Strike action has been suspended for Wednesday, September 6. We have not yet reached a tentative agreement, but substantial progress gives the bargaining team strong hope of an agreement without strike action. Stand by and continue to show solidarity.
In this week’s bulletin: ChiArts to set strike date, back to school tour, 100 days of the Johnson administration, extreme heat, class size webinar, policy fellowship and more!
ChiArts’ founder José Ochoa, management and foundation stand in the way of an equitable agreement to provide safe, supportive and well-resourced classrooms.
CTU members at Instituto del Progreso held a week of action protesting the charter’s attempts to diminish contract protections. ChiArts members, parents and students rallied outside the charter’s regularly scheduled board meeting, which the organization canceled instead of facing public scrutiny. Hope educators voted unanimously to join the CTU and school officials immediately announced it would rather close the school, which mostly serves Black students, instead of bargaining collectively with its workers. In other news, YCLA announced it will be staying put at its Pilsen location.
CHICAGO — On Tuesday, April 11, academic and arts educators will join forces with parents, students, and community members to demand a safe, welcoming, and more sustainable educational community from The Chicago High School for the Arts (ChiArts), a performing arts charter school located in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.
It’s been a busy week for CTU’s charter educators, who kicked off their unified contract campaign last week. We’ve got a report on that and other charter news.
Almost 90 percent of unionized charter schools have negotiated safety agreements with CTU that include testing, screening and increased staffing. CTU-ACTS has established a health insurance committee seeking to provide an improved and less expensive benefits package. And, after threats to close, Youth Connections Leadership Academy will remain open for another year.
Members at Urban Prep voted unanimously to strike unless management comes to the table with a more reasonable offer. CTU pressure pushed ASPIRA to retract non-renewal notices for Union members. Epic Academy terminated four of the most active CTU members on the bargaining team, prompting members to prepare to strike. Youth Connections Leadership Academy has reversed course on closing the school. CTU pushed the General Assembly to close a loophole that allowed ChiArts and other contract schools to skip contributions to the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund.
