CORE: The Caucus of Rank-and-file Educators 0000
Under CORE’s leadership, the CTU has won class size protections, more bilingual education provisions and sanctuary schools protections, the first healthy green schools provisions in our new contract LGBTQIA+ protections and other crucial provisions. CTU members will see big COLA raises in our current contract and bigger raises for paraprofessionals while keeping healthcare costs down and expanding healthcare access and benefits. We’ve secured added salary steps to address stagnant veteran pay, with a step in place for every year of service up to year 25, plus longevity bonuses for teachers with more than 25 years. We are adding special education staff, librarians, social workers, counselors, bilingual and class-size TAs, fine arts and physical education teachers, technology coordinators and more. Additionally, all elementary teachers will receive more time to prepare and collaborate.
Our current contract advancements, which passed with record turnout and approval, would not have been possible without the last 15 years of work by CORE leadership. We finally won back the bargaining rights taken from us in 1995, and we helped elect public education champions as members of Chicago’s first elected school board, with others appointed by the mayor (and former CORE member) we helped elect. And we are working with our allies in Springfield to improve school funding, fix Tier 2, and dismantle REACH. But we’ll have to fight to win if we are to make the most of those opportunities. That’s why we need CORE to keep leading!
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The Triumvirate of Upheaval in Our Classrooms by Michelle Gunderson
By Michelle Strater Gunderson. Originally published in Living in Dialogue March 5, 2015
I recently had an epiphany while listening to Melissa Katz, a wonderful student activist from New Jersey, talk about corporate education reform on the radio. When speaking about the swift and drastic changes in education based on implementation of Common Core and aligned tests she used the word upheaval.
Upheaval. Think about it. Is this what you are experiencing in your school setting?
The roll out of Common Core standards, aligned tests such as PARCC and Smarter Balance, and new punitive evaluations has produced what I call the Triumvirate of Upheaval. The combination of all three has disrupted almost every school in our country.
Read moreChicago Elementary School Votes to Oppose PARCC Common Core Tests by Michelle Gunderson
By Michelle Strater Gunderson. Published on Living and Dialogue Site on Feb. 28, 2015
“What the best and wisest parent wants for his child, that must we want for all the children of the community. Anything less is unlovely, and left unchecked, destroys our democracy.” John Dewey
Last week the Local School Council at Nettelhorst Elementary School in Chicago voted unanimously to write a letter of opposition to the PARCC exam, and gave permission to the parent/teacher organization to distribute testing opt out information to all families.
Read moreChicago Teachers’ New Political Awakening by Michelle Gunderson
By Michelle Gunderson. First Published in Living in Dialogue August 4th, 2014
What would our city look like if it were run by Chicago teachers alongside other labor and community groups? This was the thought that kept running through my head as we gathered to support the launch of the new United Working Families political organization in Chicago.
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