As the Chicago teachers strike enters its fourth day, one thing is crystal clear. The teachers are well organized and very united in their to fight to save public education and win a fair contract.
The people of Chicago, especially in the African American and Latino neighborhoods, support the teachers. Thousands of people in Chicago have joined the picket lines and afternoon mass rallies.
Solidarity with the teachers has poured in from all over the country. On Sept. 12, public school teachers across the nation wore red, the color of the Chicago Teachers Union, in solidarity with the strike.
Students have also joined the picket lines in large numbers. Chicago Public Schools officials have attempted to keep some schools open with untrained staff to make it seem like they care about the students. But parents and students have not been fooled. Attendance at these schools has been very light.
On Friday, janitors at the public schools, who are represented by the Service Employees International Union, will stage a one-day solidarity strike.
Morning picket lines are up at all unionized Chicago public schools. Mass rallies have been held on all three days of the strike.
On Sept. 10, over 20,000 teachers and their allies shut down the streets around CPS headquarters. On Sept. 12, three large rallies were held in the middle of the day. Thousands participated at the rally held at Dyett High School on the south side of Chicago.
During the rally at Dyett High School, I interviewed two teachers from George Washington elementary school, Gladys Hampton and Christy Page, about the conditions at the public schools and about the way Mayor Emanuel and the mass media have used a campaign of lies and misinformation to scapegoat and attack the teachers.
About the strike Hampton said: “I want to be clear about this. We would rather be in the schools right now, teaching. This strike is not about us. It’s about our students. It’s not about the money. If it was about the money, would we be willing to go out strike and not get paid? We are on strike so our kids can have an environment were they can learn. As teachers that is our responsibility.”
Addressing the conditions in the schools, Page said, “How can they expect our students, who come from poor areas of the city, to do well if there is no air conditioning, no books, not enough chairs for every student, no copy machines, no working computers and no nurse?”
Most teachers in the Chicago Public Schools have to provide their own supplies for their students, including paper, pencils, tape, glue and staples.
According to Hampton, teachers are no longer allowed to use their own classrooms to prepare for the school day.
The mayor and the public school bosses, in coordination with Wall Street-backed school “reform” groups, have been hammering away on the issue of teacher evaluations, insisting that test scores make up 40 percent of a teacher’s evaluation and that principals be given more authority to fire teachers.
In response to being evaluated by students’ test scores, Page said: “The test scores don’t work. The people who argue for the tests are the same people who provide no support, training or resources for us teachers. They are the same people who underfund the schools. I want to be optimistic, but it really seems like they want us to fail so they can close more schools, fire us, set up more charter schools and get rid of public education.”
About the notoriously anti-union charter schools, which use public money but as private institutions have very little public accountability, Hampton said: “Charter schools are selective. So they exclude poor and special needs students. If we allow half the system to be privatized, we will be back to the school system like it was before the 1930s, where you have two very different and unequal school systems, especially for African American youth.”
The Chicago Tribune has reported that Chicago Public Schools officials want to close 120 schools next year. In truth, Mayor Emanuel is promoting an apartheid-like school system.
Hampton finished the discussion: “We didn’t start this fight. The mayor gave us no choice but to take a stand for our children, our schools and our jobs. We’re taking this stand for justice, and however long it takes, we’re not going to stop.”
