There is very little
argument about the need for Chicago Public Schools students to have more
classroom time, better classroom time or even more recess time. The amount of
time our students spend in a classroom, getting instruction, is an
embarrassment, and it should have been addressed years ago.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS
CEO Jean Claude Brizard seem to be on a mission to reverse this situation, and,
if you would believe the hype, they are fighting against the Chicago Teachers
Union to make this happen.
Don’t believe the hype.
The nasty battle between
Emanuel and the teachers has absolutely nothing to do with the length of the
school day and year.
What we have here is a
concerted, deliberate battle to break down the CTU.
If this war for public
opinion were a football game, the mercy rule would have been invoked. Two weeks
ago the Chicago City Council - which was so pro-union it kept Walmart jobs out
of the city for years - voted unanimously to support a longer school day.
Seeing members of the Pastors United for Change cozying up with Ald. Richard
Mell (one of the Vdrolyak 29) was particularly disheartening. Even some of the
city’s labor union heads - most of whom don’t send their kids to Chicago Public
Schools - came out in support of a longer school day.
This is not a battle about
money. Though the district is trying to close a $200 million budget deficit,
and has reneged on a negotiated 2 percent raise for the teachers, that is not
the rallying cry for the district.
Instead, CPS sends out
notices trumpeting the fact that teachers at individual schools are voting for
longer school hours, succumbing to the siren call of 2 percent bonuses offered
by the district. If all of the schools voted that way, it would cost $100
million, according to CTU, which would pay for the raises. So far, nine schools
(out of 650) have taken the bait, even though it undermines the only weapon a
union has to advocate for its members - solidarity.
The union fell into the
trap of expecting to be paid for the extra 90 minutes in the school day. But it
was the wrong argument completely, and it helped turn some parents - who think
teachers work a five-hour day and have the summers off - against them.
CTU is steadfastly
supportive of a longer school day. They want the kids they have in their
classrooms to get the most out of the experience, and get the most out of their
expertise. This is not about classroom time; it is not about money. It is about
breaking the union's hold on the 30,000 members of CTU, and the children are
being used as pawns.
Copyright 2011 Chicago
Defender
