Teachers union takes to streets in the Loop, then fills City Hall
Craig Cleve, a teacher at Columbia Explorers Elementary Academy, protests with more than 100 members of the Chicago Teachers Union outside the monthly Chicago City Council meeting and rallies for an elected representative school board and progressive revenue options to fund public schools, Wednesday, June 22, 2016.| Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
If the horde of protesters from the Chicago Teachers Union, who raised the humidity in the lobby of City Hall Wednesday morning to an uncomfortable level, could force elected officials to endure the same sticky air until coming up with a fix for underfunded schools, they would
Chanting and sign waving demonstrators blasted the usual suspects — Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Gov. Bruce Rauner and Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool.
Hovering above the muggy mass was a skeleton wearing a cap and gown adorned with a sign, complete with bullet holes, that read: Stop Killing Public Education.
The former Halloween prop is better known to art students at Carl Schurz High School as Charlie Bones — where his likeness is regularly sketched on paper to learn anatomy and proportion.
Schurz teacher Mark Nelson held the skeleton as he explained his position.
“They just don’t get it, they’re not in the trenches with us,” Nelson said of clueless and gridlocked politicians. “It’s like a cadet fresh out of West Point attempting to lead a group of battle hardened troops in the field.”
More than 100 members of the Chicago Teachers Union stage a sit-in at City Hall and rally for an elected representative school board and progressive revenue options to fund public schools, Wednesday, June 22, 2016.| Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Union President Karen Lewis, who is vulnerable to illness after successfully battling brain cancer, sat out the protest because of concern over predictions of foul weather, a CTU source said.
Lewis’ second in command, Jesse Sharkey summed up the day by telling fellow protesters: “It’s about demanding funding for our schools. But we haven’t seen the governor or the mayor lift a finger.”
In addition to City Hall, the teachers — who went on summer break this week — gathered at several locations, including the plaza outside the Thompson Center and outside the downtown offices of hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, the state’s richest man.
“We need teachers, we need books, we need money Ken Griffin took!” some yelled.
Earlier this month, Claypool said it’s possible that schools in Chicago will not be able to Teachers union takes to streets in the Loop, then fills City Hall | Chicago Sun-Times: