Teacher Group To Protest School Closings

CHICAGO--The Caucus of Rank and File Educators, a faction within the Chicago Teachers Union, met Wednesday to plan a protest of the closings and reorganizations of 22 public schools.

In four meetings across the city, CORE strategized on how to make a Feb. 25 protest at the Chicago Public Schools building downtown bigger and more effective than one held last month that, according to CORE member Christine Mayle, had approximately 500 demonstrators. The goal this time is to have three times that number, Mayle said.

On Jan. 16, CPS proposed closing five schools for low enrollment and one because of the conditions of its facilities. Sixteen others were slated for reorganization, which can involve firing and replacing all faculty members.

Critics of the proposal, like Mayle, say CPS is trying to clear the way for more charter schools under Mayor Richard M. Daley’s Renaissance 2010 initiative.

“It’s just going to spread all over the city,” said Mayle, who is currently looking for a new teaching job because her school, De La Cruz Science and Math Technology Academy, is being closed in June. “It’s just going to keep going and steamrolling these communities until there’s no public schools left.”

Norine Gutekanst, a teacher at Whittier Elementary School, said CPS’s push for more charters is a money-saving ploy that belittles public school educators.

“I think it’s really unfair and I think we as teachers have to stand up and fight back,” she said. “We have to defend the quality of our schools because they’re really slurring us.”

Marilou Stack, a teacher at Ruiz Elementary School, phrased it another way.

“We need to embarrass the Board of Ed to make them listen,” she said.

CORE is one of 10 local organizations—together the Grassroots Education Movement, or GEM, coalition—that plans to protest on Feb. 25 on 125 S. Clark St. at 3:30 following the Board of Education’s monthly meeting. CORE is asking all protesters to wear black to make a statement against Renaissance 2010.