Chicago Teachers Doings Things Teachers Shouldn't Do

By Joe Cunningham | 3:00 PM on January 06, 2016

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FILE - This Sept. 10, 2012, file photo shows thousands of public school teachers rallying outside the Chicago Public Schools district headquarters on the first day of strike action over teachers' contracts in Chicago. A majority of union members today now have ties to a government entity at the federal, state or local levels. The typical union worker now is more likely to be an educator, office worker or food or service industry employee rather than a construction worker, autoworker, electrician or mechanic, with far more women than men among the ranks. Overall, 11.3 percent of U.S. wage and salary workers are unionized, down from a peak of 35 percent during the mid-1950s. (AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong, File)

When I first became a teacher, there were some things I was told not to do. These included, but were not limited to, smoking weed (especially with my students), fraudulently utilize tax exemptions for personal purchases, steal money meant for other purposes, and campaign for promote a candidate or issue within my school or classroom. Even if I had not been told this, it is frankly common sense that you don’t do these kinds of things. However, Chicago teachers seem to lack the sense the Good Lord gave them.

Chicago Public Schools employees engaged in improper political activity, stole kids’ museum passes to sell online, smoked marijuana with students, and stole money meant for cheerleader uniforms, according to a year-long review.

The school system’s inspector general released its annual report on Monday. The report offers a summary of investigations conducted by the inspector general in fiscal year 2015, which included the uncovering of a multi-million-dollar fraudulent kickback scheme by Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the school system’s CEO

The inspector general also found that teachers abused their access to make tax-exempt purchases for big-screen televisions, iPads, and DVD boxed sets of The Three Stooges.

See, a few instances of this and you would think “Okay. A few bad apples, right?” In this case, however, it appears to be a widespread issue and one for which the people who abused their authority have no remorse whatsoever. They either lied about the abuses or they explained them away like nothing was wrong. A simple search of the document shows no instances of the words “remorse”, “regret”, or even “sadness”.

This stems from an entitlement that groups protected in state jobs with public unions backing them feel. Teachers often complain that their profession is not respected enough, and I am sure the teachers mentioned in this report are no different, but things like this show exactly why. Teachers, especially in the most liberal areas, see themselves as above their students and even their communities. They are owed so much because of the service they provide.

Meanwhile, the good teachers, who follow the rules and do what they are supposed to do, get their reputations ruined because of the mindless actions of their peers.