Editor’s note: Chicago Teachers Union members from a high school on the city’s West Side gave interviews to People’s Tribune correspondent Adam Gottlieb while on strike in October.
“Our kids need a voice. Somebody got to speak up for them. … Our kids come in with a lot of issues. Growing up in the neighborhood, seeing a liquor store on each and every corner … in these impoverished communities, drugs, killings, and crime. … Before you can teach them you have to dive into the issues … so we need counselors. We need [students] to be able to talk, to be able to express how they feel, in order to be comfortable in their own skin and able, then, to come to the classroom and be in a space to learn.”
– Teacher, life-long West Side resident
“My job is to help kids get a plan that they can move confidently into … and it’s just impossible for them to do that if they don’t have social workers to help them deal with the immense amount of trauma that exists in this neighborhood; if their classes are too big; [if there’s] no school nurse … [or even] a library. … Kids know when their teachers don’t feel valued, and then they don’t feel valued. … I’m doing like eight million jobs all the time, and I have kids coming into my office who have seen a sibling get shot, a parent get shot and killed. … I’ve had a lot of students who are homeless. There are like over 40% in these schools here who are homeless: in a shelter, or doubled-up. I pay for my kids’ bus fare, I give kids money for food, all sorts of stuff…
“It’s said that we can only strike and bargain over working conditions, and historically that has only ever been teacher pay. And this is the first time that we’re like, ‘No. Not having enough staff, having class sizes of 40+ kids, not having a social worker or a nurse, and all that, does affect our working conditions.’ Because without a nurse, you’re the one trying to administer a medication to a kid. … So this was the first time we said, ‘No, your bogus funding policies affect our working conditions and we are gonna strike.’
“So it’s very historic, and unprecedented. And it’s totally connected to where the city’s priorities are: billions of dollars for these developers? It’s sickening. … If they can build fancy developments and fancy parks downtown, they can fund the frickin schools.
“It’s just unbelievable that it’s gotten to this point. And it’s like, really upsetting that we have to stand out here in the snow and sleet to tell them, ‘Fund your frickin schools.’ When kids are not well prepared, we pay for it later.”
–Post-Secondary Coach
Chicago high school teachers say what they are fighting for
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