CORE » Events

ART TEACHERS REDEFINED Returns!

cezar — Fri, 20 May 2011 22:39:42 +0000

Art Teachers Redefined is an art exhibition organized by art teachers “honorably dismissed” by the 2010 Chicago Board of Education policy that gave CEO Ron Huberman and local principals unlimited power to fire teachers without due process. The teachers were forcibly unable to work, losing benefits, pensions, and the respect of their communities. Hosted by Chicago Temple Fine Arts Committee, the exhibit will be housed in the second floor gallery of First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple, 77 W. Washington — from May 15 through June 26, 2011. The opening reception for the art exhibition will be held in the gallery on Sunday, May 22, 2011 at 12:30 pm. The art exhibition is free and open to the public during the following times: Monday through Friday 10 am to 4 pm and Sunday 9 am to 3 pm. Click here to see the show’s flyer: ATR_Flyer-May2011.

The Chicago Teachers Union originally hosted the art teachers’ show in February. “We are excited and extremely grateful to the First United Methodist Church for hosting us in their new gallery space”, explains show organizer Cezar Simeon, “The show’s artists have created new works specifically for the Chicago Temple show.” The exhibition features the works of Sunny Neater-DuBow and Lourdes S. Guerrero, whose dismissals were reported in the Chicago Reader “Filed Away” article (9/23/10). Other art teachers are Katrina Barge, Gina Baruch, Chris Busse, Carmela Rago and Daniela Veljkovic.

The exhibit conveys the artists’ anxiety and frustration toward a system that has forgotten its educational mission. But they also hope the show serves to demonstrate that art – and they as art teachers – can proffer insight and inspiration to the educational community in the midst of conflict and crisis.

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Jen Johnson stands up to “Stand For Children”

cezar — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 18:00:05 +0000

CORE member, Jen Johnson, challenges the myth that the length of the CPS school day is shorter than those at other comparable school districts. Watch the clip from Progress Illinois:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuAI4by0Fao

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Teachers Are One With Other Union Workers!

cezar — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 04:58:17 +0000

We Are One Rally. Chicago, Illinois. Saturday, April 9, 2011.

Thousands of Illinoisans rallied in downtown Chicago on Saturday, April 9th, to show solidarity with workers in Wisconsin and other states, to renew the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King who gave his life 43 years ago in support of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, and to stand up for the American middle class against political and corporate-funded attacks.

The April 9th rally included a program of speeches and entertainment in Daley Plaza (50 W Washington) at 1:00 p.m., as well as several marches of workers to the rally site (one from the Hyatt Regency at Stetson at Wacker, and another from the James R. Thompson Center at 100 W Randolph.

The demonstration at Hyatt Regency was a show of solidarity with the workers at Hyatt who have been struggling for justice for years. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) as well as union members from other Illinois Federation of Teacher (IFT) and Illinois Education Association (IEA) affiliates have joined the Hyatt workers to protest against the owners of Hyatt who have bankrolled legislation that intend to weaken teacher unions and hurt students – legislation that includes the privatization of Chicago’s public schools.

The Chicago rally will be the largest of more than a dozen such “We Are One” events held throughout Illinois. There were “We Are One” rallies in Bloomington, Carbondale, Champaign, Collinsville, Decatur, Gurnee, Kankakee, Ottawa, Peoria, Rock Island, Rockford and Springfield. They are part of the national “We Are One” campaign by the AFL-CIO and allied groups.

The week of April 4 through 9 was chosen in honor of Dr. King, who was assassinated on April 4, 1968, while in Memphis to march with sanitation workers represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Dr. King gave his life for the right of workers to bargain collectively for a better life and a pathway to the middle class—the same rights and freedoms that Republican Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin and his counterparts in other states are trying to strip from teachers and other public- and private-sector workers.

(Source of information regarding rally: Chicago Federation of Labor’s website at www.ChicagoLabor.org. Photos: Cezar Simeon)

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That’s “Enough”!

cezar — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 04:00:34 +0000

Here’s a link to the “Enough” video clip circulated by the organizers of the “We Are One” rally: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APOzpztuzWg

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WE ARE ONE!

Jackson Potter — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 12:05:30 +0000

We won’t let corporate greed:
• Push more working families into poverty
• Let profits drive education decisions
• Divide and conquer us

Let’s march together and demand:
• Raise the minimum wage
• Put TIF money back into schools
• Tax the rich, not working families

Shuttle buses will be available. Passengers will be picked up from six different locations at 10:45 AM and returned to the same locations at 3:30 PM.

Locations:

• 87th & the Dan Ryan (Jewel parking lot–parking lot away from the store)
• 55th & Wentworth (strip mall parking)
• Madison & Austin (street parking available)
• Roosevelt & Kedzie (mall parking lot)
• Kedzie & Fullerton (Logan Square Library–street parking)
• Clark St. just South of Howard (Rogers Park Dominck’s–parking lot away from the store)

Download the flier here.
Download the Spanish version.

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Nate — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:53:36 +0000

Stand Up to the Billionaire “Education Reformers”

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Tuesday, Jan. 11
Picket 4:00-6:00pm
Chase Towers

Meet at Madison and Dearborn

Chase Bank Towers is the home of the Commercial Club of the City of Chicago. This millionaire and billionaire’s club authored the plan for Renaissance 2010 and is allied with Advance Illinois’ attack on teacher rights.

WEAR YOUR TEACHER REGALIA! (School lanyards, t-shirts, etc.) Let’s remind the public who REALLY cares about student success: TEACHERS, NOT BILLIONAIRES.

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