Last May, Deborah Lynch shocked the city’s political establishment when she upset the incumbent and took over as president of the Chicago Teachers Union. Since then, operatives at City Hall and the Chicago Public Schools have nervously waited for the first sign that she would break from the conciliatory, get-along style of her predecessor, Tom Reece.
It gets confusing, but the system has undergone two opposing revolutions in the last 14 years. In 1988 the state passed a law establishing local control. Each school was placed under the control of locally elected school councils made up of parents, teachers, community residents, and the principal. The LSCs were given control over budgets, principal hiring, and curriculum. But by 1995 Mayor Daley had decided he wanted to run the schools himself, particularly if he was going to be held accountable for what went on there (though it seems doubtful that Chicago voters would unseat Daley for anything, even if the schools were in ruin). So in exchange for an influx of state funds, the Republicans in the General Assembly rewrote the 1988 law, stripping the LSCs of some of their power, forcing the old board to step down, and establishing a new top position, chief executive officer. To fill that slot Daley brought in Paul Vallas, his old revenue director. (Last June, Daley fired Vallas and replaced him with Arne Duncan.)
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The amendment also gives the board free rein to “lay off or reduce in force employees.” Under the contract such layoffs are subject to bargaining. Under the amendment the board can simply declare a crisis and then fire teachers. “We can’t negotiate layoffs,” says Lynch. “Do you know any other union that can’t negotiate layoffs? That’s unthinkable.” And teachers are no longer allowed to file grievances over layoffs.
So far the teachers have gained support from several school-reform groups, including PURE, one of the city’s largest parents’ organizations. “We were pretty appalled when this legislation said the teachers basically can’t do collective bargaining,” says Julie Woestehoff, PURE’s executive director. “They’ve made a strong case on this one. We always want to be supportive of teachers, not pitted against them. And in general we’d like teachers to have a stronger voice in school decision making.”
Johnson says Lynch has exaggerated the problems caused by 4.5 and urges teachers to have faith that the central of-fice would never do anything to harm them unfairly. “We are probably enjoying our greatest degree of collaboration with the CTU,” she says, “this issue aside.”
