travesty” and an “abomination,” Lewis called Mayor Rahm Emanuel “cowardly” and said he “should be ashamed of himself.”

Read more »

Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
4:15pm
Thu Mar 21

How The School Closure Moratorium Bill Got Kicked Down The Road

A bill to put a to put a temporary moratorium on school closings advanced in the Senate Education Committee Tuesday, however it was “shelled” and all language was stripped out, according to a spokeswoman for Sen. William Delgado (D-Chicago), the legislation’s chief sponsor.

The bill, SB 1571, was changed because the votes in the committee weren’t all there for its approval and its language needed to be strengthened.

Lawmakers were also feeling the heat of getting bills out of committee by this week’s deadline, the Associated Press reported.

Stacy Davis Gates, legislative and political director for the Chicago Teachers Union, which sent members to Springfield to testify on the moratorium’s behalf, said stripping the language was a “legislative maneuver,” because if it stayed in committee, it would be dead.

“The biggest part is it’s alive,” she said. “Had everything stayed in as is, it probably wouldn’t have gotten out.”

Read more »

Quick Hit
by Aricka Flowers
5:49pm
Wed Mar 20

CPS Rumored To Announce Some 50 School Closures Thursday

The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is set to announce Thursday that some 50 schools will be closed at the end of this school year. If this is accurate, it would be the largest number of schools in the nation to be closed at one time, the newspaper reports.

CPS has notified several aldermen to prepare for school closures in their wards, according to the Sun-Times.

Read more »

Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
9:49am
Wed Mar 20

CTU President, Education Justice Advocates Slam High-Stakes Student Testing

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, students and other advocates for educational justice blasted high-stakes student testing at a community forum last night, calling it yet another battle in the war on public education.

Proponents of standardized testing say it helps to close the achievement gap, but Lewis said the objective is “to rank and sort.”

“What do these tests do?” Lewis asked the crowd at Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church. “They answer one simple thing. Who are the winners and the losers ... but who made the rules to the game?”

“The winners are telling the losers these tests will tell you what you really know. These tests will tell you the value that a teacher adds to your child. These winners are telling the losers that if you don’t do well on these tests, you have no future.”

Read more »

Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
11:39am
Tue Mar 19

Education Activists Head To Springfield Calling For Moratorium On School Closings (VIDEO)

A group of education activists boarded a bus to Springfield this morning to campaign for a moratorium on school closings in Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

Leaving shortly after 6:30 a.m., the group of approximately 30 CPS staff members, students and supporters plan on attending a 1 p.m. Senate Education Committee hearing at the Illinois Statehouse. Organized by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) the group aimed to petition for lawmakers’ support and testify on behalf of SB 1571, legislation that would place a two-year moratorium on school closings.

“Before they instill policies and close schools they should listen to the people who actually do the job,” said Dorothy Clabaugh, a librarian at Alexander Graham Elementary School in Canaryville, which is one of 129 schools that is facing a potential school action.

Read more »

Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
10:52am
Tue Mar 19

North Side Residents, Alderman Meet To Discuss Potential Impact Of School Closings

Although the 47th ward appears to be safe from potential school closings at the end of the academic year, Ald. Ameya Pawar (47th ward) and other education panelists at a North Side forum last night said all Chicago communities would feel the impact of shuttered neighborhood schools.

It’s likely some schools in the 47th Ward, and others, would take in students from nearby schools that Chicago Public Schools decides to close, the alderman said.

Pawar cited one nearby public school, Trumbull, on CPS’ potential 129-school closing list. About 30 percent of students at the elementary school near Ashland and Foster avenues have special needs, he said. 

“I think some of the schools in the area will absorb those students, and we’re OK with that,” Pawar said. “I just think what makes this a little frustrating is we’re not moving cattle around. These are children, and whether they’re special ed or not, how we count them matters.”

Read more »