A raft of past programs have failed to substantially improve the reading skills of middle grade and high school students. CPS is trying once again, as part of a federal project that aims to help teens learn how to analyze complex non-fiction.
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CPS makes new salary offer, CTU calls it "unacceptable"
By: Sarah Karp / September 05, 2012
CTU leadership has consistently said that salary will be discussed in the last stage of contract negotiations, and on Wednesday they revealed that CPS made a new offer.
It is five days before the Sept. 10 strike date.
CPS officials have given up their hope of getting merit pay or what they call a differentiated pay scale in this contract and they will continue to reward teachers with salary increases for getting more educational degrees, said CTU President Karen Lewis on Wednesday.
However, CPS officials have not budged on their offer of 2 percent a year for four years. They also are not offering increases for experience called step increases, though they said they would allow teachers to count their years of service should step increases be part of future contracts.
Lewis was dubious about the concession on step increases. “It gets us nothing,” she said.
Union leadership has not decided what it will counter offer, but called the district's offer "unacceptable." In the past, the CTU has insisted that teachers deserve a bigger raise. Lewis defended that position again, noting that teachers are working more hours and days and being evaluated on test scores. They also are teaching a more rigorous curriculum with the implementation of the Common Core State Standards.
“We are working longer and harder,” she said. Lewis added that CPS rescinded a promised four percent salary increase last year and that is still a “bone of contention.”
Lewis briefed the press after the union’s House of Delegates meeting. Most delegates did not to talk to the press when leaving the meeting, but many were carrying bags filled with red CTU t-shirts and picket signs.
One teacher noted she was not impressed with CPS’ offer. “They are offering peanuts,” she said.
In addition to pay, numerous other issues have yet to be resolved, Lewis said.
“Too many for me to count,” she said. One of the biggest is recall procedures for displaced teachers.
Also, on Wednesday, CTU announced that it had filed unfair labor practice charges with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. The complaints allege that CPS wrongly started implementing new conditions without the union agreeing to them. Among the things CPS did: Stop paying step increases, and started imposing a new teacher evaluation system.
If the CTU is successful with its charges, the state labor agency could ultimately ask the state to seek an injunction ordering CPS to roll back the changes.
CTU Lawyer Robert Bloch said the union can strike over unfair labor practices. Striking over unfair labor practices, rather than over the contract, prevents CPS from hiring permanent teachers to take the place of striking teachers, he said. But he insisted that it was unlikely that CPS would be able to hire 26,000 replacements anyway.
The main reason for filing the complaint, he said, is that it is wrong for CPS to take those steps before the issues are resolved on the bargaining table.
CPS Spokeswoman Becky Carroll called the unfair labor practices complaint unnecessary."It's time to put antics aside and negotiate in good faith on behalf of our students so they can stay in classrooms with their teachers where they belong," she said.
CPS dysfunctional
CPS is so dysfunctional and cognitively incompetent. They will not win. The people will win. In the end, we will win. Not the rich. It will backfire and they will be suffering too. We all breathe the same air and drink the same water.The rich may have money but that will be nothing when the people fight.
GO MIDDLE CLASS!! Where the heck is Obama?
omg
I still cant believe obama helped rahm get into office. I love obama but this was a major mistake. Rahm is the worse...i have no idea what i am going to do with my kids if the teachers strike...some of us have to work to make ends meet. We cant put our kids in lab schools...uuhhhgggg.
lab school!
That is a good idea..you think rahm could ask the Lab school to open up for CPS students??
who cares what rahm thinks?
who cares what rahm thinks? he is gone next year.
Yeah..but dont think he
Yeah..but dont think he would even ask. He does not want his kids around us regular folk...at regular schools.
labor speak at the DNC
I could barely contain myself with the disgust... one night Rahm and the next night the value of labor... (unions)... Where are our Democratic leaders in the fight for labor in our fair city in our great land of Lincoln? Tax breaks for the middle class? What middle class? Without the unions and the ability to collective bargaining there will be no middle class. Barack? Barack? Hello? Mr. President... Are you there?
Your anger is misplaced
As a reminder, it is the Chicago Teachers Union who have called for a strike. CPS has made several concessions, which CTU has declined. Perhaps you should direct your anger at the guilty party.
No money for raises last
No money for raises last year, but money for charters, and the police dept. Teachers are to work longer,but for less pay, decreasesd benefits, and fewer resources in the classrooms, except test materials( big contract). And constant insults and lack of respect. Who is really the "guilty" party??
I think CPS has to start
I think CPS has to start being responsible with taxpayer money! I think it CTU has the right to strike but I do not expect CPS to fold - paying more thetake can afford. After the teachers they must look at wasted dollars in administration buildings - once that is consilidated you can evaluate teAchers again. We took care of our children all summer - it won't be that bad. Hope they send home the textbooks they should be working on so we don't lag behind! I do have one question- how do you evaluate who's side your on if information on pay scale and benefits are not published??
All 25,000 educators in the
All 25,000 educators in the city are guilty?
Yeah, guilty of standing up for the students of the city.
We will concede nothing when it comes to the equitable, necessary education of our students.
the biggest story here is lost
Let's go back to Ms. Karp's story. It includes this passage "...on Wednesday, CTU announced that it had filed unfair labor practice charges with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. The complaints allege that CPS wrongly started implementing new conditions without the union agreeing to them. Among the things CPS did: Stop paying step increases, and started imposing a new teacher evaluation system."
SB7 does allow CPS to impose changes on teachers during the pendency of contract negotiations, but the specific issues that CTU has raised are not covered by 115 ILCS 5/4.5, so to put it simple CPS may have made a significant error in its imposition of changes that showed up on teachers' August pay statements depending on how certrain terms in the law are defined and applied. James Franczek, CPS' labor law expert, would not have agreed to the changes to payments ordered by CPS if he believed it was a clear violation of IELRB rules, it is possible given the confusion at CPS that CPS made the payroll changes without consulting with Franczek. This type of action is in clear violation of State law prohibiting employers from making changes in employment conditions while bargaining is ongoing, unless and until the parties reach impasse or a new agreement. Impasse is the key word here. the CTU may have effectively declared that there was an "impasse" when it filed under section 12 of SB7 for fact finding on or about April 16, 2012 . The entire fact finding process of SB7 is to be found in Section 12 which is titled "Impasse procedures." This issue will have to be decided by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board and it will not be simple.
I am not sure I agree with the CTU on imposition of new teacher evaluation standards because of specific language written into the PERA law relating only to CPS, but that issue again will clearly have to be determined by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB). Other issues in the unfair labor practice charges against the Chicago Public Schools were not clear enough for me to even begin to understand the validity of the claims.
The CPS is now arguing that this filing by the CTU is a distraction, if the CTU wins it will in effect actually have been tactically and legally brilliant. If it loses I think it costs the CTU nothing. The CPS and CTU are in a fight and in a fight like this whatever you can get away with is legitimate.
Rod Estvan
"Children Frist" Sites tidbit -- Time to Prepare Classrooms???
My understanding is that the new longer school day shifts teachers' start time from 30 minutes PRIOR to their students' arrival time to the EXACT same time as their arrival to the classroom.
Hmmm. Isn't it interesting that the official (mandatory) training given to central office workers today to help them manage kids at the "Children First Sites" requires that they arrive at 7am on Monday in order to have sufficient time to "prepare your classroom," "plan activities," and "greet students with a happy face at the door as they come in!" Interesting. Seems that the administration thinks that extra time PRIOR to students' arrival time is necessary even when staff is only charged with "supervision" and not instruction.
textbook?? hahha
cps doenst buy tetbooks and workbooks anymore...teacher have to search and create for ALLL materials at my school..no local or cps help ...hey dont even give us a guidline for curriculum
How can I make a decision if
How can I make a decision if I don't know what the pay and benefit program is? Why wait to discuss this? If your asking me as a parent to make a choice then give me the appropriate information. Otherwise I cannot!
pay
i would say look at website to see pay scale..but cps cancelled raises last year...so that informaiton is false
My anger is placed squarely on the guilty target.
Thanks Mayfair dad, my anger is placed squarely on the political cronies in this fair city and state... those who were bought, and then sold a bill (SB7) that limited the collectively bargaining rights and rendered us (teachers) with less of a voice then before. Removing our discourse and bargaining on employment and student conditions but RATHER limiting it to only compensation ....speaks very squarely as the republican voice and agenda sold by not by Republicans but by DEMS who have sold out their party (and more importantly) the union "thugs" who put them in office in the first place. My anger is squarely directed. Thanks for the suggestion... but no thanks.
Thoughts on the $$$ law firm negotiating for CPS against CTU?
Wonder why no one discusses this? Are they not accountable for these many billable hours? Is there incentive to keep this going to bulge their pockets? Is there any nepotism here or ethics code violations? (Would CPS law dept. really look into this: lawyers monitoring lawyers?)
Does this firm have or file for a venfdor number with CPS and meet minimum govenment standards? Does this law firm think they do not have to? Will they find these questions insulting and ridiculous?
First of All
Rahm is an elected official....not certain why everyone is complaining about him; after all, he won by a landslide.
Also, it seems CTU is really who should be held accountable for detering Chicago's students from their education.
Just take the 2 percent. Realistically, it is truly a mistake on any company or organization's part to pay everyone the same. Pay for performance is modern and takes into account who is effectively doing their job.
pay
Maybe capital gains tax should be adjusted on a per person basis. Those that screw society or were convicted of any financial crime pay more
Wrong! Parents who should be held accountabl first.
This is why there needs to be a CTU, because Chicago teachers are held accountable for everything--clothing, food, water, counseling, medical, dental, books, supplies, etc.
I never saw my child's
I never saw my child's teacher worry about teeth?
Merit pay is BOGUS
Dan Pink is an expert and sought after consultant on what motivates people in the workplace and he says that merit pay for the teaching profession is a lousy idea. I trust him, not Brizard who got himself evicted from his last job in Rochester for not getting anything good or useful done. In addition, merit pay has been tried over and over again for teaching and has failed miserably every single time. Last, where will the money for extra pay come from, especially if far more teachers than CPS expects qualify for it? This is just another bogus sales pitch so CPS can get what it really wants, a useless test based evaluation system that will send our scarce tax dollars out of the class room and into the board rooms of their friends.That is what the longer day is for, more time in school for more testing, because testing is what really educates a child, right? If CPS test based eval system is so good then why don't the charters that are doing worse than regular CPS schools have to use it?
Are your children at a high poverty school? teachers arrange
and pay their own money for students to get dental exams in and out of school. ( Have seen this every year.) The dentists in school take up instructional time, but teachers act as real parents to their students--
teeth
If a kid has tooth ache during testing. Teacher is concerned
nepotism
What about the lawyer for the CTU Robin Potter who is billing the hell out of the CTU for getting ALL of the business--big and small because of her son Jackson Potter's role with CTU leadership?
Really?
So you are saying...if one teacher, for lack of better words, sucks...and another teacher is outstanding...they should both receive the same increase?!
Makes no sense...pay for performance. That's why our kids are failiing...because there are some teachers (not all) who do not deserve to be in the profession but will continue to "teach" because of the CTU...failing to hold teachers accountable for not doing enough.
So...CTU is fighting for a huge increase...when most CPS are underperforming...what?! Are we living in a warped world?
"That's why our kids are failing"
Many students aren't "failing". Many schools in CPS work fairly well, and most teachers are fairly happy.
But as a society we've never found satisfactory ways to deal with a large number of children in poverty. This problem has become acute as the only realistic way up out of poverty is through a quality education.
How to address an enormity of poverty on a limit budget? With no clear path there is certainly going to be great disagreement. No one finds the status quo acceptable.
Most teachers, especially in low income areas, work at near their personal capacity. Being told that 'more' is needed is both distressing and threatening. The Tribune writing editorials about "students deserving only the best teachers" is ignorance. Effective organizations are designed around good, competent employees. The Tribune schools editorial writer is not "the best", and that person should understand the injury done to any employee if the employer is constantly looking for someone a bit better.
But CPS isn't the bad guy in this. Teacher's should be dragged into a modern compensation system. The risk to individual union teachers is minimal, especially when compared to the threat of job loss to charter expansion. Steps and ladders will be history. Perhaps not this time around, but it's an antiquated approach that's long gone in most of the modern world.
modern compensation system
What is so modern about making workers work longer hours with limited compensation increases? It actually sounds a lot like what was done to railroad workers in the 1870s?
Rod Estvan
modern comp
Modern Comp=Pay for Performance....is what I meant.
modern compensation system
Rod said "What is so modern about making workers work longer hours with limited compensation increases?"
The structure of the system says nothing about actual pay.
Besides, since we're being all unionie these days, the UAW gave back a tremendous amount of pay to regain competitive balance with the market. Personally I have no idea what is fair with this contract, because I have no idea what projected revenue looks like for CPS.
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