General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMy Partner Is a Chicago Public School Teacher
Last week was the first week of school here, and I got to hear daily reports from her on the state of things at the high school where she works. This is the sort of stuff she deals with on a daily basis:
* All of her classes are overcrowded - at least 36 students in each class. In one of her classes, 7 students are currently sitting on the floor because there aren't enough desks in the classroom.
* She is having trouble getting books for her students. Last year, in several of her classes, she was never provided with enough books for all her students, so she had to make copies of the chapters for some of the students so they could do the reading.
* There is only one working copy machine in her building. There are a couple others that have been sitting broken for over a year. The one machine that "works" jams frequently and requires constant coaxing to keep it working. There is always a huge line at it, so you have to get in there really early in the day or really late to even be able to use it. Most of the teachers end up spending their own money to make copies at Kinko's because of the futility of the situation.
* Most of the rooms don't have overhead projectors in them, so many of the teachers have bought their own projectors and bring them to class with them.
* There is only one computer lab at the school, and it's always signed out way in advance, so forget about digital learning. In fact, they have taken even more computers away this year, and all wireless internet access has been removed from the campus, so the teachers who were bringing their own laptops into class and using their own projectors to provide some digital instruction are scrambling to figure out how they're going to access the internet for lessons in the future.
* It was 115 degrees in the gym and cafeteria one day last week because there is no air conditioning. Students were warned against spending time inside during lunch and breaks, lest they have a heat stroke.
I could go on but you get the general idea. The struggles that the Chicago teachers are facing (and I suspect thousands of other teachers across this country) are much bigger than simply not getting an appropriate raise for working longer hours or having to teach to standardized exams that exhaust and bore the children. This is an institutional failure - and, even worse, it's a DELIBERATE one, intended to destroy public schools through neglect.
I stand fully in support with the Chicago teachers and with public education and I oppose that rat bastard Rahm Emanuel and his attempt to demonize and demoralize the teacher's union. Solidarity!
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)K&R.
porphyrian
(18,530 posts)riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)(((((hugs)))) to your partner. Solidarity!
monmouth
(21,078 posts)Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)sycophants have spent the last 30 years degrading.
Never, ever forget for one instant that Rahm is an investment bankster. He has one agenda and only one perspective, The people of Chicago were idiots to elect him and are reaping exactly what they sowed. Tough to point this out in the run-up to an election, but the Democratic leadership in the city of Chicago are still thieves, just as they have been for over a century, and until you get your own house in order this is what you're going to be subjected to.
Lone_Star_Dem
(28,158 posts)Nothing like a little perspective to drive a point home!
K&R!
dkf
(37,305 posts)former-republican
(2,163 posts)it's a little of both.
What I think would really make the nation stand up and take notice is. Ifthe teachers union
agreed in a press conference to decline the cost of living increase and instead use it for funding of our schools.
I don't think they are asking for a big increase anyways , what is it 1 or 2 % ?
ComtesseDeSpair
(545 posts)One issue in compensation - related directly to the longer school days that Rahm pushed through last year. An independent arbitrator advised a 20% raise to compensate the teachers for the increased worktime. The teacher's union used that as their baseline to ask for a 19% one time raise the first year of the contract, but that's just a negotiating starting point. In reality, they would accept far less than that. CPS is offering a 2% one-time raise, then 1% a year. Pretty pathetic by anyone's standards, but I don't think the teachers really care too much about the raises, honestly. Karen Lewis, the president of the teacher's union, said last night that they understand that money is tight and they are close to an agreement on compensation.
The issue that my GF is most upset about (well, apart from the fact that the schools are in shambles as I previously described) is the teacher evaluation system, which "grades" teachers on their students' standardized test scores and doesn't adequately take into account uncomfortable factors such poverty and gang violence that may prevent students from scoring highly on the exams. They are concerned that good teachers could be punished simply for working in a poor school - which gets back to the entire war on the poor that the "No Child Left Behind" program has become. I mean, why would good teachers ever want to work in poor schools if they would be punished for it? And who suffers? The kids, as always.
Another big issue is the fact that CPS wants to close up to 100 public schools (we call them "real schools" and start up new charter schools - so they can hire non-unionized teachers and pay them less. The CTU wants a guarantee that teachers that are laid off from closing schools will have hire-back priority, but CPS is balking from that.
All of the issues are really the same, at the end of the day: Teachers standing up against an organized, externally-funded movement to destroy public education and unions and replace them with privatized, non-union employees. Rahm likes to mention the fact that the janitors and cafeteria staff, who are also union members, signed a new contract without putting up a fuss; what he doesn't mention is that they did that after they were threatened with privatization if they didn't agree to all the cuts. The Chicago Teacher's Union has a rare thing going for it that most unions do not: they can't easily be replaced. Their numbers are too vast and their skills too hard to fill. Many aren't as lucky.
former-republican
(2,163 posts)It seems there's a lot of things involved that I didn't know about.
I hope the teachers stay strong and united.
Auntie Bush
(17,528 posts)Exactly right.
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)They have lots of facilities.
CrispyQ
(36,226 posts)The DU discussion of it:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021311968
Shameful is what it is. Chanting "USA! USA!" does not make a country great.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)That is a disgrace, they are trying to make the Public Schools fail so they get their greedy hands on the public funds meant for them and turn them over to private Corporations.
Thank you for this post. I miss Madfloridian at times like this.
GreenPartyVoter
(72,377 posts)Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)And big ups to your last line too.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)Zorra
(27,670 posts)cate94
(2,797 posts)Bozita
(26,955 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)I find it incredibly sad that the governments and people are turning against teachers. Teachers should be respected and honored, not mistreated, underpaid and overworked in impossible situations.
I hope this strike really makes a difference.
patrice
(47,992 posts)rateyes
(17,438 posts)From a public school teacher in GA
ibegurpard
(16,685 posts)that's all everyone's talking about and it's too bad because it's criminal what fuckers like Emanuel are trying to do to public education.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)trying to take away STEP raises, change them to MERIT raises, and reduce health care benefits.
The same people who tell us how difficult it is to live in a big city if you don't make in the neighborhood of $250K are *horrified* when mere teachers make 1/3 of that on average (an average right-tilted by experienced teachers with more than 20 years in the system -- a good thing, not a bad thing.)
ComtesseDeSpair
(545 posts)not to mention that they had a longer school day imposed upon them without any increase in compensation. A private arbitrator recommended a 15-20% raise for that alone!
ibegurpard
(16,685 posts)what I'm saying is that if they went on strike and there were no demands for a raise in there people would have to pay attention to what's going on instead of just dismissing it.
ComtesseDeSpair
(545 posts)I think the media would have demonized it somehow anyway. They probably would have said, "They are well-paid and they are STILL complaining?"
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)"Teachers Demand 30% Raise".
BS: 30% was an initial bargaining position, nothing that they expected to get.