Chicago teachers win victory against firings

Scan page 9

CHICAGO—The Chicago Teachers Union won an important legal victory Oct. 4 when a U.S. District judge ruled that the Board of Education’s firing of 1300 teachers last summer was illegal and ordered the district to recall all fired teachers. The Board, under the direction of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Ron Huberman, had ordered the firings—claiming they were necessary to fill a $370 billion deficit in the district’s budget.

The firings were ordered without regard to teachers’ seniority or tenure, in violation of the union contract. Instead, the firings were made at the discretion of principals, who in many cases fired teachers with exemplary ratings and the prestigious national board certification. Teachers have charged that principals, told by Hubermen to ignore seniority tenure, selectively fired teachers deemed trouble makers, avoided firing favored Teachers Union. teachers, and targeted higher paid teachers to improve their schools financial In one case, documented in an investigative report by the Chicago Reader, a tenured, high seniority teacher with national board certification was told that the reason for her firing was the elimination of her art teaching position, only to find out weeks later that her former increase. The Teachers Union, under the school was listing her old position. Other leadership of a recently elected reform highly rated teachers reported they were leadership, refused. unable to find positions in CPS, despite The union noted that Huberman and their experience and high marks in their his bureaucratic cronies in the district’s teaching evaluations, fueling speculation headquarters had taken significant raisthat the district has compiled a Do Not es themselves. The union also pointed Hire register in order to blacklist certain out that at least $250 million annually teachers from employment in CPS. in property taxes is diverted into TIF This attack on Chicago teachers is part funds controlled by the mayor and could of a larger offensive against the union be transferred back to the schools to from Huberman, Mayor Daley, and the plug most of the deficit. Huberman latpolitical ruling class of Chicago to bust er backed off the salary freeze, but the the Chicago Teachers Union and clear the board let stand most of the firings. path for the privatization of public edu- The firings are not about CPS saving cation in the third largest school district money; instead they are an attack on in the country. Huberman and his prede- teachers’ right to due process, an attack cessor, current U.S. Secretary of Educa- that goes to the very heart of what it tion Arne Duncan, have pushed through means to be a union member. a vast expansion of non-union charter So-called education reformers have schools and closed down hundreds of raised the volume on their efforts to traditional neighborhood schools, both eliminate teachers’ tenure and due proaimed at undermining the strength of the cess. Backed by billionaires like Bill Gates and emboldened by the White House’s Obama and Duncan have pushed this embracing of their agenda, education anti-union model on a national level, of- “reformers” have pushed the lie that the fering school districts that adopt these problem with public education is bad anti-union policies federal grants. teachers and the union protections that Huberman announced the firings ear- supposedly tie the hands of principals lier this year, using the economic crisis as and administrators. If only principals an excuse, and also demanded the union could fire their bad teachers, they say, the agree to mid-contract concessions, in- public schools could be reformed. cluding giving up their annual 4% salary The truth is that teachers deserve and need union protection just like any workers. The idea that principals and administrators, if given free rein to fire their teachers at will, would make their decisions based only performance without consideration to personal and political relationships and salaries is laughable in a city infamous for patronage, graft, and corruption.

With last summer’s firings, parents, students, and teachers got a taste of what life would be like for teachers in CPS if seniority and tenure rights were eliminated. CTU President Karen Lewis issued the following statement after the court’s ruling, “Teachers unions were formed in the first place to protect mainly female teachers from retaliatory actions, political firings, and crony hirings. Nothing’s changed.

“The need for strong unions to protect teachers, students and academic freedom, especially in Chicago, is upheld today. Through these illegal firings, the Chicago Board of Education tried to silence our tenured teachers who are the strongest advocates for students’ educational rights and the real fighters for better learning environments.

“Chicago Public Schools should stop slurring our teachers, suggesting that those fired somehow were less than exemplary teachers. The court appears to agree—tenure is necessary to academic freedom.” n Socialist Action november 2010 9

Scan page 10

ecutions after defense attorneys for death-row inmate Michael Morales, pointing to the Williams and Allen executions, argued that the current lethal injection protocol Since the 2006 ban was ordered, a state-appointed task force has been busy rewriting the lethal injection protocol, responding to legal arguments that the threedrug sequence used in executions may have exposed inmates to unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment while masking the pain by paralyzing the inmate. The three drugs used in lethal injection executions in California are sodium thiopental, which is intended to make the inmate unconscious; pancuronium bromide, a paralyzing agent; and potassium chloride, which stops tempt at restarting the death penalty on the grounds that the new protocol was written without public participation. After that ruling, the California Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections redrafted the protocol and submitted it for public examination. A state office With that obstacle out of the way, California attempted to move forward with its first execution by petitioning the state Supreme Court to accelerate an appeal deadline in a state lawsuit filed by Michael Morales and one Michael Macor / SF Chronicle Luther King Jr. holiday.

is cruel and inhumane. the heart.

(Left) New death chamber at San Quentin prison.

In February 2006, a federal judge ordered a halt on exA Superior Court judge blocked the state’s first atapproved the new protocol in July of this year.