Send a STAR to College!
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Help the Alliance of Progressive Teachers at Latino Youth celebrate the end of the year by raising money to send one of our best scholars with greatest need to college. J
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Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Friday, June 5, 2015
HOD Meeting
CTU To Offer Aldermanic Correction
By Jim Vail
The Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates last meeting of the year on June 3, 2015 addressed questions and concerns from its members.
I asked the question about an article posted in April on the CTU news blog that congratulated Sue Garza for being the first CTU member ever to be elected as an alderman to the Chicago City Council.
The author of the article congratulated the other two CTU teachers who ran and lost for alderman, including Tim Meegan and Tara Stamps.
However, the article failed to note that there were other teachers who rose to the call from CTU President Karen Lewis to run for political office. Ed Hershey ran an impressive campaign on the southwest side in Pilsen that almost forced a runoff, Diane Daleiden garnered 40% of the vote against machine incumbent Pat O'Connor and Tammy Vinson ran hard but was kicked off the ballot due to typical Chicago political maneuvering.
CTU VP President Jesse Sharkey, who now deftly handles the Q&A period in the beginning of the house of delegates meetings, agreed that there were impressive performances from several CTU members in the latest aldermanic races and that the oversight will be corrected for the record.
I then followed up with another question in the Q&A at the end of the meeting about sending in an email the agenda set by the Executive Board a day early so delegates are prepared coming to the HOD meetings.
Lewis said this could be arranged, but first asked if I understand this is increased paperwork and so something needs to be taken off the table to make this presentable.
Very funny, and quite apropos considering paperwork demands have been a big sticking point for teachers.
Another teacher asked if it's fair for a principal to deny a summer teaching gig to a teacher, and the answer was yes. Principals are allowed to hire whom they want, Sharkey said.
Why do the eighth graders graduate on a Wednesday, and then have to return for two more days of school, asked another delegate?
The union leadership said that was thanks to the new longer school year law.
The union noted that re-elected mayor Rahm Emanuel immediately went to Springfield to say he didn't want to pay pensions right after the Illinois Supreme Court ruled the recent pension cuts unconstitutional.
CTU Recording Secretary Michael Brunson made a nice presentation about the payments the city is making while saying they are broke, including $212 million in toxic swap interest, while noting Illinois loses about $8.5 billion every year due to off shore tax accounts.
Brunson said that while Chicago Public Schools need to make a $400 million pension payment, they suck out $500 million in TIF monies that should go to the schools and other public entities.
"Is the Board really broke," Sharkey said. "They are not really broke if they pay bondholders, and pay toxic swap interest rate, close schools and then put charter schools in a year later after promising not to."
Unlike acrimonious fights in the past, the CTU's $25 million budget passed without a whimper.
Robert Pincham, the son the late great judge and pioneering African American civil rights lawyer Eugene Pincham, won an election to be a high school functional vice president to serve on the union's executive board.
In terms of contract negotiations, there was really no news. Everything the CTU negotiators propose is shot down by the Chicago Board of Education. The Board has even proposed to freeze lane and step changes in the salary structure.
Sharkey then asked for delegates to stand who planned to attend next Tuesday's big rally at the Thompson Center at 5pm. There will be buses from different schools making the trip. Just about every delegate stood up.
The turnout could tell the union whether the teachers want to fight, or accept the continued cuts and attacks on working teachers, while the bankers contracts and financial shenanigans continue to be sacrosanct.
By Jim Vail
The Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates last meeting of the year on June 3, 2015 addressed questions and concerns from its members.
I asked the question about an article posted in April on the CTU news blog that congratulated Sue Garza for being the first CTU member ever to be elected as an alderman to the Chicago City Council.
The author of the article congratulated the other two CTU teachers who ran and lost for alderman, including Tim Meegan and Tara Stamps.
However, the article failed to note that there were other teachers who rose to the call from CTU President Karen Lewis to run for political office. Ed Hershey ran an impressive campaign on the southwest side in Pilsen that almost forced a runoff, Diane Daleiden garnered 40% of the vote against machine incumbent Pat O'Connor and Tammy Vinson ran hard but was kicked off the ballot due to typical Chicago political maneuvering.
CTU VP President Jesse Sharkey, who now deftly handles the Q&A period in the beginning of the house of delegates meetings, agreed that there were impressive performances from several CTU members in the latest aldermanic races and that the oversight will be corrected for the record.
I then followed up with another question in the Q&A at the end of the meeting about sending in an email the agenda set by the Executive Board a day early so delegates are prepared coming to the HOD meetings.
Lewis said this could be arranged, but first asked if I understand this is increased paperwork and so something needs to be taken off the table to make this presentable.
Very funny, and quite apropos considering paperwork demands have been a big sticking point for teachers.
Another teacher asked if it's fair for a principal to deny a summer teaching gig to a teacher, and the answer was yes. Principals are allowed to hire whom they want, Sharkey said.
Why do the eighth graders graduate on a Wednesday, and then have to return for two more days of school, asked another delegate?
The union leadership said that was thanks to the new longer school year law.
The union noted that re-elected mayor Rahm Emanuel immediately went to Springfield to say he didn't want to pay pensions right after the Illinois Supreme Court ruled the recent pension cuts unconstitutional.
CTU Recording Secretary Michael Brunson made a nice presentation about the payments the city is making while saying they are broke, including $212 million in toxic swap interest, while noting Illinois loses about $8.5 billion every year due to off shore tax accounts.
Brunson said that while Chicago Public Schools need to make a $400 million pension payment, they suck out $500 million in TIF monies that should go to the schools and other public entities.
"Is the Board really broke," Sharkey said. "They are not really broke if they pay bondholders, and pay toxic swap interest rate, close schools and then put charter schools in a year later after promising not to."
Unlike acrimonious fights in the past, the CTU's $25 million budget passed without a whimper.
Robert Pincham, the son the late great judge and pioneering African American civil rights lawyer Eugene Pincham, won an election to be a high school functional vice president to serve on the union's executive board.
In terms of contract negotiations, there was really no news. Everything the CTU negotiators propose is shot down by the Chicago Board of Education. The Board has even proposed to freeze lane and step changes in the salary structure.
Sharkey then asked for delegates to stand who planned to attend next Tuesday's big rally at the Thompson Center at 5pm. There will be buses from different schools making the trip. Just about every delegate stood up.
The turnout could tell the union whether the teachers want to fight, or accept the continued cuts and attacks on working teachers, while the bankers contracts and financial shenanigans continue to be sacrosanct.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
To Strike or Not to Strike
To Strike or Not to Strike?
By Jim Vail
It almost seemed like the pink elephant in the room.
Here we were attending the last Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates meeting of the 2014 - 2015 school year on June 3, with our contract a few weeks away from ending, and not a peep about a strike during the opening question and answer period.
So as the delegate for Hammond Elementary School, I wanted to ask about a possible strike. A question many teachers across the city want to know with the Chicago Board of Education threatening to cut up to 10% of teachers' pay, according to the CTU.
A teacher who took the mic right before me then asked the question - what is the time line for a possible strike? Teachers are worried that after a long summer with no pay it may be difficult to go on strike with more days of no pay.
CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said the earliest date for a possible strike would be sometime in late October. He said the negotiation team is still in the early stages of talks. It may not be until the cold month of January when teachers could be picketing their schools.
"It might be a good time to avoid big purchases," Sharkey said, to a smattering of laughter.
He encouraged the CTU delegates to take informal strike votes in their schools and send the results to the union.
Sharkey said the non-binding strike vote the teachers took in 2012 before the end of the year which led to the first teachers strike in over 25 years told the union how much the CTU members wanted to strike.
Several shout outs from delegates at the Operating Engineers Hall said their teachers are ready to strike.
However, the CTU leadership did not appear to promote the idea of a strike just yet.
"Are we ready to fight for our rights," Sharkey said, to pump up the crowd.
But rather than build up the teachers to stand up and generate excitement for a possible strike, the energy level in the room was mild at best on the topic.
Surprisingly, the room erupted in a maddening roar when CTU President Karen Lewis exclaimed that the teachers voted in favor of a union at Urban Prep Charter School.
In fact, Lewis repeated it twice, and teachers erupted in excitement a second time.
The CTU is focused on unionizing charter school teachers, which is a mighty battle to fight. Charters are anti-union.
But the current war is the contract and whether or not to use the most powerful weapon a union has - the strike!
You would think with all the negative publicity surrounding the contract talks that the teachers were ready to fight and all the leadership had to do was throw a match.
However, rather than pump up the crowd, Lewis had this to say on the topic of a strike.
"No one likes a strike," she told the delegates on Wednesday. "But we will fight for our dignity and fight for our schools."
The union is focused on next week's June 9th rally at the Thompson Center at 5pm. They are organizing buses for the various schools around the city and encouraging everyone to attend.
Just about every teacher stood up when asked if they would attend the June 9th rally.
And of course, teachers wearing red on Fridays is another key step to show solidarity among all CTU members.
But does it look like we are ready to strike again?
By the likes of it, I would say no, not at the moment.
Of course, we live and work in the Windy City, and who knows what the future will bring.
By Jim Vail
 |
| Hammond teachers showing Red solidarity on Fridays! |
It almost seemed like the pink elephant in the room.
Here we were attending the last Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates meeting of the 2014 - 2015 school year on June 3, with our contract a few weeks away from ending, and not a peep about a strike during the opening question and answer period.
So as the delegate for Hammond Elementary School, I wanted to ask about a possible strike. A question many teachers across the city want to know with the Chicago Board of Education threatening to cut up to 10% of teachers' pay, according to the CTU.
A teacher who took the mic right before me then asked the question - what is the time line for a possible strike? Teachers are worried that after a long summer with no pay it may be difficult to go on strike with more days of no pay.
CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said the earliest date for a possible strike would be sometime in late October. He said the negotiation team is still in the early stages of talks. It may not be until the cold month of January when teachers could be picketing their schools.
"It might be a good time to avoid big purchases," Sharkey said, to a smattering of laughter.
He encouraged the CTU delegates to take informal strike votes in their schools and send the results to the union.
Sharkey said the non-binding strike vote the teachers took in 2012 before the end of the year which led to the first teachers strike in over 25 years told the union how much the CTU members wanted to strike.
Several shout outs from delegates at the Operating Engineers Hall said their teachers are ready to strike.
However, the CTU leadership did not appear to promote the idea of a strike just yet.
"Are we ready to fight for our rights," Sharkey said, to pump up the crowd.
But rather than build up the teachers to stand up and generate excitement for a possible strike, the energy level in the room was mild at best on the topic.
Surprisingly, the room erupted in a maddening roar when CTU President Karen Lewis exclaimed that the teachers voted in favor of a union at Urban Prep Charter School.
In fact, Lewis repeated it twice, and teachers erupted in excitement a second time.
The CTU is focused on unionizing charter school teachers, which is a mighty battle to fight. Charters are anti-union.
But the current war is the contract and whether or not to use the most powerful weapon a union has - the strike!
You would think with all the negative publicity surrounding the contract talks that the teachers were ready to fight and all the leadership had to do was throw a match.
However, rather than pump up the crowd, Lewis had this to say on the topic of a strike.
"No one likes a strike," she told the delegates on Wednesday. "But we will fight for our dignity and fight for our schools."
The union is focused on next week's June 9th rally at the Thompson Center at 5pm. They are organizing buses for the various schools around the city and encouraging everyone to attend.
Just about every teacher stood up when asked if they would attend the June 9th rally.
And of course, teachers wearing red on Fridays is another key step to show solidarity among all CTU members.
But does it look like we are ready to strike again?
By the likes of it, I would say no, not at the moment.
Of course, we live and work in the Windy City, and who knows what the future will bring.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Union Power?
Will Unions Truly Challenge the Power Structure?
By Jim Vail
The talk for quite some time is how the Chicago Public Schools is facing a $1 billion deficit because of the pension payments.
A little known fact is that the city should have been paying into the pension fund, but the former mayor Richard Daley - himself a recipient of a lush quarter million dollar pension - decided to divert the funds to other pet projects like privatizing jobs.
Daley got a state law passed with republican support to no longer mandate that tax payer monies go straight to the teachers pension fund. The Chicago Teachers Pension Fund is currently urging people to support a bill that would bring this back.
My question is how did Daley do this? Did not the unions scream bloody murder?
I don't know enough. Unfortunately, I am a teacher and a blogger, and not a reporter who could do more research and ask questions.
My suspicion is unions, like any political entity, need to make deals and go along to get along.
Like endorsing political candidates such as Illinois house speaker Mike Madigan who is working on deals to cut teachers pensions.
In the Chicago Teachers Union May newsletter, under the heading 'Responding to Bruce Rauner's Budget Address,' Chicago Teachers Union communications director Stephanie Gadlin and political researcher and lobbyist Kurt Hilgendorf write that one of the only equitable solutions to the budget crisis is to "assist municipalities' finances by pledging to withhold state business from any bank that refuses to renegotiate toxic interest swaps."
How about going one step further in this suggestion.
I raised the issue, but not yet on the floor of the CTU House of Delegates, to organize CTU members to pull their money out of the banks that are recipients of this toxic interest payments robbing our schools. That's almost 30,000 members.
Is that too much to ask? Is the union serious asking Rauner to boycott doing business with banks that refuse to renegotiate toxic interest rate swaps and not first show by example?
The banks are too big. The banks have flat out robbed this country after the subprime disaster in 2008.
But rather than sending banking officials responsible to prison, the banks just got bigger.
And now they want our pensions!
If the unions are serious we will take them on as we are asking Mr. Rauner - who is one of them - to do.
I say pull your money out of these institutions. We are big enough and strong enough to do it.
And that notion should probably start with myself since yours truly has his savings in one of those very institutions.
Like the old saying, "You can talk the talk. But can you walk the walk?"
By Jim Vail
The talk for quite some time is how the Chicago Public Schools is facing a $1 billion deficit because of the pension payments.
A little known fact is that the city should have been paying into the pension fund, but the former mayor Richard Daley - himself a recipient of a lush quarter million dollar pension - decided to divert the funds to other pet projects like privatizing jobs.
Daley got a state law passed with republican support to no longer mandate that tax payer monies go straight to the teachers pension fund. The Chicago Teachers Pension Fund is currently urging people to support a bill that would bring this back.
My question is how did Daley do this? Did not the unions scream bloody murder?
I don't know enough. Unfortunately, I am a teacher and a blogger, and not a reporter who could do more research and ask questions.
My suspicion is unions, like any political entity, need to make deals and go along to get along.
Like endorsing political candidates such as Illinois house speaker Mike Madigan who is working on deals to cut teachers pensions.
In the Chicago Teachers Union May newsletter, under the heading 'Responding to Bruce Rauner's Budget Address,' Chicago Teachers Union communications director Stephanie Gadlin and political researcher and lobbyist Kurt Hilgendorf write that one of the only equitable solutions to the budget crisis is to "assist municipalities' finances by pledging to withhold state business from any bank that refuses to renegotiate toxic interest swaps."
How about going one step further in this suggestion.
I raised the issue, but not yet on the floor of the CTU House of Delegates, to organize CTU members to pull their money out of the banks that are recipients of this toxic interest payments robbing our schools. That's almost 30,000 members.
Is that too much to ask? Is the union serious asking Rauner to boycott doing business with banks that refuse to renegotiate toxic interest rate swaps and not first show by example?
The banks are too big. The banks have flat out robbed this country after the subprime disaster in 2008.
But rather than sending banking officials responsible to prison, the banks just got bigger.
And now they want our pensions!
If the unions are serious we will take them on as we are asking Mr. Rauner - who is one of them - to do.
I say pull your money out of these institutions. We are big enough and strong enough to do it.
And that notion should probably start with myself since yours truly has his savings in one of those very institutions.
Like the old saying, "You can talk the talk. But can you walk the walk?"
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Last Call
THE LAST CALL
By Stephen Wilson
(Moscow, Russia) - Spring isn't just smelt from the fragrant blossoming trees. It is heard in the shy and awkward laughter of teenage school children gathering, singing and at times dancing around the streets of Moscow. For over the past few days I have been witnessing an almost euphoric mood of high expectations of a long exciting future ahead sustained by the thought that just after this celebration, school students must still sit exams. Among those students I noticed that some of them still dawned school uniforms that date back over 60 years. Some female students are still wearing that traditional brown uniform, with an outer white flock, as well as those prominent hair ribbons which startle foreign visitors. Their uniforms are draped with the red golden waist ribbon which symbolizes their final day at school. Among all this
lively gaiety can be heard the haunting ring of the last bell!
While walking around Moscow I accidentally bumped into some students I had taught, aged from 14-15. They were not
celebrating 'the last call,' but success in some Latin exams. "We have just sat and passed our last exam in Latin! We are so relieved ... We all did well. All of us got fives," said a beaming 15-year-old student who adores reading history books. All of them were feasting on an outdoor table at a Macdonald's restaurant in Prospect Mir. The students attend one of the few gymnasiums in Moscow which offers students a deep grounding in Latin and Greek. Such a school is reminiscent of an old public school in Britain which once commonly prevailed at the turn of the 19th century. I wondered if I was looking at budding historians or diplomats.
In other parts of the city I was confronted yet again by a person waving a placard with 'Free smile and hug.'
Since the person was not a girl, I declined. The man impotently attempted to block the way of an alluring
woman who managed to deftly draft around him.
THE LAST CALL
What, then, is this custom named 'The Last Call'? I have witnessed this event a couple of times. This is a unique custom, practiced in Russia in many, but not all schools. It is quite original! On the last day of school, children gather in the school playground to sing songs, recite poems and make farewell speeches. But the crown of this event is when the oldest student of the school chivalrously carries on his shoulders the youngest pupil who rings a bell. A more later
addition is that each pupil sends off a balloon with a secret wish.
The custom arose soon after the Great Patriotic War when an injured soldier returned to assume the post of head master at school number 182 (currently number 1388), in 1947. The soldier, Gregory Leonidovich Assev, organised the first 'Last Call' on 25 May 1948. This teacher is fondly remembered by his surviving school students. '
'He was not only a war hero but a man with a great vision.' This was an amazing man.
'He had been under whistling bullets all through the war, suffered from concussion and limped around school. He was very strict but we loved and respected him. He was a very authoritative figure and used it for good effect. He taught us Russian and literature. He was a great organiser! ... He arranged for the creation of labour camps and that we exercise before lessons ... Gregory Leonidovich decided to
arrange the celebration to honour the end of the school year.'
People liked this idea and now is is difficult to imagine how this all began from one school,' said former pupil Valery Lintinsky.
WHAT SOME RUSSIANS THINK OF THE CUSTOM
Asked 'What new customs might surface along with 'The Last Call,' one girl, Yula, stated, 'We don't have to change anything. It is all brilliant! The dancing! The songs! What could be more wonderful?'
Another pupil Artem stated, 'The school should be handed over to all the school graduates!'
One 12-year-old student, Sonya, stated, 'Yes, my school celebrates 'The last call' and we are usually asked to visit the school hall but I have never witnessed this in person.'
Svetlana Wilson, a 54 year old artist, stated her school never had this custom. However, she thoughtfully suggested, 'The Last Call should be held not before the final exams but after it. I mean how can pupils truly relax at a celebration organised the day before exams? Their minds are on exams and not having a good time!'
Indeed, many school students gathered to celebrate for a few hours and then dashed home to bury themselves in studies. They face taking tense exams which might decide their future fate. Taking the Unitary State exam is no casual affair. It has been rendered highly problematic by growing corruption which pervades the very entrance process.
Fair exams have been tarnished by revelations of cheating, favouritism and nepotism which allows some of the richest and untalented school students to enter Moscow State University. Now students of Russian Literature are obliged to write a composition on questions such as, 'Is it better to love than be loved?' or 'The man who says war is not a bad thing knows nothing about war? ' What criteria is to be used to assess those compositions has not been made wholly explicit!
So entering university has become more problematic. The quota of freely available places has been cut and now approximately two thirds of places at universities are paid! The old free system of further education no longer exists if it ever did! Some 'students' are too idle to even pick up a book. Instead, they just purchase a diploma. In fact, experts state that as many as 20% of diplomas in circulation are fake. So 20% of 'graduates' have never even sat or passed exams. Even the dissertations of some leading Russian politicians are thought to be plagarised.
Many of those long term questions were not on the minds of those school students. For now, at least for an hour or two, they were wallowing in the lavish sunshine which shined like a good omen.
They seemed freshly young, carefree and glowing with optimism.
They had three months of freedom and a long leisurely idyllic
summer spent in one of the Moscow parks, the dacha or abroad. (At least some students) could be forgiven for believing paradise was knocking at the door before the looming storm. Where are those students going?, and what will become of them? This is anyone's guess. However, somewhere, someone is remorselessly ringing a bell in a school. Maybe this bell will drive away and deter evil spirits for a time. In any case, students in the park ought to knock on wood!
By Stephen Wilson
(Moscow, Russia) - Spring isn't just smelt from the fragrant blossoming trees. It is heard in the shy and awkward laughter of teenage school children gathering, singing and at times dancing around the streets of Moscow. For over the past few days I have been witnessing an almost euphoric mood of high expectations of a long exciting future ahead sustained by the thought that just after this celebration, school students must still sit exams. Among those students I noticed that some of them still dawned school uniforms that date back over 60 years. Some female students are still wearing that traditional brown uniform, with an outer white flock, as well as those prominent hair ribbons which startle foreign visitors. Their uniforms are draped with the red golden waist ribbon which symbolizes their final day at school. Among all this
lively gaiety can be heard the haunting ring of the last bell!
While walking around Moscow I accidentally bumped into some students I had taught, aged from 14-15. They were not
celebrating 'the last call,' but success in some Latin exams. "We have just sat and passed our last exam in Latin! We are so relieved ... We all did well. All of us got fives," said a beaming 15-year-old student who adores reading history books. All of them were feasting on an outdoor table at a Macdonald's restaurant in Prospect Mir. The students attend one of the few gymnasiums in Moscow which offers students a deep grounding in Latin and Greek. Such a school is reminiscent of an old public school in Britain which once commonly prevailed at the turn of the 19th century. I wondered if I was looking at budding historians or diplomats.
In other parts of the city I was confronted yet again by a person waving a placard with 'Free smile and hug.'
Since the person was not a girl, I declined. The man impotently attempted to block the way of an alluring
woman who managed to deftly draft around him.
THE LAST CALL
What, then, is this custom named 'The Last Call'? I have witnessed this event a couple of times. This is a unique custom, practiced in Russia in many, but not all schools. It is quite original! On the last day of school, children gather in the school playground to sing songs, recite poems and make farewell speeches. But the crown of this event is when the oldest student of the school chivalrously carries on his shoulders the youngest pupil who rings a bell. A more later
addition is that each pupil sends off a balloon with a secret wish.
The custom arose soon after the Great Patriotic War when an injured soldier returned to assume the post of head master at school number 182 (currently number 1388), in 1947. The soldier, Gregory Leonidovich Assev, organised the first 'Last Call' on 25 May 1948. This teacher is fondly remembered by his surviving school students. '
'He was not only a war hero but a man with a great vision.' This was an amazing man.
'He had been under whistling bullets all through the war, suffered from concussion and limped around school. He was very strict but we loved and respected him. He was a very authoritative figure and used it for good effect. He taught us Russian and literature. He was a great organiser! ... He arranged for the creation of labour camps and that we exercise before lessons ... Gregory Leonidovich decided to
arrange the celebration to honour the end of the school year.'
People liked this idea and now is is difficult to imagine how this all began from one school,' said former pupil Valery Lintinsky.
WHAT SOME RUSSIANS THINK OF THE CUSTOM
Asked 'What new customs might surface along with 'The Last Call,' one girl, Yula, stated, 'We don't have to change anything. It is all brilliant! The dancing! The songs! What could be more wonderful?'
Another pupil Artem stated, 'The school should be handed over to all the school graduates!'
One 12-year-old student, Sonya, stated, 'Yes, my school celebrates 'The last call' and we are usually asked to visit the school hall but I have never witnessed this in person.'
Svetlana Wilson, a 54 year old artist, stated her school never had this custom. However, she thoughtfully suggested, 'The Last Call should be held not before the final exams but after it. I mean how can pupils truly relax at a celebration organised the day before exams? Their minds are on exams and not having a good time!'
Indeed, many school students gathered to celebrate for a few hours and then dashed home to bury themselves in studies. They face taking tense exams which might decide their future fate. Taking the Unitary State exam is no casual affair. It has been rendered highly problematic by growing corruption which pervades the very entrance process.
Fair exams have been tarnished by revelations of cheating, favouritism and nepotism which allows some of the richest and untalented school students to enter Moscow State University. Now students of Russian Literature are obliged to write a composition on questions such as, 'Is it better to love than be loved?' or 'The man who says war is not a bad thing knows nothing about war? ' What criteria is to be used to assess those compositions has not been made wholly explicit!
So entering university has become more problematic. The quota of freely available places has been cut and now approximately two thirds of places at universities are paid! The old free system of further education no longer exists if it ever did! Some 'students' are too idle to even pick up a book. Instead, they just purchase a diploma. In fact, experts state that as many as 20% of diplomas in circulation are fake. So 20% of 'graduates' have never even sat or passed exams. Even the dissertations of some leading Russian politicians are thought to be plagarised.
Many of those long term questions were not on the minds of those school students. For now, at least for an hour or two, they were wallowing in the lavish sunshine which shined like a good omen.
They seemed freshly young, carefree and glowing with optimism.
They had three months of freedom and a long leisurely idyllic
summer spent in one of the Moscow parks, the dacha or abroad. (At least some students) could be forgiven for believing paradise was knocking at the door before the looming storm. Where are those students going?, and what will become of them? This is anyone's guess. However, somewhere, someone is remorselessly ringing a bell in a school. Maybe this bell will drive away and deter evil spirits for a time. In any case, students in the park ought to knock on wood!
Monday, May 25, 2015
Sub Rights
Non-tenure and Sub Teacher Rights!
By Jan Peczkis
 |
| Veteran teacher and sub Jan Peczkis. |
I have been told that this takes a CTU Constitutional Amendment for this to happen, and that the first step is to get a petition going. Please send me the paperwork so that I can get started.
Proposed Rights of Displaced Teachers in the New Contract (2015-2019?)
17-Year CPS Teaching Veteran - Older, “Unemployable” Displaced Teacher
Introduction:
I am a 60 year-old displaced teacher, who had taught as an FTB, in the same position, with an excellent rating, from 1997 to 2006. In or about 2003, I was made into a PAT, and then was displaced in 2006 when the funding ran out for my discretionary science position. Since then, I have been a substitute teacher, unable to be hired for a regular CPS teaching position because “I make too much.”
Background:
The old FTB (Full-Time Basis) system made sense for up to a year of work to fill-in for an absent teacher, and no more. Instead, the FTB became a means for CPS to get around granting tenure. The FTBs effectively became a permanent underclass of tenure-less teachers, with tenure granted only at the whim of the principal, and then with total disregard for excellent teaching and years of service.
Worse yet, the contract of about 2003, while thankfully abolishing the FTB, did not, as should have, grandfathered years-experienced FTBs into tenure. Instead, the FTBs had to “start all over” as PATs, deprived not only of tenure but also stripped of all previous seniority. This was grossly unfair, and to this day I cannot imagine how the CTU agreed to such an arrangement. What’s the point of having a union if something like this is allowed to happen, and, worse yet, is allowed to stand?
Common-sense unionism dictates that any layoffs deemed necessary should have been conducted according to reverse seniority. The utter disregard for seniority rights in the contract of about 2003, correctly or incorrectly blamed on Deborah Lynch, was unconscionable. The passage of time does not make this injustice go away. While the clock cannot be turned back to a previous contract, the situation has for years cried for effective remediation, and the ensuing contract should finally correct this situation.
A labor attorney whom I consulted told me of what he called a stinking Supreme Court decision that allows employers to pass over higher-paid candidates in favor of lower-paid ones. This allows employers to discriminate against older workers, specifically displaced older teacher such as myself. Because CPS is “off the hook” legally, it is all the more reason that the CTU should finally and aggressively remediate this gross injustice through collective bargaining.
CTU policies should not create a rift between tenured and untenured teachers, or between old and young teachers. For this reason, I simultaneously include a proposal, below, for upholding younger teachers.
Proposed Remedy 1: Bestowing of Confiscated Tenure
All displaced teachers that are former FTBs, with four or more years of
uninterrupted CPS full-time teaching, and with an excellent or superior rating, as of 2003, should automatically be granted tenure at the start of the 2015-1019 contract.
Furthermore, these newly-tenured teachers should be treated identically to all the other displaced tenured teachers in the Teacher Pool.
Furthermore, CPS should be required to rehire all these so-defined displaced tenured teachers before it hires any non-tenured or new teachers.
Furthermore, the status of tenure should be permanent status for displaced teachers, and not be something that disappears with time. Nor should there be any such thing as “Honorable Terminations” for such tenured teachers that are not rehired in a short time.
Alternatively, the “50% rule” for CPS hiring of tenured teachers should be
extended to ALL so-defined tenured teachers, and not only tenured teachers displaced in the most recent year.
All seniority that existed up to the point of displacement should likewise be
restored.
Proposed Remedy 2: Pay Cuts By Long-Displaced Teachers
We are in an employer’s market—very much so. CPS has no incentive to hire older, higher-paid teachers, and probably never will. I would rather be employed at $40,000 a year than unemployed at $60,000 a year or perpetually underemployed (as a substitute teacher) at $18,000 a year. For this reason, older displaced teachers (say, displaced more than 5 years ago) should be allowed to take a pay cut in order to make them once again employable with CPS as regular teachers.
I have been told that, were displaced older teachers allowed to take a pay cut, it would depress the pay scales. If true, I fail to see why a current high-paid teacher, who has had the fortune of not being displaced, should now make even more money while I, and other good teachers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own, are and remain perpetually unemployable as regular teachers with CPS.
Proposed Remedy 3: “Super Substitutes”
All currently-recognized displaced tenured teachers, and displaced teachers that are former FTBs (again, with four or more years of uninterrupted CPS full-time teaching, and with an excellent or superior rating, as of 2003), should be made into “super substitute” teachers that make at least $300/day. (The present system, which makes displaced tenured teachers into cadre substitute teachers, is inadequate, owing to the huge pay differential between regular and substitute teachers.)
Furthermore, CPS should be required to use the services of all these “super substitutes” before it uses any regular substitute teachers.
Furthermore, and in order to prevent CPS from trying to fire these “super
substitutes” in order to save money, the rates of firing of “super substitutes” and regular substitutes shall not differ by more than 5%. In addition, substitute teachers, of all sorts, shall be protected from arbitrary termination by CPS through the proposed policies outlined by me in SubRightsPeczkis.doc.
For New Teachers:
The constant turnover of newer teachers is a problem. New teachers should be tenured after only one year of probation, not three or four. In addition, CPS should be allowed to deny tenure to no more than 30% of first-year teachers each school year. This would end the revolving door by preventing CPS from constantly getting rid of about-to-be tenured teachers in favor of still-cheaper, brand-new teachers. This proposal would also alleviate the depressed-wage problem, described earlier, by raising the average wage of the CPS teacher.
Other Matters:
Substitute teachers are often not paid in a timely matter, and subs have to waste time calling schools to get payroll corrections made. Filing nonpayment grievances with the CTU is cumbersome because it takes months for resolution.
CPS has no incentive to get payrolls correct because there are no consequences for their omissions. Therefore, I propose that CPS be required to pay a fine of $20, per each day unpaid wage and per delinquent pay period, to the substitute teacher.
The new contract should strictly abolish all the creative CPS methods for getting rid of teachers. This includes “re-definition” of teacher positions.
CTU dues for substitute teachers should be pro-rated to $5/day of actual
substitute teaching.
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Protest Against Charter
Northside Community Unites against relocation of Noble Charter High School as Unnecessary and Counterproductive to Neighborhood HS Resurgence Effort
Aldermen, Principals, LSCs, Parents and Community Members Join Forces to Stop Relocation
Chicago – Principals, elected officials and hundreds of parents and community members are uniting in an effort to put a stop to the proposed relocation of Noble Academy to 640 W. Irving Park Road from it’s current downtown location.The group will convene at 3:50 p.m. on Thursday, May 21st at CPS Board headquarters, 42 W. Madison, where a community hearing is scheduled to discuss the relocation.
“Opening a charter or any high school in our respective communities will undermine the efforts that are currently underway and the momentum we have gained in our neighborhood high schools through the hard work and dedication of our staff and our communities,” said Susan Lofton, principal of Senn High School. “Relocating or opening a new school will be a detrimental diversion of needed resources away from our existing schools.”
The groups have urged the Board of Education and Mayor Emanuel to oppose the move of this school to the proposed location based on the following facts:
· The proposed school could siphon millions from Amundsen, Lake View, Sullivan, Uplift and Senn high schools
· 46th Ward Alderman, James Cappleman opposes locating the school in his ward. Many aldermen in the surrounding area have also publicly opposed this move.
· The move has not been approved by the BOE. However, Noble is ALREADY ADVERTISING the location and soliciting neighborhood students.
· Existing neighborhood high schools are not over-enrolled and have capacity to educate all of the students from their feeder schools. There is NO DEMAND for additional high school seats in this area.
· The move will undermine the momentum of the GrowCommunity effort, an initiative directed by Alderman O’Connor, Pawar and Tunney in partnership with the Urban Education Institute, the University of Chicago and Mayor Emanuel.
Despite less than seven days notice to the community of the proposed move and the hearing, the news has struck outrage among community members, who have mobilized a broad and growing opposition campaign in just a few days. In addition to aldermanic support, and a letter signed by all neighboring high school principals in opposition to this move, resolutions and written opposition letters have been passed by numerous Local School Councils including: Amundsen HS, Lakeview HS, Senn HS, Sullivan HS, Uplift HS, Blaine, Coonley, Waters, Nettelhorst, Ravenswood, Jordan, Boone, Kilmer, New Field, McPherson (additional schools scheduled to vote on resolutions this week). In addition, a call in and e-mail campaign have been launched this week.
Jeff Jenkins, parent from Coonley School said, “Our communities are committed to the growth and success of our existing public schools, andwe thought our mayor and the board of education were equally committed. Yet, our district’s billion dollar deficit and the fact that there is no over-crowding issues at our high schools, this plan makes no sense.”
Noble HS also has a proposal for Rogers Park for 2016 and the community is concerned about the ongoing impact that charter expansion will have on existing neighborhood high schools.
Contact: If you plan to attend this event or have any questions, please contact Amy Smolensky, 312-485-0053
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