Late Friday a tentative agreement was reached between the Chicago Teachers Union and the city's school board. This means 350,000 students may be able to return to school on Monday if everyone can agree to agree on the things they have apparently agreed to agree upon. Not a lot of which is public yet.
CNN sites a source close to the negotiations saying some of the terms include "keeping the current length of school year and school day; giving principals the freedom to hire their own teachers; and, chief among the dispute's sticking points, updating the teacher evaluation system for the first time in 40 years."
So while there is clearly a lot on the table for these teachers, I am very conflicted over their ability to strike in the first place -- hurdling working parents into a childcare nightmare. It's hard not to put myself in the position of all of those parents that have had to figure out what the heck to do with their kids while the teachers fought this one out. And I feel especially bad for those parents dealing with less-than-understanding bosses ... or those that had their pay docked because they had no other option but to stay home with their kids.
On the flip side -- I went to a public school in a big city with broken desks and classrooms so crowded that the radiators in the back were lined with students taking notes -- with our binders on our laps. I went and spoke before my local community board when I was 16 years old to try to help create change. Explained what it was like. Nothing changed. So I can also understand why the Teachers Union felt like they were left with no other choice. If you don't push for what you believe in -- for what you think is best for yourself and for the students you are teaching -- then you probably will never get what you really need.
More from The Stir: Chicago Teachers are Already Overpaid
What confuses me the most about these kinds of strikes -- because they happen all over the country in big cities and small -- is why it has to come to this in the first place? It is so obscene to try to come to an agreement without having to resort to such drastic measures? Stop. Don't answer that.
Do you think teachers should be allowed to strike like this? Is there a clear-cut winner?
Image via sidewalk flying/Flickr
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Comments 52
A public school teacher is a public servant job. How much CEO's make doesn't matter, it matters how much the people in your district make. In Chicago the average income is $46,000 a year, so yeah the teachers are over paid. The also work in the 3rd largest school district in the country and have the shortest school days and years than any where in the country. There are charter schools in New Orleans that have none of the things you speak of and they have incredibly high scores. Maybe if the teachers didn't have to pay their union due's they would be happier with their pay. After all Chicago's teacher's union pulled in thirty MILLION dollars every year from forced dues every year. I wonder how happy the teachers would be with those millions in their pockets rather than the unions. If you don't think Union big wigs are as bad as the CEO's in Wallstreet you are kidding yourself. Public servants should not be able to strike.
@Eva- How can we tell the good from the bad if we don't evaluate them. We have teachers passing students to the next grade level because they don't want to deal with them anymore but we are just suppose to take your word for it, I don't think so. Maybe the evaluations need to be improved but not we shouldn't get rid of them.
Eva - do they use test scores to evaluate the teachers in your district now? Also, are you in favor of recall rights?
Hockeymom it appears she wasn't, but I've had a lot of teacher's say they want to. It scares me because one of those teacher's couldn't even prep her own child for kindergarten, no wonder she doesn't want to be evaluated.
Sorry for getting it wrong Eva.
I never said to get rid of evaluations, I said that evaluations should not be based on test scores.
Charter schools have freedoms that public schools do not. A charter school can deny admission to students, they can remove students who cause problems or who do not meet expectations. In my opinion, if all the stakeholders (administration, parents, teachers, and students) in a school buy in to the goals of the school, it will be successful, public, private, or otherwise.
If executive pay remained consistent with what the lowest paid workers were paid from the 1960s until now, minium wage would be around $23.00. In my opinion, it is the CEOs who are overpaid.
Teachers spend HUNDREDS of dollars out of pocket for student supplies and teaching materials. The union is not the issue. When I was assaulted at school, it was the union who helped me file charges, when I was told to do things that were against contract and not in the best interests of the students, the union helped me, and when my mother worked in conditions that caused her brain lining to swell and put her in the hospital for months, it was the union that fought and implemented the catastrophic sick leave and got the building closed and cleaned. No one is getting rich.
Also, the plural of teacher is teachers. The possesive of teacher is teacher's
Thanks for the grammar lesson Eva, but you didn't change my mind. So let me get this straight, you think its okay to pay your union leaders six figures but don't think anyone in the private sector should make that much. That's crap. You are a public servant, and if the community you work in has an average income of $46,000 then a teacher making $74,000 is way too much. You have a problem with coming out of pocket for supplies and are so happy with your union why not ask them to fix the supply problem. Charter schools may have more freedom but they are getting better results without bullying the very people that pay their salaries. They get better results spending less per student, and with less supplies and most times with better teachers. Its amazing that it doesn't seem to matter to you that there 300,000 students missing class right now when the adults should be able to handle this with out using the children's education as a pawn, and that's what you do as a teacher when you got on strike. Again this is why I will pay for private school, so my son will never be used as a pawn.
My point about a CEO's pay is that it has consistently outpaced what the lowest paid workers earn and that I find that unfair. I never said that anyone in the private sector shouldn't be paid what their education and experience merits.
The union is there for my protection and my security and I am glad for it. Furthermore, I am not aware that my union leaders make six figures although maybe I could ask them should my district ever forget I work for them and cancel my health insurance without notice and they help me to pay for my prescriptions, again.
Charter schools receive public funds just like public schools do and, at least in my state, do not have nearly the successful track record of public schools. There have been countless stories about charters shuttering mid year because funds were misspent. Frankly, I would rather have my tax dollars go a public school with a degree of transparency than to a charter school run by a corporation. There are successful charter schools, but there are far more successful public schools.
It does matter that Chicago City students have missed class, but it bothers me more that people who have no idea what happens in a classrom have no problem telling me and millions of other teachers how to do our jobs. I have been fortunate to meet hundreds of dedicated, creative, selfless, and innovative educators over the course of my career, I hope that you and your son have the opportunity as well. Private schools are certainly an option in that arena, but I truly feel that the fact the we as a nation offer an education to every child is one of the things that makes our country great.
HockeyMomNJ- We do not currently use test scores, but our state has passed legislation mandating districts to create an evaluation system that does include that component. As a music teacher, I am not in favor of it because we do not test my subject and while my instruction can make an impact on students' overall learning, I do not feel that it is an appropriate measure of a teacher's ability.
Are recall rights the right of laid off union members to be recalled first by the district before hiring new workers? If so, then yes, should their licensing align with needed positions, I feel that if they were hired by the district once, they should be able to retain a position should one become open.