Saturday coffee.
This has been a tough week.
Oh, sure. It’s been hard on teachers, students and parents.
But what about me?
I seemed to have made of lot of people mad.
Walking back up Michigan Avenue from the rally on Thursday, some guy yelled something at another teacher and me. We couldn’t quite make out what he said, except for the words, “private schools.”
We looked at each other and tried to figure out the sentence that would have had “private schools” in it.
Maybe it was Rahm yelling, “I’m going to make them all private schools. Ha. Ha.”
Then there was the retired teacher who got mad at me because he says I always criticize the IEA leadership when they do stupid stuff, but I didn’t write a post praising them for canceling a leadership meeting today to
What’s the difference between old-style patronage and principal discretion in hiring?
A second grader named Aaron once told me a joke. “Hey Mr. Klonsky. What’s the difference between boogers and Brussel sprouts?” “I don’t know, Aaron. What’s the difference between boogers and Brussel sprouts?” “Kids will eat boogers.” I thought of that joke this morning as I read Mark Brown’s column in the Sun-Times. Brown listed [...]
Fifth day. Logan Square. “Venceremos.”
On the fifth day of the Chicago teachers strike teachers, students and parents from a dozen northwest side schools gathered at the Logan Square Centennial Monument. Organized by the Logan Square Neighborhood Association and the CTU, the rally was a spirited demonstration of solidarity and community support. Although the neighborhood’s alderman, Rey Colon, was one [...]
My lunch with Illinois Representative Elaine Nekritz didn’t go well.
Democratic state House Representative Elaine Nekritz. The afternoon CTU rally yesterday was scheduled downtown at the Hyatt Regency at 3:00. So I had a tight schedule. I wanted to attend at least part of the North Lake Shore Illinois Retired Teacher Association luncheon scheduled for noon at the Elks Club in Des Plaines. All the [...]
Day four we went to Penny Pritzker’s hotel.
Penny Pritzker, former fund raiser for the Obama campaign and member of the Hyatt Hotel Pritzkers, is one of Rahm’s friends who sits on the Chicago Board of Education. Hyatt has been the subject of a nearly three-year old labor dispute with Unite Here. In Illinois, Penny Pritzker pays the same percentage of income tax [...]
The Rag Blog interview.
An interview with Fred Klonsky: Chicago teachers in red and on strike If the city of Chicago wins this strike it will very likely give the green light to big cities such as Los Angeles and New York to go after teachers’ unions there.By Jonah Raskin / The Rag Blog / September 13, 2012 Fred Klonsky, 64, retired [...]
Chicago is a union town. Teacher bashing doesn’t work here.
“Look up. Look down. Chicago is a union town.” I have read some analysis lately that tries to discuss the issue of teacher bashing. Some have tried to make a link between the current Chicago teachers’ strike and a spreading attack on teachers that they say exists among the broad population. I don’t see it. [...]
The in box. Karen Lewis writes the Sun-Times.
Dear Editor, The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is so cash-strapped that it plans to close and consolidate under-utilized schools, with rumors that it could be upwards of 120 schools this coming year. Many people would consider this to be fiscally prudent. Mayor Emanuel is of course going to blame the soon-to-be agreed upon new [...]
All out this Saturday to support the CTU.
Giant Rally * Union Park * Lake and Ashland * Noon
United Educators of San Francisco stand with Chicago.
Fred, Today our staff did a little shout out to our great, great colleagues fighting the good fight in the Windy city. Here’s the link: http://utalk.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/galileo-ubc-stands-with-chicago/
Rebel Diaz. Chicago Teacher.
[CHORUS] Homey I was taught by a Chicago teacher! Chicago teacher, Chicago teacher! I learned to read and write from a Chicago teacher, So I’m inspired by the fight from our Chicago teachers! [RODSTARZ VERSE] The teachers are tired, the students dumbfounded, the budgets get cut so classes are overcrowded. Streets full of violence, the [...]
Niles West sends a little love to the CTU.
Tim Furman asks forgiveness for the framing of his video work. But what is missing in the frame is made up by the message: These north suburban teachers in Niles West Local 1274 have the Local #1′s back.
Topinka knows who caused the pension problem. But she is afraid to say how to fix it.
GOP State Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka says the pension problem isn’t a problem employees made. Judy Baar Topinka is the second member of the centrist wing of the Illinois Republican Party to take a stand on pensions, pointing out that the employees didn’t cause the problem. Last week, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said it [...]
The in box. The $74,000 lie.
Far-right activists as well as even a few mainstream journalists have made wild claims about how much Chicago’s teachers earn. Nightline’s Terry Moran even claimed that the Chicago Teachers Union is doing “much damage” to the profession by striking, and then went on to say that teachers in the city earn an average of $74,000. [...]
The west side is the best side.
Following the morning picket lines, the CTU dispersed the afternoon rallies to Chicago’s neighborhoods today. One at Dyett High School on the south side at 51st and King. One on the south west side at Kelly High School, Archer and California. And one on the west side at Marshall High School, Kedzie and Jackson. That’s [...]
Ten minute drawing. Accountability, Rahm style.
Click on drawing to enlarge.
The New York Times’ folly.
The NY Times issues their encyclical. It’s not being provincial to point out that the NY Times, which stakes some claim on being a national newspaper, generally ignores the middle of the country. Once in a while you might read 36 Hours in Iowa in the travel section. But that’s about it. Over this past [...]
A Logan Square neighbor talks about his change of heart regarding the teacher strike.
To my community, I attended the teacher’s strike yesterday. I spoke with CTU Union Reps, Teachers, parents like myself, and many other people. I have learned that we have all been misled into bashing these teachers. I feel so horrible for calling on everyone to rally against them. What I found out from those assigned [...]
Jonah’s strike.
Jonah Edelman of Stand for Children. I warned them. But they didn’t listen. Early on I said that Senate Bill 7 would lead to no good end. Ken Swanson, then President of the IEA, and Audrey Soglin, who still to this day goes around claiming Senate Bill 7 is teacher led reform, pronounced it as [...]
What my old union is up to.
“Klonsky. It’s Taglia. PREA voted to support CTU by donating a breakfast ($200 worth) to the teachers picketing at Hanson Park School on Fullerton. Just wanted you to know what your old union is up to.”
Disgruntled.
Fred, How much time do you think parents can take off to watch their kids? Summer camps are closed (and cost money.) This wasn’t scheduled like holidays and summers are. And the parents are paying taxes for their children to be taught by teachers who already make $76,000 a year and just turned down a [...]
Ten minute drawing. Bipartisanship.
Click on drawing to enlarge.
“People, not profits” in Little Village.
The school’s Resident Artist William Estrada silk screens “People Not Profits” t-shirts on the picket line at Telpochcalli public school in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. Photo: Susan Klonsky.
No opinion.
Reporter: Jay. Has the President been following events in Chicago? Does he have an opinion about the strike? Jay Carney: The President has no opinion about the incident. * * * * * * Telephone rings. “Hello.” “Fred Klonsky? This is the Obama campaign.” “Yes.” “Have you decided who you are voting for? “I have [...]
Two readers.
At the CTU rally this afternoon a number of Chicago teachers came up and introduced themselves as readers of this blog. It is always great to meet readers and to hear that this blog is useful to them. I promised a couple of teachers I would put their pictures up. So. Here they are:
Emerson Middle School. Park Ridge, Illinois. Park Ridge Education Association.
Teachers at Emerson Middle School in Park Ridge, Illinois. The district I retired from in June. They’re wearing red in support of the Chicago Teachers Union. I love them.
The in box. AFT statement in support of CTU Local #1.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew and AFT President Randi Weingarten wearing red in solidarity with CTU Local #1. Dear Fred, Late last night, the Chicago Teachers Union went on strike. This came after months of intense negotiations that continued until the last hours before the strike deadline. Today, teachers, educational support personnel and community members throughout [...]
Teacher Retirees: These are our people. This was us. Join me at CPS this afternoon.
Dore Elementary on south side of Chicago. Dear Retired Colleagues, This morning I walked over to my neighborhood school in Logan Square. Darwin Elementary. It is a large red brick school house. 100 years old. One of my daughters went to that school 35 years ago. 35 years ago! It is a community school. A [...]
CTU: “Recognizing the Board’s financial woes, we are not far apart on compensation.” But there are other major concerns.
Teachers and staff at Logan Square’s Darwin Elementary School at 6:30 this morning. From the CTU: “Recognizing the Board’s fiscal woes, we are not far apart on compensation. However, we are apart on benefits. We want to maintain the existing health benefits. “Another concern is evaluation procedures. After the initial phase-in of the new evaluation [...]
“Tonight, I proudly wear a red t-shirt in support of the Chicago Teachers Union strike.” – Gloria Steinem
“Tonight, I proudly wear a red t-shirt in support of the Chicago Teachers Union strike. They have been forced to strike – for the first time in 25 years – by the false economy of firing and penalizing the experienced teachers most needed by the students and by new teachers; by lengthening the school day [...]
“Why I’m striking.”
My friend, CPS teacher Xian Barrett in front of the Mayor’s house last February. By Xian Barrett CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard is on record saying both that CTU leadership is deciding whether or not to strike, and that “everyone knows that a strike would only hurt our kids.” I just wanted to educate my boss [...]
The in box. “As a teacher, I am vilified and my profession is denigrated by the mayor and his office’s media tactics.”
The Reality of Education: Each year I teach five sections of high school English. That’s thirty (or more!) students in a room. That means that in my short career, I’ve already influenced almost 500 people directly! This doesn’t even include students I’ve taught in summer or night school, students who I mentor, have in my [...]
Why I do not support the IEA’s framework for a solution to the pension issue.
The Illinois Education Association issued another of it’s press releases today concerning the state’s pension debate. Written by IEA Communication Director Charlie McBarron, the IEA tries to explain why there has been no progress over the summer. Pension legislation stalled because of union opposition and because Democrats and Republicans disagree on whether local districts should [...]
The Sunday Mail.
Chicago paleta cart. Photo. Adam Heenan This week’s Pension Vocabulary by John Dillon: Grasping at Straws. Nothing that Illinois’ political leaders have proposed will solve the pension issue. It’s time to start looking at a different tax structure. AFT President Randi Weingarten will be joining Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on a bus tour of [...]
The in box. My neighborhood teacher writes to us.
“People who have lost their hunger for justice are not ultimately powerful. They are like sick people who have lost their appetite for what is truly nourishing. Such sick people should not frighten or discourage us. They should be prayed for along with the sick people who are in the hospital. “The love for justice [...]
Ten minute drawing. Rahm Emanuel’s teaching manual.
Click on drawing to enlarge.
The CPS scab tool kit.
The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that the Chicago Public Schools will try to open 144 scab schools if there is a strike Monday. They will be operated by non-union personnel and administrators. CPS is providing a scab tool kit for those who will be filling in for real teachers. To be fair, many of the [...]
Saturday coffee.
The Logan Square subway station on Labor Day morning. Red shirts heading down to the CTU rally. It is a beautiful Fall-like morning in Chicago. A slight chill in the air, but the sky is cloudless and blue. Last night we sat on the lawn at Ravinia and listened to Yo Yo Ma and The [...]