U.S. District Judge David H. Coar today declared that the firing of tenured teachers under the Board’s June 15, 2010, resolution granting CEO Ron Huberman the power to fire teachers without regard to seniority or tenure was illegal. The judge further barred the Chicago Board of Education from “conducting future layoffs or ‘honorable discharges’ in a similarly unlawful manner.” The judge ordered the Chicago Board of Education to negotiate a set of recall rules within the next 30 days.

“Teachers unions were formed in the first place to protect mainly female teachers from retaliatory actions, political firings and crony hirings. Nothing’s changed. The need for strong unions to protect teachers, students and academic freedom, especially in Chicago, is upheld today. Through these illegal firings, the Chicago Board of Education tried to silence our tenured teachers who are the strongest advocates for students’ educational rights and the real fighters for better learning environments. Chicago Public Schools should stop slurring our teachers, suggesting that those fired somehow were less than exemplary teachers. The court appears to agree – tenure is necessary to academic freedom,” said Lewis.

CTU court order

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SUIT FILED 5/20/10

Huberman won't come clean with the actual budget numbers.

From The Chicago Tribune:

Teacher’s group sues CPS over access

May 20, 2010

A union group that is vying for power in Friday’s Chicago Teachers Union election has filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Board of Education, claiming it is in violation of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

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Grassroots Education Movement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 29, 2010

Student Leaders and GEM to CPS:

Name the Names on Contracts.  Public Budget Debates Now.

No Student or Teacher Cuts.

Student leaders and members of GEM, the Grassroots Education Movement, called for Chicago Public Schools to provide line-item budget details and hold immediate public hearings before the Chicago Board of Education casts its budget vote.   Later in the day they will call upon Illinois State Attorney General Lisa Madigan to fast track their FOIA requests for all communications surrounding CPS’s budget deficit projections as well as TIF collections and expenditures.

Members of Chicago Youth Initiating Change (CYIC) and other CPS student leaders who led 900 students from 13 schools on a walkout April 8, 2010 returned to CPS headquarters April 27 to meet with CPS Budget Director Cristina Herzog to demand that “CPS takes this devastating budget off the table.”  According to Javier Lara Mendez, a senior at Little Village Lawndale High School, students demanded an “equitable, transparent budget with no cuts to students or teachers.”

GEM member Karen Lewis, CORE’s Presidential candidate in the upcoming Chicago Teachers Union election, questioned the veracity of CPS’s announced deficits.  “Exactly why should we believe CPS’s deficit numbers?  There’s no line-item detail.  CPS dances around how much Mr. Huberman makes and we’re just supposed to believe these numbers?  Today we demand a line-item accounting of CPS’s budget.  Let’s focus first on outside contractors – each one – name the names on those contracts. Then let’s have public community debates NOW before the Board votes on this disaster.”  Ms. Lewis added that “35 students in a classroom is inhumane and it nearly guarantees school and student failure.  So what’s Huberman really talking about here?  Is this about funding or is it about profit?”

Alejandra Ibanez of Pilsen Alliance pointed to a source of revenue for CPS.  “It’s unconscionable that Mayor Daley asks CPS teachers to ‘go on a diet’ and put 35 students in a classroom when TIFS take $250 million away from schools each year which are then deposited to the Mayor’s  private slush fund.  We’re tired of the hypocrisy.”

“These cuts will affect the everyday lives of hundreds of thousands of students like me.  It’s a shame that we have to fight for education and extra-curricular activities with all the hardships and violence the youth of Chicago are going through right now,” said Charles Handcox, a junior at Percy L. Julian High School.  “We are tired, angry, and ready to take a stand!”

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Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) is a coalition of Chicago-based education and community organizations that includes Blocks Together, Caucus Of Rank-and-file Educators, Chicago Youth Initiating Change, Designs for Change, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, Parents United for Responsible Education, Pilsen Alliance, South Side United Local School Council Federation and Teachers for Social Justice.

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CORE:  The Caucus of Rank-and-file Educators

CHICAGO — On March 12, 2010, CPS CEO Ron Huberman sent a memo to all CPS Principals stating that he is “prohibiting the distribution, circulation and exhibition of all union campaign material on school grounds”, including Union members’ mailboxes and a Union bulletin board under the guise that electoral campaign information is not “official Union business.”

As of the end of business day March 16, 2010, there was still no condemnation on the Chicago Teachers Union website or sent to CTU members.

CPS teacher Karen Lewis, CORE’s CTU Presidential candidate, stated that, “Ron Huberman needs to stay out of union business.  How does providing information to teachers and support personnel on the upcoming CTU election – which will have far-reaching effects on their lives – interfere with teaching and learning?  Marilyn Stewart, under the guise of ‘official union business’, is campaigning all over this city.  It’s clear who Mr. Huberman supports.  There is no neutrality here.”

“Huberman is going to do everything in his power to maintain business as usual – a CTU leadership that does not vigorously challenge CPS policy. This is a not only a breach of past practice, it is a clear violation of the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board prohibitions against Unfair Labor Practices.  It’s also unconstitutional,” said Jackson Potter, CORE Co-chair.

The Preamble of the current CTU contract states that “a free and open exchange of views is desirable and necessary… [and] will increase the effectiveness of teachers … in the classroom and the community.”  According to Lewis, “Our workplace conditions are our students’ learning conditions.  If the free speech rights of teachers and paraprofessionals are not protected, we are powerless to demand our students’ rights to a full, equitable education.”

“The fact that this is codified in our contract indicates its importance.  Perhaps Mr. Huberman should do his homework and read page one of our contract.  And then, read the rest,” said Lewis.

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CORE is the reform caucus of the Chicago Teachers Union that represents rank-and-file members and the students and families they serve. The group is comprised of teachers, retired teachers and educational staff.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 22, 2009  9 p.m.

Contract-to-Charter Conversion Reveals

CPS Circumvention of State Law

Number of Charter Seats Requested on 11/23/09 Almost Doubles Last Year’s Total

CHICAGO – On November 23, 2009, CPS is asking the Chicago Board of Education to nearly double the number of charter seats over last year’s total, 8,130 seats up from 4,200, according to data compiled by CORE researchers from CPS public documents (see below).  Over half of those “new charter seats” come from CPS’s proposal to convert eight contract schools to charter school status.

Jackson Potter, CORE’s Co-chair, noted that CPS appears to disregard the letter and intent of state law when privatizing schools.  Potter explained that over the past few years, when CPS had maxed out on the number of allowed charter schools, it began opening “contract” schools.  “CPS appears to be admitting that it did sidestep the charter cap law for years by asking the Board to convert eight contract schools to charter school status today.”

CORE member and CPS special education teacher Kristine Mayle explained that unlike contract schools, only 50% of the teachers need to be certified at these “new” charters for the next few years (see 105 ILCS 5 Art. 27A 10(c)). Moreover, charter schools are barred from joining the Chicago Teachers Union.  “Through shady moves like this, CPS is creating a rash of `new’ charter schools overnight.  Why?  Only half of new charter staffs need to be certified to teach.  CPS appears to be purposely creating a non-certified, low-wage, inexperienced, high-turnover workforce without workplace protections,” said Mayle.

Potter explained that when educators do not have contractual rights, “management can run wild.  My union contract backs me up so I can demand that my students receive an adequate education and proper services if they are English language learners, special education students, or are in need of counseling or medical support.  Without union protections, students are increasingly at risk.”  Potter challenged the media to interview charter teachers off the record on this issue.

“Once again, CPS makes proposals without public debate, meaningful accountability or publicly-available financial audits of these quasi-private charter school operators,” said Karen Lewis, co-chair of CORE, who renewed a call for independent financial and operational audits of all Chicago charter schools.

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CORE, the Caucus of Rank-and-file Educators, is a caucus of the Chicago Teachers. The group is comprised of teachers, retired teachers, educational staff and other champions of public education.

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CORE Charges CPS/Chicago Board of Education Policies with Creating Chaos in Schools; CPS/CBOE Agree to include CORE Teachers in Policy-making

CHICAGO, IL — At the June 24, 2009 Chicago Board of Education hearing, members of CORE, the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE), repeatedly charged CPS with creating chaos in neighborhood schools through faulty staffing and other policies that tie the hands of teachers’ efforts to improve Chicago education. “CORE has a brain trust. We’d like a seat at the CPS decision-making table,” said Karen Lewis, CORE Co-Chair, as she addressed the Board. Chicago Board of Education President Michael Scott and Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman said they would consider that request.

“Today Mr. Scott and Mr. Huberman took a step in the right direction when they agreed to include the expertise of CORE’s rank-and-file teachers in decisions that directly impact student learning,” said Jackson Potter, Co-chair of CORE. Potter warned that, “This must be substantive work, not just a means to silence the opposition.”

For the past year, CORE has testified every month at Chicago Board of Education hearings and every school closing hearing to voice the concerns and solutions of teachers, students and parents who work at or attend Chicago schools. “CPS and the Board demand accountability for our schools. It is time that the Board and CPS apply that policy to their own operations,” Potter said.

CORE members noted that on June 9, 2009, Monique Bond, CPS spokesperson, stated that 1,000 jobs had to be cut, but “We do not want to cut classroom programs, teachers or educational program…” Schools across the city have notified CORE of nearly 100 teaching position cuts at 12 schools for the 2009-2010 school year. “And those are just the 100 cuts we know about. We assume there are even more,” said Carol Caref, CORE treasurer and math teacher at Chicago Vocational Career Academy. “Our students deserve better.”

Because of Chicago Public School’s “20^th day policy” which freezes hiring for the first 20 school days each year, teaching positions cut in June and reinstated in September typically are not filled until mid-October. As a result, thousands of students start the school year in overcrowded classes, some with 50 to 60 students, and classes monitored by substitute teachers. Once a school’s staffing stabilizes, usually about mid-October, massive student schedule changes occur.

“What school district enforces an iron-clad policy that denies thousands of students a teacher for an entire month? The 20^th day rule effectively robs students of a month of learning,” said Karen Lewis, Co-Chair of CORE. “For years Arne Duncan made a big deal out of going to students’ homes to get them to go to school on the first day. What’s the point if they get to school and there’s no teacher there?” Lewis added.

According to CORE sources, some schools are particularly hard hit. Clemente High School is slated to lose 17 positions, Hope Academy 13, and Chicago Vocational Career Academy has nine teachers on the chopping block. These schools do not have drops in enrollment commensurate with the cuts. Mary Pat Gerard, a City-Wide Special Education teacher, reports that at least five city-wide special education teachers will lose their jobs. Other schools losing positions include, but are not limited to, Corliss, Crane, Hayes, Hirsch, Hope, Hyde Park, Morgan Park, Phillips, Robeson, Roosevelt, Sandoval and Sullivan.

In a related matter, on June 10, 2009, CORE filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint alleging that school “turnarounds”, a Renaissance 2010 policy, have a “disparate impact” on African American teachers. Based on Illinois State Board of Education data, CORE researchers found that since 2002 the percentage of African American teachers in CPS has dropped from 39.4 to 31.6. Currently, there are 2,000 fewer Black teachers working in CPS than there were in 2002. The EEOC filing can be found at www.coreteachers.org.

CORE is the reform caucus of the Chicago Teachers Union that represents rank-and-file members. The group is comprised of teachers, retired teachers, educational staff and other champions of public education who hope to democratize the Chicago Teachers Union and turn it into an organization that fights on behalf of its members and the students they teach.

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