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Take back OUR City! Become an official register of new voters!

21 May

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Chicago Teachers Union launches political education campaign to put the ‘public’ back in public education

CHICAGO – The day after the Chicago Board of Education blindly voted to shutter 49 neighborhood schools, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis will host the first in a series of deputy registrar trainings at Bethel AME Church in the Bronzeville neighborhood on Thursday. More than 200 people have already pre-registered.

The workshop, conducted by the Cook County Clerk’s office, is the first in a citywide political education campaign where those who opposed school closings can channel their energy into a positive, organizing effort to return democracy to the city. Lewis will talk about the disaster mayoral control has had on public education since 1995 and why taxpayers should advocate for a representative, elected school board. The CTU and a coalition of organizations have also committed to raise money to assist candidates interested in running for political office.

“The true political strength of parents, teachers, students, and community will be galvanized to put the public back in public education,” she said. “We will continue to organize to change this equation by putting 100,000 new voters on the rolls. We must return democracy to our city and use our vote to hire elected officials who will be responsive to our needs and not just the needs of corporate interests.

“What the mayor and his hand-picked school board have done is reprehensible,” she continued. “Destroying schools is not good education policy. It is a scorched earth tactic used by people who have simply given up. Our students are not pawns on a school reform chessboard. They deserve investment, schools where they live and supported educators. The economic viability of our communities is not expendable. This fight is far from over.”

WHO: CTU Officers: Karen Lewis, officials from the Cook County Clerk’s office, others

WHAT: Will train those interested on becoming deputy registrars in the first of a series of workshops designed to reform City Hall and the Illinois General Assembly; and will talk about the upcoming massive voter registration and political education campaign

WHEN: Thursday, May 23, 2013
5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Bethel A.M.E. Church, 4440 S. Michigan

Register today! http://action.aft.org/c/468/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=10596

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Support our Schools Rally!

11 Nov

All hands on deck for tomorrow’s CTU Support Our Schools Rally! Bring fellow teachers, family and friends! Let’s do this right!

No School Closings—Support our Schools! 

Monday, November 12th
Veterans Day—CPS Schools Closed
11:00 AM

Click here to download the printed flyer.

Event Location

Cityfront Plaza
 Illinois & St. Clair
Chicago, IL     
 
http://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4013/c/468/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=9477
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Update on CTU-CPS Lawsuit

29 Mar

On March 29th, the US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the October 2010 ruling by Judge Coar in the US District Court which ordered CPS to rescind the discharge of tenured teachers, develop a recall policy, and cease from carrying out similar discharge proceduresactions in the future.  The decision only affects the tenured teachers improperly terminated in the summer of 2010.

According to the ruling, CPS is required to create a recall policy that will give the terminated tenured teachers the chance to apply for upcoming vacancies — not reinstatement to their former teaching positions at their old schools.  The ruling also does not require CPS to issue backpay and benefits to the teachers. 

For more information regarding the court ruling, check out the posting on the Chicago Teachers Union site.  You may also read about the ruling on the web from The Chicago Tribune and WBEZ.

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CTU Wins Lawsuit – CPS Must Rehire!

05 Oct

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis today announced a stunning court victory that brings tremendous benefits to public school students and parents, and restores justice to teachers who were unlawfully fired by the Chicago Board of Education (BOARD).

U.S. District Judge David H. Coar today declared that the firing of tenured teachers under the Board’s June 15, 2010, resolution granting CEO Ron Huberman the power to fire teachers without regard to seniority or tenure was illegal. The judge further barred the Chicago Board of Education from “conducting future layoffs or ‘honorable discharges’ in a similarly unlawful manner.” The judge ordered the Chicago Board of Education to negotiate a set of recall rules within the next 30 days.

“Teachers unions were formed in the first place to protect mainly female teachers from retaliatory actions, political firings and crony hirings. Nothing’s changed. The need for strong unions to protect teachers, students and academic freedom, especially in Chicago, is upheld today. Through these illegal firings, the Chicago Board of Education tried to silence our tenured teachers who are the strongest advocates for students’ educational rights and the real fighters for better learning environments. Chicago Public Schools should stop slurring our teachers, suggesting that those fired somehow were less than exemplary teachers. The court appears to agree – tenure is necessary to academic freedom,” said Lewis.

CTU court order

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Summer of Organizing

17 Jun

Dear Members:

In these final days of the school year, make a list of phone numbers and e-mail addresses of teachers at your school. Talk to your students’ parents and get their contact information as well. We need your help in organizing this summer. Download the spreadsheet at the bottom of this post and e-mail it to coreteachers@gmail.com.

In an emergency meeting on Tuesday, the Board of Education voted unanimously to give CEO Ron Huberman the authority to fire tenured and non-tenured teachers and increase class sizes to 35 students per class.

The Board will work overtime this summer to ensure their demands are met. They assume that teachers, PSRPs, parents, and students will be “on vacation.” The last thing the board wants us to do is to continue organizing.

The Union will contact all stakeholders to fight the layoffs and ballooning class sizes.

In Solidarity,

President-Elect Karen Lewis

Summer Organizing Contacts

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Report from Emergency Board Meeting 6.15.2010

16 Jun

$60 million in high-stakes tests; $250 million in TIFs; $315 million in charters, turnarounds, and contract schools; $400 million in CPS cash reserve. What about money for students?

CPS called  an emergency Board meeting on Tuesday, June 15 to pass a resolution that will drastically change our working conditions and the learning opportunities for our students.  The resolution was passed unanimously at the meeting, in spite of every single speaker during the “public participation” portion urging the board members to vote “no.” This resolution gives CEO Huberman permission to fire teachers and therefore raise class size up to 35 if he deems it “necessary” for budgetary reasons. It also gives him the permission to take out an $800 million loan, which he claims cannot be used to stave off the firings and ballooning class sizes.

This budget has still not been made public, in spite of Freedom of Information Act requests from CORE and various Chicago journalists. These firings will be based on Huberman’s secret projections and without real budget numbers.

No announcement was made about how many teachers they will fire, if any. They claimed this was “just in case” they felt the need to fire teachers later.
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