published at 7:02 pm Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Join CTU at Bud Billiken

CTU at the 2010 Bud Billiken ParadeJoin CTU Saturday, August 13th at the
Bud Billiken Day
Parade & Picnic

Each school year we honor and nurture our students’ talents. On Bud Billiken Day we help excite them about everything the new school year offers. Join CTU in celebrating with our students and families as we call for a better school day.

Meet CTU by 9:00 a.m. at 35th & King Drive to join the parade. CTU will sponsor a picnic behind Dyett High School near the parking lot entrance located on the Midway at 51st St., one block east of King Drive.  We will serve complimentary, hot dogs, hamburgers and drinks. Look for the CTU banner.

Shuttle buses will make trips between the CTU picnic area and the White Castle parking lot at 35th & King Drive from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.

Click here to RSVP!

Topics: News
published at 3:52 pm Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Step Into the School Year on an Electric Slide


CORE Steppers Set fundraiser and Back to School celebration!!!

When: Friday, August 5th — starting at 4pm

Dance lessons

Food

Where: The New Dating Game

8924 South Stony Island Avenue

Suggested Donation: $20

Please RSVP at coreteachers@gmail.com

Topics: News
published at 4:39 pm Friday, May 20, 2011

ART TEACHERS REDEFINED Returns!

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.

Topics: Events / In the News / News
published at 12:56 pm Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Chris Hedges Ponders the Destruction of US Education

 A recent op-ed piece from writer Chris Hedges has been circulating the internet.  Hedges article, “Why the United States is Destroying Its Educational System” has been posted in Truth-out.org and TruthDig.com; the link to the article has been emailed and forwarded by many educators.  In the article, Hedges slams the popular policies of standardized testing and the demonization of teachers which cloaks itself under the guise of “educational reform.”  Click on this link to read the article. 

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer prize-winner who has spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans.  His work has been published in the Christian Science Monitor, NPR, New York Times and the Dallas Morning News.  His most recent Truthdig book is The World As It Is:  Dispatches On the Myth of Human Progress.

Topics: News Tags: , , , , ,
published at 1:54 pm Monday, April 11, 2011

Unqualified Chancellor Black Resigns from NYC Public Schools

Read Valerie Strauss article in the Washington Post (04/08/2011) about the consequences of hiring the wrong people to head up the largest school district in the country. In typical form, the departing CEO blames media for highlighting her insensitive gaffes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/school-reformers-hypocritical-blame-game/2011/04/07/AFDRZFyC_blog.html

Topics: In the News / News Tags: , , , , ,
published at 12:00 pm Monday, April 11, 2011

Jen Johnson stands up to “Stand For Children”

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

Topics: Events / Labor News / News / Protests / Videos Tags: , , , ,
published at 10:58 pm Saturday, April 9, 2011

Teachers Are One With Other Union Workers!

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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)

Topics: Events / In the News / Labor News / News / Protests Tags: , , , , ,
published at 10:00 pm Saturday, April 9, 2011

That’s “Enough”!

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

Topics: Events / In the News / Labor News / Protests / Videos Tags: , , , ,
published at 6:05 am Friday, April 8, 2011

WE ARE ONE!

 We Are One                 United to Defend Our Shared Future:Education and Jobs

April 9th • Saturday • 11:30AM • Rally at: Hyatt Hotel • 151 E. Wacker • at Michigan and the river • March to 1pm rally in Daley PlazaWe 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.

Topics: Events / News / Outreach Tags: , , , ,
published at 6:03 am Friday, April 8, 2011

Chicago Troublemakers School

Saturday, May 21, 2011

School: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Coffee/refreshments: 9 – 10 a.m.

Arturo Velasquez Institute
2800 S. Western Ave.,
Chicago (map location here)

$20 includes Saturday lunch, Register Now

Amid layoffs, budget cuts, and legislative attempts to break unions, working people and communities are fighting back and rebuilding solidarity.

Chicago’s Labor Notes Troublemakers School will bring together labor and community activists for a day of networking, skill building, and strategy discussion.

Workshop themes include:

  • Public sector unions and the fight for quality public services
  • Challenging the legislative attacks on unions and workers rights
  • Assertive grievance handling
  • Workers centers and non-traditional organizing
  • Advancing progressive politics in Chicago
  • …and more

Keynote speaker: Karen Lewis, President, Chicago Teachers Union

Topics: News