CPS Teachers Say 1-Day Walkout Sent Message

Photos: (1) Teachers rally in The Loop on Friday. Photo by Lorraine Swanson for Patch. (2) Beasley Academic Center on the South Side. Image via Google Maps.

CHICAGO, IL - The Chicago Teachers Union walkout lasted just one day last week, but teachers at at least one South Side elementary school say that’s enough to send a message downstate.

“The message was loud, clear and inspiring,” said Marlene McGowan, a second grade teacher at Beasley Academic Center in the city’s Washington Park neighborhood. “The camaraderie we saw downtown (during a late afternoon protest Friday that began at the Thompson Center) not just from teachers but others who support our message was amazing.”

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The call is for more state funding to be allocated to Chicago Public Schools. McGowan, who has been with CPS since 1994 and Beasley since 1996, says part of the fix that's needed is the tools instructors are provided.

“We need help with the social and emotional aspect (of education),” she said. “We only have one half-day nurse for more than 1,500 kids at Beasley. The number of social workers has been cut so much the ones we have need to juggle duties at several different schools. We aren’t utilizing counselors the way it should be intended.”

That’s especially important for schools such as Beasley, which sits just east of Englewood, perhaps the city’s most dangerous neighborhood.

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“When students are having to deal with shootings and deaths in the family, they need someone to help. But our resources are being pulled in so many different directions,” McGowan said.

Much of the “social” work is being done by the teachers themselves, according to McGowan. That’s in addition to their normal duties, which seem to be multiplying by the year.

“They’ve now made it mandatory that we enter Common Core standards to grading,” she said. “They just keep adding more and more to the teachers’ workloads and a lot of it is redundant.”

Teachers throughout CPS are also being forced to pay for much of their classroom supplies out of pocket. The Union puts up $250 or so every year to help, but McGowan does not believe that should be the Union’s responsibility.

“For stuff like crayons, glue, cases of paper...anything art related. We have to pay for that,” she said. “I think it’s important to do art projects in the classroom, so I am willing to do that. The board of education often thinks teachers aren’t willing to give, but that’s not true.”

Melissa Cahill, another second grade teacher at Beasley, says her school doesn’t even have a playground.

“During recess, the kids can’t go outside unless they want to sit on the asphalt,” she said. “We are lucky (at Beasley) in some ways because we have a library, art and music and some other schools don’t. But our library needs a huge upgrade and the materials we are working with like the workbooks and textbooks could be improved as well.”

When the length of the school day expanded a few years back, McGowan explained that it is a 45-minute open period that that takes up a good chunk of that time. At Beasley, that translates to more “asphalt” for the students.

“That time didn’t go for reading and math,” McGowan said.

Beasley was one of the handful of schools visited by CTU President Karen Lewis during Friday’s walkout.

“We were glad to see her here and stand up for our Union,” Cahill said. “Her message was really positive and helped instill this solidarity among us.”

Cahill said during the morning picketing at Beasley “hardly anyone went into the building” even though the school had been designated as a spot parents could drop off kids with non-union members.

“Most of the people who went in were workers, and hardly any kids showed up,” she said.

McGowan said the Beasley teachers in particular were “psyched” about Lewis’ appearance at the school.

“The energy was unlike anything else I’ve experienced,” she said. “We had a Girl Scout troop stand outside and join us. We think it’s going to light a fire under (Illinois Gov. Bruce) Rauner and (Chicago Mayor) Rahm (Emanuel) that they can’t keep cutting funds and will have to come back to the bargaining table.”

CPS officials have called Friday’s walkout “illegal” and have looked into the possibility of suing the Teachers’ Union.

“Wasn’t it illegal in the 60s?” Cahill asked, referring to civil rights protests and other forms of activism. “Look what that did. Illegal or not, it needed to happen in order to show that we are serious about these issues.”