HOD Meeting

Chicago Teacher Delegates Vote in Charter Teachers

By Jim Vail

The Chicago Teacher Union delegates voted unanimously last week to include the charter teachers in the CTU.

The CTU leadership had geared up for a fight after several delegates complained at the previous HOD meeting that it was wrong to include charter schools that are devastating the public schools into the union.

Just about every delegate came to the mike at the HOD meeting last Wed. Dec. 13 to say we need to join forces with the charter teachers.

Perhaps the statement that summarized it all came from one Greek delegate with a family of teacher delegates when she said that she supported the constitutional changes to include the charter teachers because she "trusts" the leadership, not because she understands entirely how this whole thing will work out.

"This will help to  to halt and maybe even stop the growth of charter schools in the city," CTU Recording Secretary Michael Brunson told the delegates.

I personally had questions about such a drastic move why charter teachers had to be included into the CTU. First, the charter teachers have their own union, charter schools are separate from public schools and are in fact the enemy of public schools and confusion over different contracts and how to strike. It wasn't clear how teaming up will make the union stronger.

On the other hand - the CTU fight against charter schools has been admirably. The previous union leadership under the UPC before CORE got elected in 2010 said charter schools are our friends and legislators told me why is the union now fighting charter schools. They modeled themselves on the reformist sell-outs at the top - the American Federation of Teachers under whom the CTU is a part of.

The CTU and Core has fought charter expansion and got a five-year school closing moratorium in the last contract that just ended now (and CPS jumped on the gun by quickly closing the last four public high schools in Englewood to clear out the low-income black students and put in a selective enrollment school for the bustling South Loop residents).

It sounds reasonable to trust the CTU in this case and join forces to help further unionize charter school teachers so they have better working conditions and compensation, thus eliminating the incentive to increase charter schools.

However, the fight is far from over. While this year only one charter school was approved, like Uber devastating the taxi industry, they do not have plans to stop or go away. The latest charter Distinctive Schools located in Hirsch High School continues the corruption associated with them with its ties to discredited once for-profit and now disgraced Edison Schools and SUPES Academy which brought down former CPS CEO Barbara Byrde Bennett who is now sitting in prison.

CTU President Karen Lewis was not in attendance because she is recovering from a stroke.

The Robeson High School delegate said they plan to fight their school's closure and hopes other teachers can join them. There will be a rally to save the National Teachers Academy in the South Loop on Martin Luther King holiday.

The CTU said to beware of schools hiring non-union vendors to replace unionized staff. One school eliminated its music teacher and offered karate classes taught by non-teacher. This is happening in many schools in the city thanks to the per-pupil budgeting the city implemented to punish schools for employing higher paid veteran teachers.

The CTU said the rabid pro-privatization newspaper Chicago Tribune published a hit-list for school closings that had 17 schools on the list that needed to be closed, including Kelvyn Park on the North side.

"We want to strengthen our forces, that's how you stop privatization," CTU VP Jesse Sharkey said at the HOD meeting.

The vote for the teachers on the constitutional changes and include the charter teachers in the CTU will be January 25.