catalyst-chicago.org

Chicago Public School officials Monday are crafting contingency plans to keep students busy in the event of a strike, while Chicago Teachers Union members hoisted signs to kick off a week of planned informational picketing outside schools.

The Tribune is saying that today's monthly Chicago Board of Education meeting will likely be a lengthy one with protesters expected to speak out against an unresolved teacher's contract, a proposed budget that will provide $76 million more to charter schools, and the district's contingency plan in the event of a strike.

Teachers, parents and education activists will picket the Chicago Board of Education before its monthly meeting, the CTU announced in a new release Tuesday afternoon. Pickets will begin just before 9 a.m. and will include a press conference with Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis and others.  Lewis indicated talks are moving slowly and the Board refuses to “back down from particular proposals that aren’t popular with our members,” she said. “They have not properly implemented the interim agreement on the longer school day at Track E schools and we have little confidence they will be able to do this system wide. We are still concerned about the quality of the day and the fact that despite all of the violence in this city, the District only has 370 social workers for over 400,000 students.”

Chicago public high school juniors showed improvement on both the Prairie State Achievement Examination and the ACT in 2012, according to data released Tuesday by Chicago Public Schools. (Tribune)

The former superintendent of the cash-strapped West Harvey-Dixmoor School District 147 was ordered held in lieu of $150,000 bail Tuesday for allegedly bilking thousands of dollars from the district and spending the money on steak and seafood dinners for his colleagues and trips for their families — among other lavish items. (Sun-Times)

IN THE NATION
San Francisco public school teachers voted nearly four-to-one to approve a new two-year contract with the San Francisco Unified School District that provides for no raises but fewer furlough days. (San Francisco Business Times)

Save Our Schools, a grassroots movement of classroom teachers, parents, and educators protesting test-based education policies, is facing the first true test of its mettle: whether it can make the leap from loosely affiliated network to coordinated political body. (Education Week)

A California school board has approved a plan to restructure a school at the center of a closely watched "parent-trigger" dispute, but it's not the plan that a group of parents wanted—and it's not the plan they say a judge ordered put in place. (Education Week)

All but a few Massachusetts districts will probably miss a quickly approaching state deadline to implement a new teacher evaluation system that relies heavily on student achievement. (Boston Globe)