Speaking before the Chicago Board of Education at its monthly meeting Wednesday, Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter said the changes he’s seen in terms of district cooperation are “unprecedented.”
Chicago Teachers Union
While the Chicago State strike continues, faculty and staff at south suburban Governors State University are preparing to go on strike and instructors at Eastern Illinois University continue a work stoppage that began last week.
A group of teachers has filed legal action against the CTU, alleging union leaders are wrongly spending dues money on political organizations supporting Brandon Johnson for mayor. They said it’s not about politics, but about their contention that their own union has deceived them.
The independent expenditure funded by the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, paid for $258,000 in cable television advertisements on March 16 and $359,000 in digital advertising on March 15, records show.
An elected school board. A new teachers union contract. The end of a moratorium on school closures. Those are among the biggest education hurdles Chicago’s next mayor will have to navigate over the next four years
The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 7’s political action committee made an in-kind contribution of approximately $10,000 to the campaign of Julian “Jumpin’” Perez, who used those funds to pay for the flyers.
The Chicago Teachers Union is under fire from within, and the union has been forced to make changes to its election filings or risk violating state law. The union has been front and center with its support of one of its own, Brandon Johnson, as a candidate for Chicago mayor. The big bucks and election actions are now causing some CTU members to speak out.
Speaking before a joint session of the General Assembly, Gov. J.B. Pritzker acknowledged that, due to the coronavirus pandemic, it has been years since he last gave the ceremonial presentation from the Illinois House.
The first email to City Colleges instructors urging them to ask their students to volunteer for the Lightfoot campaign was sent on Aug. 19, according to an email obtained by WTTW News. The second was sent Monday.
The email from the campaign “is inappropriately coercive and raises First Amendment concerns. The Supreme Court has made clear that government officials cannot use their office or power to coerce participation or to punish for lack of participation in political campaigns,” according to a statement from the ACLU of Illinois.
“We’re looking for enthusiastic, curious and hard-working young people eager to help Mayor Lightfoot win this spring,” according to an email obtained WTTW News that was sent to Chicago Public Schools teachers’ work email addresses.
Brandon Johnson, 46, has yet to formally announce that he will run for mayor of Chicago — but the backing of the Chicago Teachers Union will ensure that he will have ample resources if he does take on Lightfoot, who has long been at odds with the city’s most politically powerful labor union.
Despite concerns from the public and elected officials, the board at its monthly meeting voted 4-3 in favor of a trio of motions to help Chicago Public Schools acquire land and take additional steps toward building the new school.
School is about a week and a half into session and CPS students have seen some changes around campus and in their classrooms. Also different this year - COVID protocols, which no longer require someone to quarantine if they've had an exposure. After two-plus years of work stoppages and labor disputes, will students finally get to enjoy a fully uninterrupted school year?
Monday marks the first day of the 2022-23 school year, as some 300,000-plus students head back to class on one of the earliest start dates in recent memory.
The teachers say they were encouraging students to participate in the process of free speech by protesting metal scrap company General Iron, which planned to move into their South Side community.
