In an attempt to counter Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s relentless campaign for a longer school day, the Chicago Teachers Union claimed Friday that 30 elementary schools have voted to reject the city’s offer to extend the school day in exchange for financial incentives.
Emanuel and the Chicago Public Schools have offered up to $150,000 in discretionary funds and a roughly 2 percent raise for teachers at city elementary schools that elect to waive a portion of the union contract and add 90 minutes to the day. CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll told the Chicago News Cooperative that the union’s list is not accurate. She said the only schools that have voted are the four elementary schools that have accepted the district’s deal.
“Not a single school voted down waivers. Not true,” Carroll said in an email. “Only four have voted on waivers and they all supported them.”
Amos Alonzo Stagg Elementary School, one of the schools on the union’s list, did hold a vote, according to the school’s union representative and its principal.
Cherry Williams, a third grade teacher and union delegate at Stagg, said teachers at her school voted 24 to 1 against implementing a longer day.
“Basically, they looked at the math and that the 2 percent wasn’t a good deal,” Williams said. “It wasn’t feasible for us.”
Stagg Principal Ruth Allene Miller confirmed a vote was taken at her school but would not comment on the outcome.
Among the schools on the union’s list is Walt Disney Magnet School, one of the top school’s in the district. Principal Kathleen Hagstrom said her school has not taken a vote and believes the union is using the school’s prestige to garner attention.
“I don’t even know if we will have a vote,” Hagstrom said, adding that she supports Emanuel’s push for a longer day but is “respectful” of her teachers, who are grappling with the decision to take a vote.
She said the union has been lobbying teachers to reject a longer day at her school. “The union has a strong effect on the teachers.”
Principals at two other schools on the list, Phoebe A. Hearst Magnet School and Mann Elementary School, both said votes had not been taken at their schools.
CTU spokeswoman Stephanie Gadlin said the list of schools was compiled based on reports received by union delegates at each of the schools.
Emanuel this week stepped up his efforts to implement a longer school day this year, extending the incentive package to all elementary schools and making personal appearances at the four schools that so far accepted it. On Thursday, the City Council unanimously approved a resolution calling on CPS to lengthen the day as soon as possible.
The union questioned Emanuel’s urgency when a new state law mandates a longer day next school year.
“What is the rush?” Gadlin said. “Why can’t we take time and plan this?”
The CTU claims CPS has violated its contract with the union by appealing directly to individual schools to implement a longer day. The union on Thursday filed a complaint with a state labor relations board, and union president Karen Lewis released a statement Friday claiming Emanuel “exploded” at her during a meeting.
“A couple of weeks ago I sat down with the mayor in his office to talk about how to roll out a longer school year and what components would go into making it a better school year for our students but he did not want to have that conversation,” Lewis said in the statement. “When I explained to him that a longer school day should not be used for warehousing or babysitting our youth he exploded, used profanity, pointed his finger in my face and yelled. At that point the conversation was over—soon thereafter we found ourselves subject to a full-scale propaganda war over a moot point.”
Emanuel would not comment on Lewis’ remarks when asked about them Friday at an appearance with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, though he did say that Lewis hugged him at the end of that meeting.
Rebecca Vevea and Crystal Yednak contributed reporting.