Chicago teachers went on strike Monday for the first time in 25 years. They are in an intense dispute with Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago. The issues this dispute are centered around are teacher evaluations tied to student test scores, a longer school day, and other education policy changes.
Over 29,000 teachers and support staff joined the picket line after union leaders announced they were unable to come to a resolution in this contract dispute. Nearly 400,000 students were out of school on Monday leaving parents scrambling to find supervision. It appears they will most likely need the same on Tuesday.
The school district has requested assistance from community organizations in providing programs and structure for these students. The teacher’s union is calling the plan of care a “train wreck” and have concerns for an increase in gang-related violence in some areas.
It appears the main conflict is Emanuel’s insistence that teachers should be evaluated based on student performance on standardized tests. Karen Lewis, Union President, referred to Emanuel as a “bully” and states standardized tests do not take into account inner city poverty as well as hunger and violence in the streets.
The Union fears that over a 6,000 teachers could lose their jobs if they are evaluated based on test scores. Emanuel has said that the evaluation would not count in the first year and the teachers and administration would work together to work out any issues.
Although the impact of this strike may not be immediately obvious, there is a possibility that it could have a very negative impact on the students involved down the road. Labor unions have made extremely important contributions to our society over the years especially in workplace safety. However, when it comes to our children’s education, I believe these battles should be fought behind the scenes by those hired to do so. The teachers need to be in their classroom and the children at their desks, in a safe environment and obtaining an education they deserve.
snickers says
September 10, 2012 at 8:42 pmIt’s sad that 400,000 students had no where to go today, except for maybe the streets as parents have to work. Some churches opened day cares for the younger children, but JrHigh and HS kids will just hang somewhere. This strike should not be allowed during the school year, it’s unfair to the students. The No Child Left behind act is flawed, but what is the answer? If I understood right they refused a 16% pay raise over a few years contract. If Rahm fires them, who will they blame?
Pam@IW says
September 10, 2012 at 9:18 pmI am actually a member of a very large teacher’s union. I don’t believe in striking in the school system.
However, I also don’t believe in evaluating teachers based on test scores. I worked in that system too long to know that there are too many factors that weigh into a child learning and especially when he is coming from a low income family or poor neighborhood. I believe it could be one of the tools, possibly, that they use. But not a priority.
I do know that there has to be a better way to evaluate a teacher and I also believe that there should be merit pay and not an “everyone gets a raise” scale.
snickers says
September 10, 2012 at 9:39 pmPam,
I agree to a point, but when kids are just being passed through the system, and can’t read in 8th grde, what is the solution. Parents today are either ignoring the problem, don’t care at all, or too busy and tired working to just pay the bills. What I find ironic is the most educated in the school system, are the ones that can’t get a contract done. This is why people are choosing to send their kids to private, charter, or homeschool. Our system is losing students everyday here, parents can op out and the money follows the students except to a private school. We have learned a hard lesson here, big is not always better. Off my soap box, sigh!
Pam@IW says
September 10, 2012 at 9:49 pmSnickers, believe it or not but parents are the answer. I was not a teacher. I was a Resource Nurse for over 20 years with the second largest school district in the nation and I worked closely with students, parents, teachers and support staff.
Teachers need to be held accountable but so do parents. Kids need to come to school , having had a good night’s rest, a good breakfast, a shower once and awhile, and someone monitoring that they are doing their homework. They need to have discipline and rules. If they don’t have these things, education will not happen.
There are bad teachers in the system. In LA, they are off probation after 2 years. That is not long enough. That needs to be bargained out.
HB says
September 11, 2012 at 4:39 amRahm IS caught between a rock & a hard place – of his own doing! He promised much when he left the WH to be annointed mayor…& just as our president has done, he thought he could make an end run around the unions & the school board to fix a $700M shortfall by hiring back the 500 teachers who were laid off – at non-union wages etc…didn’t work. How ironic that Chicago’s teachers are among the highest paid in the country (avg. salary NOT including benefits…$76k)!
I don’t think Chicago’s ‘inner city’ is any different than most poverty ridden areas. Those schools don’t have parents’ support; the best of teachers don’t WANT to teach in those schools…run-down, overcrowded…dangerous. What I don’t understand in all of this – teachers thinking that ‘job security’ is their right???
Kmom2 says
September 11, 2012 at 7:35 amNotice Obama is SILENT on this matter……..hmmmmmm
Holly says
September 11, 2012 at 8:48 amAside from not wanting to be “evaluated” even though the Evaluation Committee is made up of Teachers, Administrators and others, the Teachers want a pay increase!
“Emanuel has proposed that, instead of the rescinded 4 percent pay increase, teachers see a 16 percent pay increase over the next four years. The unions say they’re close to agreement on pay, though they still think higher raises are necessary to make up for rising health costs. The two sides have also already worked out a deal under which additional teachers are hired to implement Emanuel’s longer school day.”
Seriously, a 16% pay raise over four years, where is the “shared sacrifice”? Aren’t these the same Union Members that are almost all pro Obama who want Obamacare? Did they say they want a raise because the cost of healthcare is going up? If they know that their Health Care costs are going up, which they definitely are, then stop supporting an Administration that is causing that to happen. My Mom is a retired Teacher and I know how hard Teachers work but no harder than anyone who does not belong to a Union or is Self Employed like my Husband and I! No one pays one penny of our Benefits and we do not receive a Pension. It’s time that the Unions stop acting like a “protected class”!
stu says
September 11, 2012 at 9:47 amWhen will the Unions buy into “everyone must pay their fair share”
Carol says
September 11, 2012 at 10:37 amMy daughter is a teacher who has only had a 1% raise over the last three yrs because our state’s budget is in the toilet. She has her Rank 1 and doesn’t make anywhere near $70,000 a year. Evaluating teachers on their test scores is grossly unfair. As my daughter says you can’t expect a child who is worried about whether or not they will have anything to eat when they go home or if anyone is going to be there to care for them to be able to focus on learning. She had a little girl tell her one year that she didn’t want to have spring break because she was worried that she and her siblings wouldn’t have anything to eat, they relied on the school’s lunch and breakfeast programs.I do not believe in teachers striking, they are doing a huge disservice to those children. My daughter teaches because she loves kids and hopes to make a difference in their lives,she knew going in she wasn’t going to get rich doing it.
jeff says
September 11, 2012 at 1:40 pmThis strike shows the trues colors of teachers unions. They repeatedly tell us “its about the children” and then leave 400,000 students without a place to go. Many of those are children of single working Mothers (another post for another day) and will end up spending the days wandering the streets of a city more violent than any in the Middle East. I am waiting for the President to get involved, but he is too busy campaigning to handle this along with most of his other job duties.
stu says
September 11, 2012 at 1:53 pmIt’s always about money….did you know that the Teachers Union wanted a 35% pay increase.
Lauren says
September 11, 2012 at 2:21 pmYes, they got 2% more a year for the extra hours that were added to their day, in the city they are required to live in, where the taxes along with everything else went through the roof. These teachers have to live in Chicago. 2% barely covers the extra hours the will be working. So for the rest of us in IL, we can move to a different county or suburb for a cheaper cost of living. These teachers don’t have that option. And, to live in a safer neighborhood comes with a higher price.
The reasons for the strike are not solely around teachers evaluation, while that along with job security are the two biggest issues. There are over 40 issues and they had agreed on 6. Some of the other areas of focus are to make the classrooms better for the children and the schools better for the children because right now, they are not. The class sizes are too large, some schools need either more nurses, counselors, or therapists, the schools have no air conditioning and can become some unbearable, as the summer months in Chicago can be over 100. As one little girl said, the prisons have air, why don’t we? I think it’s sad that this is going on. I have many friends and family members who are on strike and this is not easy for them. They would rather be in the classroom, but they are
Also, a vast majority of the schools provide free care until 1230 for the children. The YMCA provides paid/discounted full day care. I know this doesn’t cover everyone and isnt a solution, but it’s better than nothing.
Pam@IW says
September 11, 2012 at 2:33 pmThanks Lauren for your input! I completely understand all of the issues you are talking about after working in the second largest school district in the US, Los Angeles for over 20 years and having my two sons receive their education in the same school system.
I was frustrated many times by incapable teachers, but we see incapable employees in many professions. I personally would like to see all school district employees evaluated and given raises or not given raises according to their work performance but as I said in a comment above, I don’t think standardized tests are the way to do it. There are just too many factors influencing these tests scores.
I would also like to see school districts be able to let an employee go when they don’t do their job without five years of red tape involved. We have went too far with protecting the rights of the employees and have forgotten the rights of the students.
I am retired now but would have welcomed an evaluation based on my job performance if it meant that others who were not performing to minimal standards were let go.
HB says
September 11, 2012 at 3:16 pmAMEN, Holly!
Lauren…I’d appreciate knowing what ‘job security’ means – in Chicago????
MsGoody2Shoes says
September 11, 2012 at 10:31 pmI live in Chicago and the people that are not being represented are the children.
Lauren says
September 13, 2012 at 1:08 pmPam, Thanks and I couldn’t agree with you more.
HB, It doesn’t have anything to do with Chicago for starters. The term job security was listed as one of the issues in the contract issue with the CTU. The job security, as it relates to the CTU, means over the next few years a dozen if not more of our Chicago schools are going to be closing. What the Union would like to do is call those qualified teachers that were let go/laid off when jobs open up in the district. Personally, I don’t know that the word job security is accurate because if people don’t read up on it, its not understandable.
The catholic school systems do the same thing, the Union is asking. When a school closes or teacher is let go due to an eliminated position, they are put in a pool. If an available position comes up that they are qualified for, they will be considered and interviewed. If you think of how it works in Corporate America….I worked in Human Resources for many years. When a position is eliminated, you do your best to find the employee, if in good standing, another position or you offering them severance. I think it is acceptable for the CTU to ask this for themselves. Why should they not be allowed the same as what most everyone else receives?
What they are expected to receive is the option to go into the pool for five months or a three month severance.
MsGoody2Shoes, Do you have children and if so, are your children in the Chicago public school system? If so, sorry that you feel they are not being represented. The Union is working very hard to have the children’s needs met. There are 46 items they are working hard for and yes, some of them may be for the teachers. Sadly, those are the only ones people are focusing on.
Wendy says
September 13, 2012 at 4:24 pmThe news showed charter schools in Chicago that are still open, having great success, for much less money. I’m sure there are many reasons for this, but one of the main reasons is probably what Pam was saying. Most parents that send their children to charter schools are involved and trying to help them succeed. A lot of parents have abdicated their roles in the education system.
Having said that, the financial demands of the union seem exorbitant.
snickers says
September 13, 2012 at 8:07 pmLauren,
No one should ever be in a pool for a job. What company that downsizes puts your name in a pool and your first one called if they hire back? The problem with the Unions is that they always want more money, more benefits, ets. while the taxpayer picks up the bill. The tenure has to stop in the public school system. While the most educated want to run the ballgame, the kids are sitting on the bench waiting for them to get back to their jobs. Before you ask, yes I have children, pay my taxes to the public education system, and expect the teachers to be ready in Aug/Sept to do their job! I fully now support Charter and Private school systems, something I would have never thought I would ever agree with. It’s not for the KIDS when you strike while they are suppose to be in school.
stu says
September 13, 2012 at 10:31 pmAs Unions control the education of our children another generation of kids will be lost
Ann @ IW says
September 15, 2012 at 11:14 amI have worked as a union teacher, been on strike (from Halloween to Valentine’s Day), went to Catholic school myself, sent my kids to Catholic School, now work in private schools through state funds in a position negotiated by the PSEA.
I am 100% opposed to teachers being evaluated by standardized test scores. These scores are already misused for a variety of funding-related issues. They were never intended for such nonsense.
I have a friend who used to work in the inner-city, but went to work in the wealthiest district last year. He laughed and told me that over the summer, he went from “being a lousy teacher to one of the best in the state.” The joke, of course, is that he had students who were truant, were defiant, did not study in previous years, but now has students who study, care if their parents get a bad report on them, who take pride in academic achievement.
I do think teachers should be evaluated on their performance. Very few teachers that I ever had or met did not deserve a good evaluation, but there are some.
stu says
September 15, 2012 at 9:04 pmTeachers must be evaluated. I don’t know how but if you claim to be a Professional then you need to be evaluated. Look at how a district has their hands tied behind their back in NYC….they have a rubber room where horrible teachers are sent to spend their day and GET PAID. What’s wrong with this picture?
stxmom says
September 23, 2012 at 8:24 amWhile I agree that teachers should be evaulated I disagree that standardized test scores should be a part of that evaulation. Education starts at home, if parents do not make education a priority you can’t expect a child to make it a priority.
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