CHICAGO (AP) — The president of the Chicago
Teachers Union says she isn't stepping down over an "inappropriate"
joke she made about Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
Karen Lewis said Wednesday that while her remarks
were insensitive, they were just 120 seconds of her 35-minute speech at a
social justice event in Seattle last month.
Lewis said at the event she could tell Duncan
"went to a private school, because if he had gone to a public school, he
would have had that lisp fixed." Her comments were caught on video.
After the video was widely circulated Monday, Lewis
called Duncan to apologize. An education department spokesman says Duncan
accepted her apology.
Duncan led Chicago's public schools before becoming
education secretary. He has clashed with teachers' unions over the expansion of
non-union charter schools.
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
