No leaders at Chambers Rally

Where was the CTU Leadership at Sarah Chambers Rally?
By Jim Vail

The CTU leadership decided to not attend the rally to save delegate teacher Sarah Chambers job last week.

Why didn't CTU leaders show up at a rally to save Sarah Chambers job last week at Saucedo Elementary School in Little Village?

It certainly looked a bit strange to me that there was Chuy Garcia, the Cook County commissioner who ran for mayor in the last election at the prodding of the union, to be speaking out on behalf of activist teacher Sarah Chambers, whom the Chicago Public Schools is trying to fire.

But not one CTU officer made it to the rally.

They suspended Chambers from teaching at the school and a rally was held in which about a 100 people came out to defend her.

I first asked Sarah, and she said to ask the leadership.

So I emailed our vice president Jesse Sharkey, who stated:

"It was not a dis. We've been doing a lot of work on Sarah's case (and several other cases too, btw which we think are part of a pattern by Forrest Claypool to target outspoken teachers), but there was a conflict last week so we had to miss the rally."

To which I replied in an email back:

"With all due respect, I'm wondering what took precedence over showing public support for arguably the union's top activist teacher on the firing line."

Sharkey replied that, "we are running a big union and there was actually both an urgent matter that will directly impact 25,000 members and the entire staff AND an appointment that was required by a resolution of the HOD."

Am I arguing the four officers need to be personally present in order to demonstrate our committment to her case, Jesse asked me.

Absolutely YES!!!  Sarah has been on the firing line to defend teacher and union rights, and CPS decision to suspend her and possibly fire her is a huge attack on our union.

I'm not saying every officer should have been at Saucedo, but to not send at least one high-level elected officer to show support for our union doesn't seem right.

When one of your best 'rank and file' soldiers goes done, you want your captain right there to show your troops we will fight back.

That didn't happen and it's disappointing to say the least.

Save Sarah Rally!

Chicago Public Schools Suspends Activist Teacher Fighting for Students

By Jim Vail
Special to Chicago News

About a 100 people attended a rally to save Sarah Chambers job.

Students, parents, teachers and community members gathered at Saucedo Elementary School this week on the Southwest Side to demand that the Chicago Public Schools reinstate their beloved special education teacher and fiery student rights activist Sarah Chambers who was suspended a week ago.

“I’m appalled that they are trying to make her an example because of the great job she is doing here,” said Cook County Commissioner Chuy Garcia, who ran against Rahm Emanuel for mayor in the last election. “I have seen first hand what she has done here. She’s a known advocate for public education and the rights of special education.”

The school board is taking steps to fire Chambers but have not said the exact reason why. CPS made a statement that she has violated school policies.

A rally took place at Saucedo Elementary School on Tuesday where parents, students, politicians and union activists spoke about a wonderful teacher who has touched many of the students’ lives by fighting the system on their behalf to stop special education cuts, excessive testing, school closings, etc.

Delegate and super activist Sarah Chambers was suspended from teaching.

“She’s awesome,” said Chris Baehrend, a teacher and president of the union of charter teachers who attended the rally. “CPS doesn’t like people who defy authority.”

Chambers helped lead a boycott against the PARCC exam, a state mandated test that many believe is harmful to the students. Most states have dropped the test. She has also been an outspoken opponent of cutting special education services.

Chambers is an award-winning special education teacher who is consistently rated distinguished – the highest, and for many, unattainable rating a teacher can get.

Lindblom delegate Ed Hershey holds a sign at the rally.

The Chicago Board of Education earlier fired Troy LaRaviere, an outspoken award-winning principal at Blaine Elementary School on the North Side after he criticized CPS policies that he said hurt the children.

Many speculate that LaRaviere - who constantly blasted the mayor – may want to run for mayor. He was seen as one of the city’s most outspoken critics and thus a threat to the mayor who runs the city’s public schools.

Chambers, who has told the media she just wants to return to the classroom and be with her students, is another top critic of the city’s educational policies. However, she has no political ambitions beyond fighting to save public education. 

“We believe that she’s been targeted because she’s been an effective leader,” said Rod Estvan, with Access Living, the largest disability rights organization in the city.

Chambers says CPS is making false allegations that she encouraged students to opt out of taking the PARCC exam and said she will fight it at her upcoming hearing which has not yet been scheduled.

However, another teacher at the rally was Anne Carlson who like Chambers helped lead a boycott against the PARCC test at Drummond Elementary School. She told Chicago News that CPS never took disciplinary action against her.

Cook County Commissioner Chuy Garcia attended the rally.

The parents and students at Saucedo say they want their beloved teacher to return as soon as possible.

“She’s touched the lives of a lot of people,” said Saucedo associate union delegate John Toman.

Chants of “Let Sarah teach!” rang outside the Little Village school as her supporters marched with banners in support of her.

Others at the rally speculated that Chambers has been a leader for gay and lesbian rights for students and this made her a target.

She tells people her activism against Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the city’s educational policies is the reason why they want to fire her.

“There’s really an attack against me, because I’m an outspoken union activist, and especially an outspoken special education advocate,” she said. “They cut special education by $80 million at least this year alone, and it’s really hurting our students. I’ve spoken at the Board of Education, and brought parents and students to speak at the Board of Education, and frankly they want teachers to be silent. You know, they want them to follow their orders, and I can’t be silent, because it hurts my students with disabilities.”

The board first took action against Chambers when they changed the special education students’ schedules and tried to double the number of students she would service. CPS claimed it was a “more stringent approach” to identify and educate the students. But Chambers, like always, successfully fought back so she could continue to work with her 8^th grade students.

She also led a successful fight against merging Saucedo with Spry High School.

She is a formidable foe to the city’s hierarchy.

When word hit social media that the board was moving to fire her, facebook, twitter and other online forums lit up in support of their unofficial leader to defend public education.

“Mrs Chambers escucha!, estamost con tu lucha!” wrote one comment on the facebook page promoting the rally. “Mrs. Chambers listen! We are with you in the fight!”

More than 3,400 people have signed a petition in support of Chambers.

Chambers has not only fought the city powers to defend public education. She has also spoken out against the Chicago Teachers Union leadership for agreeing to a contract that includes the special education cuts and earlier making a deal with legislators called SB7 that many felt sold out the teachers’ interests such as seniority rights.

Another speaker at the rally noted that Chambers just recently returned from Brazil where she attended meetings to support public school teachers there.

“She’s indefatigable,” Baehrend told Chicago News.

Politics in Classroom

POLITICS IN THE CLASSROOM

By Stephen Wilson

 

Moscow -- A Russian school pupil from Bryansk was pulled out of the classroom during a lesson, by the police , for making and putting a video recording on the social network 'V Kontact'. According to the headmaster, pupils don't have the right to their own opinion or the right to use provocative 

sources of information (i.e. opinions at odds with the government) . This incident led to a petition signed by 26,000 people calling for the headmaster to be fired. At around the same time, students at Moscow State Conservatory recorded a speech by a lecturer who lectured students on the dangers of a fifth column in Russia of alleged traitors'. The conflict between the students and the teacher which followed forced the lecturer to resign. Those incidents, along with numerous others , serve to emphasize growing tension between the

conflicting views of teachers and their students. What has angered many Russian pupils is the role of some Russian teachers condemning those who are attending opposition rallies and worse, even threatening reprisals or calling the police. An increasing number of students are incensed at the

double standards where it is okay for teachers to lecture them on patriotism and obedience to authority yet condemn the opposition.

 

In one strange incident, at school number 114 in Samara, one teacher thundered at a pupil who had participated in opposition meetings that :

 

"Do you like it when everything is in order? When you are the centre of attention, Yes? Against corruption in our country we need other methods so that we don't demoralise the country". When a teacher was showing a film about Ukraine, the teacher told a pupil: "If you don't want to watch, shut your mouth and get out. Don't prevent others from watching it. Off

you go to the headmaster's office."

 

Before the rallies of the 26th of March students had recorded many pro-government monologues by their teachers . They were then put on social networks and watched by many. What comes across is the authoritarian presumption that the pupils are not allowed to question or challenge their teacher's political views in anyway. It was such recordings, as well as a

popular anti corruption documentary which was watched by over 18 million Russians that led to many young people attending demonstrations.

 

Instead of listening to the grievances of pupils, some teachers, officials and the police are attempting to punish them , and even in some extreme cases, arresting them in the classroom.

 

The parents of many of those children claim that the preaching of politics or religion should have no place in the classroom. If pupils don't have the right to express an opinion in the classroom, then why should teachers be allowed to preach their own views?

 

Who is at fault? According to the Law on Education, part 3 , article 43, teaching staff are forbidden to use educational activity for political purposes . However, they can express what is a historical fact. While having political opinions they

are expected to keep them to themselves and certainly not provoke unwanted conflict in the classroom. It is not the case that teachers and pupils are forbidden from holding political opinions but only using schools as a means to promote their opinions. However, many teachers appear to forget that it

is not illegal for pupils to hold anti-government views. Yevgeny Bunimovich, a teacher and advocate of the rights of children states: "When I inform teachers by quoting from the Convention of the Rights of Children that 'children have the right to freely express their opinion ', and 'the state must respect the rights of children to free thought,' many of the

teachers listening become dumbfounded. After the detention of children on the 26th of March, I approached teachers, the police and a commission on the activity of minors, saying it is not necessarily to frighten pupils or launch a witchhunt. Yes , of course you need to explain to them that climbing lamp-posts .... is a violation , but it is worth considering why 

children feel they have to climb lamp-posts to get answers to their questions".

  

Part of the answer to this is that Russia and other countries lack a philosophical culture where questioning is encouraged. One of my students , Olga, who helps special on-line techonology courses for undergraduates at five universities

in Moscow informed me: "Students at university are often afraid of their professors. They are afraid to ask them questions. Our role is to try and encourage students not to be afraid of asking questions so they can later adapt to the world of work following graduation". This statement hardly surprised me! At Moscow State University one of the students who attended my folklore course deeply apologised for disagreeing with me. It took a great effort to persuade him that I did not take such arguments personally and even welcomed opposite views. I mean it is boring if everyone agrees with you all the time.

 

It is important to stress that the attempts by officials and teachers to threaten, intimidate and punish outspoken pupils don't come from the top. More often they come from local zealous teachers who overreact to any form of disagreement. Such teachers are often ignorant of basic laws of the Russian

constitution not to mention the rights of school children.

 

The uneasy relationship between politics and the classroom is hardly confined to Russia. I heard how a British teacher in Moscow was dismissed from his post by the notoriously conservative British Council for simply having a political discussion with a student . He defended himself by claiming: "But everything is political. How can you avoid speaking on such subjects?" He was not preaching. This can't be said of an old acquaintance called Donald Anderson who was accused of using the teaching of Scottish history as a 

propaganda platform for the nationalist cause. The authorities did not fire him but simply forbade him from teaching history. He was allowed to go on teaching English. What is evident is that the line between preaching and teaching can often be a thin one. Is freely expressing an opinion to pupils an attempt to make political propaganda or just being frank ? Surely not ! An old English rule of making conversation once insisted it was taboo to speak on two issues: politics and religion ! This proverb may have dated from the English Civil War when the English had become cautious about provoking unwanted strife.

 

However, one of the results of this was that some people became too inhibited about being forthright in expressing opinions. There was less conflict but also less genuine free discussion. Perhaps it is how we disagree which is more

important than what we disagree with. Listening silently to a disagreeable opinion should not imply consent. Just because we disagree does not preclude possible or future friendship on other matters we share! 

Sarah Chambers

CPS Attempts to Fire Teacher Activist
By Jim Vail

Saucedo Teacher & Star Activist Sarah Chambers

The Chicago Public Schools informed Saucedo teacher delegate and activist Sarah Chambers that she is being removed as a teacher at her school and will go on trial.

Chambers is one of the Chicago Teachers Union's strongest activists - protesting school closings, special education cuts, merging Saucedo with other schools, etc.

In the meantime, a petition has already neared its goal of almost 2,000 signatures from people across the country, and other parts of the world.

"Public schools are underfunded and under attack. Teachers and staff are fighting to provide quality education to their students. Sarah Chambers, a distinguished award winning teacher from Saucedo Academy, is one of the leaders in this fight. She has been especially vocal in advocating for special education students and LGBTQ students. Now Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has accused her of encouraging students to opt out of the PARCC Test, an accusation that Sarah denies.  CPS has suspended her and is moving to fire her for her courageous advocacy on behalf of her students. Stand up, be counted and say NO to this injustice."

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/768/541/715/dont-fire-sarah-chambers-defend-a-powerful-voice-for-special-education-students./?taf_id=35415218&cid=twitter#bbfb=340110318 

Corruption

CORRUPTION SURVEY

By Stephen Wilson 

Moscow -- "Yes corruption is the number one problem in Russia. It is the main issue. We will never have a normal country until this problem is seriously addressed", stated a Russian teacher who prefers to be unnamed. She informed me her husband had attended the Navalny demonstration against corruption two weeks ago. He had narrowly escaped being arrested by sprinting down an alleyway.

 

She joked that school children who are attending such rallies would be wise to learn how to run faster!

 

She is not alone in lamenting the almost undisguised corruption which is seeing Moscow's perfectly made roads and buildings taken apart so that the city council can make more lucrative deals with construction companies and real estate agencies. According to a recent Levada survey, an overwhelming 89% of Russians condemn corruption in state organs. As many as one out of five Russians have admitted using bribes to resolve problems. They claimed that they had given bribes to traffic police (GAI) who had stopped them, to

get the right to registration, for medical treatment in hospitals and as well as for allowing them to enroll their children in local schools. Bribery therefore makes a blatant mockery of any obsolete claims that Russians provide a system of free medical care and right to education.

 

The level of corruption is so bad in the medical training that doctors can buy their 'qualifications'. But when they practise in hospitals and health centres, they can't even make a basic diagnosis. One of my 19 year old students, Dasha , informed me of how she had gone to five doctors in the space of a day.

One doctor asked her : "What am I supposed to do ?" She answered, "I thought you were supposed to advise me and not vice versa."

 

Two doctors informed me how they were distressed by poorly trained doctors that can't make a diagnosis because they never undertook serious training but spent their student years having parties while their parents bribed officials.

 

But the two old questions remain : 'Who is to blame ? ' and 'What is to be done?'

 

Most respondents in the survey claimed that both the person who gives and takes bribes are equally to blame. However, one third believe that those who accept or demand bribes are more to blame.

 

As many as 43% polled believed the scale of corruption remains largely unchanged while 31% state it has risen over the past years. As few as 15% believe it has decreased. Concerning what can be done to stamp out corruption, almost 60% believe it is impossible but believe it can at least be lessened.

 

However, many foreigners appear to be unaware of how the law sharply makes a distinction between what constitutes a gift and a bribe. Any gift given to a businessman over the value of 50 dollars counts as a bribe. 

 

Some people think it does not matter and that there is no real law code or enforcement in Russia . But this is a serious misjudgement of law which confuses caprice with anarchy. There are existing laws in force to curb and punish bribery.

 

A second myth is that practically any Russian official can be bribed. They believe everyone has their price and can be bribed. This foolish advice is even given by a few Russians. But this is nonsense. Some officials and policemen can't and won't be bribed. There are actually honest officials or people who don't see the point of risking their secure jobs. A journalist called Deirdre Dare was turned back from crossing the border precisely because she had no exit visa . She had to return to Moscow. Bribery or sweet talk would not suffice.

 

In recent days the Russian government has suggested getting to grips with the problem by offering special courses for school children at an early age where they are brought up to believe that bribery is wrong. This is important because some people believe paying bribes amounts to 'an honest crime' or that they feel they have no choice but to pay a bribe in order to solve a problem.

 

Corruption can easily be viewed as the normal and natural thing to do because 'everybody else is doing it '.

 

However, one of the reasons why Russians pay bribes is because of the huge red tape which is strangling people from doing anything. They feel they have no choice or are literary 'forced to pay a bribe' or nothing happens. They won't pass this exam or get this permit unless they pay a bribe. In fact , they could quite frankly claim they are not paying bribes but being robbed ! So there is a gray area where the illegal acts of officials could be viewed not as taking bribes but blackmail and robbery. Since bureaucracy has mushroomed over the

past twenty years then it is highly likely that bribery and corruption has also increased. Since the highest organs of state are tainted with corruption, any campaigns against corruption are doomed to fail. Officials who accuse other

officials of bribery is like the kettle calling the pot black. So bribery is most likely to remorselessly rise!

May 1 Strike?

There Will Be No May 1st One Day Strike!
By Jim Vail


The Chicago Teachers Union wants to have a one-day strike May 1st, but it will not happen.

The teachers at my school Hammond Elementary are mostly against it and the other teachers I talk to are against it.

CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey told delegates at the March training that unless the union is unified and most support the one-day strike, then it will not happen. He then asked for a show of hands of who is in support of a one-day strike. Of about 200 delegates at the training, maybe 40 percent raised their hands.

Now of course this will be different if the the CTU officers press the delegates at Wednesday's scheduled House of Delegates April meeting to drum up support for the one-day strike. But it looks like many teachers have made it clear they do not want to go out on May 1st, which is International Worker's Day.

Why?

First - A one-day strike, in my humble opinion, would add to the confusion already out there about how many days of school the children are missing. The mayor and governor are threatening to end school June 1st and cancel three weeks of classes. Why would the teachers add to another day of absence for the kids at this juncture?

Second - teachers are already getting four furlough days of no pay, on top of the threatened 3 more weeks of no pay, adding up to possibly a 10% pay cut. Thanks, but no thanks, say many teachers who are already hurting after the last contract was voted on and ratified last fall.

Third - Is the union playing fast and loose with the word Strike! The union did not go on strike last fall and instead quickly got its member to sign on to a contract that 30 percent were upset with. There were many reasons to go on strike last fall, but the union leadership chose not to. 

They did have a 1-day April 1st Fool's Day strike last year and, as suspected, some union officials are calling that our strike. There were many delegates including myself back then who were against a one-day strike since it seemed confusing. That was not a strike against the contract. It was a strike, in the union's words - to put pressure on the state legislature to come up with the funding for the schools.

It worked, kind of I guess, or at least according to the teachers union. Money came in. However, when the CTU signed off on the new contract last October, 2016, it was predicated on monies that were precariously in place.

The governor's swift veto of $215 million for the pension quickly dispelled the contract, and now CPS is tearing up our contract with furlough days, more threatened cut work time, etc.

No, there will be no May 1st strike.  There may be a major demonstration planned, in which case getting 5,000 red shirts downtown blocking traffic and demanding the mayor and governor come up with the money they have to not close school early.  

Crack Down

CRACK DOWN

By Stephen Wilson

 

Moscow -- 'I'm only walking', declared an inscribed placard carried by a middle-aged walker who had turned up at a protest rally. In actual fact it was difficult to distinguish who had gone for a walk , who was a sight-seeing tourist and who really just wanted to drop into the nearby Macdonald's restaurant within the vicinity of Pushkin Square. One of the most conspicuous aspects about this demonstration was the almost absence of handed-out leaflets, placards and posters. People eagerly searching for leaflets were handed an

advertisement for either a pizzza or a private school ! There were good reasons for not handing out leaflets or displaying posters. The demonstrators who were brandishing placards with slogans were among the first people to be sought

out for arrest.

 

At times, it was difficult to make out where the demonstration was taking place.

 

This was because many of the demonstrators were not sticking to one spot but walking up and down the main street. So it was really difficult to spot who was a tourist, who was shopping and who was attending the demonstration. A 

passerby stopped and asked me : " Where is the demonstration ? "I directed him to Pushkin square as that was where the core of the protest was emerging. 

 

One group of young men was trying to work out where best to leave a protest poster 'Where is Dimon?" They hastily positioned it on the window ledge of a cafe then went away giggling. They reminded me of naughty school children. Who knows? Maybe they belonged to the bad boys that always hang about the back of the class room. For them the demo might be part of an adventure !

 

One of the few strikingly displayed placards on display read :

 

 

ATTENTION ! MISSING PERSON !

 

MEDVEDEV DIMON (51 YEARS OLD)

 

HE WAS LAST DRESSED IN : CHECKERED SHIRT , JEANS AND TRAINERS

 

CHARACTERISTICS : LOVES TO INNOVATE , HOME-MADE WINE AND MAKE DUCK HOUSES. HE IS POSSIBLY ILL OR MAYBE NOT.

 

POSSIBLE LOCATION : COUNTRY ESTATE IN RUBLYVYI, NAMELY IN THE KURSKOI REGION , VINEYARD IN ALAPI , DACHA AT KRASNAYA POLYANYI, PALACE IN SAINT PETERSBURG OR VILLA IN ITALY.

 

ON THE 26th OF MARCH IN MANY CITIES IN RUSSIA WE ARE CONDUCTING A RESCUE SEARCH ! DON"T REMAIN INDIFFERENT!

 

WE NEED YOUR HELP !

 

I began to feel sorry for Medvedev. It was as if he was being picked on by bullies in a classroom. Rumours abounded that he was in deep depression and on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

 

Where was Medvedev ? Well while many demostrators had 'gone for a walk', he told everyone - " I have gone fishing!"

 

Pushkin square was crammed with people . When Navalny emerged there was an eruption of cheers and a speech followed. I could not make it out.

 

It did not matter. My mind was on the helmeted riot police who had begun to seal off the entrances to the square and were moving in to make arrests.

 

The crack down was severe. From an estimated attendance of between 8000 to 10000 protesters, over a 1,000 people were detained. This was more than double the number of arrests on 6 May 2012 Bolotnoi square protests where more than 400 were detained. The first people to be targeted were

the youngest such as school children. They were a number of ugly scuffles where some were beaten up. So many people were arrested en mass it is entirely possible a Woody Allen scene may have emerged where an amazed arrested tourist claimed: "I only wanted to have a look at the statue of

Pushkin".

 

On this day there was a news black out . One of the biggest protest rallies since 2012 got no news coverage. Instead , people were relying on social network news reports. When newspaper reports emerged they were often crassly idiotic . One report stated Navaly had paid school children to attend

the demonstration. Another false report claimed that a journalist for the Guardian had been shouting 'Anti-Putin ' slogans in English at the rally and did not know any Russian. This was all just lies! The journalist was simply doing his job taking photos of people being arrested and when he was detained spoke in fluent Russian that he had a permit from the Russian authorities to report.

 

Much is being made of the fact that many school children were attending the demonstrations. Some Journalists have even begun to label this as 'A children's crusade' in reference to a Medieval Children's crusade that ended in disaster.

 

This represents at best a gross overstatement. When I was there I noticed people of different ages drawn from varied backgrounds. Yet some school children appear to have been in conflict with their teachers at Tomsk. Some bitter students are complaining that if they express dissident opinions their

conservative teachers give them a '2' and fail them at exams. We have no way of verifying those allegations . What sickens students at some institutes and schools are warnings from officials "Not to attend protest demonstrations".

 

When some teachers tell their school students that 'Everything is great under Putin" and they see so many beggars in the streets and notice growing poverty then they resent being deceived.

 

You don't need any sophisticated sociological analysis to work out why more and more school students might protest. They are among the most oppressed sections of society. They are overtested, overworked and overstressed. Recent

research indicates that school students do more work than their parents. They not only study hard at school, do a lot of homework but often have private tuition lessons. I come across some students who are simultaneously learning English, German and Chinese. When I ask the students : " What do you do in your free time?" they answer: "I don't have free time" . End of discussion . I have to rephrase the question : "What would you do if you had free time ?" So children are adults before their prime time. The connection between the protests and over-studying is indicated by a current joke in circulation : " A schoolboy asks his friend ; "Are you coming to the demonstration?" The pupil answers " I'm sorry. I can't go as I have got Algebra!" 

Indeed, people who are kept very busy don't have much time for protesting!