U.S. Education chief Arne Duncan: Double teacher salaries
BY ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter/rrossi@suntimes.com September 9, 2011 9:16PM
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (from left), U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Gov. Pat Quinn, CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard and Mayor Rahm Emanuel listen to a reporter's question during a press conference following a panel discussion to emphasize the importance of education (as part of Duncan's "Back to School" bus tour) at Schurz High School, 3601 N. Milwaukee Ave., Friday, Sept. 9, 2011, in Chicago. | John J. Kim~Sun-Times
Updated: September 10, 2011 6:30AM
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Friday that teachers have been “beaten down for too long” and endorsed “doubling’’ their salaries.
“We need to elevate teachers,’’ Duncan told a gathering of officials and educators in the fresco-ceiling library of Carl Schurz High School.
“I think we need to double salaries for teachers. We need to start them at a much higher level.”
Teachers “shouldn’t have to take a vow of poverty,’’ Duncan said. “Great teachers should have the chance to make — pick a number — $130,000, $140,000, $150,000.’’
But if President Obama’s new American Jobs Act is not passed, Duncan said, waves of teachers could be laid off
Teachers union president says Mayor Emanuel ‘exploded’ at her
BY ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter/rrossi@suntimes.com September 9, 2011 11:44AM
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said Friday that Mayor Rahm Emanuel "exploded" at her during a meeting about a longer school day for Chicago Public Schools.
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Updated: September 10, 2011 6:30AM
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis says Mayor Rahm Emanuel “exploded” at her during a conversation in his office about his signature longer-school-day effort, pointing his finger at her, yelling and telling her, “F--- you, Lewis.”
“I just want to call it immense disrespect for me and the Chicago Teachers Union,’’ Lewis told the Chicago Sun-Times Friday. “I didn’t appreciate the way he talked to me.
“My father never talked to me like that. My husband’s never talked to me like that.”
Emanuel — long known for his salty rants — would not go into specifics Friday about the exchange, and said the meeting weeks ago ended with a hug from Lewis.
“I’m not going to get into a he-said, she-said. We had a good meeting. It was not a long meeting.