Three months after Mayor Richard Daley announced an ambitious plan to remake Chicago's most troubled public schools, the Chicago Teachers Union released its analysis Monday of Renaissance 2010, calling it a ÿrisky and poorly thought-out experiment.ÿþþUnion President Marilyn Stewart said Chicago Public Schools leaders are abdicating their responsibility to educate children by pushing a reform proposal that seeks to turn over management of some 60 new charter and contract schools to the private sector.þþShe urged the school board to delay its vote on the Renaissance 2010 policy, which is set to be approved Wednesday.þþÿCharter schools are not the panacea they lead us to believe,ÿ said Stewart, pointing to the chaos caused by the collapse this month of one of the nation's largest charter school operators in California, which left 6,000 students from 60 schools stranded.þþThe union's analysis concluded that these schools would be packed with less experienced teachers who would be denied key benefits and get paid less than teachers protected by the union contract.þþÿThe CTU believes that no school, especially one that is floundering, will find success by reinventing the wheel as proposed by Renaissance 2010,ÿ the report stated.þþÿThe CTU believes that a fair school-improvement process--one that is sympathetic and respectful of the challenges students and staff in low-performing schools must face every day--is more likely to be accepted than arbitrary, imposed solutions.ÿþþDaley has said that small improvements in existing programs have done little to fix what is wrong with the worst of Chicago's schools. He and the school district's leaders believe schools can be dramatically improved if they are liberated from the constraints of central bureaucracy and union contracts, with outside management free to create schools with flexible schedules and motivated teachers.þþStewart faulted the school district for pushing forward on the plan without asking the union to get involved.þþBut when Renaissance was first announced, union leaders were embroiled in a bitter showdown over the union's presidential election. Neither side in that battle responded strongly to the new initiative, which could jeopardize thousands of union teaching jobs at targeted schools.þþÿThey keep saying, `jump on board' but we don't know where they are going,ÿ Stewart said. ÿThey dumped this on us when the union was at its weakest.ÿþþSchool officials said they welcome the union's involvement and pointed out that any of the new schools could employ union teachers, although only the school district-run schools will be bound by the union contract.þþÿLeaving children in underperforming schools is risky,ÿ said schools spokesman Peter Cunningham. ÿWe can't wait any longer for these schools to improve. The children can't wait. The parents can't wait. The taxpayers can't wait.ÿþþStewart said she welcomes a chance to work with school district administrators to promote change within the existing system, but doesn't expect the union to get involved in the management of any Renaissance schools.þþÿWe have a lot of other things to do,ÿ she said.þþ
Source: Chicago Tribune
