CTU Speaks!

In this episode, co-hosts Andrea Parker and Jim Staros speak with Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey and Vice President Stacy Davis Gates about the COVID19 pandemic and its far-reaching impact on schools, the union, the city, and the world. Then they interview Emily Hecht, the CTU delegate at Vaughn Occupational High School that was closed a week before the rest of CPS because a teacher aide at the school tested positive for COVID19. Emily provides an inside look at how Vaughn’s school community is responding to the urgent needs of students and parents.

Share your thoughts and questions with the CTU Speaks! team by emailing [email protected] or calling 312 467 8888.

This special episode of CTU Speaks! was recorded live to commemorate Black History Month. Brandon Johnson, Cook County Commissioner and CTU member, chaired a panel of four intriguing speakers. Nina Hike in a 20-year veteran science teacher who works at Curie High School; Latanya McSwine has worked at CPS for 16 years and currently teachers computer science at Morgan Park High School; Monique Redeaux-Smith is a CPS teacher and Dyett hunger striker who currently works for the Illinois Federation of Teachers as the Director of Union Professional Issues; and Charles Preston is a journalist and activist who is the former communications co-chair of Black Youth Project 100.

Over the last two decades, CPS, the nation’s third-largest school district, has lost half of its Black teachers. The percentage has fallen from 41 percent to 21 percent—a loss of more than 5,000 Black educator. This panel seeks to grapple with all the implications of this shift for Black teachers, students, and communities.

Share your thoughts and questions with the CTU Speaks! team by emailing [email protected] or calling 312-467-8888.

On this episode, Andrea and Jim discuss the train wreck of CPS' school funding formula with sociology professor Stephanie Farmer. CPS calls it Student-Based Budgeting, but it has damaging consequences for students, teachers, and whole communities, particularly those school communities on the majority-Black South and West Sides. Dr. Farmer's recent paper on the subject is accessible, clear, and compelling, and you can find it here.

Share your thoughts and questions with the CTU Speaks! team by emailing [email protected] or calling 312 467 8888.

In this episode, co-hosts Andrea Parker and Jim Staros grapple with the causes and consequences of the disappearance of Black educators from Chicago Public Schools. Jackson Potter, history teacher at Back of the Yards High School, and Gervaise Clay, teacher on leave and field rep at the Chicago Teachers Union, discuss the racist impact of school closings and turnarounds pursued by a host of Chicago mayors. Then, Jim talks with Jesse Hagopian, one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter at School national movement, about the origins, the demands, and the curriculum of Black Lives Matter At School movement and its February 3-7 week of action.

Share your thoughts and questions with the CTU Speaks! team by emailing [email protected] or calling 312 467 8888.

In this episode, co-hosts Andrea Parker and Jim Staros talk with nine teachers who got arrested on Day 9 of the Chicago Teachers Union's recent strike. The CTU 9 were calling on mega developer Sterling Bay to return some of the $1.3 billion in taxpayer money they received to develop Lincoln Yards in order to help CPS settle the contract and end the strike. But instead of speaking to the nine teachers, Sterling Bay had them arrested for trespassing. Andrea and Jim also interview Jeanette Taylor, the new alderwoman in Chicago's 20th ward, about fighting for justice in the streets and in City Hall.

In this episode, co-hosts Andrea Parker and Jim Staros talk with bargaining team members Quentin Washington and Kirstin Roberts about what it was like to spend weeks (and even months!) at the negotiating table with Chicago Public Schools, how the wins in the contract came to be there, and what some of the strategic considerations are when striking to increase leverage at the bargaining table.

On this episode, Jim and Andrea review the last couple weeks, during which the Chicago Teachers Union has been on strike, with a number of guests, including CTU Chief of Staff Jen Johnson, President Jesse Sharkey, and Deputy General Counsel Thad Goodchild. Jen takes a step back to look at what we won and how, Jesse describes some of the negotiations he was a part of (and gets a surprise phone call from a special guest), and Thad goes on a deep dive about the class size provisions in the new contract.

Share your thoughts and questions with the CTU Speaks! team by emailing [email protected] or calling 312 467 8888.

On this episode, Jim and Andrea have the absolute joy and privilege to sit down with writer, scholar, and people's mayor of Chicago Dr. Eve L. Ewing. Eve talks about how the lessons of her book Ghosts in the Schoolyard, which deconstructs the 2013 CPS school closings, connect to the current strike, the impact of structural racism on our school system, and her experiences as a CPS teacher.

Share your thoughts and questions with the CTU Speaks! team by emailing [email protected] or calling 312 467 8888.

Five days into the CTU strike, Jim sits down with Cook County Commissioner CTU member, and former middle school teacher Brandon Johnson (Andrea caught a cold from striking so hard!). Brandon puts the strike in historical context and helps us understand it as a potential pivot point for the city, while also underscoring the ways that CTU has been impactful for labor and education across the country.

Andrea and Jim take a deep dive into the wildly inequitable world of TIFs with Chicago's resident gadfly and journalism legend Ben Joravsky. Ben breaks down how TIFs became a slush fund for the Mayor's office, why they continue to serve as such, and how this connects to the CTU strike.

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Photo by Glitterguts from the Chicago Reader