Posts Tagged ‘Mayor Rahm Emanuel’
Chicago schools chief out after run-ins with Mayor Rahm Emanuel
Friday, 12 October 2012 19:00
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Chicago schools chief out after run-ins with Mayor Rahm Emanuel

Nearly four weeks since the end of the first teachers strike in 25 years, and 17 months after being recruited from Rochester, N.Y., by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in May 2011, Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard is stepping down. (Read more…) Mr. Brizard’s resignation, announced in a statement released…


 
Chicago teachers stage rally amid hopes of strike’s end
Saturday, 15 September 2012 11:12
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The Chicago Teachers’ Union (CTU) will hold a rally on Saturday as a show of solidarity amid hopes that a tentative deal reached on Friday with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) will hold.  According to Reuters, the “Standing Strong With Chicago Teachers Rally” is intended to keep pressure on Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who ignited a firestorm earlier this year when he tried to ram through a set of controversial new education policies.

CTU President Karen Lewis said that while hopes are high, teachers are wary of Emanuel, who has been called a “liar” and a “bully” by union officials.

(Read more…)

“They (union members) are very suspicious. You have to understand that we have been burnt by the (school) board in the past. You have to understand we want to make sure all our I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed,” said Lewis to reporters on Friday.

Teachers and their supporters expect to be joined by labor leaders and activists from throughout the region in a march and rally that they hope will approach the scale of the protests that rocked Wisconsin’s capital in early 2011.  Teachers and other public workers staged massive demonstrations in the wake of Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI)’s controversial union-busting budget law.

Emanuel’s education measures proposed to “radically reform teacher performance evaluations and weaken job protection for teachers whose schools are closed or perform poorly academically.”  Teachers are also striking for better classroom conditions, to pressure the city to make good on a promised pay increase that went instead to Chicago police and for more social workers to help the thousands of at-risk students in the district.

If negotiations continue to go well, Lewis said she will make the call to teachers union officials on Sunday authorizing a return to work on Monday morning, bringing the strike to a conclusion in under eight days, leading to only five missed school days for the more than 350,000 students affected by the strike.

 
Chicago takes ‘deadbeats’ money to fund job creation program
Sunday, 26 August 2012 12:00
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Approximately $11 million collected from those who owed the city of Chicago money is going to churches, community organizations and job creation programs for youths.

Rather than increase taxes, Chicago has opted to act on an Illinois law that took effect this year, which allows the city to collect outstanding debt owed by Illinois residents by deducting it from their state income tax returns. The city expected to collect $8.5 million from unpaid parking tickets, red-light citations and administrative hearing fines, according to the Chicago Tribune, but ended up collecting $2. (Read more…)5 million more than that.

“By ensuring that those who break the law are held accountable, we are able to investing in job opportunities that will keep our kids off the streets and better prepare them for the future,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement.

Of the money collected from debtors, which Emanuel has previously referred to as “the deadbeats and the delinquents,” $8.5 million is being used to fund a job program for youths that officials hope will create 20,000 employment opportunities. Another $1 million is being put towards a violence prevention program called CeaseFire and the $1.5 million in the remaining funds will be distributed to local churches, hospitals and community organizations.

“These job opportunities will go a long way toward helping Chicago’s youth stand on their own two feet working in their communities and building a strong foundation that will lead to a brighter future,” Saint Sabina Pastor Michael Pfleger said in prepared remarks.

The Chicago City Council approved the use of the refund interception program in February by a 41-8 vote. Those who voted against the new program worried that it could target those in need.

“These are hard times for people,” Alderman Willie Cochran said in February. “Traditionally, the income tax refunds that people have been receiving have been a big relief for them. … It is wrong to extract their last opportunity to help support their family, to help support the businesses, to help support their schools — the science project — the everyday needs of the working class.”