Who in Chicago awarded lucrative school contracts to Rupert Murdoch?

From the Madfloridian at DemocraticUnderground: Who in Chicago awarded lucrative school contracts to Rupert Murdoch?

Posted by madfloridian in General Discussion

Mon Nov 19th 2012, 01:51 AM
Rupert Murdoch sees $500 billion profit waiting in US public education. Getting his share in Chicago and some in NYC.

There's a battle being waged in this country against our public school systems. It's not irate parents, it's a corporate battle.

These education "reformers" have the money to buy up politicians in both parties to get laws passed for their benefits. Public schools have little resources to fight back.

Hey, lobbyist, leave them kids alone! [October 28, 2012 Oneonta, NY Daily Star column]

There is no doubt that the performance of U.S. students against their international counterparts continues to disappoint. But since the reasons for this are so difficult to pin down, a parade of self-proclaimed experts and “reformers” has emerged in recent years, touting the urgency of their proposed solutions – never mind if they require redirecting streams of taxpayer dollars into the pockets of their friends.

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch is among the more-recognizable faces of this movement, having purchased education technology firm Wireless Generation for $360 million in November 2010.

“When it comes to K-12 education,” Murdoch said at the time, “we see a $500 billion sector in the U.S. alone that is waiting desperately to be transformed by big breakthroughs that extend the reach of great teaching.”

Despite the scandals associated with his name and his News Corp company, Murdoch is getting a foothold in the "reforms" going on now. He and his Wireless Generation company are getting a huge profit from a contract with the Chicago school system.

Just like I always say, accountability is only for public school teachers....never for the very rich.

Looks like Rupert Murdoch will profit from "reform" of Chicago school system. [August 20, 2012, Daily Kos]

In case Chicago missed it, Rupert Murdoch is now profiting from the testing craziness hitting Chicago's public schools. He owns an outfit called "Wireless Generation" that is now a contractor with CPS. Anyone who doesn't already know that the administration of Chicago Public Schools, the nation's third largest school system, is in the hands of amateurs (or worse, outsiders who want to destroy public education and turn it over to the private sector at all costs), should be contacting any of the 241 principals of the so-called "Track E" schools which begin receiving their students on August 13, 2012.

Things have gotten so crazy in the 2012 world of edits, memos, Power Points, orders, reforms, re-reforms, and re-re-re-reforms from the administration of former Rochester school supt. Jean-Claude Brizard and former "Relationship Banker" Rahm Emanuel that it would take a team of a dozen investigative reporters on the ground school-by-school (with a backup team of another dozen researchers) to separate out the greed, mendacity, incompetence, and silliness that is being foisted on Chicago behind the smokescreen of the latest iteration of "School Reform." Meanwhile, the city's communities, teachers, principals, and children will be facing centrally planned chaos as the first full year of Rahm's version of "School Reform" kicks in non Monday August 13, 2012. The 241 Chicago "Track E" schools would make this sub-system one of the 20 largest school districts in the USA were it a separate system. But it would be one of only three (the other two are Detroit and New Orleans) currently ruled by a group of outside mercenaries dedicated to destroying public education.

Murdoch was going to get 27 million from the Race to the Top money in New York City, but State Controller Thomas DiNapoli rejected the contract.

"New York City ditched a $27 million education contract with News Corp subsidiary Wireless Generation, citing the ongoing investigations into the phone hacking allegations related to News Corp's now-defunct News Of The World tabloid.

State Controller Thomas DiNapoli rejected the Education Department's contract with the company, the New York Daily News reports, which would have paid $27 million to create software to track test scores. The funding would have come out of the state's $700 million "Race to the Top" education funds, but DiNapoli's office said that there were concerns about News Corp's "incomplete record" and about the ongoing scandal.

"In light of the significant ongoing investigations and continuing revelations with respect to News Corp., we are returning the contract with Wireless Generation unapproved," wrote DiNapoli's office of the decision.

Daily Kos has this added news, citing the New York Daily News from August 13, 2012, that New York State has snuck in Wireless Generation as a subcontractor for a New York City schools contract.

Nearly a year after the state Education Department’s failed attempt to award a no-bid, $27 million technology contract to Rupert Murdoch’s Wireless Generation company, the state announced a do-over Monday.

The contract with the News Corp. subsidiary overseen by former city schools chancellor Joel Klein was initially rejected last August by State Controller Thomas DiNapoli, who raised concerns over allegations of illegal phone-hacking by News corp newspapers in England.

This time, Wireless Generation lost out to four other companies on a competitive bid for $50 million in technology contracts — though one of the companies will employ Wireless Generation as a subcontractor.

“They’ll get a small piece of a smaller pie than they would have received under last year’s proposed contract,” state Education Department spokesman Tom Dunn said.

The new contracts will help teachers, administrators and parents track student test scores and other data and will replace a costly system in use in city schools called Achievement Reporting and Innovation Systems, or ARIS, as soon as the end of 2013.

The writer at the Daily Kos closed, "They should not be getting any of the pie. Teachers are held accountable almost to the extreme, but those on the side of the "reformers" are not held to similar standards."

Meet Chicago Public Schools, the Most Segregated Big City School System

DEMONSTRATED: CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS, THE MOST RACIALLY SEGREGATED OF LARGE AMERICAN CITIES - TEN RESOURCES DOCUMENTING CHICAGO'S SCHOOL SEGREGATION

See the graphic at the upper left on the following link at the NY Times. America's top cities figure among the most segregated; and Chicago's schools are the most segregated of all major cities.
Ford Fessenden, The New York Times, May 11, 2012
"A Portrait of Segregation in New York City’s Schools"

Graphic at left shows Chicago's residential segregation.



George N. Schmidt, Feb 6, 2009 –CPS demonstrates massive segregation:
“American Apartheid: Chicago school officials announce that 42 segregated all-black elementary schools could have been put into 'turnaround' this year, but only five were targeted” [reprinted below]

Parent activist and Chicago Teachers Union ally Matt Farmer spoke on Up with Chris Hayes Sunday morning (September 16, 2012) about racial disparities in the distribution of resources, such as libraries, in African-American and Latino south and west Chicago, as compared to white-American-populated north Chicago.

Nerissa Kunakemakorn, The Opportunity Agenda, on Mon, November 23, 2009
"Racial Segregation in U.S. Schools: Illinois Terminates Chicago’s Desegregation Decree"

Anonymous, The Chicago 77, January 21, 2009
“Chicago is America’s Most Segregated City”

Anonymous, The Huffington Post, January 31, 2012
“Chicago Most Segregated City In America, Despite Significant Improvements In Last Decade”

Whet Moser, Chicago Magazine, June 29, 2012
“How Segregation Is Evolving (And Not Evolving) in the 21st Century”

Whet Moser, Chicago Magazine, April 30, 2012
“Chicago-Area Schoolkids are the Second-Most Economically Segregated in the Country”

Liz Dwyer, Good Beta, Jul 9, 2012
“Is School Segregation Still Legal? Chicago Teens Reflect on Their Racial Isolation” – 40 percent of Latino and 70 percent of black students in Chicago area attend extremely segregated schools."

Linda Lutton, WBEZ, June 27, 2012
A segregated education, K-12: Students offer reflections on 13 years of segregated schooling

George N. Schmidt - February, 2009
"American Apartheid: Chicago school officials announce that 42 segregated all-black elementary schools could have been put into 'turnaround' this year, but only five were targeted"

Officials of the Chicago Public Schools have quietly made public a list of 42 elementary schools that they say could have been targeted for so-called "turnaround" this school year. In addition, Substance has learned that the majority of the remaining general high schools in Chicago (schools that serve the general populations, anybody who walks in the door and lives in the community) also meet most of the "criteria" for "turnaround."

Under CPS guidelines, "turnaround" is actually the process known to the rest of the nation as "reconstitution." Under "reconstitution" the entire staff of a supposedly "failing" school is fired, and a new staff, supposedly trained in better teaching methods, is brought in to replace those who have "failed."

What has not been noted in the carefully scripted hearings aimed at condemning the teachers and other staff at the schools on trial this year for failure is that two federal laws governing how schools and children are supposed to be treated are being carefully ignored as Chicago goes through its annual ritual of reconstitutions. The laws? The first are federal desegregation laws that go back to the famous 1954 case in Brown v. Board of Education. The second are federal laws and court decisions governing the treatment of students with disabilities. In Chicago, both are governed by federal consent decrees, both of which are still being monitored by federal judges. The desegregation consent decree governing Chicago was put into place in 1980 after Chicago mayors tried for more than 20 years to claim the city hadn't segregated itself or its public schools. The special education consent decree, under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has been in place since the mid-1990s under the "Corey H" decision. The federal desegregation consent decree is currently being monitored by U.S. District Judge Charles Kocoras. The Corey H consent decree is being overseen by U.S. District Judge Charles Gettleman. Despite the long list of legal precedents cited by CPS officials at each of the hearings calling for the reconstitution of the schools, neither federal law or consent decree is noted, either by CPS officials or the hearing officers who are hearing the cases. In the view of many observers, this is not an accident. Instead of being examples of the failures of the teachers, parents, principals and students at the schools targeted this year for reconstitution, the schools -- and dozens of others -- are examples of the fact that Chicago remains the nation's most viciously segregated city.

Also, Chicago has systematically deprived children with disabilities of their right to public education in the least restrictive environment. As long as CPS officials and their hearings officers are allowed to ignore federal law, the current reality will continue. The list of elementary schools that have "failed" according to this year's CPS criteria includes two schools -- the so-called "Sherman School of Excellence" and the so-called "Harvard School of Excellence" -- that are currently managed by the "Academy for Urban School Leadership" (AUSL). AUSL is currently slated to receive more schools for "turnaround" after hearings that are taking place this month and a vote by the Chicago Board of Education on February 25. The full article will be available in the print issue of Substance.

Forty-two elementary schools could have faced 'turnaround'. Five do.

This school year, five Chicago public elementary schools have been targeted for reconstitution (which in Chicago is termed 'turnaround' using the corporate jargon currently in vogue. All five of those schools meet what CPS officials call the 'turnaround criteria' based on low test scores.

But the five schools -- and the remaining 37 schools on the list that CPS officials say could have been targeted for 'turnaround' -- meet another criteria as well.

All of them are located in the heart of Chicago's ruthlessly segregated ghettos.

All of the students at the majority of the schools are African American. The vast majority of those students have been living in heart breaking poverty since long before the current economic crisis hit the middle classes and the wealthy.

And the majority of the teachers who teach in those schools are viewed in the community as sources of stability and continuity that does not exist in most other parts of the lives of these children, all of whom are victims of the most segregated city in the United States of America -- Chicago.

Thirty years ago, the existence of these schools -- and their problems scoring well on so-called 'standardized' tests -- would have been utilized as evidence that Chicago segregates its public schools in violation of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. That decision ruled that racial segregation in public schools was inherently unequal.

But in 2009 in Chicago, the problems faced by these same schools are considered -- in the eyes of those who run CPS -- as proof that the teachers and other staff at the schools should be fired and replaced with teachers who are supposedly experts in new methods of teaching and can, in the jargon of corporate Chicago, 'turnaround' the schools.

Forty-two of Chicago's most segregated elementary schools listed as being 'turnaround' candidates. Black teachers and staff face firing for teaching the children of the poor in the largest ghettos in the USA

The following is the list of the 42 Chicago elementary schools that could have been subjected to reconstitution this school year under the three criteria outlined by the Chicago Board of Education's Chief Executive Officer during the early February hearings on the proposed reconstitution (known locally as 'turnaround') of Bethune, Dulles, Holmes, Johnson and Yale elementary schools. All of the schools are located in the heart of the city's vast south side and west side segregated black ghettos or on the border with a nearby Latino barrio.

The list below includes each school's name, followed by the address (in parenthesis), followed by the total number of students attending the school this school year, followed by the percentage of students who are African-American.

Segregated African American Elementary Schools which could have faced reconstitution at the end of the 2008-2009 school year based on the Chicago Board of Education's three "turnaround" criteria. [Schmidt then lists 42 highly segregated schools and their segregation rates.]

Chicago teachers fear wave of school closings after strike - Murder wave to worsen?

Reuters exclusive: Chicago teachers fear wave of school closings after strike

[Ed.: More murders on the way, as more children cross more gang territory lines?]

By Mary Wisniewski
CHICAGO, Sept 15 | Sun Sep 16, 2012 1:40am IST [Sat Sep 15, 7:40 PM CDT]
(Reuters) - Striking Chicago teachers fear that once they approve a new contract with the school district and end their strike, Mayor Rahm Emanuel will go ahead with dozens of school closings because of falling enrollment and poor academic performance.

The closing of schools and what happens to the teachers working in them has been a major issue in the bitter dispute, even though the disagreement over evaluating teachers based on standardized test results of their students has received more attention.

Urban school districts around the country are grappling with closing schools, including Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Washington, according to a study last year on school closings by the Pew Charitable Trust.

"If they fire us, we're done," said Rhonda McLeod, a special education teacher at Gresham Elementary and one of the union delegates expected to vote on Sunday whether to end the strike. "We're terrified. We don't need to be dumped to the wayside. We're not trash, we're teachers."

Union and school officials said on Friday that they had reached a tentative agreement that could end the five-day strike and clear the way for classes to resume on Monday in the third-largest U.S. school district.

The union has set a meeting on Sunday of some 800 representatives from around the city to vote on whether to end the strike and allow more than 350,000 Chicago students to go back to school. Negotiators were putting the finishing touches on that agreement on Saturday.

FALLING ENROLLMENT

Enrollment in Chicago Public Schools has fallen nearly 20 percent in the last decade, according to the Pew study, mainly because of population declines in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

According to the union, 86 public schools in Chicago have closed in the past decade. Many have been replaced by charter or "contract" schools run by philanthropists, and charter schools now account for 12 percent of students, district figures show.

The Chicago Tribune reported this week that school district officials are considering closing up to 120 schools next year, which would be 17 percent of all schools in the district. Asked about this on Wednesday, Emanuel said it was too early to say.

Charter schools are publicly funded but non-union, and the teachers union has complained that they undermine public education and force more community schools to close. Their academic performance record compared with community schools is mixed, according to national studies.

But a powerful U.S. education movement is pushing charter schools. Reformers such as Emanuel and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, a former Chicago schools chief, argue that schools performing poorly in academics should either be closed permanently, reopened with new principals and teachers, or converted to charter schools run by non-union personnel.

The union has fought for so-called "recall rights" giving teachers who have been laid off because their school closed priority in being rehired at another school.

Emanuel has said he wants principals to hire any teacher they want, not according to seniority or recall rights.

"I think it should be left up to the principal, locally," Emanuel told reporters on Wednesday.

"ON PROBATION"

An example of this conflict is Gresham Elementary school, where McLeod works on the South Side of Chicago.

Some 90.8 percent of the 325 pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students who attend Gresham are classified as low income, according to the school district.

The student population is 98.8 percent African-American, the district says, and the neighborhood is one that has been hit by a wave of gang-related murders this summer, drawing national attention.

There have been 366 murders in Chicago through the beginning of September, up 30 percent from a year ago, mainly due to gang violence, police figures show. Thirty-one of those deaths have been in the neighborhood where Gresham Elementary school is located, up 19 percent from last year. Over the last two years 23 children ages 10 or younger have been killed in the Chicago crossfire, some of them while walking to or from school.

McLeod said gunfire could sometimes be heard near the school.

Gresham elementary has been rated "on probation" by the school district for the last four academic years because its students have performed poorly on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT), which measures students on reading, math and science.

While the school's academics have improved some, probation means that if the school does not improve further it could have its principal removed, the school closed and students transferred, or the school closed and reopened with new staff.

The teachers union argues that they are working in exceptionally challenging conditions of poverty and crime and that this affects the ability of their students to learn.

McLeod said principals sometimes were pushed by bosses to hire new teachers who may not work out in rough neighborhoods.

"Over the years, I've seen a lot of teachers come in and go running out the door," said McLeod, a 15-year veteran of Chicago Public Schools who has a masters degree and teaches a college special education course.

Teachers and parents have also expressed worry that school closings can make life more dangerous for students, forcing them across gang lines into other neighborhoods and increasing the possibility of violence.

The beating death in 2009 of 16-year-old high school student Derrion Albert, captured on a cell phone video and seen around the world, has been blamed by activists in part on conflicts arising from school closings.

Update:
The tentative new contract comments on the the school closings:

New Recall Rights & Tackling School Closings: Acknowledging, the CTU will continue its ongoing legal and legislative fight for a moratorium on all school closings, turnarounds and phase-outs, the new contract requires teachers to “follow their students” in all school actions. This will reduce instability among students and educators. The contract will also have 10 months of “true recall” to the same school if a position opens.

BREAKING: WBEZ: Strike Could End Friday, Classes Resume Monday

PROGRESS ILLINOIS: CTU STRIKE RESOLUTION VIEWED - WBEZ: CLASSES COULD RESUME MONDAY

Progress Illinois, September 13, 2012, 3:52 PM
CTU: No School Friday

It looks like 350,000 Chicago Public Schools students will get a full week off. The Chicago Teachers Union said in a press release this afternoon that there will be no classes Friday as the CTU House of Delegates will meet at 2 p.m. tomorrow. Presumably, the meeting could result in the House of Delegates approving a new contract and calling off the strike.

However, CTU would only say that "the Bargaining Team will update leadership on new developments."

Karen Lewis says in a statement that, "We've made progress in some areas, but still we have a way to go."

Also, CTU announced in the release that they are holding a rally noon Saturday at Union Park.

Continue to check back with PI for more on the CTU strike.

From WBEZ Chicago public radio 91.5 FM, from Thursday morning's statements by Karen Lewis:

Talks make real progess
Union, school board cite progress on issues like how to evaluate teachers.
September 13, 2012
City Room
WBEZ web report:
The Chicago Teachers Union president says a deal to end the city's first teachers' strike in 25 years is close.

Teachers Union President Karen Lewis told reporters on Thursday that Chicago Public School students could be back in the classroom as soon as Monday.

"Oh I’m praying, praying, praying I’m on my knees for that please," Lewis said. "Yes, I’m hoping for Monday that would be good for us, that would be very good for our kids."

Lewis said there were still lots of details to wade through, but the atmosphere around the negotiations had changed, and she says she's optimistic.

"We want to make sure this is done right. I mean, doing something fast is not the way to go. You know, haste makes waste," she said.

As for getting students back into the classroom, Lewis says it's unlikely students will be back Friday even if a deal is reached Thursday. The house of delegates still has to vote on the final contract proposal.

"We still have some major stuff we have to look at, from the pace in which these things go I doubt very seriously I can get a house of delegates meeting together tonight."

Union and district officials have been meeting almost around the clock to try and get a deal done. School officials say they're also confident a deal could be reached soon.

Transcript of WBEZ broadcast report:

Chicago public school children will miss their fourth day of school today (Thursday) since the start of a teachers strike Monday.

But the heads of the teachers’ union and Chicago school board say progress is being made.

Teacher union president Karen Lewis said Wednesday’s long day of negotiating ended with some real progress especially dealing with the thorny issue of teacher evaluation.

She says the school district’s negotiating team is starting to hear its concerns.

But Lewis isn’t ready to declare victory.

LEWIS: No, no, no. Progress. Significant progress. It has not been checked off yet plus you all have to remember we have a larger bargaining team that we have to talk to. We would like to get this done. Let’s hope for Friday.

School board president David Vitale also acknowledge progress on evaluations and recall of laid off teachers.

The union says it’s also concerned about the closure of a hundred schools.

Vitale says there’s no plans right now to close schools but the district has to deal with having some 130-thousand more seats than it needs.

The two sides will resume talks this morning.

MP. WBEZ.



However, EdNotes Online September 13, 11:15 PM, has a September 15 Chicago rally flyer posted

Stand Strong with
Chicago Teachers
Saturday
12:00 noon
September 15
Union Park
Lake & Ashland in Chicago

The 30,000 teachers, school social workers, clerks, vision and hearing testers, school nurses, teaching assistants, counselors, and other school professionals of the Chicago Teachers Union are standing strong to defend public education from test pushers, privatizers, and a national onslaught of big money interest groups trying to push education back to the days before teachers had unions. Around the country and even the world, our fight is recognized as the front line of resistance to the corporate education agenda. Educators and our supporters have pledged to travel to Chicago in solidarity to rally. Click here to say you'll be there! NOTE: The union is not on strike over matters governed exclusively by IELRA Section 4.5 and 12(b).

Historic Karen Lewis Announcement of CTU Strike, 9/9/12 Press Conference

[Scroll to end for more on need for air conditioners.]

Click on the video at right for the complete Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis press conference announcement 10 PM Sunday night, September 9, 2012, of the strike of the Chicago Public Schools, to begin on Monday, September 10. Video is from NBC, WMAQ, Channel 5, uploaded at WBEZ Chicago.
NYC Eye's Full corrected press conference transcript:

"Negotiations have been intense but productive, however we have failed to reach an agreement that will prevent a labor strike. This is a difficult decision and one we hoped we could have avoided. Throughout these negotiations have I remained hopeful but determined. We must do things differently in this city if we are to provide our students with the education they so rightfully deserve.

“Talks have been productive in many areas. We have successfully won concessions for nursing mothers and have put more than 500 of our members back to work. We have restored some of the art, music, world language, technology and physical education classes to many of our students. The Board also agreed that we will now have textbooks on the first day of school rather than have our students and teachers wait up to six weeks before receiving instructional materials.

“Recognizing the Board’s fiscal woes, we are not far apart on compensation. However, we are apart on benefits. We want to maintain the existing health benefits.

“Another concern is our evaluation procedures. After the initial phase-in of this new evaluation system it could result almost 6,000 teachers (or nearly 30 percent of our members) being discharged within one or two years. This is unacceptable and leads to instability for our students. We are also concerned that too much of the new evaluations will be based on students’ standardized test scores. This is no way to measure teacher effectiveness at all.

Further, there are too many factors beyond our control which will impact how well some students perform on those standardized tests. Those factors include poverty which no one wants to talk about, exposure to violence which over this past summer we all know has increased exponentially, homelessness, hunger and other social issues beyond our control. Evaluate us on what we do, not the lives of our children that we do not control.

“We have talked seriously about job security. Job security is stability for our students. Despite a new curriculum and new, stringent evaluation system, CPS proposes no increase (or even a possible decreases) in teacher training. This is notable because our Union through our Quest Center is at the forefront teacher professional development in Illinois. We have been lauded by the District already and our colleagues across the country for our extensive teacher training programs that help emerging teachers strengthen their craft and increased the number of nationally board certified educators.

“We are demanding a reasonable timetable for the installation of air-conditioning in student classrooms--a sweltering, 98-degree classroom is not a productive learning environment for children. This type of environment is unacceptable for our members and all school personnel. A lack of climate control is unacceptable to our parents.

“As we continue to bargain in good faith, we stand in solidarity with parents, clergy and community-based organizations who are advocating for smaller class sizes, a better school day and an elected school board. Class size matters. It matters to parents. In the third largest school district in Illinois there are only 370 social workers -—putting their caseloads at over 1,000 students each. We join them in their call for more social workers, counselors, audio/visual and hearing technicians and school nurses. Our children are exposed to unprecedented levels of neighborhood violence and other social issues, so the fight for wrap-around services is critically important to all of us. Our members will continue to support this groundswell of parent activism and grassroots engagement on these issues. And we hope the Board will not shut these voices out.

“And while new Illinois law prohibits us from striking over the recall of laid-off teachers and compensation for a longer school year, we do not intend to sign an agreement until of the matters of our contract are addressed.

“Again, we are committed to staying at the table until a contract is place. However, in the morning no CTU member will be inside our schools. We will walk the picket lines. We will talk to parents. We will talk to clergy. We demand a fair contract today, we demand a fair contract now. And, until there is one in place that our members will accept, we will be on the line.

“We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters throughout the state and the country who are currently bargaining for their own fair contracts. Most people don't understand, it is not just Chicago it is file intent to strike. Let's be clear --in Illinois we have at least five AFT locals and twelve IEA locals.

“This announcement is made now so our parents and community are empowered with this knowledge and will know that schools --real schools-- will not open tomorrow. Please seek alternative care for your children. And, we ask all of you to join us in our education justice fight—for a fair contract—and call on the mayor and CEO Brizard to settle this matter now. Thank you.”



And for the need for air conditioners for the students and their teachers --remember, everything is being measured: From the New York Times:

Unfortunately, studies by Shin-ichi Tanabe, a professor of architecture at Waseda University in Tokyo who has long been interested in “thermal comfort,” found that while workers tolerated dimmer light just fine, every degree rise in temperature above 25 Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) resulted in a 2 percent drop in productivity. Over the course of the day that meant they accomplished 30 minutes less work, he said.

Other studies have found that with office temperatures between 82 and 86 degrees, symptoms like headache, drowsiness and difficulty concentrating increase, which may explain the drop in performance.

Worse still, perhaps, Mr. Tanabe calculated that the suffering was all for naught: When offices were kept above about 82 degrees, so many people were using inefficient fans at their desks that the total electricity consumption could be higher than if the building had been better cooled. “That’s just stupid,” he said.

Valerie Strauss: Why Rahm Emanuel and The New York Times are Wrong about Teacher Evaluation

Posted at 12:53 PM ET, 09/12/2012 at the Washington Post
Why Rahm Emanuel and The New York Times are wrong about teacher evaluation
By Valerie Strauss, The Answer Sheet column

You know things are going very badly for public school teachers when The New York Times editorial board calls a bad teacher evaluation system a “sensible policy change.”

The Times ran an editorial on Wednesday that smacked Chicago teachers for striking against a school reform package pushed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a former chief of staff of President Obama. It says in part:

Teachers’ strikes, because they hurt children and their families, are never a good idea. The strike that has roiled the civic climate in Chicago— and left 350,000 children without classes — seems particularly senseless because it is partly a product of a personality clash between the blunt mayor, Rahm Emanuel, and the tough Chicago Teachers Union president, Karen Lewis. Beyond that, the strike is based on union discontent with sensible policy changes — including the teacher evaluation system required by Illinois law — that are increasingly popular across the country and are unlikely to be rolled back, no matter how long the union stays out. The Washington Post editorial board has also supported test-based teacher evaluation, including in this piece on the strike.

The Post editorial says that “the system developed by Chicago officials, on which they offered to work with the union, is careful to measure student growth. That means teachers aren’t blamed if their students start out behind but instead are evaluated on their ability to make progress during the year they have responsibility.” Well, a single test is hardly the way to tell whether a child has made progress. How many of you have had a headache or been sick or emotionally upset and bombed a test? There are ways to measure how students are achieving without a standardized test.

Think what you want about the Chicago teachers strike. But that doesn’t change this:

The Times can say that using standardized test scores to evaluate teachers is a sensible policy and Obama can say it and Education Secretary Arne Duncan can say it and Emanuel can say it and so can Bill Gates (who has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to develop it) and governors and mayor from both parties, and heck, anybody can go ahead and shout it out as loud as they can.

It doesn’t make it true.

Can all these very smart people be wrong? Yes, according to many experts on assessment who have done extensive research on the subject.

These experts have said over and over and over that the method by which test scores are factored into an evaluation of how effective a teacher is are dramatically unreliable and unfair. Some say it will destroy the teaching profession because it will identify effective teachers as ineffective and ineffective teachers as effective. Some bad teachers will be fired but some good ones will too. Others will leave in disgust.

That’s what happened, for example, in New York City when Carolyn Abbott, who teaches mathematics to seventh- and eighth-graders at the Anderson School, a citywide gifted-and-talented school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, learned that her “value-added” score made her the worst eighth grade teacher in the entire city. The score of course didn’t reflect that her students already scored near 100 percent proficiency and were doing advanced math — but the formula didn’t care.

The value-added formulas actually compare how students are predicted to perform on the state ELA and math tests, based on their prior year’s performance, with their actual performance, as Teachers College Professor Aaron Pallas wrote here. Teachers whose students do better than predicted are said to have “added value”; those whose students do worse than predicted are “subtracting value.” By definition, he wrote, about half of all teachers will add value, and the other half will not.

No, Abbott’s case wasn’t an aberration. Lots of scores are wrong. Yet state after state insists on foisting this on teachers and even principals.

This isn’t just about the adults. Kids suffer when good teachers are said to be bad and bad teachers are said to be good, and especially when standardized tests have such high stakes that teachers feel forced to tailor their teaching to the test.

And think about this: If teachers are evaluated on test scores, there has to be standardized test for every class. What happens when tests have such high stakes? Kids learn how to pass tests rather than how to solve problems and think creatively.

Even the former education commissioner of Texas, Republican Robert Scott, recognized this and said earlier this year that all of this testing is a “perversion” of what a quality education should be.

Of course teachers should be evaluated — and evaluated better than they have been in most places for decades. Yes, bad teachers should be removed from the classroom, sooner rather than later. There are ways to do this that is fair, and it is already being done in places such as the high-achieving Montgomery County Public School system in Maryland.

In fact, The New York Times’ own columnist Michael Winerip wrote about that evaluation system last year in this story, which noted that then-Superintendent Jerry Weast had rejected $12 million in Race to the Top money because it required districts to use test scores to evaluate teachers. Weast was quoted as saying: “We don’t believe the tests are reliable. You don’t want to turn your system into a test factory.” Most Washington D.C.-area superintendents still think it’s a bad idea, including Weast’s successor, Joshua Starr. (Unfortunately Winerip doesn’t write about education anymore for The Times.)

In a Q & A with area superintendents, I quoted Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Edgar Hatrick as saying, “It is troubling that we will now take tests we’re not sure are good measures of student performance and extrapolate teacher performance from student scores.”

The Illinois law calls for an evaluation system in which at least 20 percent is based on student standardized test scores. Emanuel wants fully half of the evaluation to be based on the test scores.

(Incidentally, former Washington D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee instituted a teacher evaluation system a few years ago that had 50 percent of individual assessments linked to student test scores — in courses where standardized tests were given — but her successor, Kaya Henderson, just dropped it down to 35 percent because of problems with the system.)

Read this from a letter that scores of researchers from 16 universities throughout the Chicago metropolitan area sent to Emanuel warning against the “value-added” system of teacher involvement, which uses complicated formulas to factor test scores into an evaluation:

As university professors and researchers who specialize in educational research, we recognize that change is an essential component of school improvement. We are very concerned, however, at a continuing pattern of changes imposed rapidly without high-quality evidentiary support.
The new evaluation system for teachers and principals centers on misconceptions about student growth, with potentially negative impact on the education of Chicago’s children. We believe it is our ethical obligation to raise awareness about how the proposed changes not only lack a sound research basis, but in some instances, have already proven to be harmful.

Professors in Georgia sent a letter to their governor against value-added evaluations. More than 1,500 New York principals and more than 5,400 teachers, parents, professors, administrators and citizens have signed an open letter blasting that state’s value-added evaluation system, the letter which can be found here.

The National Research Council, the research arm of the National Academies, which include the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, issued a major report last year on this issue that said:

The standardized test scores that have been trumpeted to show improvement in the schools provide limited information about the causes of improvements or variability in student performance.This would be true, presumably, for any school system that use standardized tests as a measure of achievement.

Mathematicians have said that value-added models are hardly ready for prime time as teacher evaluation tools, and that includes John Ewing, president of Math for America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving mathematics education in U.S. public high schools. In this post he said:

The most common misuse of mathematics is simpler, more pervasive, and (alas) more insidious: mathematics employed as a rhetorical weapon—an intellectual credential to convince the public that an idea or a process is “objective” and hence better than other competing ideas or processes. This is mathematical intimidation. It is especially persuasive because so many people are awed by mathematics and yet do not understand it—a dangerous combination.

The latest instance of the phenomenon is valued-added modeling (VAM), used to interpret test data. Value-added modeling pops up everywhere today, from newspapers to television to political campaigns. VAM is heavily promoted with unbridled and uncritical enthusiasm by the press, by politicians, and even by (some) educational experts, and it is touted as the modern, “scientific” way to measure educational success in everything from charter schools to individual teachers.

Yet most of those promoting value-added modeling are ill-equipped to judge either its effectiveness or its limitations. Some of those who are equipped make extravagant claims without much detail, reassuring us that someone has checked into our concerns and we shouldn’t worry. Value-added modeling is promoted because it has the right pedigree — because it is based on “sophisticated mathematics.” As a consequence, mathematics that ought to be used to illuminate ends up being used to intimidate.

That’s what value-added is doing: Intimidating teachers, and many of them believe that it will be the end of the teaching profession. Who would want to go into a profession where a big part of the evaluation system is faulty?

Follow The Answer Sheet every day by bookmarking www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet.

By Valerie Strauss | 12:53 PM ET, 09/12/2012, the Answer Sheet column at the Washington Post

BREAKING: STRIKE IS ON!: Live Blogging the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) Strike

UPDATE: CTU PRESIDENT OUTLINES THE ISSUES THAT THE CPS REFUSES TO COOPERATE ON, ISSUES DEALING WITH THE SCHOOLS THAT CHICAGO'S SCHOOLCHILDREN DESERVE -
READ RUSH TRANSCRIPT BELOW -
CPS PRES. DAVID VITALE TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS -
GLORIA STEINEM TO WEAR RED IN SOLIDARITY WITH CHICAGO TEACHERS -
FULL CTU PRESS RELEASE ANNOUNCING CPS' FAILURE TO PREVENT STRIKE

The eyes of the world (doubt it?, just check with the UK Guardian of Manchester, which again said this today) are on Chicago, to see if the Chicago Teachers Union strikes.

Tune into Chicago radio stations at 10:00 PM (CDT) / 8:00 (PDT) / 9:00 (MDT) / 11:00 PM (EDT) to hear news conference of Karen Lewis, president of Chicago Teachers Union (CTU).

YOU CAN PICK UP CHICAGO STATIONS ON CLEAR CHANNEL STATIONS:
Clear channel (not to be confused with the commercial network) radio stations, accessible over the air far from Chicago (This is useful for the greater Midwest. Listeners in the Northeast will have to get a live stream online):
WSCR - 670 - Sports (CBS affiliate, Fox Sports, Yahoo sports)
WGN - 720 - News/Talk/Sports (Tribune, also owners of the Chicago newspaper)
WBBM - 780 - 24 hour News (CBS affiliate)
WLS - 890 - News/Talk (ABC affiliate)
WMVP - 1000 - Sports (Disney, ESPN Radio)

You can pick up a live stream from WBBM, Chicago's CBS news radio station. 780 AM and 105.9 FM.

NYC Eye's full corrected transcript of President Lewis' press conference:

"Negotiations have been intense but productive, however we have failed to reach an agreement that will prevent a labor strike. This is a difficult decision and one we hoped we could have avoided. Throughout these negotiations have I remained hopeful but determined. We must do things differently in this city if we are to provide our students with the education they so rightfully deserve.

“Talks have been productive in many areas. We have successfully won concessions for nursing mothers and have put more than 500 of our members back to work. We have restored some of the art, music, world language, technology and physical education classes to many of our students. The Board also agreed that we will now have textbooks on the first day of school rather than have our students and teachers wait up to six weeks before receiving instructional materials.

“Recognizing the Board’s fiscal woes, we are not far apart on compensation. However, we are apart on benefits. We want to maintain the existing health benefits.

“Another concern is our evaluation procedures. After the initial phase-in of this new evaluation system it could result almost 6,000 teachers (or nearly 30 percent of our members) being discharged within one or two years. This is unacceptable and leads to instability for our students. We are also concerned that too much of the new evaluations will be based on students’ standardized test scores. This is no way to measure teacher effectiveness at all.

Further, there are too many factors beyond our control which will impact how well some students perform on those standardized tests. Those factors include poverty which no one wants to talk about, exposure to violence which over this past summer we all know has increased exponentially, homelessness, hunger and other social issues beyond our control. Evaluate us on what we do, not the lives of our children that we do not control.

“We have talked seriously about job security. Job security is stability for our students. Despite a new curriculum and new, stringent evaluation system, CPS proposes no increase (or even a possible decreases) in teacher training. This is notable because our Union through our Quest Center is at the forefront teacher professional development in Illinois. We have been lauded by the District already and our colleagues across the country for our extensive teacher training programs that help emerging teachers strengthen their craft and increased the number of nationally board certified educators.

“We are demanding a reasonable timetable for the installation of air-conditioning in student classrooms--a sweltering, 98-degree classroom is not a productive learning environment for children. This type of environment is unacceptable for our members and all school personnel. A lack of climate control is unacceptable to our parents.

“As we continue to bargain in good faith, we stand in solidarity with parents, clergy and community-based organizations who are advocating for smaller class sizes, a better school day and an elected school board. Class size matters. It matters to parents. In the third largest school district in Illinois there are only 370 social workers -—putting their caseloads at over 1,000 students each. We join them in their call for more social workers, counselors, audio/visual and hearing technicians and school nurses. Our children are exposed to unprecedented levels of neighborhood violence and other social issues, so the fight for wrap-around services is critically important to all of us. Our members will continue to support this groundswell of parent activism and grassroots engagement on these issues. And we hope the Board will not shut these voices out.

“And while new Illinois law prohibits us from striking over the recall of laid-off teachers and compensation for a longer school year, we do not intend to sign an agreement until of the matters of our contract are addressed.

“Again, we are committed to staying at the table until a contract is place. However, in the morning no CTU member will be inside our schools. We will walk the picket lines. We will talk to parents. We will talk to clergy. We demand a fair contract today, we demand a fair contract now. And, until there is one in place that our members will accept, we will be on the line.

“We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters throughout the state and the country who are currently bargaining for their own fair contracts. Most people don't understand, it is not just Chicago it is file intent to strike. Let's be clear --in Illinois we have at least five AFT locals and twelve IEA locals.

“This announcement is made now so our parents and community are empowered with this knowledge and will know that schools --real schools-- will not open tomorrow. Please seek alternative care for your children. And, we ask all of you to join us in our education justice fight—for a fair contract—and call on the mayor and CEO Brizard to settle this matter now. Thank you.”

CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey then took questions.

David Vitale, just on WBBM, says impasse continues. Says that CPS has offered all that city can offer, pending budget constraints. Says latest, best offer, 3 % in year one (COLA + increase). On merit pay, city not proposing merit pay.
Have retained the steps that will give more pay to experienced teachers.
Have retained lanes. (????)
Will continue 7 % employee pension contribution.
Health care: rates for singles, couples, unchanged; CPS proposing more equity between singles, couples. Have taken wellness program off the table.
Sick days. Employees will retain sick day banks. Offering free disability program.
On layoff and recall area, and regarding school consolidations, teachers will follow students to the new positions.
Teachers will have the right to recall positions.
Teachers losing positions in school closing will go to a reassigned teacher pool. Will have to apply for jobs. Will get preference. Principals will have to explain if they reject applicants.
Will go to a single calendar, replacing the two calendar; proposing CTU contribute.
On teacher evaluation, will not use high-stakes tests. Will only be used to evaluate, to improve teachers.
Full proposal on the table is online at CPS site.

CTU website reports that writer, publisher Gloria Steinem will wear red in solidarity with striking Chicago Teacher Union members.

Gloria Steinem, Co-Founder of the Women’s Media Center, released the following statement this evening:

“Tonight, I proudly wear a red t-shirt in support of the Chicago Teachers Union strike. They have been forced to strike – for the first time in 25 years – by the false economy of firing and penalizing the experienced teachers most needed by the students and by new teachers; by lengthening the school day as warehousing without educational services, healthy school buildings, and paid teachers; by what they have the knowledge to call the “apartheid-like system” of differential discipline policies; and by what seems to be a national tactic of demonizing teachers in order to turn public schools into corporate profit centers.

“For instance, three years ago, a Stanford Study found that ‘students in charter schools are not faring as well as students in traditional public school.’ I’m glad to see that in a recent poll, twice as many Chicagoans trusted the Chicago Teachers Union, not the Mayor, when it comes to public education.

“As an 87% female workforce, and one that is nearly half African American and Latino, the Chicago Teachers Union know what their students need. This is why this country needs unions, collective bargaining, and mayors who recognize, honor and fairly pay the people our children know – and who know our children.” Steinem continued, "I join my colleagues at The Women's Media Center, in calling on the media to ensure that women are part of this story — as teachers, parents, union members, and as journalists.”

The CTU website also published a detailed statement echoing president Lewis' press conference statement.

Press Release: CPS Fails To Negotiate Fair Contract To Prevent First Strike In 25 Years
09/09/2012

More than 29,000 teachers and education professionals will not report to work today 9/10

CHICAGO— After hours of intense negotiations, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) have failed to reach an agreement that will prevent the first teachers strike in 25 years. Pickets are expected to begin Monday at 675 schools and the Board of Education as early as 6:30 a.m. Teachers, paraprofessionals and school clinicians have been without a labor agreement since June of this year.

Union leaders expressed disappointment in the District’s refusal to concede on issues involving compensation, job security and resources for their students. CTU President Karen Lewis said, “Negotiations have been intense but productive, however we have failed to reach an agreement that will prevent a labor strike. This is a difficult decision and one we hoped we could avoid. Throughout these negotiations have I remained hopeful but determined. We must do things differently in this city if we are to provide our students with the education they so rightfully deserve.

“Talks have been productive in many areas. We have successfully won concessions for nursing mothers and have put more than 500 of our members back to work. We have restored some of the art, music, world language, technology and physical education classes to many of our students. The Board also agreed that we will now have textbooks on the first day of school rather than have our students and teachers wait up to six weeks before receiving instructional materials.

“Recognizing the Board’s fiscal woes, we are not far apart on compensation. However, we are apart on benefits. We want to maintain the existing health benefits.

“Another concern is evaluation procedures. After the initial phase-in of the new evaluation system it could result in 6,000 teachers (or nearly 30 percent of our members) being discharged within one or two years. This is unacceptable. We are also concerned that too much of the new evaluations will be based on students’ standardized test scores. This is no way to measure the effectiveness of an educator. Further there are too many factors beyond our control which impact how well some students perform on standardized tests such as poverty, exposure to violence, homelessness, hunger and other social issues beyond our control.

“We want job security. Despite a new curriculum and new, stringent evaluation system, CPS proposes no increase (or even decreases) in teacher training. This is notable because our Union through our Quest Center is at the forefront teacher professional development in Illinois. We have been lauded by the District and our colleagues across the country for our extensive teacher training programs that helped emerging teachers strengthen their craft and increased the number of nationally board certified educators.

“We are demanding a reasonable timetable for the installation of air-conditioning in student classrooms--a sweltering, 98-degree classroom is not a productive learning environment for children. This type of environment is unacceptable for our members and all school personnel. A lack of climate control is unacceptable to our parents.

“As we continue to bargain in good faith, we stand in solidarity with parents, clergy and community-based organizations who are advocating for smaller class sizes, a better school day and an elected school board. Class size matters. It matters to parents. In the third largest school district in Illinois there are only 350 social workers—putting their caseloads at nearly 1,000 students each. We join them in their call for more social workers, counselors, audio/visual and hearing technicians and school nurses. Our children are exposed to unprecedented levels of neighborhood violence and other social issues, so the fight for wraparound services is critically important to all of us. Our members will continue to support this ground swell of parent activism and grassroots engagement on these issues. And we hope the Board will not shut these voices out.

“While new Illinois law prohibits us from striking over the recall of laid-off teachers and compensation for a longer school year, we do not intend to sign an agreement until these matters are addressed.

“Again, we are committed to staying at the table until a contract is place. However, in the morning no CTU member will be inside our schools. We will walk the picket lines. We will talk to parents. We will talk to clergy. We will talk to the community. We will talk to anyone who will listen—we demand a fair contract today, we demand a fair contract now. And, until there is one in place that our members accept, we will on the line.

“We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters throughout the state and country who are currently bargaining for their own fair contracts. We stand with those who have already declared they too are prepared to strike, in the best interests of their students.”

“This announcement is made now so our parents and community are empowered with this knowledge and will know that schools will not open on tomorrow. Please seek alternative care for your children. And, we ask all of you to join us in our education justice fight—for a fair contract—and call on the mayor and CEO Brizard to settle this matter now. Thank you.”

###
The union is not on strike over matters governed exclusively by IELRA Section 4.5 and 12(b).

The Chicago Teachers Union represents 30,000 teachers and educational support personnel working in the Chicago Public Schools, and by extension, the more than 400,000 students and families they serve. The CTU is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers and is the third largest teachers local in the United States and the largest local union in Illinois. For more information please visit CTU’s website at www.ctunet.com

[WBBM initially reported at 9:28 PM (CDT) that there would be no strike tomorrow because it would require house of delegates meeting and they were not convening then.]

Click to my previous blogpost for the Sun-Times' publishing of Chicago Public Schools' advice guide to replacement workers / scabs.

Chicago Sun-Times Publishes Scab's Guide to Schools - Teacher Recounts What's at Stake

LATEST, posted 12:52 PM, Sat. September 8, 2012, by Chicago Sun-Times: Talks resume as teachers strike deadline looms. At last night's news conference after eight hours of contract negotiations, Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis said that she was "very disappointed."

WMAQ (NBC) TV: "CTU Opens Strike Headquarters as Contract Talks Continue"

Est. 12:15 AM, Sun. September 9, 2012: The Chicago Tribune said that contracts are still not progressing, despite the entry of Chicago School Board president David Vitale, who helped usher in previous recent contracts. The Tribune also reported that Service Employees International Union janitors are required by law to work through a teachers' strike, but the SEIU local president says that janitors will wear red handkerchiefs out of solidarity with striking teachers.

The Chicago Sun-Times has published a guide to scabbing for "replacement workers" who will actual teachers at special "holding schools." (Many teachers have been calling "scab schools." CTU president Lewis has called the contingency plans "a train wreck" waiting to happen.)

Here are the highlights from the guide, via Mike Klonsky's blog. The subtext/translation follows the "CPS’s How To Guide for workers at strike contingency school" tips for the principals, assistant principals, office staff and whomever the Chicago Public Schools manages to scrounge up to staff 144 “Children First’’scab sites when the CTU officially goes on strike on Monday, September 10, 2012, less than 48 hours from now.

• “Wear a watch — your room may not have a functioning clock.’’
Poor school funding: "teachers' working conditions are our students learning conditions." Hellooo
• Dress comfortably as “many schools are NOT air-conditioned.’’
Ditto
• “You will need to bring your own breakfast and lunch. Please note that you cannot rely on access to refrigerators or microwaves.’’
No faculty cafeteria, or if there is, the staff could be CTU and out on strike
• “Keep personal items to a minimum.’’
Beware of theft
• Sessions for kids run from 8:30 to 12:30 but “you should arrive as early as possible” and be prepared to stay late.
Be prepared to babysit between 12:30 until 3:00 or so, or whenever the schoolday normally ends, and parents come pick up Johnny
• Bring 30 sharpened pencils, 30 pens and a personal pencil sharpener.
The students aren't prepared
• Bring “stickers or other small inexpensive incentive items.’’
Narrowing of curriculum has alienated the students; bribes supposedly overcome this
• Bring old magazines and newspapers, puzzles and games.
Real teaching won't happen when real teachers are away

Klonsky adds:
There's one other tip the guide could have included: Don't drink too much coffee or water before school and be prepared to hold it in because there won't be anyone to relieve you (pun intended).

I can't imagine these poor suits from Clark Street still favoring a longer school day after this experience. But maybe they will gain a little respect for teachers once this is over.

A panicky [Schools CEO Jean-Claude] Brizard sent Lewis a letter Friday, asking the union to voluntarily forgo picketing the 144 “Children First’’scab sites. He claims that he has “deep concerns’’ about forcing “impressionable” kids to “walk through a picket line with their parents.’’ He's also going to have to find a way to slip his forced-labor principals and A.P.s in through the back door to keep them from crossing picket lines. Remember, at some point they will have to go back and work with their teachers again and try to rebuild the trust that Rahm has shattered.

And then there's Klonsky's other post in which he reprinted one teacher's contribution to an eclectic Chicago blog about the meaning of teaching:

What's At Stake for Chicago Public Educators?"
By David Stieber

You have undoubtedly heard the news reports, radio attack ads, CPS representatives, the "CEO" of Chicago Public Schools, and the Mayor saying how teachers are walking out on the students if we strike. Parents, students, residents of this city, as a teacher let me tell you, comments like that rip teachers to our core. As cliché as it sounds teaching is a calling. It's not as if one day we just said, "I guess I'll just be a teacher." It takes skill and dedication to stand in front of 30 (sometimes more) young people in a classroom and truly care and be able to teach every one of them. It is not possible to just be mediocre when it comes to teaching students. A young person is the first to let you know if you aren't doing a good job at teaching the lesson, not getting graded work passed back quickly enough, heck, they will even let you know if you look bad that day.

Teachers just can't punch in, start thinking about kids then punch out and stop. Teachers are always trying to improve our lesson plans, grade, figure out ways to reach the students who are withdrawn, quiet, confrontational or disrupting class. We just can't shut our students out of our lives when the bell rings.

Unless you are a teacher you have no idea the pain, frustration and intrinsic anger we feel when some paid radio ad claims, that "teachers are walking out on students." Some days after teaching, I honestly wish I could walk out on my students and never come back. But no matter how frustrating our day may have been, it is the kids that always bring us back. Teachers spend our lunch periods, before and after school helping, coaching, and listening to our students.

After days of teaching, we spend nights in grad school, trying to make ourselves better teachers. We raise children and think about how we want our own child to be like __(insert name here)__ who we taught a few years back.

There is nothing about our careers, our schools, and our students that we take lightly.

So please understand, teachers are trying to teach you that our careers and professions are under attack. Please understand we are trying to teach you about how your child's education is under attack.

You may find this dramatic, but education is at a crossroads in our country and our neighborhood, our city is right at the intersection of these crossroads. There is an attempt to make schooling privatized, charter-ized, and more inequitable than it already is. There is an attempt to get rid of experienced teachers who have built relationships with families, who truly know how to teach and replace them with less expensive, inexperienced teachers who likely will only be at the school for two years.

There is an attempt to teach through testing, to make your child so bored in school from over-standardized testing that students aren't excited for school anymore. There is an attempt to further cut librarians, counselors, nurses, PE, World Language, Art and now classroom teachers, in order to "save" money. A budget is a political document, not a financial one, it's about priorities. Some priorities obviously need to be re-evaluated.

Teachers in no way shape or form want to strike, we want to be working with and educating your children. The CTU, which represents and is elected by 26,000 educators across this city has had over 50 negotiation meetings with CPS since November 2011. In all of that time "CEO" Brizard has attended zero of those meetings, which means there was no one from CPS at the bargaining table with any educational experience.

So I ask, how do you bargain on what is best for students with people who have never taught students?

At stake is way more than pay. At stake for us is doing what is right for our community, our city, and yes our students, because as teachers it is always about the kids.

David Stieber is a CPS teacher, and is currently completing a Masters degree in Urban Education Policy Studies.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Giddy in Charlotte as Strike Nears

Chicago Rahm Emanuel first was reported as cutting his visit in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the Democratic National Convention. He was to be there just the first night, and then was to race back to Chicago, as both powerful local politicians were asking for him to return to Chicago. Yet he stayed at least one more day.

From Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: "Rahm giddy in Charlotte as strike nears"

Rahm giddy in Charlotte as strike nears

As the strike deadline draws near, I'm taken with image of Rahm Emanuel, last night, still in Charlotte, giggling like a little boy in front of the TV cameras and clapping wildly as his patron Clinton lectures the eager crowd.. For a moment I thought he was going to pee himself.

Meanwhile back home, the CTU was not impressed. The union upped the ante yesterday, filing a charge with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board accusing CPS, among other things, of unfairly denying CTU members “step” increases for additional years of experience. CTU officials contended the board must honor the step increases in the current contract until a new contract replaces it.

In response to the charges and feeling the stress of mounting public pressure and possible damage to the Obama campaign, CPS made a concession. While they refused to move off of their measly 2% pay increase offer, the board did move away from its "merit pay" demand -- a major concession. Previously, CPS had proposed that CTU members would get a tiny fourth-year raise only if they had agreed to a “differentiated compensation plan’’ that year.

Back home, CPS' attack dog, Becky Carroll continues to jeopardize the negotiations with her anti-union outbursts. Here's Sun-Times reporters account:

Asked for comment, CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll said by email, “It is unfortunate that the union continues to mischaracterize the proposals made during negotiations. Their insistence on regularly misleading the public and their own membership is appalling and does a disservice to students.’’ Carroll did not immediately explain how the union had mischaracterized talks.

Someone over there at Clark St. should yank on her leash.

Best headline comes from The Chicagoist:

Rahm Applauds Unions As He Tries To Bust One At Home
Emanuel, his voice cracking like Peter Brady entering puberty, listed the achievements of Obama's first term and, notably, spoke of the importance of listening to labor unions in bailing out the auto industry, the highest of ironies given how he's trying to bust the Chicago Teachers Union at home. "Unions are great, as long as they aren't teaching your kids."

Charles Pierce at Esquire had this to say about Rahm in Charlotte:

So to hell with all of you squalling hippies. Rahm was in the room, beeyotches. He was there when the president "made the right choice" on the auto industry, so forget Rattner's book where he's quoted as saying, "F--- the UAW." (Rahm says "f---" a lot. He likes to make waitresses cry.)

Posted by Mike Klonsky at 5:39 PM

The Chicago Teachers Union is set to strike at Chicago Public Schools on September 10, 2012, noted at "STRIKE! Largest Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates meeting of the century votes unanimously to strike Chicago's public schools beginning September 10" at Substance News and "Chicago Teachers Strike Still On, Union Files Unfair Labor Grievance" at Huffington Post.

BREAKING: Chicago Teachers Union Strike to Come: To File 10-Day Notice

BREAKING NEWS: Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) to file 10-day strike notice.
This will potentially set the strike to begin on the second week of school, occupying a difficult part on the news cycle, coming right on the heels of the Democratic National Convention, scheduled for the first week in September.

Chicago Teachers Union to file 10-day strike notice
BY ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter rrossi@suntimes.com August 29, 2012 10:10AM

Updated: August 29, 2012 1:03PM

The Chicago Teachers Union plans to file a 10-day notice of intent to strike Wednesday, thrusting teachers closer to a walkout that could start as early as the second week of school, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Another step before a strike could disrupt classes in the nation’s third-largest school system would be the setting of a strike date by the union’s House of Delegates, a topic the body is likely to take up at its meeting on Thursday.

Delegates could set an exact date or give union leaders some leeway.

The union plans a news conference later Wednesday.

The planned filing Wednesday of a 10-day notice of intent to strike comes after CTU President Karen Lewis said late Tuesday that the two sides remain “very far apart” and have only recently resolved small issues, such as “ privacy for nursing mothers and workplace bullying.’’

“We are literally talking about crossing Ts and dotting Is,’’ Lewis said.

Any notice — which allows a strike anytime after 10 days — also would follow contentions by Lewis that an 11th-hour deal for a longer school day has been done “haphazardly” and “ridiculously” — an accusation that took some Chicago school officials by surprise. Under the interim agreement, kids still got the longer day promised by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, but teachers’ work day was not substantially lengthened.

Chicago schools chief Jean-Claude Brizard said Wednesday that if union leaders choose to file notice to strike, “We’ll be ready.”

The two sidea have been talking since November about a new contract. Teachers’ old contract expired in June.

Chicago School Board members last week OKed spending up to $25 million to keep students occupied, sheltered and fed in the event of a strike, an authorization that would be triggered upon notice of an intent to strike.

Asked whether a 10-day notice would put added pressure to resolve teacher contract talks that have lingered since November, Brizard said, “We’ve been very serious about negotiations” but a 10-day notice would “put pressure” on kids and parents.

Brizard spoke after meeting with principals at year-round schools, which started classes earlier this month. The principals raved about the extra time and recess that have come with the longer school day.

Several said the possibility of a strike hasn’t disrupted instruction so far.

“No one’s come to me and said they are down,” said Brunson Principal Carol Wilson. “I don’t see it impacting the instructional day.”

BY ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter rrossi@suntimes.com August 29, 2012

Mayor Emanuel to ‘ratchet up’ his role in preventing teachers strike - Chicago Sun-Times

Mayor Emanuel to ‘ratchet up’ his role in preventing teachers strike - Chicago Sun-Times,

{And, Mike Klonsky on the question of whether Rahm Emanuel is an honest broker.}

{Scroll to end for Chicagoist posting, as linked by the official CTU blog.}

From the Sun-Times:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is preparing to “ratchet up” negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union to seal a deal needed to guarantee an on-time Sept. 4 opening of Chicago Public Schools and preserve his signature plan for a longer school day and year, City Hall sources said Thursday.

He owns this anyway, and he’s gonna need to ratchet it up to close it,” said a mayoral confidant, who asked to remain anonymous.

Emanuel is already visiting several schools a day to drive home the point that 140,000 kids have already started school and cannot be left in the lurch by a teachers strike.

Early next week, sources said the mayor plans to step it up a notch by having a “second level of negotiations with more senior people” away from the same cast of characters currently at the bargaining table.

The second tier of negotiations is likely to include Beth Swanson, Emanuel’s point person on education, and “someone from Washington, D.C., who is a more moderate, outside senior level” expert capable of “driving this home,” sources said.

“People who’ve been in those meetings for weeks have war wounds. It’s hard to break through that,” the Emanuel confidant said.

Community groups and Emanuel’s education “surrogates” are also expected to turn up the heat by orchestrating a series of news conferences, protest marches and rallies warning both sides not to “do this to our kids.”

And, if and when the talks appear to be nearing the goal line, sources said Emanuel is prepared to do what his predecessor would not: summon the two sides into the mayor’s office to personally broker the final chapter of bargaining.

Former Mayor Richard M. Daley never got personally involved in labor negotiations, unlike his father.

Instead, Daley delegated the responsibility to negotiators, remained at arm’s length and inevitably ended up agreeing to contracts taxpayers could not afford to maintain labor peace.

Daley was timid and notoriously risk-averse when it came to labor negotiations.

Emanuel has no such compunction. He brokered many a difficult deal — including the auto industry bailout — during his days as White House chief-of-staff under President Barack Obama.

He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty — but that should not be confused with weakness.

“If we come to the end, and it’s a choice between a ridiculous settlement and a strike, we would take a strike,” the mayoral confidant said.

“People went into negotiations with Daley knowing he was allergic to strikes. He wound up giving a ton in the end. This mayor can’t cave. It’s what he ran on. The kids will have a longer day, and he’s not gonna bankrupt the system to get it. The only way to do that is to have a more sane contract. He sees this deal as fundamental to that.”

Asked Thursday whether he was prepared to personally intervene in the teacher talks, Emanuel kept the spotlight on his negotiating team.

“The parties [who] need to work on this are at the table. ... And I expect the parties to stay at the table and get this done on behalf of the children of Chicago and on behalf of the taxpayers. ... That’s their responsibility. That’s how we’re all held accountable. And I expect them to do it, since the parties are there,” he said.

Emanuel would probably be inclined to jump into the talks sooner if he had a rapport with CTU President Karen Lewis.

But, their relationship is non-existent. Lewis even went so far as to accuse the mayor of using the f-word during one of their earliest private meetings.

“He and Karen have not had productive meetings in his office,” a mayoral confidant said. “You hold that as a final card.”

Last month, the two sides appeared to have taken a giant step toward averting Chicago’s first teachers strike in 25 years.

It called for hiring 477 teachers to staff the longer school day — at a cost of up to $50 million — so elementary school teachers don’t have to work a minute longer, and rearranging the high school day so teachers there have to work only 14 extra minutes.

Since then, progress appears to have slowed to a crawl. The union complained this week that the teacher hiring deal is not being honored and that the longer school day in schools that started earlier this month has been a flop.

On Thursday, City Hall sources identified teacher hire-backs and pay raises that reward teachers for education and seniority as the two biggest roadblocks standing in the way of an agreement.

The so-called “step-and-lane” increases that Emanuel wants to eliminate are likely to be preserved in some form but could be offered every other year, sources said. They also might be “different for new teachers,” the sources said.

Emanuel has cleared his calendar for Labor Day weekend to be available to broker eleventh-hour teacher talks.

He’s even prepared to cancel his trip to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. — and a coveted speech to delegates — if that’s what it takes to nail down a deal.

The mayor would also skip the convention in the event of a strike. He’s not about to leave town while working parents are scrambling to make alternative plans for their kids.

That’s even though his handpicked school board has authorized $25 million in spending to keep kids occupied, supervised and fed at libraries, Park District fieldhouses, charter schools and churches during a walkout.

From Chicagoist:
Negotiations between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union on a new labor deal will continue without the threat of a strike on Sept. 4. CTU president Karen Lewis said she has no intention of filing a 10-day strike notice by Saturday, which is the deadline to do so for a strike to coincide with the beginning of the school year for most of the schools.
Lewis made her announcement during a leafleting at the 95th Street Red Line station this morning. It’s been clear for a while Lewis would use the 10-day strike notice as a hammer in an attempt to spur negotiations between the union and CPS. Lewis has said repeatedly that talks on a new contract have been unproductive, while CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard disputed Lewis’s take, saying progress has been made. Both CPS and CTU are arguing over how the new longer school day has been implemented at Track E schools so far. Brizard released a statement saying the longer day was working and a strike would undo all of the benefits. Lewis said the longer school day isn’t working and “and if we just leave it up to these guys, it will never be a better school day.” We tend to believe Lewis at this point, especially after Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that he intends to take a more hands-on approach to avoid the first teachers strike in a quarter century. A mayoral confidant told the Sun-Times the mayor plans to “ratchet up” negotiations with the union. The source said Emanuel plans to meet with a “second level of negotiations” involving people who aren’t currently at the bargaining table, and organizing a series of rallies, protest marches and news conferences with community groups to try to steer the message back to “don’t do this to the kids.”
Emanuel’s more aggressive approach may be a case of too little too late, especially for a man who has seemingly been itching for a showdown with the teachers union almost from the moment he was sworn in as mayor. Lewis, at the leafleting, said it won’t matter. “Ultimately, (Emanuel) is going to tell the board what to do anyway.” If a teachers strike occurs the contingency plan the Chicago School Board was asked to authorize Wednesday, which would authorize vendors to provide food, shelter and other “non-instructional services” to students displaced by a strike, could cost up to $25 million. The contingency plan will be executed only if the union issues a 10-day strike notice.
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By Chuck Sudo in News on August 24, 2012 9:35 AM