Chicago Public School Teachers ON STRIKE!

[Danny]

YAY!

The Chicago Teachers Union walk away from the bargining table as they announced there will be a strike. 'NO DEAL' said the CPS teachers. So they will hold up picket signs and march around their school buildings. Their demands: increase pay raises, reform medical and payroll pensions and rehire laid-off teachers.

Do you all think that teachers in America are putting their income first rather than students. Or should the value of students education be number one than the payroll of the teachers?

Any thoughts

[noise]

Unfortunately, as is usually the case in these situations, the public discourse is inflammatory and ignorant of specifics. There is certainly more to this strike than salary increases. Cutting of arts & music education and teacher evaluation based on standardized testing are legitimate concerns, the latter being something people in the Detroit area should certainly be able to understand.

[rb336]

There is also Rahm attempting to force longer work hours with no compensation on the teachers by using means that were determined to be illegal

[GOAT]

I love how teachers always have signs that say "We Love Students" while walking around on strike due to pay differences. It is NEVER about the students. It is always about teacher's pay and benefits.

[rb336]

Yes, it IS about students. The city is pushing larger class sizes, starving the real public schools for "charter" schools [[which, even according to their OWN studies, do no better than public schools) The following is a report from the Institute of Education Sciences, which was set up by the Bush government and staffed with pro-charter school "scholars" http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20104029/pdf/20104029.pdf

[Papasito]

....the union said the two sides are close to a pay agreement after school officials offered to increase salaries 16% over four years on average for most teachers. The average teacher salary in Chicago was $74,839 for the 2011-2012 school year, according to the district.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/11/us/illinois-chicago-teachers-strike/index.html


16%?
Most people in the USA would be happy making what they did 5 years ago. What is a raise? Most of us have had pay cuts!

My heart doesn't go out to a bunch who think a 16% raise isn't good enough.


On Unions-
I do support unions to stand up for employees, employee rights and employee working conditions. I DO NOT support unions who lobby politicians and Washington, send chunks of worker's money in to campaign funds, and play politics.
Unions should only do one thing - protect and support workers.

[oladub]

The President is kind of caught in the middle. School teachers support him while not all Obama supporting officials do. It might make it harder for Rahm Emamuel to bundle money for the President's campaign. Everyone was cheering Rahm when he gave a speech at the DNC in support of the President a couple of weeks ago and now this.

"They should go back to work. I think it's unbelievable," said a major Obama donor in the Chicago area, worried about the effect the strike will have on Obama's image with the independent voters in swing states he needs to defeat Republican Mitt Romney.

"Every person I know who is a major donor to the president is against the strike decision," the donor said.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/09/11/usa-campaign-strike-idINL1E8KB0W520120911

Which side will the President support?

[noise]

I love how teachers always have signs that say "We Love Students" while walking around on strike due to pay differences. It is NEVER about the students. It is always about teacher's pay and benefits.

I definitely do not love this overly recited "argument" that's completely ignorant of the facts.

[Papasito]

Maybe they should privatize education.

You could hire a private company that employs the teachers.

This way when kids are not achieving the grades we want to see, the schoolboard can fire the company they are using and hire another for better results.

[rb336]

On Unions-
I do support unions to stand up for employees, employee rights and employee working conditions. I DO NOT support unions who lobby politicians and Washington, send chunks of worker's money in to campaign funds, and play politics.
Unions should only do one thing - protect and support workers.

When Big Business and its lackeys are constantly trying to undermine workers' rights through their lobbies, the unions NEED to counter that in order to protect and support the workers. What about that is so hard for you to grasp?

As far as the Chicago strike goes, they are not far apart on pay. here is what that REALLY entails, from the Sun-Times:
■ A 2 percent raise in year one.
■ A pay freeze in year two.
■ Raises based on “differentiated pay’’ in years three to five. A joint district-union committee, to be seated in January, would decide how “differentiated pay” would work but it could reward teachers of high-need subjects, in high-need schools, or in teacher leadership positions, or those who rate highly in a new teacher evaluation system that is tied, in part, to student growth.
■ Freeze in “step and lane’’ increases, based on extra years of seniority and added certifications.
■ A longer school day that, under a new law, does not require union approval. The elementary school day will increase from 5 ¾ to 7 hours, and the high school day will increase from 7 hours to 7 ½ hours four days a week, with an early dismissal on the fifth day.

What the teachers want?

“We want job security. Despite a new curriculum and new, stringent evaluation system, CPS proposes no increase [[or even decreases) in teacher training. This is notable because our Union through our Quest Center is at the forefront teacher professional development in Illinois," the union says. "We have been lauded by the District and our colleagues across the country for our extensive teacher training programs that helped emerging teachers strengthen their craft and increased the number of nationally board certified educators."

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/10...school-strike/

[firstandten]

16%?
Most people in the USA would be happy making what they did 5 years ago. What is a raise? Most of us have had pay cuts!

My heart doesn't go out to a bunch who think a 16% raise isn't good enough.

At the heart of this issue is not the money but the teacher evaluations. The implementation of which could lead to thousands of teachers losing there jobs. The teachers actually are ok with the 16% pay raise over 4 years.

[JBMcB]

I'm sure their demands for raises will resonate with the citizens living in a city carrying $7.3 billion in debt - $2,000 for every human living in it's borders.

Just raise taxes some more - the 9.5% city sales tax seems kinda anemic these days.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

At the heart of this issue is not the money but the teacher evaluations. The implementation of which could lead to thousands of teachers losing there jobs. The teachers actually are ok with the 16% pay raise over 4 years.

You hit the nail on the head. It isn't about pay, it's about teachers whose jobs are on the line if the students can't pass standardized tests, of which some students aren't capable of passing anyways, depending on there socio economic environment. Not to mention increased class sizes [[20 to 35 students per) makes it virtually impossible to give certain students the specialized help they need. It's a joke.

[oladub]

"The standardized testing: I wish people would stop thinking that standardized tests tell us anything other than the socio-economic background of our students. That is... we don't control for that." -CTU President Lewis expressing her low expectations of teachers and students from whatever socio economic background.

It seems to me that the tests also distinguish between teachers who do a good job given the socio economic background of their students and other teachers who don't do so well with kids from the same background. The tests could also distinguish some students who do well despite the handicap of their background. They could be put on a faster track as a reward so they will be better able to compete in the future with more affluent suburban kids.
__________________________________________
Chris Hedges: Dems Owe Chicago Public Teachers Support for "Most Important Labor Action in Decades"

[Danny]

Maybe they should privatize education.

You could hire a private company that employs the teachers.

This way when kids are not achieving the grades we want to see, the schoolboard can fire the company they are using and hire another for better results.

We have that its called 'PRIVATE SCHOOLS!'

Education in American is suppose to be our birthright not a priviledge.

[Danny]

Now some crazy blog journalists or maybe Rush Linbaugh will call Chicago Public Schools a national disgrace next to Detroit Public Schools.

[kenp]

we want when things are good
we wont lose anything when things are bad
now we want when things are bad.

[firstandten]

"The standardized testing: I wish people would stop thinking that standardized tests tell us anything other than the socio-economic background of our students. That is... we don't control for that." -CTU President Lewis expressing her low expectations of teachers and students from whatever socio economic background.

It seems to me that the tests also distinguish between teachers who do a good job given the socio economic background of their students and other teachers who don't do so well with kids from the same background. The tests could also distinguish some students who do well despite the handicap of their background. They could be put on a faster track as a reward so they will be better able to compete in the future with more affluent suburban kids.
__________________________________________
Chris Hedges: Dems Owe Chicago Public Teachers Support for "Most Important Labor Action in Decades"

On the subject of teacher evaluations I have really mixed feelings. On one hand the evaluations that may determine whether a teacher keeps their job or not is stacked against the teacher because there are too many variables not under there control especially in low income areas.

On the other hand the current mechanism to get rid of bad teachers weigh too heavily in favor of the teacher unions and until recently I have not seen a willingness of the union to address the fact that there are bad teachers, that there are teachers who don't deserve to be in the profession.

This is a battle that the teachers union and the administration better come to grips with before the Chicago Public Schools gets a Detroit Public Schools version of a financial manger.

[Det_ard]

In education there's not much that's more critical than insuring high-quality teachers are retained and rewarded and low-quality teachers are removed. The schools, teachers' unions, university departments of education, the Fed Dept. of Ed. have had decades to devise a way of doing this that's fair and effective. That they haven't is an indictment of the whole educational system in this country. The whole system in broken and none of the incumbent players are actually trying to fix it.

[noise]

Thank you, sir. May I have another?

The politicians and administrators are always right. The boss knows what's best. Not the people doing the job.

[rb336]

I'm just not sure where this "16% pay raise" came from. what I posted below has a 2% raise year one a freeze in year two, raises based on differentiated pay [[for high-demand positions, determined by a joint board/union panel), a freeze in raises based solely on seniority and added certifications. This information was taken DIRECTLY from the board's offer sheet, and the union has essentially agreed to it

How does that ad up to 16%? only possible through the union-hating right wing bullshit machine

[oladub]

I'm just not sure where this "16% pay raise" came from. what I posted below has a 2% raise year one a freeze in year two, raises based on differentiated pay [[for high-demand positions, determined by a joint board/union panel), a freeze in raises based solely on seniority and added certifications. This information was taken DIRECTLY from the board's offer sheet, and the union has essentially agreed to it

How does that ad up to 16%? only possible through the union-hating right wing bullshit machine

NPR: "Board President David Vitale said after the teachers rejected a 16 percent pay raise over four years and a number of other benefits, there was little more that could be offered.' http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/09/10/160868924/chicago-teachers-on-strike-affecting-400-000-students

[rb336]

Since the numbers the sun-times ran came from the board's offer, and a rep from the union said the union was mostly good with the proposal, someone is, to be kind, stretching the truth

[Papasito]

Those striking Chicago teachers have now taken it too far....

Sh1ts Getting ReaL

[kenp]

Funny and ironic they are hating on Rahm. Has he become a union-hating right wing bullshit machinist or of fiscal repsonsible executive.