Thursday, September 13, 2012

UPDATE: Support for the Chicago Teachers’ Strike | Seattle Education

Support for the Chicago Teachers’ Strike | Seattle Education:



Chicago Teachers Strike: News and Interviews

I recently discovered a great news source,  Real News. Jaisal Noor, who is also a reporter for Democracy Now, does some excellent reporting on education issues around the country and understands the political and financial undercurrents for the big push towards the privatization of our public schools.
To follow are two reports by Mr. Noor for Real News on the teachers’ strike and then the first episode in a series on where the presidential candidates stand on all things education.
Chicago Teachers Strike Enters Fourth Day
Labor unions back striking teachers, while Democrats remain silent.
Chicago Teachers Strike Rooted in Community Struggle
Chicago teachers fighting bipartisan consensus over “corporate” education reform.


Support for the Chicago Teachers’ Strike



From the Chicago Teacher’s Union website:
The Chicago Teachers Union is currently on the front lines of a fight to defend public education. On one side the 30,000 members of the CTU have called for a contract that includes fair compensation, meaningful job security for qualified teachers, smaller class sizes and a better school day with Art, Music, World Language and appropriate staffing levels to help our neediest students.
On the other side, the Chicago Board of Education—which is managed by out of town reformers and Broad Foundation hires with little or no Chicago public school experience—has pushed to add two weeks to the school year and 85 minutes to the school day, eliminate pay increases for seniority, evaluate teachers based on student