While I am almost always supportive of the employees’ fights and social justice issues, I am shocked and terrified by the cavalier attitude of Chicago Teachers Union toward student staying out of schools potentially for weeks while they demand money from a financially broken city for things that would be nice to have but nobody knows how to pay for them. Property taxes are already ridiculous, billions of pension obligations remain unfunded, and the discussion goes on as if the city were rolling in dough. “We need all of these, and it’s up to you to find the money?” Really?
Am I the only one frustrated?
I am surprised to agree with Crain’s Chicago Business columnist’s perspective on it:
I’m in Evanston and don’t have skin in the game, but I too find this strike to be crazy. Seems to me that the city has already agreed to most of the terms and negotiated in good faith. I’m frankly shocked that this wasn’t resolved over the weekend and the kids are still out of school.
During the last strike, my FB feed was overrun with posts supporting the teachers union. This time, it’s crickets.
The teachers look greedy IMO…already a big pay increase has been agreed to, but the teachers seem unwilling to give up on any of their other demands. Illinois’ (and Chicago’s) problems will continue, losing population due to high taxes, among other issues.
The strike is certainly not good for the students, which the union continues to espouse ‘we are doing this for the kids’. The strike means many kids are home alone with nothing to do. Regarding sports, soccer and football teams can’t participate in the state playoff tournaments.
And there is a cost for the seniors applying to colleges…who are getting no guidance from their counselors on applications, nor are transcripts being sent out. Are teachers and counselors writing their LoRs while on strike? Rolling admissions happening now, Nov 1 is a big deadline, as is Nov 15. Sad.
Large public school districts facing financial pressure may need to move into the 21st century in order to survive.
This means less reliance on in class teachers & fewer administrators in favor of computers, AI assisted learning, on-demand learning, & on other technological methods that can be used to deliver “classroom” instruction.
^^^ How well do you think that would work in inner city schools? Take a class of middle/high school students who don’t want to be there, with parents who don’t care if they’re there at all, let alone how well they do, and put them in front of a computer with only a non-teaching monitor to watch over them?
We’ve tried that here. We have a severe teacher shortage. We can’t hire warm bodies let alone good ones. Many don’t even last a semester before quitting. So, they have tried putting middle school kids in computer based math classes with long term subs. Result? Standardized test passing rates of ~25-30%. (I heard one school’s group of non-advanced kids had 1 kid pass out of 100 that year. The school’s overall score does get a boost from the advanced kids with actual teachers.)
I don’t know enough about the strike to comment specifically, but I wish I knew the answer to fix our downward spiral. My H is so discouraged after 28 years.
Frankly, to me at this point it looks like Chicago teachers decided to fix every injustice in the world. “Let’s raise the average lifespan of humans to 120, or else!”
Just look at this statement:
‘“We’re teachers. We’re going to read your homework assignment. You turn in half a paper, then we’re not going to give you a complete grade for that…she [Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot] is going to have to do enough for us to say this is fair and it’s a real change for our schools,” said CTU President Jesse Sharkey.’
In most of the world outside this weird bubble, what he refers to as “turning in half a paper” is called compromise.
CTU keeps saying it’s not about the $. If that’s true then maybe they should concede a bit on salary increases in order to pay for their other demands: smaller class size and a nurse in every school. I see a property tax increase in Chicago’s near future.
What has happened that we feel we have to make so many compromises? Why isn’t there enough tax money? Don’t we have a booming economy? Why do we think big classes are just the way it has to be, when for decades we had better education? Why does anyone think that “delivering” education by placing kids in front of screens is a good thing, or even a necessary thing? Why can’t we find “warm bodies”? What has made the teaching profession feel like a bad choice for young folks?
The commenting here, to me, reflects a crisis in how we see our taxes, our schools, our communities, our children, and our future.
I live in Chicago by Wrigley Field. My son went to a CPS school, selective enrollment school and the top school in the state that year.
His school was like a private school and not a typical CPS school.
I see the teachers out with strike boards daily. I have been to union meetings at the last strike and didn’t care for their president personally.
But I think they were given a very fair first offer and a fairer second offer. Feel really bad for the kids especially with state tourneys this weekend.
They are the highest paid teachers they can look for housing that’s affordable like the rest of us. Many affordable places to live in Chicago.
They got a 16 % raise through a shorter period then was suggested. Less kid’s in class. Nurses and social workers they needed. I think they are the highest paid teachers but after this contract they “will” be the highest paid teachers in the country.
So… I don’t side with them. Their signs say to honk if you support them. The first day there was a lot of honking, yesterday like almost none. (today they were protesting downtown so not on the streets)
I am not in the city (not even the same county). The only part I strongly agree with is Nurses in all of the schools (and not a random nurse from a staffing agency like is often the case). I have a daughter with Type 1 Diabetes and belong to several Facebook Groups of Type 1 Parents in the Chicagoland area and the medical mistakes made in Chicago Public Schools as a result of outsourced or non existent medical personnel is terrifying. These are often young kids 5-8 years old who are not savvy enough to take care of themselves. They have proper 504 plans in place that are ignored or misapplied in ways that could have children ending up in the hospital or worse. A stable school nurse who is familiar with your child, his or her medical plan and ongoing medical needs is not a lot to ask for. Children have the right to be safe in school. This is not about nosebleeds, banged up knees at recess or upset stomachs. There are kids in these schools who have real, ongoing medical needs that aren’t being adequately met.
Chicago school teachers are not the highest paid teachers (by a long shot), not even in Illinois. And teacher assistants and other school employees are not paid anything close to what Chicago teachers are paid. Affordable housing is shrinking in Chicago (as per the article @Knowsstuff linked to) and it is a serious issue to find affordable, commutable housing - especially if you are a teacher paying your own student loans back as well as trying to live in an expensive urban area.
Investing in children’s education is an investment that pays massive dividends. Nurses in all building, librarians in buildings…these are things I expect in my school district (and have along with higher taxes than the city of Chicago and more resources available to my children). If Chicago can put police/security into school buildings, Chicago shouldn’t be arguing about putting education and basic health care (nurses needed to give medicine, etc) into Chicago schools.
We can pay now or pay later (and it is always more expensive to pay later). I would rather pay now (as a Cook County resident I definitely pay) as opposed to having children and teachers struggling and fighting for the resources all children should be able to expect in a country as prosperous as the one we live in.
@Knowsstuff Chicago teachers will be in the top quartile of urban districts (nationwide) in terms of pay - they will not be the highest paid. They will still not be the highest paid teachers in Illinois (or in other states like New York, New Jersey, etc)- teachers in Illinois suburbs are paid more than Chicago teachers will be if/when this contract is ratified.
Let’s talk real numbers. Right now (without a new contract) median CPS teacher pay is $82K, plus $28K in benefits. Remember this is for nine months of work. https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/9/25/20884469/cps-teachers-strike-public-schools-lightfoot-ctu-union A 16% pay raise, over 5 years, is proposed in the new contract. It seems there is agreement on the pay, sticking points are class sizes, nurses, other support staff. This is all in a school district that is underperforming…below average test scores, low graduation rates, high truancy…similar to many other large urban districts.
As momofsenior posted, there is not an unlimited pot of money. Illinois is technically bankrupt with pensions (teachers, firefighters, police officers, etc.) underfunded by Billions. Where should the money come from to give CPS more $$? Should CPS be prioritized over other state school districts? Or prioritized over funding things like…state Medicaid? Aging infrastructure? Environmental crisis along the disappearing beaches of Lake Michigan due to climate change? Gang violence? Gun control? Murder rate? Insert-any-expensive-mind-numbing-issue-here.
Illinois (and Chicago) are losing population and it’s the relatively higher earners who are leaving because of high taxes, among other things. Political leadership is counting on revenues from casinos and legalized marijuana to help ease the fiscal crisis…everyone hopes it works. But many of us know hope is not a good strategy.