Don’t ever let anyone tell you teacher’s unions are there for the kids
(Daily Caller) City officials vowed to keep hundreds of thousands of students safe when striking teachers hit the picket lines Monday and school district and teachers union leaders resumed negotiations on a contract that appeared close to being resolved over the weekend before the union announced both sides were too far apart to prevent the district’s first strike in 25 years.
The walkout in the nation’s third-largest school district posed a tricky test for Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his city, as parents and school officials begin the task of trying to ensure nearly 400,000 students are kept safe.
How far apart? Teachers are going to be given a 16% pay increase over 4 years, vastly higher than what we are seeing in the private sector during King Obama’s economic reign of terror. The teachers are upset over changes to the health plan and having to follow the state law requiring evaluation based on test scoring. Here’s where it gets real interesting
School officials said they will open more than 140 schools between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. so children can eat lunch and breakfast in a district where many students receive free meals. The district asked community organizations to provide additional programs for students, and a number of churches, libraries and other groups plan to offer day camps and other activities. But it’s not clear how many families will send their children to the added programs.
Police Chief Garry McCarthy said he was deploying police officers to those sites to ensure kids’ safety but also to “deal with any protests that teachers may, in fact, have†while protecting their rights. He also was taking officers off desk duties and redeploying them to the streets to deal with potential protests — and thousands of students who could be on the streets.
So, Chicago needs to deploy police officers to protect the children who will go to the schools so that they can get a decent meal from the teachers? Says quite a bit about the teacher’s union, eh?
There are 350,000 students in Chicago. There are 29,000 teachers. So, let me fix that for them. That’s 12 students per educator.
Fire the overflow of teachers, and give a raise to those left if necessary. However, it is my understanding that the City of Chicago is operating in the red. Perhaps firings and pay reductions all around is a more valid approach to these tone deaf teachers.
OS
PS: Link on #’s http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/us-usa-chicago-schools-idUSBRE8870DL20120910
Excellent point, OrsonSnow. But, remember, somehow having all these teachers, and we know that the classroom size is probably a whole lot less than 12, is good for the kiddies, which is why they’ve….walked off the job and the kids need police officers to protect them from the teachers. It’s a weird, weird liberal world, eh?
I thought I read that the teachers were also wanting a 20% pay raise.
Must be nice to demand what ever pay you want, then go on strike when you dont get it.. and… still not get fired.
What does it mean to the city if the police dept has to roll out more cops to keep the city safe when the kids are not in school?? That sounds like a really bad place.
My question: Didn’t they pay for and elect non-citizen Rahm to become their mayor? isn’t he the one that is pro-union? Isn’t he supposedly in their pocket? Then why are they fighting each other?
Class size in a pre-school?? Pre-schools are unionized?!?!?!? since when? No wonder these big cities are so screwed!!!
Really? From a socialist mayor? could it be that reality, fiscal constraints, and educational realities are hitting too close to home?
Wait, $25 million in tax dollars that is not going to the kids is going to churches?? And no one in the socialist city is complaining? hmmmm. And one wonders why they felt they needed a “strike contingency plan”??? That takes money out of kid’s hungry mouths…..
Ok. And yet these teachers still want more salary coming from these poor families?
Yeah, I know. Many are not poor. And the level of poor these days are those who are very well off.
To be eligible for free lunch, breakfast, and sometimes dinners, you only need to be at @ 250% of poverty. And poverty level has increased year after year to that above minimum wage earners.
Coming from a family of educators, I know how easy it is for people to claim free lunches. The schools and feds do not check the applications. There is no proof needed or requested.
What happens when the drivers who deliver the food to the schools refuse to cross picket lines?
Also, are the police – many of whom are likely union members themselves – going to be willing to enforce the law against other union members?