HOD Dec

Report on the Meeting of the House of Delegates on December 8, 2021

By George Milkowski

Please note:  Because of the COVID 19 pandemic, this meeting was conducted as a webinar via a video conference

The meeting began at 4:36 p.m..

I. Officer Reports

A. Recording Secretary Christel Williams-Hayes – Christel used most of her time talking about the CTU member at Carnegie School who contracted COVID and died and the actions teachers there have taken.  They have refused to go back into the building and are teaching remotely.

B. Financial Report Kathy Catalano – Kathy said that figures are in for our first fiscal quarter.  Although we have started receiving member dues from the Board, we also have obligations for “pass through” assessments to the IFT and AFT.  We are $4,555.000 in the red right now but this is normal and we had planned in our budget to be $4,801,000 in the red at this time so we are in better shape than expected.

C. Recording Secretary Maria Moreno – Our membership is 27,466 of which 1,364 are retiree members.  

    Maria announced that the CTU will host an in-person New Member event on December 15 from 4-30-6:30 p.m. in the Union building.

    The Union has started a mentoring program for new teachers and clinicians.  The “We Care” program is being led by Tara Stamps and she asked delegates who are interested in being mentors to contact her.

D.  Charter Division – Chris Baehrend – Chris reported that one of the smallest charter schools, the Youth Connection Leadership Academy, is threatening to close.  The teachers will be conducting a picket protest at 3:30 p.m. at 3424 S. State, just a few blocks from Police Headquarters.  Because it is a small school, they are asking for help in picketing. They also plan to transfer the students to one of their non-union schools.

E. Vice President Stacy Davis Gates  - Stacy said the Union has been receiving a lot of phone calls from members who are stressed out.  She said it is important to take care of one’s physical and mental health and there is help in the contract that is available to all at little or no out of pocket expenses.

    Stacy also asked for donations of winter outerwear in good condition and/or monetary donations to the CTU Foundation.  Students in need will be eligible for the donations.

II. President’s Report – Jesse Sharkey

Pres. Sharkey said that there are attempts by well-funded right wing lawyers to sue the Union on behalf of certain faculty or staff.  These are individuals who opted out of Union membership and would like the Rauner Era Janus decision to be retroactive.  They have lost at the district level and the appeals level and Jesse does not see them winning based on the law even if they appeal to the Supreme Court.

Jesse addressed the continuing problem of a deep sub shortage.  The CPS is offering a bonus of $420 to subs who work at least 12 days in a month.

Jesse said that coaches will be receiving their promised higher stipends per agreement with the CPS.  The increase should be reflected in their paychecks starting December 17.

Jesse gave two teachers from Carnegie a chance to explain what happened that led to the death of JonL Bush and the actions teachers have taken.  One of them said that there are 23 classrooms at Carnegie and half have been in and out of quarantine since the school year began.

Jesse also turned over the microphone to Nora Flanagan.  She works at North Side Prep but was involved in a problem at Taft H.S..  She said that a white nationalist group, Turning Point, USA, has been trying to recruit and organize students at Taft.   However, as parents and teachers learned more about the group, they and the principal took quick action to deny them access to the building.

Jesse also asked the House to change the date of the next House meeting from January 5 to January 12.  This was approved 96-4%.

.III. Item for Action

The CTU passed a resolution to call this month “New Member December”.  Its purpose is to recruit and welcome new members into the Union and to let them know how important the Union is to their daily working lives.  This passed 98-2%.

IV. Department/Committee Reports

A.  Organizing – Jim Cavallero – The CTU has helped organize a vigil for Carnegie School member Jonl Bush and he asked that delegates have their members were red tomorrow, December 9, in solidarity with the Carnegie teachers.  He also said delegates should make use of a Cleaning/Facilities toolkit to help document problems of cleanliness in the buildings.

Jim announced the CTU will be hosting a webinar on December 15 for clinicians.

B.  Grievance Report – Leah Raffanti – The Union has been working with the CPS and has used the contract to get 64 more Cadre subs hired although more are needed.  She added that the CPS has agreed to accept standards set by the ISBE to allow individuals with two years of college to be subs.

Leah also reported that the class size committee has acted to establish 220 new teaching positions.

C.  Political/Legislative - Kurt Hilgendorf – Kurt highlighted two new laws signed by Gov. Pritzker.  The first, HB1975, addresses sexual misconduct in the schools.  This was a direct response to the recent scandal at Marine Leadership Academy.  The second law, SB 101 re-instates authority and power to certain LSCs.

There are two bills the Governor has not yet signed.  The first is HB 2778 that deals with paid leave for people who contract COVID.  The second is SB1784, which imposes a moratorium on all school closings.

Lastly, due to the late arrival of figures from the Census Bureau, the spring primary has been moved to June 28.  This means that signature collection for politicians who are friendly to the CTU begins in January and lasts a few months.  Given the time of year it will be difficult to help our political allies out but Kurt said we need to support them as they have supported us.

V. New Business/Questions and Answers

Kim works in a middle school that is departmentalized like in the high schools.  Many classes are oversized and they need TAs but are not eligible for the remedies that are offered to high schools.  Jesse recognized that she had a valid point and the CTU will work to see if anything can be done.

Denise said that the vaccination deadline for teachers has been rescinded and she has concerns about the COVID variants.  She asked what the Union is doing regarding this.  Jesse answered, saying the CPS is dragging its feet on vaccinations and testing.  He said the Union has taken a position in favor of vaccination but is opposed to teachers and staff being fired when police, firefighters, and other employees of the City are not.

A far Southside delegate said her principal has refused to meet with the Safety Committee.  She said the school is not cleaned properly and air filters on the machines are filthy and not changed very often.  Jesse responded and said that the problem of non-co-operation by principals has occurred at other schools, too.  When brought to their attention many of the principals have been contacted by the CPS and told that they are required to co-operate with the Committee by law.

Moselean said that COVID testing at her school is impractical as teachers cannot leave their full classes to go to on-site testing location and there is no proper sub coverage.  The CTU will try to get extended on-site hours for the testing.

The meeting ended at 7:03 p.m..