NICK POPE
CONTRIBUTOR
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is making climate-related demands in contract negotiations as the city’s students continue to struggle mightily in the classroom, according to E&E News.
The CTU will push the city to include initiatives like electric school buses, green jobs training programs for students and reducing emissions from buildings with solar panels and other retrofits, among other initiatives, according to E&E News. Those demands are being made while 2023 testing data shows that about 75% of Chicago’s public school students were unable to read at grade level and 83% of students were behind grade level proficiency in math, according to the Illinois Policy Institute.
The union is also demanding the removal of all lead pipes in school buildings, replacement of windows that do not open and the creation of a “climate champion” role at each school to organize climate-related initiatives and activities, according to E&E News. CTU is also proposing to have solar panels and heat pumps installed in school buildings, as well as to create “heating and cooling centers” for communal use when temperatures are either very hot or very cold. (RELATED: Blue City Teachers Union Yanking Kids From Class To Attend Get Out The Vote Event For Cause It Supports)
The union’s climate wishlist could cost hundreds of millions of dollars if granted in full, according to E&E News.
CTU could be well-positioned to land a favorable contract because it provided millions of dollars to Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson’s mayoral campaign, and Johnson himself is a former organizer for the union, E&E News reported. The union also pushed to keep students out of school in favor of learning online during the pandemic, and Chicago’s school system has the worst chronic absenteeism among America’s largest districts, according to the Illinois Policy Institute.
“This is Chicago Teachers Union’s demonstration of our accountability to our larger community,” CTU President Stacy Davis Gates told E&E News. “Our collective bargaining agreement and our coalition work, especially in communities of color, will be a net benefit to everyone.”
Neither CTU nor Johnson’s office responded immediately to requests for comment.
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Is it a vocational requirement for school teachers to be ideologically disposed towards every loony idea that’s ever been floated?
Parents should submit a list of demands to the teachers union that teachers actually teach their kids to read and write and do math prior to considering any teachers demands for any non education related matters.
Although this would also require the teachers to know how to read, write and do math
Sorry for my comment above. I didn’t realize that it was that bad …
Your average teacher probably doesn’t have much to do with this climate change ideology.
The people proposing this stupidity are Teacher Union officals. They are in reality promoting issues where they will get control of more money.
These are bureaucrats trying to increase their reach, using human-caused climate change scarmongering as their vehicle.
In such labor unions, too often when they have an election the choices are “vote for the devil or vote for satan.”
No wonder the Chicago students are illiterate and innumerate—so is their teachers union.
A TV and a year of Ms. Rachel programming might be as effective and cost a whole lot less.
Testing seems to show the members are also not qualified.
New York
In the 2013-14 school year, 48 percent of aspiring black teachers and 56 percent of aspiring Hispanic teachers passed a new, more rigorous literacy exam, compared to 75 percent of their white peers, according to the data.
[For math challenged this mean 52%, 44% and 25% failed]
Illinois
The severity component of the definition of rigor can definitely be used for the TAP test. As recently as October 18, 2015, the results published by the Illinois License Testing System (ILTS) shows a 21 percent passage rate on the TAP test. Of the 202 examinees, only 42 passed.
Michigan
Less than a third of aspiring teachers passed Michigan’s tough new certification test during the first year the exam was required, with universities and the state Michigan Department of Education pointing fingers at each other over the abysmal results.
Pass rates for the Professional Readiness Exam (PRE), which must be passed before aspiring teachers begin student teaching, vary from a high of 71 percent passing at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor to 16 percent at Alma College, according to a report provided to Bridge by the state education department. The report includes tests taken between October 2013 when the new test was first introduced, and July 2014. Aside from U-M, Michigan Tech (55 percent) was the only other school with a passage rate above 50 percent.
Faster. More.
And we demand that all the CTU teachers STOP using fossil fuels, what hypocrites! And drive Teslas that they have to buy, and insure. And that they all must have solar panels on the roof.
Teslas use fossil fuels both in manufacturer and the electricity that drives them
Make the teachers use Shanks Pony
Does this need a comment?
No it doesn’t need a comment but it sure needs a 🤣🤣🤣
What green jobs?
Washing sand and grunge off solar panels, with no wasted water.?
Cleaning up wind turbine kills before a climate realist can photograph them ?
Good question.
The first question though should be –
“exactly w.t.f. is a “green” job?”
One where you get slushfunded with the green folding stuff silly.
Being paid to block intersections and throw soup on paintings?
My retired Junior Primary teacher wife is chuckling now at back to the future finally for the most woke leftist State in Australia-
Students at Victorian state schools will all be taught reading using phonics from 2025 | Watch (msn.com)
Although her teacher training was on the cusp of the ‘Whole Reading’ experiment she lobbed into a placement with an old school Headmistress still into phonics flash cards etc and none of the ‘Possum Magic’ immerse them in books and they’ll learn drivel. That was fine for middle class kids with parents that read Dr Seuss ‘Hop on Pop’ etc before they got there but guess what for struggletown kiddies?
The upshot was she always stuck with phonics and later got into Jolly Phonics and the Professor even visited her class in Adelaide on one of his trips about. The other fresh young JP teachers couldn’t ignore the obvious either as guess which class the mums wanted their munchkins in. The connection between the spoken word and the written word is of course a critical skill for life and yet so many were sacrificed on the altar of woke blind stupidity.
My sister still struggles a little with reading because of the new age whole reading nonsense, mum didn’t realise what was happening until it was too late to completely fix.
The usual suspects aren’t happy-
Teachers told to ignore Victoria’s phonics push as union lashes deputy premier (msn.com)
and why they take the same attitude toward NAPLAN testing that exposes woke failure.
Naturally there’s no mention of that ‘reading wars’ friction from predictable Aunty reporting-
Students at Victorian state schools will all be taught reading using phonics from 2025 (msn.com)
Moving right along folks just like Pravda with Lysenkoism and the next Great Leap Forward
Here’s a sample of modern phonics for the tackers Eric-
Jolly Phonics || All songs with WORDS and ACTIONS || Mr Bates Creates (youtube.com)
It starts with the letter sounds and progresses to simple phonemes etc and the physical actions are particularly good at concentration and impact for boys. It doesn’t take long for the tackers to be able to sound out complex written words they may not be familiar with but will connect with the meaning as their use and understanding progresses.
Progressing… back to the methods that worked back in the 1960s, 70s ?.
maybe 1860s, 1870s or should that be 1770?
“to have solar panels and heat pumps installed in school buildings,”
As opposed to buying books, which the students can’t read anyway.
Solar panels will work a treat in Chicago.
For about, oh – 12 weeks a year.
And “heat pumps” (aka reverse cycle air conditioners) will work a treat for about, oh, 15 C down to 0 C, and then all bets off 🙁
Often wondered what the difference between a heat pump and a reverse cycle air-con was.
hmmmm- so if I just turn my AC around in cold weather, it’ll pump all that hot air into the house!
“For about, oh – 12 weeks a year.”
When I was that age, we didn’t go to school during those 12 weeks.
While they may still “work” from 15C to 0C, they won’t work well. The efficiency really drops off as the temperatures get colder.
and providing security in the schools!
They should grant all the unions demands regarding climate and take the money from the teacher’s pay and benefits budget. That would show how committed they are to saving the planet.
Why don’t they just fire most of them and start over?
Because the trash currently being churned out by the so called schools of education, aren’t any better.
While in grad studies at UBC many years ago, as I very much enjoyed the teaching duties we were all assigned, I volunteered one year for the Curriculum Committee; we were tasked that year with writing up a general geology course for 3rd year Education students. We aimed the course at a 1st year Science student–not specifically a 1st year Geology student, just general science–and had it sent back 3 times by the Faculty of Education for revision, each time to make it shorter and simpler.
The equivalent non-education courses must have been sent back 5 times in the Chicago teachers’ source area, and to all faculties including those involved with deductive reasoning and rational thought, not just Science.
Story Tip..
Meanwhile VW to invest heavily in new ICE.
Fossil Fuels Remain The Future. VW To Invest 60 Billion Euros In Combustion Engines! (notrickszone.com)
60 billion for combustion and 120 billion for EVs…
But they will be able to sell the ICE cars…
… because people WANT them and can use them
And they retain a good resale price.
Not even you are stupid enough to buy a 4-5 year old EV….. Or are you !!
We have learnt to never under-estimate your gormless stupidity !
Sounds like a good plan.
Take the total school budget. CURRENT school budget that is.
Take out the busses, maintenance/janitorial/administrative/food, etc.
Then take away the cost of all their demands.
Then what is left is divvied up to the teachers.
My family has always been big union supporters. I was raised to be a good FDR/JFK democrat which automatically meant strong union supporter. I left the Democrat Party in the 1970s. I have always struggled with the union issue. I am in favor of open shops. Unfortunately the out of control unions are making it impossible for any clear thinking person to support them. If it were in my power I would abolish the Chicago teachers unions and start over, they have outlived their usefulness.
In addition to the issue of coercion, public service unions lack legitimacy because neither management nor labor represents the interests of the taxpayers. The result is always a high cost, low quality product.
Despite the fact that FDR was a strong supporter of private sector unions, he was completely opposed to public sector unions, for precisely that reason.
Simple solution on the federal level. Provide vouchers to parents at a set price per child nationwide.
The parent has the freedom to chose where their child goes to school.
As many parents divert to private schools of any kind, the teacher’s unions will lose positions.
Overpriced liberal school systems will require MORE local money to make up for the lost federal funding by the one price system. The Democrat politicians will need to decide how much they can afford to pay their campaign workers, oops, I mean the teachers.
I agree.
Unions had their place back in the early days of the Industrial Revolution when the workers were often exploited by wealthy owners. However, as with most human endeavors, most unions eventually developed into bureaucracies that had to justify their own existence by demanding salaries in excess of productivity increases. They thus eventually destroy most of the industries they control.
As an example, in manufacturing as well as several other industries, in order to raise wages and benefits without increasing prices, which leads to inflation and/or more competition, management has to take the money from some other part of the business. This usually leads to decreases in the budgets for research and development and capital equipment. And, any business, or even industry, that doesn’t spend sufficient monies for these items is on the road to replacement or failure.
That is nothing more than a myth put out by the unions.
Yes working conditions were bad, but working conditions had always been bad, even prior to industrialization. Look at the death rates for farmers.
What improved working conditions was not unions, it was productivity improvements.
Just as productivity created the wealth that enabled the clean up of the environment, productivity created the wealth that made greater safety possible.
It was also improving technology that created the devices that made work safer.
Increasing prices do not cause inflation, they are a symptom of inflation. If one industry raises it’s prices, then consumers have less money to spend elsewhere. This results in decreased demand in the rest of the economy, which results in decreasing prices elsewhere.
There is one thing and one thing only that can cause inflation. And that is the government increasing the supply of money faster than the supply of goods is increasing.
Supply and demand is a major factor in prices. Changes in one industry can have significant results in other industries that interact with or depend on the primary industry. While this isn’t true inflation of the general economy in most cases (consider, however, the price of energy), the consequences can be very significant.
The only people who have ever benefited from unions, are the people who ran them.
All of the political gains, claimed by the unions, were either already in place, or in works by the time unions got rolling.
Any income gains claimed by unions, were consumed by union dues and lost during work stoppages.
By forcing their employees to raise prices and cut quality, they always end up killing whatever industry they infest.
Seems like a variant of the Cloward-Piven strategy. Create enough untrained young adults to overwhelm the welfare systems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloward%E2%80%93Piven_strategy
An educated society is harder to manipulate.
re: “Teachers Union Issues List Of Climate Demands As… ”
YOU KNOW this is just ‘all talk’ WHEN the return to school date is August 7th (down here in our school district.)
We in Texas are still in the throes of the ‘dog days of summer’ requiring the most from our HVAC (air conditioning) systems AND the power grid at that time. Once upon a time there was law here in Texas preventing schools from opening that early – but slowly that provision was chipped away at … leaving us where we are today. A delay of even two weeks to late August and we can be out of the risk of Ozone Action Days and triple digit temperatures, but nooooo … the school districts insist on opening early!
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2019/08/13/is-your-kids-school-starting-earlier-and-earlier-yes-and-heres-why/
That article was written in 2019. Are they still doing that in Texas today?
It’s hot in Texas in the middle of August.
Causation or correlation? Supposed educators of illiterate children demand climate crusade.
I’m a retired science teacher (retired 20 years) and all I have to say is that teachers’ union leaders have always been leftist morons.
For the most part, all union leaders are leftists morons, and that has always been the case.
What a cozy blanket is this thing called climate change. It explains every failure. Your children can’t read or perform simple arithmetic operations? Climate change!
“Chicago Teachers Union’s demonstration of our accountability to our larger community”.
A clear demonstration of their accountability would be to get at least 80% of their pupils
passing the reading and math proficiency tests. Until they reach that goal, one can’t take these people seriously.
Before teachers start pushing any curriculum agenda too hard, they should start doing some independent research on it. Climate-related issues are a classic example. What does the average teacher know about them beyond what a leftist curriculum tells them? Meanwhile, parents, politicians, and taxpayers in general. should be demanding better-balanced programs of studies rather than the one-sided ones found in too many public school systems
The late, great Dr. Walter Williams once wrote an article disclosing that a majority of Chicago’s public school teachers choose to send their own children to private schools. Walter said “That’s like the chef who won’t eat the food made in his own restaurant. Would you want to eat there either?