Denounce NPR for Slanted Anti-Karen Lewis Story

NPR JOINS THE CORPORATE MEDIA WITH ANTI-LABOR, AGENDA-SETTING TONE
Karen Lewis has been the union leader of the decade, as president, leading the Chicago Teachers Union on a new path of being a democratic union, made over from a bureaucratic bosses-dominated union, with an active, conscious rank and file.

Teachers union leaders can do well to emulate her in style and substance. Thousands of teachers across the nation are applauding her leadership, as she is a strong and eloquent voice against the education reformers [sic -actually deformers]. On web pages that have reported her comments or reprinted her speeches people have written comments such as God Bless Karen Lewis, or she deserves to be president of the American Federation of Teacher.

Thus it was quite disgusting to hear on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" reporter Claudio Sanchez starting a whispering campaign against her leadership, with one person questioning her effectiveness as a spokesperson. Huh??? Lewis is someone that is at once a thoughtful figure, scrutinizing the issues at stake in education today, the class dynamic at play in student performance, the commercializing machinations of education profiteers, yet she does so in an energetic, accessible manner.

So, where does he get off with his agenda-creating reportage? I have been impressed with his reportage in the past. But I will now be far more skeptical when listening to his reports, given his misrepresentative, selective, biased report on Karen Lewis' leadership. How many people did he or his staff speak with to come up with this agenda-setting closer to his story on the ending of the strike?

Call NPR and criticize this agenda-pushing report:
NPR Listener Care (202) 513-3232, Hours: 10am to 5 pm ET, Monday through Friday Or file an online complaint at this web page.

Here is the controversial closer to the story on "All Things Considered," tonight. Closing words set the tone for news articles or debates, so Sanchez is leaving listeners with a feeling that Lewis is a deficient leader.

SANCHEZ: When Lewis came on WBEZ Public Radio this morning to talk about the strike, teachers at Pierce Elementary hovered around an iPhone listening to the broadcast and Lewis' words carefully.

LEWIS: I think that people that really want to go back to work will be able to make the argument..

SANCHEZ: Bridget Fabianski says no matter how the union delegates vote this afternoon, its time for someone other than Lewis to speak for teachers.

BRIDGET FABIANSKI: She seems confrontational. Any parent that I've talked to says she's confrontational. But..

SANCHEZ: That's her nature.

FABIANSKI: Maybe that's her nature and she's the one who's going to get it done. Maybe it's a confrontational...

SANCHEZ: So this next phase might call for (unintelligible).

FABIANSKI: For a different spokesperson, for a different person to stand up and to represent us.

SANCHEZ: As union delegates gather to vote, Karen Lewis will once again be in the hot seat and have a chance to show whether she's the right leader at the right time.

Sanchez's story is disappointing reportage. I would expect labor-bashing reportage, reducing union stewardship to personality characterization from Fox News.

On the other hand, maybe he's just a national counterpart to WNYC's Brian Lehrer who has a questioning ear as an interview on many subjects, but uncritically echoes the deformer agenda, promoting charter schools. CHECKING BACK TO REALITY
As I wrote in an update to my last post, "Despite myths: Parents do support CTU strikers; School-day killings not up," an impressive crowd formed tonight as Lewis and the CTU announced the end of the strike:

Hundreds of parents stood by the Chicago Board of Education to support teachers, as the announcement was made that the Chicago Teachers Union was ending its strike of the Chicago Public Schools. This should put to rest the media and politician's arguments that parents did not support the striking teachers.

And I also indicated:

Chicago parents do support the strikers. This support is at higher levels in the African-American and Latino communities, communities representing 87 percent of Chicago's schoolchildren, and by more than 20 percentage points, the public blames [mayor] Rahm Emanuel and the school board more than they blame the Chicago Teachers Union for the strike.

It looks like Sanchez needs to do a better job reporting. When do we get a chance to give him a letter grade?

Then there's Audie Cornish, who introduced the piece. Daily Kos has a contribution from a few days ago, "NPR Audie Cornish - swings right," discussing her treatment of Mitt Romney's presidential candidacy.

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.

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

8/22/12: Chicago Teacher Delegates OK to Lewis: 10 Day Strike Notice Capping a Week of Nasty Leaks From CPS

BREAKING: From Network of Teacher Activist Groups:

8.22.12 – The CTU [Chicago Teachers Union] House of Delegates authorized Karen Lewis to give a 10 day strike notice tonight. No actual strike date has been set, however. The 10 day notice is required by law and keeps the CTU on a timeline if a strike does need to happen. More details to come.

(Also, confirmed at Fred Klonsky's blog.)
The official CTU blog also reported the 10 day strike notice authorization vote late Wednesday night, but it said that no inference should be drawn as to when or if such a notice shall be issued.

CTU members signing off for picket signs. (From Fred Klonsky's site.)

CTU teacher with a device Bloomberg and Kelly prohibit in New York City.

Earlier in the day CTU president Karen Lewis held a press conference to address the state of teachers contract talks with the Board of Education of Chicago Public Schools.


And what kind of tone has Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard set this week? The CTU disclosed that it had acquired a CPS email memo that directed principals to monitor staff members' union activity. And on August 20 Substance News broke the story that "No sooner had the Board of Education prepared the agenda for its August 22, 2012, meeting — including a secret agenda item that will reveal CPS plans to open between 100 and 150 schools under various pretexts, but basically as what union people will call "Scab Schools" — than "Chief Executive Officer" Jean-Claude Brizard distributed a letter, in print and on the Web, for parents and teachers."

So, what kind of tone do Chicago Public School's memos and plans set, going toward this mass rally / town hall meeting with Karen Lewis, Matt Farmer and Rev. Alvin Love, on August 28 at Trinity All Nations Church? (Lead via Fred Klonsky)

Chicago Public Schools to Principals: Document Legal Union Activity As Teachers Fight For a Fair Contract

From official Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) blog:

Press Release: CPS Instructs Principals to Document Legal Union Activity As Teachers Fight For a Fair Contract
(Mike Klonsky's blog invoked the Led Belly song in his blog on the union monitoring:
There's a man going 'round taking names
There's a man going 'round taking names
He's been taking my father's name
an' he left my heart in vain
there's a man going 'round taking names
-- Leadbelly )
BY STEPHANIE GADLIN, MEDIA RELATIONS DIRECTOR | 08/20/2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 20, 2012

CHICAGO— A confidential email recently obtained by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) encourages principals to closely monitor school employees for union activity. All Union activity is protected under federal and state law. The communication was written and distributed by Chicago Public School officials as a precursor to a strike.

This communication is equally troubling because today, as CTU members conducted informational picketing outside various schools, some principals threatened to discipline employees as instructed by CPS’ legal department, according to CTU organizers who spoke with those school administrators.

The disturbing CPS directive instructs principals to report what CPS perceives as Union related activities “via E-Verify” and report the action as a “Harassment/Threat type incident.” It also reads: “We are asking you to report any activities that cause a disruption to the school day. Examples of such activity cited in the email include the following:

Slowdowns of work
Temporary or intermittent walk-outs or sit-downs
Refusals to perform assigned duties
“Sick outs” or other abuse of sick days
“work to rule” actions where employees perform duties in accordance with the expired collective bargaining agreement
Other job actions that undermine supervisory authority and deleteriously affect the mission and goals of the Chicago public school system…”

CTU President Karen GJ Lewis said, “I am highly disturbed by the contents of this email. We have been very open and honest about these negotiations and our efforts to prepare our members and the public for a potential strike. Chief among my concerns is what CPS plans to do with the information and how the database will be used.

“This directive could lead to intimidation of our public school educators, who are fighting for their voices to be heard,” she added.

Click here to download the confidential memo.

WTTW 11 Video: CTU Pres. Karen Lewis & CPS CEO Brizard Talk About Teacher Contract Negotiations on Chicago Tonight

President Karen GJ Lewis and CPS CEO Brizard talk about contract negotiations on Chicago Tonight [VIDEO]

At Chicago Teachers Union: "“Contract is not Settled; …We Continue To Bargain In Good Faith . . ."

Posted last night at the Chicago Teachers Union blog.
(Scroll to latter half of the post for recent news coverage on CTU president Karen Lewis and the union.)

"Contract is not Settled; …We Continue To Bargain In Good Faith and Members Continue to Prepare For A Work Stoppage”
08/09/2012

The Chicago Teachers Union is currently in contract negotiations with the Chicago Public Schools and has been since November 2011. While much has been made of the interim agreement in which the Union was able to successfully stop the threat of a 7 hour and 40 minute work day as well as force the District to hire displaced (tenured) teachers in over 500 new positions, the parties have not reached a new contract agreement.

Educators have been without a contract since June 30.

Despite the interim agreement, there are many open issues still on the negotiating table in which there has been little movement. Public school educators also remain concerned about the District’s refusal to provide adequate wrap-around services for students severely impacted by poverty and violence in addition to threats of ballooning class sizes. Teachers are concerned about the new evaluation process of which 40 percent of the review is based on how students perform on standardized tests. Job security, health benefits and teacher pay have not been resolved.

While we continue to bargain in good faith, CTU members continue to prepare for a work stoppage in September when most of them are required to return to the classroom. State law requires a “cooling off period” of 30 days after the issuing of a fact-finder’s report. At the end of this period, or thereafter, the CTU may strike provided it has first given the District a 10-day notice of the intent to strike.

It should be noted that movement at the bargaining table came only after nearly 10,000 people marched in downtown Chicago in support of a fair contract and more resources for neighborhood schools. This dramatic action was followed by a historic vote, where 90 percent of CTU members voted 98 percent to authorize a strike.

We recognize strikes are not popular. However, they are the strongest tool public workers have in ensuring their rights are not trampled upon and working conditions are fair and equitable. The CTU is fighting for strong, well-resourced neighborhood schools where students, regardless of their zip code, will have equal access to a high quality education.

Chicago is a world-class city and it deserves world-class neighborhood schools. Teachers, paraprofessionals and school clinicians are prepared to do what it takes to protect their jobs, their students and their schools.

PRESIDENT KAREN LEWIS: PREPARE FOR A STRIKE
"Union chief: Teachers should prepare for strike"

Rosalind Rossi, The Chicago Sun-Times, August 10, 2012

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis rattled the bargaining sabers Thursday, saying so many big issues remain on the negotiating table that teachers need to be prepared for a September strike. Lewis said there was “no chance’’ the teachers contract that expired June 30 will be resolved by Monday, when classes begin for about a third of the system on year-round school calendars.

After concluding their 41st day of contract talks Thursday, Chicago Public School and CTU negotiators “haven’t even gotten to compensation yet,’’ Lewis said.

“We haven’t gotten to the big sticking points because we’re trying to get the little ones off the table,’’ Lewis said. “I see slow progress.’’

Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard told reporters Thursday that negotiators were “making decent progress and I’m still hopeful and optimistic.’’

CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll said the district was “pleased with the tone and encouraged by the progress being made.”

The CPS comments came after the CTU issued a news release, warning that teachers were still concerned about a new evaluation system that will link teacher ratings to student test results, job security, health benefits, pay and wrap-around services for students severely affected by poverty and violence.

“CTU members continue to prepare for a work stoppage in September when most of them are required to return to the classroom,’’ the news release warned.

“We need to have our people prepared,’’ Lewis said later in explaining the news release. “I don’t have any idea about what’s going to happen, but I know it’s ridiculous to sit back and pretend that everything is going to be settled and then scramble at the last minute when it’s not.’’

Under the law, the earliest teachers could strike would be Aug. 18, but first the union’s House of Delegates must set a strike date and the union must give CPS a 10-day heads-up of its intent to strike. School starts for most CPS students on Sept. 4, the Tuesday after Labor Day.

Lewis said the classes that start Monday in 243 CPS year-round schools will be a test drive of an 11th-hour interim deal that gives hundreds of laid-off teachers a crack at teaching jobs and keeps the typical teacher workday at about the same length. Those teachers will be working on an expired contract.

Kids, meanwhile, will get the longer school day promised by Mayor Rahm Emanuel — of seven hours.

Year-round principals only have one week to hire from a new pool of laid-off teachers before classes begin.

Lewis warned that “lots of things weren’t covered’’ in the interim deal and “we’re going to watch and see how it plays out because that will help inform our final agreement.’’

Contributing: Lauren FitzPatrick

Chicago Teachers' Strike Vote Countdown to Wednesday

The Chicago Teachers Union is coming, on June 6, this coming Wednesday.
Its issues are issues for the teacher members of the New York City counterpart, the United Federation of Teachers. (Not so fast, their complaints involve a move to lengthen the school day. Actually, yes so fast, this is an issue in New York also, as the 2005 contract give-back to get a pay increase was the 37 and a half minute lengthening of the school day.)

(Photo is from overflow indoor rally of thousands of teacher in pre-strike mobilization last week)
Here's the CTU's public statement on their blog:

CTU sets strike authorization vote date.
by Stephanie Gadlin | June 01, 2012
CHICAGO – Today, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) announced it has set a strike authorization vote for Wednesday, June 6th, which will be conducted in all Chicago Public Schools (CPS) with CTU members. State law requires 75 percent of Union members to vote in the affirmative in order to authorize a strike. More than 90 percent of teachers, clinicians and paraprofessionals have already rejected the Board of Education’s current contract proposals.
CTU President Karen GJ Lewis, NBCT, said a strike authorization vote was “an important step in ensuring the voices of over 25,000 public school educators will be heard at the bargaining table.” Teachers have criticized the Board’s proposals saying they are harmful to students. If the Board has its way it will:
Eliminate any real enforcement of class size limits: In their proposal to the CTU, CPS uses the same argument that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney recently made in Philadelphia. The CPS proposal claims, contrary to common sense and teacher experience, that class size does not matter. Their language in quotes says that “the board shall establish a class size policy and notify the union of that policy.” Not only will they impose whatever class size they think is appropriate, after they have said class size doesn’t matter, they have cut any funding in our contract to lower over-sized classes and have eliminated any real limits on ballooning class sizes next year. Ignore staffing levels in all schools: The Board has rejected all of the CTU's proposals on appropriate staffing levels for our students. Including art, music, physical education, library and world language teachers -- counselors, social workers, nurses and school psychologists -- despite woefully inadequate staffing levels throughout the district and a longer day that will require additional staff if it is to be a better day.
Reject ‘better school day’ proposals: CPS refuses to accept any of our recommendations regarding full day kindergarten, playground facilities and air conditioning for all schools -- despite just last week many of our schools reaching temperatures of over 90 degrees, when learning becomes nearly impossible and classroom conditions inhumane. They have already cut the facilities budget by 85 percent next year even as they propose 60 new non-union charters and plan to close nearly 100 schools next year.
Refuse to adequately compensate teachers: CPS continues to disrespect teachers with a 2 percent raise offer for the first year of a five year contract even though working at CPS is getting much harder next year.
Refuse to offer job security to qualified teachers: The Board plans to remove protections for experienced and qualified educators who lose their positions through no fault of their own which will exacerbate the current 50 percent teacher turnover rate every five years -- something that interferes with continuity and quality instruction.
“A strike authorization vote is not a vote to go on strike,” Lewis said. “…We want to avoid a strike. Strikes aren’t good for anyone—not our members, not our parents and certainly not our students. As a matter of practicality, it is important that we conduct this vote now while our members are still in schools and not while they are on vacation. We certainly hope to have a contract in place before school starts in the fall and we look forward to everyone—including our members—returning to the classroom.”

Karen Lewis and the CTU are taking a brave stand by considering a strike to defend on crucial issues. The crucial issues for New York teachers, class size, seniority protection and tenure rights, are central among the CTU's concerns.
They are standing up to Rahm Emanuel and his continuation of Richard Daley and Arne Duncan's disastrous public school deform policies. (For instance read Substance News' historical review of Chicago schools on those "refomers"' Hit List.) They are standing up to the American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten who always seems to vigorously argue against striking --the same AFT president that is floating programs such as how to get rid of teachers and is promoting teacher evaluation programs. (-A president that contradicts herself: witness her valid point that "The states that actually have lots of teachers in teacher unions tend to be the states that have done the best in terms of academic success in this country.") A vote in favor of a strike would be a big embarrassment for Weingarten with the AFT convention coming at the end of July in Detroit, Michigan.
If the CTU indeed does go on strike, they will need support. Teachers' unions and other public sector workers should show solidarity with the Chicago teachers. Additionally, strike solidarity work would be good for sharing with other teachers the parallels between the CTU teachers' issues and those of teachers in other cities.