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: Voters side with CTU on school reform
By: Cassandra West / May 16, 2012
Chicago voters overwhelmingly back Mayor Rahm Emanuel's push to extend the school day, but far more of them side with the teachers union than the mayor on overall efforts to improve education, a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows.
Sizable majorities of Chicago residents as a whole (86 percent) and public school parents (92 percent) agreed with if teachers are going to teach longer hours, they should be paid more for it.
Chicago Teachers Union officials are calling Marc Wigler “a spy,’’ a “stool pigeon” and a “rat’’ following his April 24 ouster for life from the union for allegedly feeding a top Chicago Public Schools labor official information about an internal union meeting. Wigler was accused of sending CPS labor relations chief Rachel Resnick a 50-bullet-point email, detailing what CTU officials told union delegates during a special meeting the evening before, CTU officials say. Wigler, who earned $85,000 last year as a resource teacher working in multiple schools, declined to comment Tuesday. (Sun-Times)
Some parochial schools in Chicago will close because of the NATO summit May 20-21. But, Chicago Public School officials plan to hold classes at schools near McCormick Place. (ABC 7 News)
The State Board of Education has given preliminary approval to a nearly $1 million contract with the consulting firm that former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas heads. According to documents posted on the board's website, the contract would call for Vallas Group to work on "coordination of interventions in low-performing school districts."
Reading In Motion released the results from a study revealing that a combination of music-based curriculum, coaching of teachers and small-group instruction can raise the number of kindergarten students who are reading at grade level to 92 percent, compared to 63 percent without these components. The study involved six Chicago Public Schools and 550 students. In the first year, teachers got 63 percent of their students to grade level in reading, using their standard methods. The same teachers were able to get 92 percent of their students to grade level the following year with the use of Reading In Motion’s program which incorporates all three components – music, teacher support and small group instruction. (Press release)
IN THE NATION
Under a new pilot program, kindergartners could help put Georgia at the forefront of a growing movement to make student surveys part of how teachers are rated. Students in every grade will participate in the program, and, depending on its results, the state may incorporate the feedback into teacher evaluations as early as next year, when it will join other measures such as student test scores. (Washington Post)
As a response to the Department of Education’s $10 million funding cut to the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program, advocates held a briefing on Capitol Hill Tuesday to defend the program’s strong track record and share data showcasing the program’s positive impact on underserved students. Founded in 1986, McNair prepares low-income, first-generation and minority undergraduates for careers in academia. (Press release)
The National Center for Education Statistics is rechecking data on about 5,000 high schools after faulty information from the federal agency led to erroneous rankings for the high schools on U.S. News & World Report's "Best High Schools" list. (Education Week)
LUDICRIOUS
Chicago Teachers Union officials are calling Marc Wigler “a spy,’’ a “stool pigeon” and a “rat’’ following his April 24 ouster for life from the union for allegedly feeding a top Chicago Public Schools labor official information about an internal union meeting.
Now what does that make them? I am so tired of hearing about attacks on union or former union members by this current union leadership. Then they'll be singing 'Solidarity Forever" while they continue to harass and sue union members. This is precisely the reason why people think of the unions as bullies. Now watch them start attacking me for voicing my opinion on this thread. Talk about being paranoid ! Stop wasting our union dues taking union members to court and losing. Get a life CTU you have greater problems than Marc Wigler. Hey by the way, what are you going to do about the 200 teachers that are being given bogas unsatisfactory ratings. OOPS I forgot there's no media coverage in that campaign.
I think the crux of this
I think the crux of this Union issue is very simple:
An elected leader of the Chicago Teachers Union should not collude with the chief labor representative of the Chicago Public Schools.
Chicago Citizens and Taxpayers Side with CTU
Rightly so. Rahm continues the No Research based educational policies and budget priorities that keeps Chicago in the back water of public education. The failure resides in the mayor and the leaders running CPS. That is the real news of today!
Wigler
Guess Who, you think the CTU leadership should not have gone after Wigler for selling out the union to the chief CPS negotiator? They tried to do this quietly and give that RAT an opportunity to slink away quietly, but he just couldn't stand not being the center of attention. Wigler is lucky it wasn't the Teamsters or Steelworkers he sold out.
Did anyone ever pick up on the possibility and likelihood that
tutoring-SES funding was purposefully not used in order to further starve resources for neighborhood schools in an effort to keep test scores low and subsequently use the low neighborhood school test scores to further promote charter schools?
SES
At our soon-to-be turned around school, only about 50 students were approved in the Fall, out of over 300 who applied. Then they added a few more in January , but still never as many as wanted to get after school services.
On purpose ? Of course !!
LSC corruption on principal selection
Has anyone heard how the Chief Of Schools and their Deputy's are manipulating who gets invited to Meet the LSCs who are hiring? The board is controlling who gets in these schools and in turn control the new principal's. What good does it do to go through a process at OPPD when they are pushing the Teach for America and New Leaders. What about those who made the list because of excellent work and experience at CPS?
ses>
I agree...I dont know what the "process" is to get students in after school. i was all done under secret in our school. wierd? i am not a conspiracy theory type...but it was wierd with all the need we had...only a few kids got in after school? very wierd!
it was like we had to BEG cps to get our lists approved when the money was their!
Who Cares?
Teachers want their jobs back. No one really cares about the silly union in fighting!
RE: Doberman
An elected leader of the Chicago Teachers Union should not collude with the chief labor representative of the Chicago Public Schools.
An elected President of the Chicago Teachers Union should not got down to Springfield without the approval of the House of Delegates and sign a bill that has brought the union to it';s knees, left it powerless and is the reason why all these other diversionary tactics are used to cover for their mistakes. Put the spotlight back on the problem. The problem is Senate Bill 7 and Karen Lewis and her team. Why didn't someone call for her removal when she gave up teachers seniority?
The only reason they are going after Wigler is because he's UPC and tells the truth about the Lewis administration. When Marilyn was president CORE wrote awful things about her, they harassed her and acted like fools at every HOD meeting. I just wish she would have kicked these bullies out the union and they wouldn't be in office now.
Delusional
Though the TRAITOR Wigler might be a friend of yours, that is no reason to be completely delusional about how the UPC stuffed their pockets at our expense and created a three ring circus at the HOD. The UPC was a bunch of crooks. Please stop trying to distract people with misrepresentations. If Wigler is so innocent, why is there no mention of him on the UPC website?
So Much For Union Solidarity!
The UPC are not crooks. They are a caucus of the Chicago Teachers Union. They are dues paying members who support the CTU financially. What kind of union is this? You want people to support this union membership while you attack thousands of union members. I hope teachers and union members reading this blog and can see how the union leadership is attacking union members. What about the conflict of interest
hiring going on now at the CTU. Isn't the law firm for the CTU owned by the chief of staff's mother? Come on now, everyone is stuffing their pockets with our union dues. So much for union solidarity.
Pocket Stuffing
Marilyn Stewart and Ted Dallas were particularly good at that pocket stuffing you dismiss so cavalierly.
And you failed to answer why, if Wigler is innocent, the UPC fails to mention him on their website. Stop trying to muddy the waters. Wigler is a Judas.
LSC
Yes I have heard of severl cases where area offices said "here are your choices" they are from the "approved" list! however, any principal candidate i have seen has less than 5 years CPS experience. I HAVE NEVER IN MY TEN years seen one teacher I know in my school or any other rise to be a principal! Just another act of elitism to lower the morale of CPS teachers? What careers do you know in this country were you have ZERO chance of management promotion? This is why teachers have steps...we have no chance of rising in the "rungs" of the school (or should i say corporate) ladder!!
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