Marshall High and other turnaround high schools, in Chicago and nationally, face a thorny dilemma. Higher-performing students are being siphoned off through competition, driving down enrollment and raising tough policy questions about the future of these schools.
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Union pickets meeting, releases negotiation details; district passes new probation policy
By: Rebecca Harris / July 28, 2010
About 70 Chicago Teachers Union members and others who oppose the
district’s teacher layoffs picketed outside today’s School Board
meeting. Jesse Sharkey, the union’s new vice president, rallied them
with a megaphone.
About 70 Chicago Teachers Union members and others who oppose the district’s teacher layoffs picketed outside today’s School Board meeting. Jesse Sharkey, the union’s new vice president, rallied them with a megaphone.
“They have come into our house at night, the house of the public schools, and they have taken everything that isn’t nailed down,” Sharkey said. “Now they come to us and say, ‘Give us a hand.’”
Inside the meeting, union President Karen Lewis asked the board to freeze new hiring – including the 200 Teach for America members the board agreed to hire in March – until the laid-off teachers had been placed in jobs. “School instability and high turnover is, in your eyes, good enough for our children,” she told the board.
Last week, 400 teachers and 200 support personnel received layoff notices, as the district seeks to close a $370 million deficit.
CEO Ron Huberman responded to Lewis by saying the district has placed over one-fifth of the coaches and citywide teachers laid off in June in new jobs, and extended their benefits an extra month. He also noted that non-union CPS employees have taken 21 furlough days and gone two years without a pay raise.
“In the last three years, teachers across the system have received a 16.5 percent increase, and we believe those increases were well deserved,” Huberman said. “(We will) look at the budget together, brainstorm together, but hopefully come to the realization that we need to do whatever it takes.”
After Lewis spoke, she released a document from the negotiations, showing a CPS estimate of $445.7 million in potential savings from union concessions. (Lewis says that instead of agreeing, the union will look for savings elsewhere once the district releases a draft budget).
The document outlines the different amounts of money that could be saved if concessions were agreed to at different points of the year. Among the cuts CPS is asking for: pay for recess time, nine holidays, and step and lane advancements. Still, “they seem to be working a little harder to be willing to work with us,” Lewis noted.
Savings From CTU Concessions
CPS also adopted a new performance and probation policy at the meeting. There are several changes from last year:
*It will be easier for some schools to get off probation. Those that have only been on probation for just a year need only one year of improved scores, rather than two consecutive years.
*Chief area officers will no longer be able to review and change a school’s probation status. That policy was scrapped because it was being implemented inconsistently and unevenly across the district, said Ryan Crosby, from the district’s Office of Performance.
*The board adopted a policy for the 2011-2012 school year, in addition to the coming year. “By putting it out as a two-year policy, (principals) will be able to plan,” Huberman said.
“These changes are being requested in large part by chief area officers and principals,” Crosby said.
Board member Peggy Davis asked about the policy’s effect on alternative schools. Crosby replied that the schools do not get ratings under the policy, but are given their score for informational purposes. “We are working with the new Area 30 office... to develop a score card that is appropriate,” he said.
Union pickets meeting, releases negotiation details; district pa
Hopefully the union will make some concessions. I would like to come back to work.
Union pickets meeting, releases negotiation details; district pa
Wake up Trish. Would you like to go back to work in the style of the 50"s .You will have just surrendered to the Board everything that the teachers before you teachers have accomplished in the last 50 years. Those people have stood in solidarity at much greater odds than Mr. Huberman. Who by the way was appointed by the Mayor to do this job because of his previous experience in intimidating people and breaking them down.Congratulations !
Union pickets meeting, releases negotiation details; district pa
Huberman has no integrity nor leadership. His intent is only to cut, cut and cut some more, without regard to the quality of the education. It is the Ren 2010 playbook. If Huberman did have some independence and even an inkling of integrity and good faith, he would have opened the fiscal books. That in itself shows that Daley and Huberman are not about the children but about being faithful to a plan that cuts so many corners there is nothing left of quality.
Look at NYC charters who just bombed out in their reading scores. Chicago, Daley, Huberman and the Chicago Civic Committee are selling you snake oil.
Union pickets meeting, releases negotiation details; district pa
"Would you like to go back to work in the style of the 50"s "
Would that mean the students respected authority and parents believed education was incredibly important? Would it mean that instead of chasing students around school trying to get them to turn in assignments to pass, we'd simply say, "Hey, you lack responsibility and it's your fault you failed"? Would it mean that when I call home, the parents automatically believe me and not their child's made up cock-and-bull story?
I'm being facetious... but if I could have all that, why yes I'd work for less and with more students!!!! But those days are long, long gone.
Union pickets meeting, releases negotiation details; district pa
There were a lot more than 70 protesters in front of the BOE yesterday. I was there and marching. Perhaps, your reporter left early.
Union pickets meeting, releases negotiation details; district pa
I'm not ready to give in. There is an enormous amount of money in P-12 Mgmt. at the top. Citywide teachers are taking the brunt right now. AUSL gets lots of money. I know, I've seen it. CPS doesn't want them to fail. Don't buy the line that cost-saving is separate from teacher-position saving. They plan to come back next year with more cuts (this time based on ratings and scores). I'm ready to fight. I'll work part-time at McDonalds to pay my mortgage if need be. We must not surrender without a strong fight. We are right in this fight. It isn't about children. Even the worst CPS teacher has more compassion for impoverished kids than CPS.
Union pickets meeting, releases negotiation details; district pa
It would be good for the public to know about the 2.3% pay cut that all school-based administrators (principals and Asst Principals) are taking. That's not even 0% pay raise; it's a cut.
Of course, this is not equitable. Effective and ineffective school principals and APs are lumpted together. The effective ones are punished; the ineffective ones are rewarded with a pay cut less than it should be.
A better idea would be to give CAOs a dollar (or percent of a total budget) that they can dole out. Effective administrators (as measured by the school made AYP, test scores went up, etc) get 0 or 1% raises. Ineffective principals and APs get 3, 4, or 5% pay cuts. The overall pay cut still stands but it's distributed according to student learning results. That would send a message that you're valued and we want to keep you around; or it would send the opposite message.
Principals and APs don't have a union to protect them. This can be done by fiat. Set an example about what's valued and give CAOs the leverage to say it loudly. Give Ron Huberman and the public this idea as another solution to consider.
Union pickets meeting, releases negotiation details; district pa
You are assuming that the CAOs are knowledgeable and don't play favorites. CAOs should NOT be responsible for giving out $. There needs to be an independent administrator who tells the truth when a principal is mucking up. There are a few bad principals out there as fact and their CAOs are covering for them and covering for their teacher friends as well.
Union pickets meeting, releases negotiation details; district pa
Its easier to lose 2.5% of 120k then take any hit when you are making 55k a year!
and i agree...are these CAO's completely objective? And should a principal take full responsibilty for 500 students who have 2000 parents and 12000k other community memebrs who affect their education??? teachers DO NOT have 100% control over students academics!!!
just my opinion......
Union pickets meeting, releases negotiation details; district pa
You should check out ISBE - the state changed requirements for all certification levels and ratings. There is concern across the state that "bad" teachers are not weeded out. There were only 4 teachers fired in the entire state last year.
Union pickets meeting, releases negotiation details; district pa
Why do people assume that only 4 teachers were "fired" last year? That is a lie. More than that were fired from CPS - check out the Board meetings when they "terminate" people. Where Southwest Elem got this info is beyond me. Don't you know that half of the teachers who start out in this system quit before they do 5 years? How many teachers have their careers shut down because the principal "clicks them off"? And that's just in the first 3 years.
Stop spreading all this bad teacher stuff. The worst teachers are friends of the principal. They don't have to do anything and only get bad reports if a new principal comes in. In my son's school, all the principals friends had parents complain and she never did anything. When one teacher wouldn't change an IEP, she got a bad report. My son graduated last year, but that teacher, who stood up for special ed kids got a bad report. Now she cant get a job because of a lie. There are so many good teachers, but people keep talking about the bad ones. Will someone ever tell us what makes a bad teacher AND what makes a good teacher?
Union pickets meeting, releases negotiation details; district pa
I know 5 that were "fired" in my CPS school alone....
Union pickets meeting, releases negotiation details; district pa
I wanted to thank Pro Charter, Juan Rangel, and all of our charter heroes. Of course I commend the charter school for firing the pregnant teacher. If anything, they did not go nearly far enough.
I think Pro-Charter would agree with me that the charter schools should have the right to take the following steps:
1. Forced abortions for their employees. Having little rugrats running around only compromises their ability to serve the parent charter corporation. Plus there's that nasty 9 month period where the host organism is puking all over the place and missing work to nurture the little parasite.
2. Pass out adult diapers at the beginning of each year. I can't tell you how many workplaces I've seen lazy workers robbing their dedicated bosses by taking bathroom breaks ON THE JOB. I belief that pissing is one of the many activities that workers undertook that destroyed the economy.
3. No compensation. There's nothing that destroys the bottom line more than having to pay employees.
4. Sexual favors for administrators. Our administrators work hard and it's a free market. If someone wants to work at the school, they should have to fulfill whatever duties their boss assigns. If they don't like it, they can just quit.
5. Organ donation. My buddy Ron has already started this one. Want a job in CPS? Donate a kidney!
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