Chicago Teachers Union

Charter secrets the CTU hopes you won’t find out

By Ted Dabrowski
09/10/2012
There’s a big reason why the Chicago Teachers Union fears charter schools. Charters will expose truths the CTU hoped would never be revealed. Charter schools in Chicago are already showing strong results in learning. Looking at the average ACT score, for example, you will see that last year, nine of the top 10 open-enrollment, non-selective high schools...

Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) strike bulletin: Recommended strike chants

By Chris Andriesen
09/10/2012
Strike chants pulled directly from Chicago Teachers Union’s strike bulletin issued on Sept. 8, 2012. What’s outrageous? unpaid wages! What’s disgusting? Union busting! Rahm, Brizard, we’re no fools! We won’t let you ruin our schools! Rahm, Brizard, we’re no fools! Corporate cash can’t buy our schools! Lies and tricks will not divide, Parents and Teachers side by...

“We are Democrats”

By Paul Kersey
09/07/2012
This will hardly come as news to most readers of this blog, but an occasional reminder is still useful: the ties between unions and the Democratic Party are numerous and strong. That goes for the Chicago Teachers Union and the administration with which they are bargaining. As Randi Weingarten, the head of the CTU’s parent...

Scenes from Chicago Teachers Union rally in Daley Plaza

By Paul Kersey
09/06/2012
On Labor Day, the Chicago Teachers Union held its protest in preparation for a strike that is set to begin on Sept. 10, unless negotiations with Chicago Public Schools result in a contract.The protest served two functions: first, as a sort of threat display designed to demonstrate to CPS officials and Mayor Rahm Emanuel that...

Chicago Teachers Union is all worked up with nowhere to go

By Paul Kersey
09/04/2012
As thousands of families throughout Chicago watched anxiously, the process of negotiating a collective bargaining agreement turned melodramatic at a Chicago Teachers Union Labor Day rally. CTU President Karen Lewis called Mayor Rahm Emanuel “a liar and a bully”, while teachers and representatives of several other unions chanted “enough is enough” and other slogans intended...

Remain calm when responding to CTU’s strike notice

By Paul Kersey
08/29/2012
The Chicago Teachers Union filed a 10-day strike notice Wednesday, which may tempt some Chicagoans to overreact. To some extent the teachers union is counting on this sort of reaction. They are hoping that upset parents will call on the school board to end the strike at all costs, and pressure the district into making...

State Rep. Monique Davis compares school closings to Nazi actions

03/30/2012
During a contentious hearing on the Chicago school closings and turnarounds, Rep. Monique Davis compared actions of the CPS board to those during the "German whatever" (referring to the Nazi regime that closed Jewish businesses and schools in the 30s).

CPS board votes to put students and taxpayers first

By Chris Andriesen
02/24/2012
by Michael Wille Following a contentious 7 hour hearing on Wednesday, the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to turn around 10 failing schools and close or phase out 7 others. These schools had been seriously under performing over the last 5 years even with increased financial support from the city and the state. Nevertheless,...