Audrey reports.
At the end of last year’s IEA RA New Business Item 16 was passed.
It directed Executive Director Audrey Soglin to prepare a report on the negative impact of Senate Bill 7 on teachers in the state.
Audrey, as you might recall, was one of the authors of Senate Bill 7.
It effectively did away with tenure and seniority protections, tied performance reviews and job security to student test scores and required a 75% authorization vote by members of the Chicago Teachers Union (and applied only to members of the Chicago Teachers Union) in order to strike.
There have always been two talking points used by the leadership when discussing Senate Bill 7. And they are
I’m the only press at the IEA RA.
As I’m heading out the door for the IEA Representative Assembly this morning, I get a message from a veteran of these things. He has read my blog post about going as a guest and not a delegate for the first time in twenty years.
“Get a press pass,’ he tells me. That way I can get on the floor instead of being confined to the visitor’s section.
Part I
“Hi Janet,” I say at the registration desk at the Conrad Hilton. “Press pass please.”
She laughs.
“Why are you laughing?” I ask.
“You’re a member.”
“Right. But I want a press pass.”
“You’re not the press,” she says quizzically.
“Of course I am. I blog and I have a million