NYC Parents Stand in Solidarity with the Chicago Teachers Union

The Parent Leadership Project (Uptown, NYC) and La Unión (Brooklyn, NYC) stand in solidarity with the Chicago Teachers Union. Like Parents 4 Teachers in Chicago, we know that teachers’ working conditions are our children’s learning conditions. In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been implementing similar reforms to Rahm Emanuel’s in Chicago. In both cities, structures of Mayoral Control combined with federal reforms such as No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top have claimed to make schools more accountable to students and their parents.

But our experience has shown us that the opposite is true. Closing historically under-resourced schools in low-income communities of color and opening up charter schools have only increased segregation within city school districts. Moreover, too many of our children have been shut out or kicked out of charter schools because they are English Language Learners, students with special needs, or because of zero tolerance “discipline” polices. At the end of the day, charter schools do not better serve our children, and neither does merit pay. We know that the single instrument of high-stakes tests does not measure our children’s capacities or learning. They also do not measure the hard work or worth of teachers. Rather, for poor communities of color particularly, tying teachers’ pay to high-stakes tests means that experienced teachers would likely be less inclined to teach in the schools and communities where they are most needed.

We need public schools that truly reflect, respect, and serve the communities that they are part of –and this requires that teachers are valued and respected as workers, that schools are well-resourced with the materials, resources, and staff that they need. Public schools can work, and do every day—but only for a small minority of the population. In these schools, classes are smaller, services are ample, and curriculum is wide and expansive. All our children deserve these conditions—and all our teachers need these conditions. This historic and brave stand by CTU is not a strike of choice as Emanuel claims. Rather, it’s a fight that is about our children, their futures, and dignity and fundamental rights for their teachers.

For more information, please contact us at parentleadershipproject@gmail.com
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