enrique baloyra: Chicago teachers rebel over equity, justice for students - YouTube #CTUStrike #RedForEd #TeacherRebellion #PutInItWriting

Chicago teachers rebel over equity, justice for students - YouTube

Chicago teachers rebel over equity, justice for students

enrique baloyra

It looks like the #TeacherRebellion isn’t over yet. #RedForEd returned to the nation’s third largest school district on Thursday, when over thirty thousand Chicago public school teachers and staff walked out after ten months of negotiations broke down. Chicago Teacher’s Union is demanding smaller class sizes and wraparound services for the the district’s most underserved students.
In Chicago, the mayor controls the school district, and recently-elected Mayor Lori Lightfoot ran on smaller class sizes and addressing the city’s glaring inequities, practically lifting her campaign talking points directly from CTU’s long-standing demands. So, you’d think she’d be on the side of the teachers. That was her mandate. But it turns out it’s easier to make promises than to keep them.
The Chicago Tribune is reporting teachers, “want nurses, social workers and librarians in every school, and more special education classroom assistants and case managers — and they want all those items in their contract.”
#PutInItWriting
CTU Executive Vice President Stacy Davis Gates told Democracy Now!, “This is about breaking down systems of #WhiteSupremacy that ask for flexibility and demand that Black children [on the south side of] this city adjust, … [while the mayor] gives wealthy developers billions of dollars on the north side…”
The mayor and CPS CEO Janice Jackson claim these demands don’t belong in a union contract.
“Look, we are dealing with the impact of terrible social policy in this city, and it is unbelievable to me that people think we shouldn’t have a voice on that.” https://www.motherjones.com/politics/...
Nothing captures the spirit of the #CTUStrike — and Teacher Rebellion in general — better than that picture of CPS teacher and CTU member Halle Quezada carrying another woman’s child during a rally on Friday when the parent was too tired to continue.
It’s a metaphor for how every day in Chicago and cities and towns all across America, teachers not only educate, but comfort, encourage, and, yes, carry 50 million other people’s children into the future.
We reach into our own pockets when politicians fail to deliver on their campaign promises.
We bear witness to what happens when a system fails its most vulnerable members, and we refuse to take the blame any longer.
So, no, we’re not going quietly back into our classrooms. This ain’t over yet.

Chicago teachers rebel over equity, justice for students - YouTube