Chicago: Rahm sends police to protect crew sent to destroy historic community center... Rahm, Barbara Byrd Bennett order destruction of 'La Casita'

Norm, Lisa, Gloria, George Schmidt with La Casita Occupier, July 2011 (Thnks to Gloria)

Reports all day coming in from Substance on this open warfare by the ed deformer/neo-liberals on the community. You can follow events on the Substance web site.

Two years ago at our last meetings in Chicago we went to La Casita for a few hours to talk to people - George Schmidt gave us a tour. I will hunt down that video and post it tomorrow.

We are at war. It has been declared on us. We are in middle of a field without cover (of our union especially) and they are using every weapon they can throw at us and somehow the real reformers are still standing - and fighting back with pea shooters (and Ravitch) against drones, tanks, mortars, cluster bombs, etc. 

Here are links to reports in reverse order.

THEY TORE IT DOWN BEFORE OUR EYES!' CPS contractor begins to destroy La Casita despite library treasures and supposed 'asbestos danger'

By Kati Gilson - August 17th, 2013 | 2 comments

LA CASITA IS NO MORE. By a little after ten o'clock in the morning, Board of Education contractors had leveled the library that had been created by the demands of a community that did not . . .

La Casita protests continue through the night of August 16 - August 17, 2013 after police arrest three people... Chicago Public Schools blocked trying to demolish iconic 'La Casita' community center

By Kati Gilson - August 17th, 2013 | 1 comment

It all started when a 6:45 dance class at La Casita was about to start. At 6:30, a community meeting was being held within the building called "La Casita," the "Little House" adjacent to Whittier . . .

Rahm sends police to protect crew sent to destroy historic community center... Rahm, Barbara Byrd Bennett order destruction of 'La Casita'

By John Kugler - August 17th, 2013 | 1 comment

In a brazen move reminiscent of the midnight destruction of Meigs Field by his predecessor, Richard M. Daley, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his handpicked schools "Chief Executive Officer" Barbara Byrd Bennett dispatched the Chicago . . .

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Closing Schools: 3 Day March in Chicago Plus Lee Sustar Analysis

Above, left to right, Al Ramirez, CORE co-chairman, Kristine Mayle, CTU Financial Secretary, Karen Lewis, CTU Preisdent, Michael Brunson, CTU Recording Secretary, Jesse Sharkey, CTU Vice President, and Nate Goldbaum, CORE co-chair. Substance photo by Howard Heath.

Three years ago at this time all these guys were teaching. I really think it takes being in the classroom during the ed deform movement to get people to a stage where they refuse to accept the tenets of ed deform, as our leaders at the AFT and the UFT have done so readily. I know Al and Kristine from hanging out with them in LA in 2009 and have gotten to know the others over the years.

I'm doing a lot on the Chicago story because it has so much relevance for all teachers. Their union election is tomorrow in the schools (so unlike here - some people think it is a reason they have a higher turnout but also an opportunity for a party like Unity to cheat --- but then again how much more can they win by?) Also retirees don't vote.

The action against the closing of 54 schools begins the next day with a 3-day march. While it is clear Emanuel was going to close many schools no matter what, some of our Unity Caucus slug-like comments tried to paint the closings in this light: see what you get for being militant rather than "cooperative" like we are?

They filed suit over the closing schools. Here are reports from anti-CTU press (Times, Sun-Times).

Well the Unity-like opposition to CORE ran the union into the ground as was pointed out by Jim Vail in our posts last night. (Critic Endorses CORE and Lewis in CTU Elections While Trashing AFT and Randi-like Opposition).

I assume CORE is expecting to win. Hopefully BIG. The opposition is such a joke let's hope the CTU members get it. Imagine here in NYC that MORE were to win and Unity comes back in the next election running on a campaign of opposing many of the things they did that caused them to lose in the first place. Like can't you see Unity attack that we didn't eliminate ATRs?

• Eterno at ICE blog endorses Lewis: CHICAGO TEACHERS NEED TO REELECT KAREN LEWIS TOMORROW

George Schmidt, who will be in NYC for the weekend and we are hanging out Sunday morning for the inside scoop, posted Lee Sustar's analysis from the Socialist Worker on Substance.

CTU election on May 17, 2013 pits CORE against the 'Coalition to Save Our Union'... The issue is who has held the line for Chicago teachers during a year when American Federation of Teachers locals have been in retreat across the USA

I love it when people make the analogy to the failing AFT/UFT strategies. (Just check the outcomes in Washington, Newark, Detroit, NYC, Baltimore, Hartford and pre-CORE Chicago).

Sustar (who I sit with in the press section at AFT conventions and is a delight to chat with as he is so knowledgeable) opens with:

The challengers in the Chicago Teachers Union's (CTU) May 17 elections accuse union President Karen Lewis and the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators (CORE) leadership of "squandering" last September's strike and giving ground on pay, health care, pensions and seniority.
Lewis and other CTU officials never shied away from addressing the problems in the agreement that ended the nine-day strike. As Lewis often puts it, "It was the contract we could get." But the truth is the Chicago teachers' strike successfully resisted the corporate education reform juggernaut on all the key issues--and strengthened the contract in other areas. 

HERE'S A look at the key issues: Pay
, Job security, Pensions, Health care, Union power in the schools, 

Get the details at Substance.

 

	Stand Strong for Our Schools
The Three-Day March for Educational Justice in Chicago ctunet.com/ourvoice Saturday, May 18 Sunday,    May 19 Monday,   May 20 The mayor and Board of Education want to destroy 54 school communities. This will be the largest destruction of schools in U.S. history. We need our neighborhood schools and we should all fight together to save them. Join parents, teachers, students, public school workers, clergy, activists and others in the threeday citywide march across the city. They want to divide us. But this is our city, our schools, and together, we’ll use our voice to tell the mayor and the world that we intend to fight back. Learn more and sign up at: CTUNET.COM/OURVOICE

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I Echo Jersey Jazzman in Support for CORE in CTU Election on Friday

Aside from everything else, just look at the ed deformers supporting Karen Lewis' opponents: The soon to be owned by Koch brothers Chicago Tribune and Fox News. And it a group like MORE were to ever seriously challenge Unity you would see the same type of reaction from the local ed deformers to those "anti reform radicals."

In Chicago they vote in the schools on one day - Friday May 17. Poll watching is in important factor. They have a much higher percentage of voters than here in NYC and retirees have no impact on the election. George and Sharron Schmidt are coming town this weekend and I'm getting together with them for breakfast Sunday morning so I hope to get the firsthand scoop.

There is no point in my writing something when someone like Jersey Jazzman does it so well.

Karen Lewis for CTU President

Up until now, I've stayed out of the internal politics of teachers unions. I outlined my many reservations about the Newark contract, but I didn't feel it was right to tell teachers to vote it up or down. I had my preferences in the New York City teachers union elections as well, but I kept my mouth shut, because I didn't think I had anything to add that was helpful.

But I'm going to make an exception today: Chicago teachers, please re-elect Karen Lewis as the President of the Chicago Teachers Union.

No one has done more to make unions relevant again than Karen Lewis. The Chicago teachers strike was a wake-up call to monied corporate interests everywhere; they learned, the hard way, that organized working people are a force not to be trifled with. That strike never would have happened without the brains, skills, and resolve of Lewis.

Chicago teachers, you need someone who is going to stand toe-to-toe with the likes of the obnoxious and odious Bruce Rauner and the insufferably smug and hypocritical Rahm Enamuel. Karen Lewis has proved, time and again, that she is not in the slightest bit intimidated by these foes of the working class and Chicago's children.

Now, I'm all for a spirited campaign with a sincere debate about the record of the incumbent. Unfortunately, that doesn't appear to be what Chicago's teachers are getting:

During the contract negotiations last summer, Karen Lewis established the "Big Bargaining Team," and designed it to be inclusive. That team included Tanya Saunders Wolffe and Mark Ochoa. Today, both of them are claiming that the CTU leadership failed to negotiate a "moratorium" on school closings. But they didn't mention that during the months they were actually with the union's leadership at the bargaining table. Nor have they admitted, although they will soon have to, that it was illegal for the Chicago Teachers Union to bargain over school closings (a management right) unless CPS agreed to it, and CPS didn't. [emphasis mine]

It's really easy for these Monday morning quarterbacks to come in and complain that Lewis didn't get them everything they think they deserve. But there's little doubt, give the dysfunction of the CTU before Lewis took over, that things would have been far, far worse were she and her team not at the reins. Lewis's CORE slate has shown they can get the job done; the other side may (or may not) mean well, but they simply aren't ready for the big game.

And if you need further proof that the plutocrats are afraid of Lewis, simply look at the fawning treatment Lewis's opponent has received from corporate media shills like the Chicago Tribune and Fox News. For me, that alone is enough reason to vote for Lewis.

Chicago teachers, I hope you understand how lucky you are to have this woman as your local's president. I hope you understand how many teachers outside of Chicago wish they had a strong labor leader willing to stand up for their rights. I hope you appreciate what Lewis means to the rest of us outside of Chicago. I saw Lewis speak to a group of teachers in New York City, and it was like watching a rock star; she is that beloved, and she is that good.

Do yourself a favor, Chicago: vote Karen Lewis and the CORE slate this Friday.

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Chicago Teachers Union Plans 3 Day March to Oppose School Closings

....while the UFT does......

The march will begin March 18, the day after the Chicago union elections, a sign that CORE is pretty confident. Expect a vicious attack on them from the mainstream press in the days before the election to try to influence the vote.
I know that some Unity people are rooting against Karen Lewis, especially after she embarrassed the hell out of some of them when she appeared at the UFT last month and talked about how they gave up the perks when they got elected. Oh, sitting in that room at that moment was oh so much fun.

Well we know from some of the Unity comments on the blogs during the elections that they think that these school closings are what the CTU deserve for daring to stand up and strike instead of collaborating. Of course many of the 150 plus schools closed under Bloomberg through 2010 came WITH the UFT collaboration. The rest had court, not street resistance. Given a choice, would Bloomberg prefer the current Unity leadership of a Chicago-like leadership? One MORE reason to come to Saturday's MORE meeting.

This just in from Diane Ravitch:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Stephanie Gadlin

May 9, 2013 312/329-6250

StephanieGadlin@ctulocal1.com

Thousands prepare for a three-day march against school closings as Chicago’s mayor continues his assault on working-class people under the guise of education reform

CHICAGO – As the city braces itself for the largest assault on public education in the country, thousands of parents, students, teachers, clergy, citizens and community leaders are preparing for a “long march” against school closings on May 18, 19 and 20. Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis said the non-violent demonstration is necessary because “we have a mayor who refuses to listen to reason, research and logic,” in his campaign to destroy 54 school communities which will impact about 50,000 children.

The 30-plus mile march is themed, “Our City. Our Schools. Our Voice,” and will include simultaneous routes from the West and South sides of the city. Protestors intend to walk each day past many of the 54 school communities slated for closure and their efforts will culminate in a mass demonstration downtown. It is sponsored by the CTU, the Grassroots Education Movement, SEIU Local 1, Unite Here Local 1 and Chicago PEACE, an interdenominational coalition of clergy leaders from across the city. Donations are pouring in from across the country.

“Despite the testimony of thousands of parents, teachers and people who work and live in the school communities impacted, Rahm Emanuel is dedicated to entering the history books as having destroyed the most public schools in one year than anyone,” Lewis said. “He refuses to listen to independent hearing officers, law enforcement officials, educators, researchers, parents and the students themselves. We have no choice but to use the power of organizing and direct action to engage in what will be a long fight to restore sanity to our school district.”

The march kicks off at 10:00 a.m. on May 18 on the South Side at Jesse Owens Elementary School, 12450 S. State St., and on the near West Side at Jean de Lafayette Elementary School, 2714 W. Augusta Blvd.

“School closings hurt children academically and the mayor’s plan will also put thousands of students’ safety at risk and many public school employees may lose their jobs,” Lewis said. “We must do whatever is necessary to stop this assault on the working class and the poor. Instead of just getting angry we must organize. Tell Emanuel, the Board, the school CEO and their corporate sponsors that this is our city, these are our schools and we will use our voice to fight for justice.”

Independent hearing officers reviewed the Chicago Public Schools’ list of 54 slated closings and have recommended removing 14 from the list saying those schools don't meet the state standards and are in violation of the law. The mayor’s hand-picked Chicago Board of Education will vote on the issue on Wednesday, May 22. Shortly thereafter, a massive voter registration drive will commence throughout the city.

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