Yesterday, we reported that in addition to overfilled classrooms and leaky roofs, one of the issues that brought Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) to the point of striking is the widespread lack of air conditioning in schools. During a heat wave this summer, 21 summer schools without air conditioning actually cancelled classes out of concern for their studentsai??i?? health.
On Twitter, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system responded to our reporting on the air conditioning situation:
First of all, it’s important to note that no one is calling for the air conditioning problems to be solvedAi??tomorrow. The teachers of the CTU understand that these things take time and money.
The problem is that the Chicago Public Schools have been avoiding the issue by sidestepping it in negotiations and making no substantiveAi??commitments. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel even callously dismissed teacher, student, and parent concerns about lack of air conditioning.Ai??ai???Itai??i??sAi??71 degreesAi??outside,ai???Ai??he said, either forgetting that summer will come around again or intentionally mimicking the non-credible arguments used by climate-change deniers during the winter.
While CPS is complaining about money concerns, it is also laying the groundwork to shift as much as $70 million away from the public system and to charter schools (which just happen to be mostly non-unionized). It also is planning to significantly lengthen the school day (without properly compensating teachers for the extended day). The city has used Tax Increment Financing to take money out of property tax funds and use them to funnel millions of dollars to wealthy property developers in a scheme the Chicago Reader has called a “boondoggle.” It’s almost as if the city has money for everythingAi??butAi??improving the current public school system.
Lastly, insisting that it has schools that are 100+ years old is not a point in its favor. If the Chicago Public School system has schools that have been around for decades after the advent of modern air conditioning and still has classrooms too hot for students to sit in, it’s not doing a good job.
Here’s a link for you to sink your teeth into! How the 4% raise already in the contract was fraudulently denied to the teachers. http://www.ctunet.com/blog/cps-lies-about-police-dept-payments-to-void-teachers-4-raises
There is nothing in that response that remotely answers CPS’s concern. Where does the close to $2 Billion come from whether it is today, 2 years from now, or 10 years from now?
The old adage says, you can’t get blood from a turnip. There is no money to give!!
Considering what kind of summers we will be facing in years to come, having no air conditioning in schools is tantamount to attempted murder of students. Heat records were broken across the world this summer. Summers will only get worse.
I am not as concerned over lengthening school days as I am about a lack of in-school climate control. In the Fifties, when I attended elementary school, classes began at 7:00 AM and ended at 4:00 PM. Students and teachers survived. However, with the kind of heat that is coming, students and teachers may both suffer from heatstroke. Unless Emanuel agrees to putting air conditioning in public schools, he should be charged with attempted murder.
Chicago is not in the business of providing luxury items for students and teachers. These low-income inner city kids go home to apartments with no air -conditioning and they have managed to survive. So, what exactly is your point? I think teachers are increasingly lazy and demanding.
Patrick,
“Teachers are increasingly lazy and demanding”
Really?
The educatinal system in Chicago is working?
All teachers are lazy?
Some stats for you to try and understand:
160 of CPS schools have NO LIBRARIES. 140 of these schools are south of North Ave where those “low income inner city children” live. Makes sense Patrick?
There are 350 social workers for 350,000 students in the CPS system. At one school on the Northside, they have 1 part-time social worker for 3500 students. Make sense Patrick?
One of the many concessions the school board is agreed to make sure that each CPS student will have a text book on the 1st day of school. Really, this needs to be a concession by the school board? Makes sense Patrick?
Patrick it is “lazy” people yourself that enable the educational system to continue to fail because you watch biased TV and/or read biased articles without doing some/any fact checking on your own. Shame on you. It is mind numbing to read post such as yours.
…and NO I’m not a CPS teacher. I’m just somebody who is better informed.
No Raise for CPS teachers! Earn it first!