Teachers of Color, Poor Communities Bear Brunt of Layoffs in Chicago

 

 

Thursday Sep 29, 2011 2:06 pm

By Micah Uetricht

Marchers, including teachers, at the Chicago "We Are One" rally on April 9, 2011.   (Photo by Jean Paul Homes on Flickr.)

Black teachers in Chicago appear to be receiving pink slips at higher rates than white teachers, according to recent analysis by the Chicago Teachers Union.

According to the Illinois State Board of Education’s 2010 report card (PDF), African Americans comprise 29.6 percent of CPS teachers. But the CTU’s analysis of the ISBE’s Teacher Service Record shows African-American teachers account for 43 percent of those laid off.

The layoffs will only add to the city’s dismal numbers on African-American unemployment–at 21.4 percent, the worst for any big city in the country. It also, according to a CTU analysis, disproportionately hurts schools with higher concentrations of African-American and low-income students.

A large loss of teachers of color is particularly hurtful in a city in which 91 percent of public school students are children of color.

CTU president Karen Lewis said in a statement that the layoffs have “real consequences for the overwhelming Black and Latino student population in our schools who look to their teachers as role models for achievement and success. We want to know what CPS is doing to address this racial disparity.” (In a statement, CPS officials said they dispute the union’s numbers.)

The layoffs are painful, especially as they come in the midst of a crushing recession. But they also come at a time when Mayor Emanuel has demanded a longer school day, and says the matter isn’t up for negotiation.

“We’re not going to negotiate or discuss whether children get more instruction — we will work together so that gets done,” he said last month at a South Side charter school. “I’m not deviating from that.”

In pushing the longer school day, the Emanuel’s administration has worked to divide the teachers union, offering bonus pay for teachers (along with an extra $150,000 in discretionary funds for each school) if they agree to waive union contract provisions on school day length and after-school pay individual schools around the city.

Nine schools have agreed to the offer—against the wishes of CTU leadership, who turned down an offer for a two percent raise in exchange for a school day extended by 90 minutes, though union officials have said they are open to the possibility of lengthening the school day.

According to a data analysis by Catalyst Chicago, most of the layoffs corresponded with a drop in enrollment.

[S]chools where 45 percent or more of students are African-American lost 4.7 percent of their students between fall 2009 and fall 2010. Other schools, which experienced half as many teacher layoffs, saw their population decline just 1 percent.

Similarly, schools where at least 87 percent of students receive a free or reduced-price lunch saw a 4.4 percent decrease in their student population. That compares to a 0.5 percentage point increase at other schools – which lost 2.4 percent of their teachers, according to the CTU.

This drop in the number of African-American students corresponds with the city’s larger loss of African Americans: 11 percent of Chicago’s black population has left the city in the last decade, according to available census data.

The layoffs of Chicago’s African-American teachers don’t seem nefarious, and the teacher’s union did not accuse CPS of overtly racist motives in its statement on the firings. One local commentator stated the CTU “play[ed] the race card” in highlighting the numbers–which is only accurate if calling attention to racial inequalities constitutes a playing of the “race card.”

But, as many contemporary observers have noted, the maintenance of racial inequality in the 21st century doesn’t require explicit racism. Racial inequalities can be maintained through seemingly neutral rhetoric and public policy decisions. Chicago has long been one of the country’s most racially stratified cities, with residential segregation regularly ranking among the worst in the country, and disparities between blacks and whites in income, poverty rates, and unemployment are massive.

If any of those figures are ever going to lessen, it will take conscious effort by policymakers to address them–particularly when tough decisions have be made about city finances in light of yawning budget shortfalls. And if African-American teachers in Chicago are going to hang on to any semblance of a middle class life in a city where blacks have always been the first to bear the brunt of economic downturns, a layoff policy that takes both fiscal dictates and realities of racial inequalities into account is desperately needed. (inthesetimes.com)

Brizard failed to sway the rank and file to a longer school day this year

Chicago Tribune

Saturday, October 01, 2011

 

If you’re keeping score at home, which I happen to be, the tally looks to be stuck:

Chicago Public Schools   –13
Chicago Teachers Union – 470

That’s 13 city public elementary schools where the teachers have voted to extend their classroom days by 90 minutes this year as part of the administration’s controversial Longer School Day Pioneer Program, and 470 schools where they haven’t.

It was Sept. 2 when, to shouts of indignation from their union leaders,  teachers at the first three schools broke ranks and voted to waive certain provisions in their contracts and accept an administration offer that included a bonus for them and discretionary money for their schools.
Ten more schools signed on in the following two weeks,  six of the schools actually began their longer days last Monday, but the number has remained at 13.

The union says teachers at 116 schools have so far voted down the proposed waiver. The administration challenges that number and notes that the option will remain on the table until at least the end of November.

But certainly every teacher in the system is keenly aware of the Longer School Day Pioneer Program, and it’s not unfair to judge their inaction to date as a form of refusal.

Whether you think a 2.7 percent acceptance rate is good news --- most teachers have put the brakes on a hastily implemented plan that asks them to set aside a key portion of their collective bargaining agreement    --- or bad news --- most students will not this year get the extra classroom time some of them badly need --- it certainly reflects the failure of new Chicago schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard to make his case to the rank and file.
And it's almost certainly why, Friday, Brizard sent a letter to union leader Karen Lewis saying "the time is right to turn the Pioneer Project into a collaboration between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union leadership,"  and that together they should choose  25 more schools to start a longer day in January, and  use all 38 schools as a "model for preparing all schools for the longer day in the 2012-2013 academic year" when the day will expand at all schools under a new state law.

It was as much a concession  as it was a counter-offer. The union should be gracious in victory, set this battle aside and begin working on next year.

 

Chicago's Longer School Day: Much-Needed Reform Or Political Cynicism?

When Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced last year that he would begin a campaign toward his current gig, it was only a matter of weeks before he introduced his "longer school day" proposal. The issue didn't raise many eyebrows during the campaign, but in recent months it has led to near-daily blows between the Chicago Teachers Union, the school board and the Emanuel administration.
As the days go by, the blows strike lower and the stakes move higher. Last week the teachers union filed an unfair labor lawsuit against the mayor-appointed Chicago Board of Education. The suit claims that CPS has attempted to bribe and coerce schools into approving the longer school day pilot program--circumventing their existing contract by signing up for the longer work day.
Since CPS teachers were denied their contractually-obligated 4 percent raises -- worth an estimated $100 million -- earlier this year under the pretense that the system was too broke to afford them, many have wondered how the city is paying for pilot program incentives -- which could cost as much as $30 million, depending on how many schools join.
Both sides have had their say in the press, with the union accusing the board and the mayor of ignoring their proposals and turning the school debate into a PR battle and longer day supporters accusing the union of being unwilling to budge. And last week, CTU president Karen Lewis told reporters Emanuel pointed his finger toward her and yelled "F--- you, Lewis" after the two had discussed the longer school day in his office.
But putting aside questions of who said what in the ongoing war of words between the union, school administrators and Emanuel, what is the longer school day battle really about? And what will the extra 90 minutes accomplish? Once again, the jury seems to be out.
A NUMBERS GAME
First, there are the teachers at nine CPS elementary schools, as of Friday, who have voted to waive their contracts for the present school year and start working longer days immediately. In return, the schools receive a lump sum of discretionary funding -- either $150,000 or $75,000 depending on how soon the change is implemented -- while their teachers each receive a one-time payment similar to 2 percent of their district's average salary.

But on the flip side, "about 20" CPS schools have voted, thus far, to uphold the existing contract and not extend their instructional day this year, according to CTU press secretary Stephanie Gadlin. On Tuesday, Gadlin told the Huffington Post, Hendricks Elementary Community Academy in the city's Canaryville neighborhood voted unanimously against extending the school day this year. An AP report Friday disclosed that two more schools -- Colemon Elementary on the city's South Side and Burnham Elementary on the West Side -- voted against the day.

When the point was raised by NBC Chicago to CPS, a spokeswoman for the mayor's office replied that "there have been no schools to vote no."
"Of course CPS and the board won't tell you all the story of the scores of schools that have said 'no' to this because that is not the story that they want to tell," Gadlin said. "They want to continue using the press as their publicist and, so far, they're doing a great job of that."
Gadlin claims that the mayor's office and CPS press team is "trickling out" news of elementary schools breaking from the union to help further their preferred story line. Because the schools that have turned down the waiver have reportedly voted to do so during an "informal" vote before the waiver is officially extended, CPS is technically correct in their claim of a blemish-free school voting record on the issue.
"If a barrage of schools were signing up for the longer day, we would hear about more than one a day," she continued.
The union publicly mentioned between 20 and 30 schools rejecting the pilot program, but Carroll said some schools have asked the union to stop naming them as pilot program rejectors.
"There are schools on [the CTU's] list [of schools voting 'no' to the longer day] that have no business being there," she said.
Further, Carroll said, "at the end of the day, the only vote that matters is a waiver vote. Until a waiver vote happens, no other formal, informal poll or snapshot in time matters."
As for where the pilot program funding is coming from, Carroll said if 50 schools sign up by January, the incentives will cost the system an estimated $7 million -- much less than the $100 million price tag that the Board of Ed-rejected teacher raises carried.
"A $7 million investment in return for helping our children who are in dire need of getting more time in the classroom with their teachers is well worth those dollars," Carroll added, "And CEO Brizard is willing to make some additional, painful cuts in our budget in order to fund that investment in our students.
"We are willing to support the teachers and schools who are willing to add more time to the day in any way necessary to make that happen."
HOW SOON IS NOW?
At the heart of the ongoing longer school day debate, regardless of which schools are voting which way on the waiver offer, is what benefit an hour-and-a-half-longer school day will ultimately offer to the system's students -- not to mention what educational content those 90 minutes would include.
Carroll reiterated Thursday that CPS "believes very strongly, and this is backed by mounds of research, that a longer school day can provide districts with the tools to help students be successful in the classroom."
Stand For Children, the non-profit advocacy group which was the driving force behind Senate Bill 7, legislation passed earlier this year which paved the way to a number of educational reforms across Illinois including Emanuel's long-promised longer school day, agrees.
Mary Anderson, Stand For Children's executive director, told The Huffington Post her organization was "very excited" to see the handful-plus-one of CPS schools that have agreed to the longer day pilot program. She feels the longer day will allow for more enrichment programs, plus longer meal periods, recess time and time allowing for teacher intervention with students who may be struggling in a core academic area like math or reading.
"This is what parents want and what is in the best interests of children," Anderson said. "The groundswell of support indicates that they want it to happen and they want it to happen now. I hope that more schools will sign on."
And while Anderson understands the CTU's concerns over how the extra instructional time will be allocated, she said that she felt "we need to get away from the noise and focus on what's best for the students" in the midst of the ongoing squabbles. A CPS-led task force, which the CTU's Lewis declined to be a part of, is currently at work designing a blueprint for the new, longer school day.
"At the end of the day, the adults have to figure this out because thousands of CPS students are being left behind and that's simply unacceptable," Anderson added.
Andrew Broy, president of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, shares Anderson's frustrations with student performance in the city's struggling school system and called the union's concerns over instructional content during the additional time as a "smoke screen."
"Clearly [a longer day] is a step in the right direction," Broy told the Huffington Post. "I don't think it's easy to defend the length of the school day we have and we should have fixed it 10 years ago."
He challenged the union to "come forward with ways to do this constructively" and described a recent event he attended in support of the longer day as, ultimately, "the rally to be average." Even with the extra 90 minutes, Broy says, CPS non-charter schools will still register among the national average instructional time. School days at the charter schools in his system are nearly two hours longer than Chicago Public Schools and his network's leadership has publicly applauded Emanuel's proposal.
"I'm not saying the union isn't right to have some concerns about implementation, but I'm suggesting that the time to fix the problem is now," he added. "The longer school day is a necessary precondition to reform. I'm glad to see Rahm's fighting for it because it's something that really matters."
POLITICS AT ITS WORST OR REFORM AT ITS BEST?
Recent analyses of instructional day length's correlation with learning outcomes have lent credence to the CTU's call for a "better school day," rather than, more simply, a longer one.
As the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday, some high-performing school districts in affluent Chicago suburbs -- including Glen Ellyn, Elmhurst and Elgin -- have instructional days on par with those non-charter schools within city limits.
Influential SmallTalk education blogger, author and educator Mike Klonsky said the Tribune's analysis is in line with his belief that school performance -- often tied to students' test scores -- is "a measure of poverty, not one's going on in the classroom."
Klonsky described Emanuel's push for the longer school day as "cynical" and "politically-driven."
"What you're seeing is that, under mayoral control, a two-tiered school system is under development [in Chicago]: one for the elite, middle-class kids and another system for the poor; one filled with enrichment programs and things like that and the other has a test-and-punishment curriculum," Klonsky said.
Klonsky further described CPS's offering of mysteriously-funded waivers to longer day pilot schools as "improper and probably illegal."
"In order to push through this politically-geared agenda for the mayor, a lot of damage is being done and a lot of irresponsible kind of funding plans are being put into practice," Klonsky said. "I think the union is right, but the question is what will happen next? "It's a mystery and Rahm has no plan."
COMPROMISE AHEAD?
As for what happens next, all parties involved appear to be on the same page about one thing: The longer school day will be the order of the day systemwide in CPS schools beginning with the 2012-2013 academic year, after the existing teacher contract expires.
Until then, CPS is continuing their rallying cry for the lengthened day. Carroll said she expected more schools to join the pilot program in the coming days and weeks.
"Our students are struggling … and it's incumbent upon us, as adults, to come together and work out a solution," Carroll said. "Why wait a year from now and shortchange kids for a year if their teachers at their schools want to do it today and want to give their students that opportunity to get a leg up to be successful?"
As for the union, Gadlin said she hopes CPS will "come to its senses and stop these illegal elections and this union-busting campaign they're engaging in." The union's priorities, she said, remain to plan for improved day-to-day curriculum as part of the inevitable longer day coming to CPS schools -- and better compensation for the teachers themselves. She also said a majority of Chicagoans support the union's plan, citing a recent poll conducted by Lake Research Partners.
"Our call for a better school day is not far off from what people want for their students: a world-class education," Gadlin said. "We don't understand the urgency to do this right now. Rahm has already decreed that a longer school year is coming to Chicago so, OK, let's take a year to plan it properly to ensure students and educators have the best working conditions and learning environment possible." (Huff Post Chicago)