Action Packed Chicago Board of Education Meeting August 29, 2024
The August 20, 2024 Chicago Board of Education Meeting was like an action packed film that kept you on the edge of your seat.
It started with fiery Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates leading the fight against the business forces swirling around Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez who want massive school cuts because of the budget deficit.
“How do you fund school next year,” she said. “Does that happen by closing schools where black children go because they are under enrolled. Is that laying off and firing teachers, like 2,000 of them.”
This past week the CTU said CPS is looking at closing 100 schools after they hired a consulting firm to study space consolidation. CPS Chief Martinez denied that they plan to close schools.
CTU Charter Chair Jen Conant again bashed the non-union charter schools saying teacher turnover is so high because the pay is so low, which is a result of charters putting public school money into reserves. The five largest charter schools hold $260 million in reserves, she said. Noble has over $100 million in reserves.
The first two public speakers after the union officials spoke were from the debate world who said the proposed cuts would kill their program. They mentioned the benefits of debate that increase graduation rates, grades and test scores. (I remember the chess hucksters making similar claims during the Race to Top privatization days when they wanted to open every flavor of charter boutique school.) They said CPS plans to eliminate coach stipends, which reminded me when former CPS Chief Ron Huberman proposed cutting the sophomore sports programs.
The next speaker was Saqib Bhatti, the executive director at the Center of Race and Economy (CTU President Davis Gates is on the Board of Directors), who mentioned he was a former CPS debater. He works on campaigns to win racial and economic justice by taking on corporations responsible for extracting wealth and resources from communities of color and low income.
“I’m here to request that you take legal action against the banks for leading CPS into predatory debt deals,” Bhatti said. “Just like banks sold predatory mortgages that were designed to fail, they did the same thing to CPS.”
He said in the run up to the 2008 economic crisis CPS and the banks made a risky bond rate deal known as the action rate security. Private emails showed that bank officials knew this deal was headed for a meltdown which was caused by the banks manipulating the market by making it look like there was demand for this product when there wasn’t. Bank of America also sold toxic swap deals and didn’t disclose that they were illegally manipulating the interest rates in these deals.
“Ultimately this fraud left CPS on the hook for millions,” Bhatti said.
In 2016 JP Morgan Chase agreed to buy CPS debt at a very low price after the district’s credit rating had just been downgraded, he said. Just a little while later Chase flipped the deal and made an 82 percent profit. These banks were supposed to have a fiduciary interest in CPS to put their interests ahead of their own, he said. (Most money managers as we know do not put their clients' interests ahead of their own.)
“They were legally responsible to give CPS a fair deal for these bonds,” he said. “But they ripped us off instead. I urge you to investigate these predatory deals to make sure we have the money to properly ensure we can fund the children’s education.”
Note - our next podcast will take a more in-depth look at these predatory deals and what specifically the city can do to recoup the money stolen by Wall Street.
The next speaker was another big-time action figure fighter who thundered at previous board meetings to defend black principals he claimed were unfairly terminated.
“Good morning beautiful people,” Chicago Principals Association (CPA) President Troy LaRaviere said virtually. “It’s wonderful to speak to you all today.”
The quiet before the storm.
He said some principals have started a petition to keep CEO Pedro Martinez after there were rumors that Mayor Brandon Johnson was looking to fire him. But he said a survey showed 70 percent of principals do not feel the CEO’s budget supports the safety needs of their schools. 58 percent of principals said the CPS ties their hands with mandates and prevents them from hiring the staff they need at their schools. Troy further lamented that Martinez does not want to work with the CPA and will not attend any meetings.
“Principals have never had stability in this system because principals have never had a contract,” LaRaviere said. He said the lack of stability was a principal reason that pushed them to unionize. “Teachers have stability no matter who the principal is because every CEO has to respect the terms of their contract.”
LaRaviere said the principals want a fair contract just like the teachers, so he proposes principals be treated with dignity and respect.
Another request is that the CPS CEO not bargain away principals rights in a teachers union contract. Here Troy’s voice started to elevate as he headed into the finale. He said principals believe teachers should be paid well and respected, but he took issue with some of the provisions in the proposed teachers contract. He said principals see the big picture, but teachers cannot because of the isolated nature of the classroom. For example, the provision to raise after school compensation for teachers is only good if they raise the funding level so that they don’t have to lay off teachers to pay for it. He also criticized the teachers contract proposal that would allow teachers to use whatever curriculum they choose as long as it meets state standards. The principal should be allowed to pick the top three curriculums to allow the teachers to choose because everyone including the teachers and principal will be held accountable. He did not like the provision that the PPLC evaluate principals because they should only be evaluated according to their union contract (I thought ultimately it was up to the LSC although the networks appear to play a big role in overseeing principals.).
“So CEO Martinez we ask that you make a statement that any teachers contract provision that affects principal working conditions must be agreed upon by both unions, the teachers union and the principals union,” he said.
His cadence at the end had a flair of Martin Luther King’s voice in intonation as he spelled out changing ‘the hearts and minds of aalllllll the people.’
The Inter American Magnet School parents were out in force yet again to complain about their principal Juan Carlos Zayas and the need to remove him because of a toxic environment, including ‘disrespect, misogyny and gas lighting.’ The LSC passed a vote of no confidence in the principal. They plan to have MTSS as a special class. The parents said they are not informed about decisions by the principal.
Another speaker who talked about the 5 year strategic plan said it was very difficult to register to speak at the Board of Education meeting. “It was harder than getting Beyonce tickets, or just as hard.”
I started to hear several speakers from Kids First Chicago who raised concerns about the strategic plan that focuses on the neighborhood schools. I then did a quick search to see their board of directors is made up of corporate titans such as Boston Consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. Many of their speakers only listed their affiliation to the public schools and did not mention charter schools. The charters complain that they are not a part of the five year strategic plan.
Another parent said her child missed 45 days of school because of his school’s poor air ventilation and lack of air conditioners that caused him severe asthma attacks. This parent, like a few others, talked about environmental concerns and the 5 year strategic plan, which tells me they’re using CTU tactics to talk about the bigger global picture.
The next speaker was Jerry White, a Socialist Equality Party (SEP) candidate for US Vice President.
“I stand with educators and students against savage budget cuts that are being planned by Mayor Johnson, Gov. Pritzker and the school authorities. Chicago and districts across the nation are facing a fiscal cliff and threatening up to 400,000 educators’ jobs.”
He said this was because the Biden Administration ended Covid relief though 1.4 million Americans continue to be infected with Covid every day.
“The Mayor says the district has a $1 billion shortfall and quote sacrifices must be made,” he said. “But earlier this month the Democrats and Republics found 20 times that amount for Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians and every year they spend $1 trillion for war against Russia and China.”
He said the CTU is proposing a monumental betrayal by working with the Democratic Party that is closing schools. “Educators, students and parents must stop this. Teachers, parents and staff must form rank and file committees to prepare for strike action to defend high quality education and good wages. And appeal to the working class across Chicago including the hundreds of striking auto workers on the Southside.
“There is no lack of money, the problem is who controls it,” White said. “Public funding must go to social needs, not the Pentagon and the enrichment of the corporate financial oligarchy.”
Before White could conclude his remarks which announced their website, Board President Jianan Shi quickly interjected ‘thank you’ to speed up the end, revealing a touch of nervousness.
The Socialist Equality Party runs an informative website called the World Socialist Website or wsws.org that was put on a corporate media blacklist to have it and other independent media sites banned. This Socialist group has been critical of the unions and the Chicago Teachers Union in particular. They would pass out flyers during past CTU strikes denouncing the terms of agreement.
The people criticizing the cuts in busing spoke again.
Former CTU Recording Secretary and Harlan High School LSC member Michael Brunson spoke once again about the problem of violence at Harlan. “The students went from attacking each other to attacking school staff members,” he said. “Since then it has escalated. They’re attacking staff, they’re attacking parents in the community.”
Brunson said they tried to talk to the principal but she refused to talk to them, so they then went to the network chief who only put a wall up. Then he tried to get a meeting with Chief Schools Officer Felicia Sanders Hooker (daughter of John Hooker, Comed lobbyist and convicted felon) and William Clay, but the meeting was canceled. Brunson wants a meeting with a board member and Pedro Martinez so he can stop the violence and prevent someone from possibly getting killed. They also want to remove the interim principal.
And yes, Dr. Angel Alvarez spoke and he was baaaaaad, critiquing the erroneous ways of CPS.
At the end of the meeting the charter people fired back at CTU and the Board by saying they have been disrespected while they speak at the microphones (before corporate board members under Mayors Richard Daley and Rahm Emanuel would sometimes roll their eyes or appear uninterested as public school advocates spoke about problems.) “I do not feel welcome in this space and that is unacceptable,” said a Noble Charter parent on remote. She wants assurance in the strategic plan that they will not be closed.
Allison Jack, the senior director of policy for the IL Network of Charters, said she wanted to refute the ‘uninformed accusations’ of the CTU Charter Chair Jen Conant. She said ChiArts is not a charter school (it’s a contract school which operates like a charter, but was created to get around the charter cap) and Namaste is refusing to sign a contract they cannot afford. She said charters are held accountable for over a 100 metrics annually, many of which are not measured by district schools. Under IL law charters are non-profit organizations and it is established best practice that nonprofits should have 3 to 6 months of money in reserve. She even impressively pre-empted the moderator who always interrupts the speakers to announce they have 30 seconds left in their speech (annoying but I guess necessary).
“(CTU’s) claims of charters having millions and millions in reserves and playing a shell game are completely false,” Jack said.
Instituto Progreso, whose teachers under the CTU, waged a fierce contract battle, said there were a lot of falsehoods such as union busting proposals. “We bargained in good faith.”
Megan Peets, an English teacher at ChiArts, said they are on day four without a schedule and parents and staff are outraged. ChiArts announced deep cuts earlier, but then retracted. Admin refused to work with staff and then needed their help. She said ChiArts is a contract school. It has a foundation with little public oversight. ChiArts has cut teacher positions while they add administrative positions, she said.
A few aldermen who used to speak at the beginning of board meetings during the Mayor Daley and Emanuel days, but now at the end, stated their support for Schools Chief Martinez. Ald. David Moore said he was asked to speak in support of Martinez, but it is because it is in the interests of black children. Ald. Gil Villegas, a CTU opponent, also spoke in favor of Pedro Martinez. He said there are 600 more teachers this year thanks to Martinez.