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Chicago Teachers Union Uses Kids As Pawns: Karen Lewis’ Train Wreck That Could’ve Been Avoided

By: LaborUnionReport (Diary)  |  September 10th, 2012 at 02:30 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Early this morning, 26,000 Chicago teachers walked out on 400,000 Chicago kids, abandoning the classroom for the picket lines. Anytime, teachers abandon school kids, it is the children and their parents who suffer the greatest–and Chicago Teachers Union knows this. As the union had been negotiating for months with the offcials in Chicago Public School system, the union could have struck anytime during the summer. Instead, the union’s strike was deliberately chosen to have the most impact–on the children and their parents.

To be clear, this is Karen Lewis’ strike. Any leader (whether leading a mob of Visigoths, or striking union members) bears the responsibility of choosing to where and when to lead his or her troops into battle. In Karen Lewis case, by her own admission, negotiations were “intense, but productive.”

Lewis had the choice to recommend to continue negotiations. Instead of ramping up the rhetoric and riling up her membership to the point they were ready for war, she could have been a calming voice and continued to work out a deal that didn’t stick Illinois taxpayers with a higher price tag for a failing system. Instead she pulled the trigger and put, not only her 26,000 highly-paid members out on the streets, but 400,000 kids as well.

Moreover, by placing children in the middle of loud and angry striking teachers, puts kids (and their parents) squarely in danger of incurring their teachers’ wrath should they use one of the schools the city set up to babysit while teachers are on the sideewalk:

Vicente Perez, the parent of 4th and 6th grade boys, had planned to drop them off at one of the contingency locations CPS is keeping open half days during the strike.

But they stopped short when they arrived at William Ray Elementary this morning and saw they’d have to walk through a line of picketing teachers. His children were afraid.

“I don’t want to go there,” his youngest son, Kahlil, 9, said.

Perez called his wife on his cell phone and decided to either take the kids to a church or just keep them home….

[snip]

John Harvey said he was nervous dropping off his 7-year-old son, Aiden, at Disney Magnet School.

“I don’t know how they feel about us bringing our children,” said Harvey. “We’re a little at odds now. I didn’t know if we were hurting the situation or not. I didn’t know what they were going to do. So I came with my shield up.”

Aiden’s mother, Sarah Vanderstow, said she had concerns dropping the second grader off at an unfamiliar place, but since their usual school, Nettelhorst, was closed, they had no choice.

.

Oddly enough, Chicago’s mayor Rahm Emanuel, like Lewis, is a Democrat, in a Democrat-controlled city. So, this time, Lefties cannot blame the “evil” GOP for their causing the problems (though they’ll probably try).

As Emanuel said this morning, the Chicago teacher strike is a strike “of choice.”

Regardless of how long the Chicago teachers continue leaving school kids on the streets (whether a day, a week, a month or longer), when union bosses like Karen Lewis wonder why unions are vilified today, all they need to do is look in the mirror.
_________________________

“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

Cross-posted on LaborUnionReport.com

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  • streiff

    I don’t agree with your take on this at all. The teachers were an issue in WI because the macro issue was a state issue: a fight over collective bargaining and Scott Walker. There is nothing Romney can do about this. Nationally this is amusing but it is a nothingburger in my view.

  • evilbloggerlady

    Rush predicts that this is a set up and Obama will swoop in to save the day. He may be right. What a coincidence this is happening in Chicago.

  • SoFiMil

    Wonder if the President will put on his “walking shoes”?

  • SoFiMil

    Time for the President to make a(nother) “gutsy call.”

  • sbm1

    One thing is for sure from every picture I have seen of the striking teachers until now….the chicago school system obviously has no Phys Ed teachers…..it is the fattest bunch of people I have ever seen….I thought it was pictures of a lineup to a Krispy Kreme opening!

  • http://patriotpowerplay.blogspot.com/ mirac777

    My thoughts exactly.

  • http://www.lvjmusic.com lvjohnston

    Something about dropout rates caught my ear when listening to news coverage on a Chicago radio station. According to the CPS own website, the current graduation rate for Chicago Public Schools in 2011/2012 was 60.6%. No further comment as the numbers speak volumes.

  • sexysadie

    It’s an election year…that’s why.

  • sexysadie

    I am a native Chicagoan. I am also a teacher with over 25 years in the classroom and 7 as a principal. I can tell you without a doubt that the Chicago public schools are the worst in the nation. The Chicago School Board is the most corrupt organization in the nation. The reason why the teacher union has decided to strike is because the “teachers” (I use the term very loosely) don’t want to be accountable for the results at the end of the school year. WHAT??? What other employee would be able to stay on a job after 2-3 months of failing and/or dismal work results let alone a year or years??? When U.S. school children rank lowest amongst other countries in test scores particularly in math and science, there is something intrinsically wrong with the system. When school children can’t read, can’t write or spell, and can’t do simple mathematical computations without a calculator, something is terribly wrong. But they learn about homosexuality, how to put on a condom, and how to save the planet in place of basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic. I will say it again: the only solution to this problem is to completely demolish and abolish all public schools, all teacher unions and federations, the NEA and all its contigencies, and all school boards and other such entities. Taxpayers are paying on an average of over $8,000.00 (and in some areas much, much more) per student to have these kinds of dismal results. Any company having these kinds of results would have fired the employees and reorganized long before spending another dime on failure. This is ridiculous to the nth degree! Public schools, school boards, and the NEA are all politically motivated. They DO NOT have our children’s interests at heart. Our children are dying in cesspools of social engineering and propaganda. Chicago should be the first to go.

    Schools are not meant to provide meals to children. That is the parents’ responsibility. If parents are too poor to provide food for their children, there are numerous charities, churches, and other places of worship that are DESIGNED for that purpose. This is just another attempt at marxist-commie liberals to turn schools into government propaganda nannies–and, I might add, they are doing a pretty good job of it!

  • daniel22

    My understanding is that the mayor had already okayed a pay increase the teachers wanted. The teachers would have ended up making more than twice the average Chicagoan’s wages. The big sticking point came when the Health and Welfare came into play. The union wants the city to once again pay for everything. Sound familiar? In my opinion that is the union leadership’s cash cow that is milked for all it is worth.
    Illinois is a closed shop state which means you have to be a union member to hold a teaching job there. It should go to Right to Work staus as soon as possible to allow teachers themselves a choice. In Wisconsin when teachers did have a choice they left the union. When the teachers’ union in Wisconsin were given a choice on Health and Welfare the unions way overpriced plan was dropped until it lowered its prices. The teachers had a choice.
    This is also a message to Obama to tow the union line. It is no coincidence this is happening in Chicago and during an election year it is just a bonus. Still the kids lose again.

  • tnfriendofcoal101368

    Huge numbers in Chicago are the reason Illinois is in the Obama column – polling shows anti-Obama votes in Illinois elsewhere. If I were Romney’s people – I’d have him in Chicago giving the same education speech – he gave at the NAACP. Basically, you’re in this mess right now because the government and unions determine who teaches your kids not you. I’ll also point out the education part of Romney’s speech got a standing ovation at the NAACP.

  • rick57

    You mean he’s done that before, are you saying he has experience doing SOMETHING?

  • http://www.lvjmusic.com lvjohnston

    The argument has merit but I agree that unless one has a horse in the race, it’s better to not go there. Besides there is also the issue of educating those who are ‘un-teachable’. Same as when the out of state protestors went to WI prior to the Walker recall vote. Solidarity? No, more like intimidation on a massive scale that turned many away from the union’s candidate. It could also backfire in this case.

    As a resident of Illinois and in light of all the wonders of our state’s and its largest city’s governments, (and I use both terms with an incredible sense of reserve because I cannot/will not put such profane thoughts in a comment), I feel that the red-stater residents of this state – the ones who *do* have much at stake in the outcome – should be the one to lead that charge to retake the hill – or statehouse / city hall in this case.

    I will add that Mayor Rham’s reply to the radio reporter who asked for comment on Romney’s comment was priceless. I realize that many across the country did not hear much beside the ‘Don’t stop funding the NEA, Mr. Romney,” portion. The DJ who shared the full interview compared his response to a “goon in a warehouse talking to a guy under the dim light bulb” (ala ‘wiseguys’).

    Personally, and I may be projecting my opinion of the mayor a bit here, I thought he sounded more like the petulant schoolboy who had been called out for lying about what happened on the playground… carefully weighing each word… making sure that he did not get any blame… take credit for actions if they were positive or could be cast in that light… but the knife would fall but not on him.

    In other words, he was simply being a democrat from Chicago.