Letter to the Members of the Chicago Teachers Union by Jackson Potter
I started my teaching career at Englewood High School where I taught history and coached the debate team. In my tenure at Englewood, I grew to admire the veteran teachers who taught there for decades — they showed me how to survive and thrive in the Chicago Public Schools. I wanted to continue working at Englewood for the remainder of my career. This hope was destroyed when Arne Duncan and the Board of Education phased us out in 2005 as a part of Renaissance 2010. I was outraged by the Board’s blatant disregard for the needs of the community. Our school organized to oppose the closing. We pushed the Chicago Teachers Union to provide us with a bus attend Board of Education Hearings. We lobbied our alderwoman and began working with other schools in similar situations. As a result of Englewood’s demise, I became more involved in the CTU. I joined the Renaissance 2010 committee and helped promote the Chandler Resolution to put a moratorium on all school closings.
After staying a year into the phase-out so I could witness my first group of freshmen graduate at Englewood, I took a Board-approved study leave. I did this to avoid displacing a colleague of mine who was pregnant with her first child. I spoke to Union staff on multiple occasions about paying my inactive member dues and was assured that once I paid a thirty dollar fee, I would continue to be a member in good standing. I paid the thirty dollars and was issued a card signifying my inactive membership for the length of my board approved leave.
Although the constitutional term is “inactive member in good-standing,” I was not exactly inactive during my one-year leave of absence. While working on my Ph.D. in history, I produced a film with CTU delegate Al Ramirez about the devastation wreaked by the Arne Duncan “turnaround” policy, and was a founding organizer for CORE, the Caucus of Rank-and-file Educators.
When we formed CORE, I was initially not interested in running for any Union office. However, after we saved six schools through a campaign to stop Renaissance 2010, I became interested in running. When I called the Union office to verify my eligibility, Barbara Filas, the clerk at CTU headquarters in charge of membership, claimed that I was not eligible to run because I had not been a regular member for three consecutive years. On numerous occasions Mrs. Filas and Financial Secretary Mark Ochoa told me that I had never had a break in service according to the Union’s computers, but that did not matter because I was still ineligible. When the Union finally got around to sending me an official letter from their law firm, Odelson and Sterk, their argument had changed. They now argue that I did not pay my inactive teacher dues on time. Despite the fact that I have union cards issued in my name verifying my eligibility to run, and that the union verified my good standing on multiple occasions, they are now telling a different story. It appears that our CTU leadership has adopted a moving target strategy, namely, they will find a way to disqualify me regardless of the evidence.
Somehow, miraculously, between the moment that I began a Board-approved study leave to the time I decided to run for Union office, the Union claims that I went from being a member in good standing with no break in service to one that had a break in service and was, therefore, ineligible to run.
All of the games being played with my eligibility only hurt our union’s chances of building a strong leadership of dedicated rank-and-file members. We should include the greatest possible number of members who want to serve our union in elected office and not use petty discrepancies to disqualify those of us who are the most active. These are the main reasons why I am fighting.
Ultimately, it is not about me. If I lose this fight, I will walk away gracefully. This fight is about our priorities as a Union – if we expend so much energy fighting our own members who are active in the organization, the future of the Union will be bleak.
