CTU President Karen Lewis: Finding Peace in the Fight

By Mary L. Datcher and Dr. Robert T. Starks

The challenges of every day responsibilities encompass a great deal more when you are a parent or legal guardian of a child. One of the top priorities that one faces is finding a good and safe center of learning for their toddler which leads to securing a traditional path of school enrollment either through a private, public or charter institution. In the past three decades, Chicagoans have witnessed a deterioration in the Chicago Public School system that has impacted various layers of our community socially and economically—mostly in the Black community.

No longer having a Superintendent in place to oversee the business of CPS, a board comprised of educators, business and administrators influence the decisions made that impact over 396,683 students. But, more importantly it's the Chicago Teachers Union that has challenged some of these decisions and has raised up from being just another union—providing membership assistance to its 27,000 members but becoming a solid voice for social justice.

CTU President, Ms. Karen Lewis has demonstrated that her background and experience in the Chicago Public Schools system are major contributors to her success in that office. A Chicago native, she's an alumnus of Kosminski Elementary School, Kenwood Academy, earning a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Dartmouth College. Her love for filmmaking also prompted her to attend Columbia College, encouraging her to write her thesis on the Image of Black Women in Film after she attended Northeastern Illinois University’s Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies (CCICS) earning an M.A. Lewis taught Chemistry for 22 years in the Chicago Public Schools and in 2010 she ran for President of the Chicago Teachers Union winning with 60 percent of the vote.

Having won the seat by such a large margin, reflected the change needed due to an administration that allowed Mayor Richard M. Daley to control CPS—result stripped the union’s bargaining powers. Some would say, this also lead to the privatization and promotion of charter schools under former Chicago Public Schools, CEO Paul Vallas.

Lewis said, “One of the that things bothered me was that I didn't feel the union was actually looking at that from a macro level. They were not involving the community in the process of doing union work which to me is how do you not have parents and community on your side. How do you not do that? We would go to these charter school openings, hearings, closings and the unions were never there. They were never there.”

Jacqueline Vaughn was the first Black CTU President and succumbed to cancer in 1994. Mayor Daley’s close political ties to the Illinois State Legislature’s Democratic leadership, granted 'dictatorial like' power over all CPS matters including the budget and policy. In addition, the hardest blow to many parents was the move by his administration to eliminate the School Board Nominating Committee – sanctioned by Mayor Harold Washington. This gave Daley sole power to appoint school board members and set policies concerning class size, hours of instruction, layoffs, the authorization of charter schools and the privatization of services.

Thomas Reece, Jacqueline’s successor, an ally of Daley was defeated for re-election in 2001 by Deborah Lynch-Walsh. It was Karen Lewis and her fellow union members who were committed to social justice. They created the Caucus of Rank and File Education (CORE) after the short lived tenure of Ms. Lynch-Walsh.

“We decided we would have to run in order to make changes. We were trying to move the union leadership in the direction of being really serious about social justice, about being serious community de-orientation and retooling the whole concept of what the union looks like. That's not what we saw. We have to do it ourselves, that's basically what happened,” She said.

In 2010, CORE’s efforts to bring CTU members and policies closer to the community supported the newly elected CTU President. The Illinois General Assembly passed a law that required approval from 75 percent of union members including those voting on a strike authorization.

Lewis explained, “They tried to make it impossible for us to strike. I got threatened down there [in Springfield]--they said, ‘If you strike, we’re going to take away your right to strike.’ Really?” says Lewis.

What played out as a campy scene from the classic television drama series, “Dynasty”--the battle ensued between the newly elected Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Lewis coming on the heels of CPS changes. Walking into nightmarish budget woes left over from the previous administration – Emanuel's 'bully' approach was not faring well among Lewis and her colleagues. Changes included increasing the hours of classroom instruction, cutbacks on teacher compensation, layoffs and the hardest blow of all – closing of 50 public schools—mostly in predominately Black neighborhoods.

The infamous heated meeting between both Emanuel and Lewis resulted in an unsuccessful attempt to intimidate CTU from challenging the mayor's changes.

Lewis reflects back on those meetings. “I think that in all honesty, he learned his lesson. You don't cuss out a Black woman. You don't cuss out a Black woman from the South Side, that may have worked when you cussed out that woman from California.” It was no longer CTU versus CPS—it was Emanuel versus Lewis—the gloves came off.

With the support of several community grassroots organizations beyond the union—it secured the support of various communities across the city. Chicago neighborhoods, defined by cultural differences, languages and often segregated by intersections—were suddenly brought together in support of the teacher's demands. The strike lasted seven days and garnered widespread public support forcing Emanuel to concede many of the demands of the CTU.

During this time, the mayor appointed Barbara Byrd-Bennett as the CEO of the Chicago Public Schools to help curve some of the tension between the board and CTU. Up until Bennett's indictment, there was a mutual respect between her and Lewis. “I had a very good working relationship with Barbara. She and I could talk about things that we both had common reference points. I think Forrest is basically a tech grab – that's fine. He has his space in the world. I think the problem is with the nature of the job – we don't have superintendent anymore,”

She said, “You need to have somebody with an educational background. I haven't had a chance to develop a relationship with Janice yet because we've been in the middle of negotiations and I've been sick. I have to still pace my days.” Lewis said it was easier to connect with Bennett because of similar cultural backgrounds and they were closer in age. “I had a very good working relationship with Barbara. But Barbara was constraint – everybody is constraint. It was easier for us because we were two, old Black women. That just cut down on a lot of barriers.”

Although, she briefly contemplated a mayoral run against Rahm Emanuel, due to illness, she cancelled the bid and supported rival Chuy Garcia. Five years later, CTU and CPS is back at the negotiating table.

Since then, the 62-year old Lewis has not given up without a fight—despite dealing with treatment. The latest battle—Governor Rauner. The budget stalemate between the Republican governor and a predominately Democratic General Assembly has put drastic budget constraints on CPS and other higher learning institutions throughout the state. The governor's recent recommendation for CPS to consider filing for bankruptcy has put more pressure on the city's credit rating. A move that has been compared to the emergency management of Flint, Michigan's water crisis. Lewis says, “He's too crazy for me to try understand. I just don't understand him. I don't understand the viciousness that he shows, again, it's personal with him. I think it's a mistake because when you make something personal, then you let it out of your purview.”

In October 2015, the City of Chicago has passed the biggest tax increase with union pensions increasingly leaning on the bulk of Chicago taxpayers. The mayor has defended the tax hike as a necessity to ensure proper services from the police, firefighters and first responders continue and provide safety for residents.

Lewis feels this process is not only important for its members but the students that they serve. “I think the problem is that the notion of unions for some people is very negative. ‘All you care about is yourselves.’ If that was the case, I would’ve stayed in the classroom and let somebody else deal with this but I felt like our union leaders at the time, were not clear about the picture of the way public education has been zapped by the ruling class and co-opted,”

“Our children need relevance, we can’t just throw something out at them that is packaged and scripted. What I was seeing was this notion that our children need to be compliant, uniformed, and sit down and shut up.”

Since last Thursday's meeting, CTU brought a new offer to their “Big Bargaining Team” which is comprised of approximately 40 members on board to help with the negotiation process. Unfortunately, on Monday the Board of Ed's deal was rejected by the group and once again, a strike before the school year end is highly unlikely but not ruled out.

“Simply signing a contract with CPS will not bring them a windfall of resources from the state,” Lewis said. We have to exhaust every option available, which includes terminating those swap deals, returning the TIFs to the schools and a financial transaction tax that could bring hundreds of millions of dollars to the city.”

In order to be sufficiently equipped in the powers to assist their members and others, they formed a research unit that would allow the union to speak from a position of truth and fact. “We have to have a political program which was not in place. We spent a lot of time getting to this point because we formed a research department. When we took over, we cut officer’s salaries so that we could afford to have organizers and researchers. Because we feel this also gives us the information we need to provide to other people. We can provide information to various elected officials. We have way more creditability because we’re serious about we’re doing!” says Ms. Lewis.

Although, the exact terms of the new deal on the table for CTU have not been publicly released—sources mentioned CPS would not continue a pension pickup for long-standing teachers. In addition, there are no guarantees that CPS will reduce charter school expansion.

The intense pressure to put an end to the negotiations is important but not at the expense of making sure Chicago students receive a fair and quality education. Lewis realizes CTU's work does not end when a deal is finalized. There is still a great deal to do and the decrease in cultural diversity within the CPS schools is a major problem.

“There's a variety of reasons for that right now. One reason, is that principals have complete and total control over hiring and they're not giving it up. So, what you find is by and large – principals hire people that look like them and people that they're comfortable with. There are schools in this city that have a significant Black population but there is not one Black teacher or a teacher over the age of forty. School base budget has incentivized that. The other thing is that veteran Black teachers have been targeted.”

According 2014-2015 CPS Stats and Facts, there are approximately 39.3 percent African American students compared to 9.4 percent White student attendees with Hispanic student enrollment leading at 45.6 percent. Although both Black and Hispanic students make up the largest attendance at CPS schools, White teachers make up 50 percent of the teaching faculty, African American 22.6 percent and Hispanic teachers rising at 19.7 percent.

Lewis said the changes passed by the SB7 Bill which evaluates teachers by the student's test scores—PERA (Performance Evaluation Reform Act). “People say, 'You're just trying to protect bad teachers.' No, they've decided what's good or bad based on what we don't agree on. Guess who gets the absolute lowest ratings? Black male teachers. They're not being hired. The ones that they do hire – they get rid of as soon as they can. They need Black male teachers – students need those role models,” She said.

There are various battles that Lewis is faced with but her number one priority is her health. She plans to run for re-election for her third term as CTU President in May. “Our next steps is to secure a contract – trying to move this school year forward. Also, look for long term funding solutions because that's what it's going to take. We can't come to a crisis every single year – we can't have that. We need some stability in the system and the only way to do that is to have over a long haul – a progressive revenue solution.”

Originally Published by The Chicago Defender February 2016