Education Scoop #2
10/23/10
The Chicago Public Schools: Allergic to Parent, Student, Teacher and Union Activism (Part I) by: LUIS GABRIEL AGUILERA
The Chicago Public Schools: Allergic to Parent, Student, Teacher and Union Activism (Part I) By: Luis Gabriel Aguilera
There has been much coughing and sneezing in the Chicago Public Schoolʼs “Land of Oz” coming from those that hide within climate-controlled environments, who turn knobs and pull levers that trigger smokescreens, fake and real fires—meant to distract, confuse, and divide the cityʼs population. The coughing and sneezing is getting louder by the day. Like those “bags-under-their-eyes” modern day creatures that have spent one too many days away from sun and loved ones (potential or real), chained to productivity and numbers, these people are miserable. And if you listen closely, you can hear another growing sound coming from them: it is a rumbling of deafening fear as the sun rises to claim them regardless of their twisting and turning to hide themselves and their misdeeds...
Thursday, October 7th, 2010: One could say that the yearʼs top two victories for Chicagoʼs 410,000 public schools students (mostly low-income Latino and African-American youth), their parents, and the dedicated teachers that serve them was a) the overthrow of the Chicago Teachers Unionʼs (CTU) “old guard” in June to be replaced with a more progressive and community-oriented teachers caucus, CORE, and b) the federal court ruling on October 4th by U.S. District Judge David Coar, finding the firings of two-thousand tenured teachers and support personnel by CPS soon-to-be-former Chief Executive Officer Ron Huberman (as approved by the Chicago Board of Education) that came after the union renewal was, well, illegal (Chicago Teachers Union, AFT No.1 v. Board of Education of the City of Chicago, and Mary Richardson Lowery, Norman Bobins, Tariq Butt, Roxanne Ward, Peggy Davis, Alberto Carrero, JR., and Ron Huberman, 2010) And just what were the head honchos at CPS trying to hide or distract us with those mass firings?
In Chicago, the CORE victory sent waves through the local chain of the CPS (and City Hall) central office command. 125 South Clark Street no longer had a union friend in bed. But the waves were also felt as far away as Pennsylvania Avenue. Suddenly the Chicago Way of backroom deals, elitist machinations, dirty tricks, and bullying people AND Secretary of Education Arne Duncanʼs “education” plan perpetuating failed No Child Left Behind policies and pushing privatization of Americaʼs public schools were now being soundly challenged by a teachers union that had found its way home and was now in line with its parents and students. Nationally, the word on the street was (and still is) “Do you hear whatʼs happening in Chicago?”
Judge Coarʼs decision (of finding the mass firings illegal) came after two other lawsuits were filed by the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund (CTPF) against CPS.
The two previous lawsuits—one on July 27, 2009 against the Chicago Board of Education in the Circuit Court of Cook County and the follow-up to that one against the board (because the CPS head honchos seem to think they can dismiss federal judges, constitutional rights, etc.) on July 8, 2010 in the same court, this time also naming “Mary B. Richardson-Lowry, in her capacity as President of the Board of Education of the City of Chicago” as a defendant, revealed that ever since 2007 pension fund contributions had gone unreported by the CPS officials to CTPF. Thatʼs right. Not one cent of what CPS was taking from their employeesʼ paychecks—to the tune of about $40 million—had been reported by CPS to CTPF since 2007! One wonders if the Chicago Board of Education members Peggy A. Davis and Alberto A. Carrero know what happened to all that cash? They do, after all, serve as trustees with the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund.
Interestingly enough, in August, about one week after Obama had a surprise birthday visit to Chicago, the U.S. Department of Education suddenly came up with $100 million dollars to bailout the “cashstrapped” CPS. This was money meant to stop the summer teacher firings and bring stability to the system and its students. Instead, the firings continued and teachers, either retired, terminated without due process, or who had left CPS after seeing what a rotten stinking mess it was and had been waiting for their pension fund contributions on account of CPS not reporting them began to receive in their direct deposit accounts what contributions they had made for the past three years.
Did the August federal bailout take care of the pension fund contributions? So whatever happened to the original $40 million dollars that went unreported from 2007 to 2010 by CPS to CTPF? Why, if CPS has so many “masters” of business administrators in their realm, are their business practices so lousy? CPS officials like to hold teachers accountable, why not face some set of standards themselves?
But the big picture with this growing litigation is this: regardless of whether or not the seven-board members of the shadowy Chicago Board of Education and the rest of the CPS cabal believe in multiarmed deities or not, karma is certainly catching up to them quite quick in this lifetime.
These are great stories of the truth coming out and dealing heavy blows to bureaucrats and profiteers out to obfuscate, darken, and control the nationʼs third largest public schools district and itʼs large and fuzzy budget, at the expense of the students theyʼre supposed to serve. But the story that has gripped and inspired me most this year has been the recent street battle being waged: CPS Whittier Elementary School Parents and Students versus CPS.
This is a tale that takes place in the Latino neighborhood of Pilsen, but my fellow African-Americans on the South Side and West Side also know the story. It is a parent/student fight against CPS over turning the Whittier School Field House (dubbed La Casita—The Little House—by the community) into a library. The CPS head honchos want to demolish La Casita and replace it with a soccer field (with a park only four blocks away). Early on in September, the community requested to meet with Ron Huberman for talks on this. Didnʼt happen. So the parents began a 24/7 occupation of the building in mid-September. Substance News reported that on September 22nd, at a Chicago Board of Education public meeting, Board President Mary Richardson-Lowry even attempted to stop the revelations of the Whittier situation to be made public—and for the record. That failed. CPS then promised on September 23rd to not demolish La Casita. The parents—not dumb enough to just take them for their word—didnʼt budge without seeing ink on paper. CPS never provided anything in writing. Even Rahm Emanuel stopped by. (He did nothing—nada.) And then someone from CPS ordered the gas to be cut off on October 4th. This is starting to look more like a Oaxacan teacher struggle. When the CPS folks claim “Children First,” do they mean put them first in front of the coming bus?
So the word as of Wednesday, October 6th, is that the heated water and gas is coming back on. Apparently Chicagoʼs City Council is seeing what a public relations mess this is turning out to be, both locally and nationally. No news yet on whatʼs going to happen with La Casita. But with community activism infecting our parents and students, it is already a victory. And these “little” struggles are what generate the “top victories.” So keep at it as they say. The coughing and sneezing is only going to grow, until the little women and little men that hide behind curtains finally realize that they need to change their ways. I wouldnʼt wait for that. The CPS head honchos seem to be too busy manhandling the finances and trampling on fundamental rights—at the cost of education and the taxpayer.
(Luis Gabriel Aguilera is author of Gabriel's Fire: A Memoir, a writer, educator and electronic music composer. He is also vigorously pursuing two discrimination complaints against the Chicago Public Schools. Some of his musical works can be found online. When not at work, Luis spends his time with family and friends.) http://luisgabrielaguilera.bandcamp.com http://angelalanis.bandcamp.com/album/freedom-series-vol-4-d-e-m-f