HOD Sept.

Report on the Meeting of the House of Delegates on September 1, 2021

By George Milkowski

I. Officer Reports

A. Recording Secretary Christel Williams-Hayes reported that ongoing bargaining over the summer has resulted in the CPS agreeing to setting up 150 new school assistant positions..

B. Financial Report Kathy Catalano – Our fiscal year is from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021.  Kathy said we received $603,549 more than expected and expenditures were $358,311 more than budgeted.  

Also, member investment in the CTU (usually referred to as “dues”) for the year will be $1,202.80 and for PSRPs it will be $721.68.

C. CTU-CTS Report – Chris Baehrend.  Chris said that seven of the thirteen unionized charter schools have reached safety re-opening agreements. The particulars include mandatory three feet social distancing; more nurses, social workers and paraprofessionals; no simultaneous teaching and paid days if quarantine is required.

D. Recording Secretary Maria Moreno – Maria reported that membership is 28,029 and of that 1,792 are retirees.  Teachers still have the right to opt out of CTU membership.  I asked how many have decided to opt out and Marty Ritter (CTU staffer) said “Few, less than 1%.”

E. Vice President Stacy Davis Gates  - Stacy welcomed everyone back.  She agreed that the COVID Delta variant is a concern and lauded the CTU staff for getting our message about this out to the general public and also our Union podcast, “CTU Speaks” hosted by Andrea Parker a Hyde Park graduate) and Jim Staros.

Thanks to the Union’s advocacy the CPS will have vaccination events in 50 schools this year.  She asked delegates to prioritize vaccination information this year for those who are 12 years old and older.  Note: only one of her kids has been vaccinated, as the other two are too young.  Stacy stressed that delegates must make full use of the agreed to safety committees to protect the students, faculty and staff of every school.

II. President’s Report – Jesse Sharkey

Pres. Sharkey recognized that returning to in-person teaching is stressful and agonizing.  He said Mayor Lori Lighfoot is trying to backtrack on what protocols are needed for a safe return to school.  He said the CPS has agreed to masks, school safety committees and better cleaning, but the safety committees are a tool that will be effective only if used.  He added that if the CPS is not willing to consider the health concerns in classrooms, then more direct action may be needed.

III. Item for Action

A.  A resolution was presented that asks that the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund divest from its portfolio stock in fossil fuel companies.  The CTPF has 1.6% of its holdings in fossil fuel corporations.  Sandra Beck opposed this, arguing that she doesn’t think the CTU should be telling the Pension Fund what to invest in or not.  Nick Limbeck, William Reed, Jackson Potter and myself spoke in favor of it.  With climate change becoming more obvious, the value of fossil fuel companies will decline and they will become “stranded assets”, i.e., stocks of low value that no one would want to buy.  I pointed out that in the last ten years the CTPF divested from companies that produce guns. 

NOTE: because the Board Trustees have a fiduciary obligation; they CANNOT just sell off stocks. By law, they are required to sell them only if they can find some other instrument with and equal or better return.

A motion by Erin Lynch to end debate passed 96%-4%.  The resolution itself, on which I voted “yes”, passed 86%-14%.

B. A second resolution presented by the Retiree Committee passed 98%-2%.  This would require the Union to stop referring to the “pension holidays” that were granted to the CPS as holidays and instead call them “pension defaults”, which is a more accurate description.  I voted “yes” on this too.

IV. Department/Committee Reports

Organizing – Jhoanna Maldanado – With the start of the school year Jhoanna spoke of the necessity of having active safety committees and elections, if required, for school PPCs.  She said if the administration in a school is reluctant to work with a safety committee, then the PPC should contact the LSC and perhaps prepare a letter to go to parents.

Grievance Report – Lois Jones.  Lois said delegates need to welcome new faculty and staff members and try to get them involved with the Union.  Also, there may be a need in some schools to fill vacancies on the PPC.

Lois added that teachers should see a 3% pay increase in their first check, but they should double-check their pay stub to make sure.  Also, for the first time there is a Lane III for PSRPs.

Lastly, delegates need to keep tabs on class sizes.

Legislation/Political Action – Kurt Hilgendirf.  Kurt went over our four major wins in Springfield this year: full restoration of our bargaining rights, an elected representative school board, contract teachers being added to the CTPF, and the teacher evaluation cycle extended from two to three years.

Kurt reminded the body that there are primary and general elections in 2022 and we need to start thinking ahead to 2024 when the first elections for a Chicago school board will be held.

V. New Business/Q and A

Karin Moreno asked what happens if a school is closed due to the pandemic and a CPS teacher is the parent of one of the students in that closed school? Jesse said the CPS will allow that teacher two days to work from home. After that, he/she will have to use sick days.

Dennis Kosuth said that nurse staffing is a HUGE mess.  With the Board receiving almost $2 billion in COVID relief funds they still can’t seem to do very much right.

Karen Trine from Whitney Young asked what is the status of her request a few meetings back of allowing PSRPs to run for the school delegate position? Jesse Sharkey and Christel Williams-Hayes said there are some legal problems with the CTU constitution, but both think it is a good idea.  The Executive Board is still working on it.

James Klock from Juarez commented on the monitoring of air quality in classrooms.  He said that delegates need to insist that reported readings must reflect a classroom while it has students in it; not when it is empty.

Frank MacDonald from Washington High said that much of the work on safety committees has to be done outside of the normal school day and asked if a stipend could be granted for those on the committee.  Jesse agreed but said that Board so far has refused to pay anything, but the CTU will keep pushing it.

At this time there was a motion to extend debate but it failed, 58%-42%. That was followed by a motion to adjourn which passed 955-5%.voted to extend.  With that the meeting ended at 7:062p.m.