As CPS prepares to close a record number of schools, the fate of students and communities is in question.
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In the News: Charter teachers unionize; reaction to 'unsastisfactory' layoffs
By: Cassandra West / June 25, 2010
Two thirds of the teaching staff at Chicago Math and Science Academy have signed union authorization cards and filed for recognition with the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board, a press release by the American Federation of Teachers says. Once the Board certifies the union, the Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, an affiliate of the AFT and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, can begin collective bargaining negotiations with school officials. CMSA is the third charter school to form a teachers union.
Two thirds of the teaching staff at Chicago Math and Science Academy
have signed union authorization cards and filed for recognition with the
Illinois Education Labor Relations Board, a press release by the
American Federation of Teachers says. Once the Board certifies the
union, the Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, an affiliate
of the AFT and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, can begin collective
bargaining negotiations with school officials. CMSA is the third
charter school to form a teachers union.
More on CPS CEO Ron Huberman’s plan to lay off teachers rated “unsatisfactory”:
Incoming teachers union president Karen Lewis had noted in a news release that section 24-12 of the Illinois School Code requires dismissal “according to tenure unless another method is established in conjunction with the union.” But that section of the law does not apply to Chicago Public Schools, says Illinois State Board of Education spokeswoman Mary Fergus.
Robin Steans, executive director of Advance Illinois, says the prospect of massive layoffs is making people “understand the costs” of the current, tenure-based system. “There are teachers with really unique talents and skill sets walking out the door,” she says. She hopes Huberman’s move will spur more discussion about the tenure system. “The question is ultimately going to be – do we want to give [districts] the ability to use whatever factors they want, or do we want to require it?”
But Don Moore, the executive director of Designs for Change, called the case “a clear-cut violation of the union contract. I think that Huberman is trying to put as much pressure as possible on the new union leadership. I have no confidence that if the central administration laid people off based on performance, that it would be in any way an objective indicator of how good the teachers were.
There’s already a blueprint for what CPS is proposing, in a policy brief from The New Teacher Project outlining a system in which tenure and performance are both taken into account for layoffs. (Rebecca Harris, Catalyst)
Also: WBEZ education reporter Linda Lutton offers her "quick and dirty guide" to Wednesday's Chicago Board of Education meeting, addressing the dominate topic: teacher layoffs. Are they real? Have they already happened? Is the worst behind us, or is it yet to come?
Parents at the magnet school Galileo Elementary want CPS to consider its
longtime assistant principal, Blanca Miarka, to fill vacant principal's post. (Chicago Journal)
The Chicago Journal also reports that parents and community stakeholders
at some public
schools around downtown will turn to fund raising and outreach
efforts to try to mitigate budget cuts.
Meg McSherry Breslin of Chicago News Cooperative looks into high school graduation and college admission rates among charter schools supported by the Renaissance Schools Fund, a Chicago philanthropy started by business leaders
through the Commercial Club of Chicago.
In the state:
At yesterday’s meeting, the Illinois State Board of Education passed a budget that includes a cut of more than 10 percent to early childhood programs. The complete document can be found here.
Also approved – controversial rules requiring bilingual education programs for many preschoolers. Catalyst earlier covered the issue; Education Week noted that the new rules are “the most prescriptive regulations in the nation” for preschool English learners. Teachers will have to be certified by July 2014.
In recent weeks, officials took steps to assuage several concerns about the measure, says Reyna Hernandez, a research and policy associate at the Latino Policy Forum. School districts will now be able to include preschoolers in their bilingual-student counts, which help determine the amount of funding they get from the state, Hernandez says. But with total bilingual funds taking a 6.9 percent hit over last year, some districts could face a pinch over start-up costs like materials and curricula. Programs will also get a pass on teachers who have a provisional bilingual or ESL endorsement, which shows that they are making progress towards finishing their coursework.
In the nation:
The New York City Education Department rolls out a new strategy for turning around some of the city's lowest-performing school. The transformation model will be instituted in September in 11 of the 34 city schools that the state has identified as "persistently lowest achieving." The remaining 23 school will be closed or replaced by smaller schools or charter schools, The New York Times reports.
The online journal Take Part reports that the New Schools for New Orleans recently released annual report shows the effort to reinvent public education in New Orleans is making great progress as the fifth anniversary of Katrina approaches.
In the News: Charter teachers unionize; reaction to 'unsastisfac
Removing a teacher’s tenure status is denial of a teacher’s property interest and doing so requires “due process.†That’s not an insurmountable barrier, even under typical teacher contracts that don’t require dismissal based on student test scores. Simply declaring that “a teacher will be fired if he/she shows 2 straight years of bad student test scores (growth or value-added)†and then firing a teacher for as much does not mean that the teacher necessarily was provided due process.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act Challenges
The non-random assignment of students leads to the second likely legal claim that will flood the courts as student testing based teacher dismissals begin – Claims of racially disparate teacher dismissal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Given that students are not randomly assigned and that poor and minority – specifically black – students are densely clustered in certain schools and districts and that black teachers are much more likely to be working in schools with classrooms of low-income black students, it is highly likely that teacher dismissals will occur in a racially disparate pattern. Black teachers of low-income black students will be several times more likely to be dismissed on the basis of poor value-added test scores. This is especially true where a statewide fixed, rigid requirement is adopted and where a teacher must be de-tenured and/or dismissed if he/she shows value-added below some fixed value-added threshold on state assessments.
So, here’s how this one plays out. For every 1 white teacher dismissed on value-added basis, 10 or more black teachers are dismissed - relative to the overall proportions of black and white teachers. This gives the black teachers the argument that the policy has racially disparate effect. No, it doesn’t end there. A policy doesn’t violate Title VII merely because it has racially disparate effect. That just starts the ball rolling – gets the argument into court.
The state gets to defend itself – by claiming that producing value-added test scores is a legitimate part of a teacher’s job and then explaining how the use of those scores is, in fact neutral with respect to race. It just happens to have the disparate effect. Right? But, as the state would argue, that’s a good thing because it ensures that we can put better teachers in front of these poor minority kids, and get rid of the bad ones.
But, the problem is that the significant body of research on non-random assignment of students and its effect of value added scores indicates that it’s not necessarily differences in the actual effectiveness of black versus white teachers, but that the black teachers are concentrated in the poor black schools and that student clustering and not teacher effectiveness is leading to the disparate rates of teacher dismissal. So they weren’t fired because they were precisely measurably ineffective, they were fired because they had classrooms of poor minority students year after year? At the very least, it is statistically problematic to distill one effect from the other! As a result, it’s statistically problematic to argue that the teacher should be dismissed! There is at least equal likelihood that the teacher is wrongly dismissed as there is that the teacher is rightly dismissed. I suspect a court might be concerned by this.
Reduction in Force
Note that many of these same concerns apply to all of the recent rhetoric over teacher layoffs and the need to base those layoffs on effectiveness rather than seniority. It all sounds good, until you actually try to go into a school district of any size and identify the 100 “least effective†teachers given the current state of data for teacher evaluation. Simply writing into a reduction in force (RIF) policy a requirement of dismissal based on “effectiveness†does not instantly validate the “effectiveness†measures. And even the best “effectiveness†measures, as discussed above, remain really problematic, providing tenured teachers reduced on grounds of ineffectiveness multiple options for legal action.
for complete article......
Pondering Legal Implications of Value-Added Teacher Evaluation
By Bruce Baker
June 2, 2010
http://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/pondering-legal-implica...
In the News: Charter teachers unionize; reaction to 'unsastisfac
Fourteen teachers providing hospital instruction with the Office of Specialized Services got their layoff letters today. That’s the whole department, excluding the program supervisor and clerical staff. These teachers were city-wide employees and provided instruction to students in hospitals and other treatment centers in Chicago.
Apparently, OSS thinks it can provide these federally-mandated services via distance learning and laptops, rather than through teachers, face-to-face.
The teacher I spoke with had more than a quarter century of service to Chicago Public Schools and possesses multiple certificates for both regular and special education.
The letters clearly stated the reason was for budgetary purposes and that the teachers were being honorably discharged as of June 30th. Nearly half the letter concerned some pabulum about a résumé writing workshop. (Listening to it being read to me, I thought it sounded as if it had been written by a twenty-something, fresh-out-of-college and trained by her own college’s placement office in résumé writing skills.)
The letter closed by thanking the teacher for her years of service.
To top it off, the letter contained a listing of PSRP/ESP position vacancies.
why we support obama?
Can someone tell me why??? CTU endorsed Obama??
Chain of Command?
Obama
Duncan
Huberman
Did CTU do any research? Can UNION people really endorse Democrats anymore? I know the Republicans were bad ? But are these democrats any better???
afl-cio?
where is this national union brotherhood?? they send me credit card offers???? but never anything on our perilous job situation cps??
Interesting candidate
This person is running for Governor for Michigan. He has some interesting ideas about Education!!
www.daveformichigan.com/Education.html
In the News: Charter teachers unionize; reaction to 'unsastisfac
Danny,
Thank you for the unfortunate news about CPS laying off all 14 of its Citywide educators that provide hospital instruction to children.
Since the layoff letter you cite references budget cuts then these teachers will not be placed in the reassigned teacher pool. Isn't this a violation of the current contract? Their program was closed. That is one circumstance specifically listed in the contract under which teachers must be displaced not terminated. Likewise a shift from teacher based instruction to digital/computer distance learning represents a pretty clear change in educational focus (also referenced in the contract regarding displaced teachers).
Were these 14 teachers simply terminated? It seems a grievance and possible legal action are in order here. What do you think?
Unions vs. Kids' best interests
As a lawyer who has practiced labor and employment law for over 12 years, I wonder why/how, "Denial of Due Process" believes tenure status is a "property right" (as is real property under Eminent Domain, for example). As somebody who as a child experienced first hand the way tenure was used by some public school teachers as an exuse to do a horrible job, but still get a paycheck, benefits and accrue pension benefits (e.g. reading newspapers instead of teaching, missing 40+ days a years for no real reason, giving mindless 'assignments' while thay went to the teachers lounge to chill for an hour, etc...). Thank God my parents went the extra mile and eventually sent me to Catholic school --the savior of so many working-class inner-city kids, like myself. Also, teaching, like any profession is an "art" and some people just are not cut out for it, period. Some public school teachers want the respect and renumeration of professionals, but then thay also want the security and work rules of unskilled UAW workers (seniority over ability, inability to get fired except for the most glaringly wrong behavior, etc.). I believe that teachers are to be respected, admired and cherished for the job that they do, but I cannot respect the concept that tenure and seniority protect teachers no matter how lousy a job thay are doing, just as long as they are "showing up" for work most of the time. Kids' futures are just too dependent of the kind of teaching they are dealt with to make seniority/tenure the seminal factor when deciding about firing and promotions.
In the News: Charter teachers unionize; reaction to 'unsastisfac
KS, many people have a misunderstanding of what tenure is in CPS. It does not "protect teachers no matter how lousy a job they are doing".
Tenure is merely a process, mutually agreed upon by employer and employees, by which an unsatisfactory teacher may be dismissed. As long as the proper procedures are followed then laying off a teacher for cause is not difficult.
Outstanding principals hire and retain outstanding staff. The responsibility for removing bad teachers lies with administration not with the systems of tenure and seniority.
In the News: Charter teachers unionize; reaction to 'unsastisfac
Put the blame where it really belongs, on Mayor Daley! Don't fudge around the fact that Daley has placed incompetent by any means you can measure CEO's who without any professional qualifications are making unsound educational policies that have a negative impact that reaches into the classroom. What don't you get? You don't run a school district like the department of Streets and Sanitation!!! I hope the New CTU will add up all the BS policies that have come down from the CEO's office. Remember, Huberman and his team are the one's in control and rightly are the one's to blame for inane educational policies that effect the classroom. If you have a incompetent leader at the top and a layer of parasites (patronage managers from City Hall) who have no knowledge of how to run a school district (and making over $100,000), we see the lowest morale among the folks who count, the professionals in the classroom. Huberman by design is following his master's orders to bring public education down. Huberman can do that, since that is maybe the only thing he can do. The dysfunction in the upper echelon is viral and does hurt the children. Time for some serious pushback on the insanity that is Daley and his CEO's!
Daley and Huberman against Kids!
KS.. get it right!
In the News: Charter teachers unionize; reaction to 'unsastisfac
If one of your clients didn't pay you? Wouldnt you be upset? If suddenly the bar association could disbar you because your boss(who was not a fair person) didnt like your work or your personality?
Getting laid of from CPS often means you are "untouchable". That is what being terminated as a unsatisfactory teacher means. Not all Principals are fair people. Ok life isnt fair, but dont we have a right to fight this, or at least be UPSET? Not all Excellent teachers are exclellent and not all unsatisfactory teacher are unsatisfactory. There are a LOT of politicas in schools, by the princiapal and other teachers. The union at least gave us some power to offset this. We are a PUBLIC instution. However, princiapls and admin run CPS like it's their own private business.
Allowing Princiapls to have more and more power will mean that teachers will work for THEM not the children.
Our employer agreed to give us a process for removal and termination. They changed the rules overnight? I dont know any employee public or private who would be happy with this outcome. Everyone cries fould when a ref makes a bad call for the cubs or sox, but what about the working man???
In the News: Charter teachers unionize; reaction to 'unsastisfac
"Contract?" asks whether the 14 teachers who lost their jobs Friday when the Hospital Instruction program was virtually eliminated (from now on, they will use distance learning, satelite connections, laptop computers, etc. instead of face-to-face instruction) should be placed in the reassigned teacher pool?
The Union's position is yes, and they have been telling teachers this ever since Huberman raised the alarm of a budget crisis in February.
Unfortunately, the Board says "no," and the contract language appears to support their position. The Board policy, which is identical to Appendix H of our Agreement, specifically names four reasons/categories of teachers whose positions are closed. Usually when you have that level of specificity in a legal document, anything that does not fall into one of those reasons/categories is held to be outside the policy.
The letters these teachers received specifically stated that their jobs were being terminated for budgetary/financial reasons, and the Board adopted a policy at its special meeting earlier this month that job closings under those circumstances were ineligible for Appendix H remedies.
This sounds like something the courts may have to settle, however, and I would certainly encourage anyone whose job is terminated in this manner to contact the Union and join any grievance the Union has filed on this.
In the News: Charter teachers unionize; reaction to 'unsastisfac
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