Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers & Staff

Teachers and staff at CICS ChicagoQuest announced today that they want a collective voice in their school community. 32 of the 33 educators at CICS ChicagoQuest declared that they are organizing a union at their school to strengthen the relationships between the school, teachers, school management, and other stakeholders to ensure student-centered policies.

“High-level decisions ultimately impact students and teachers in the classroom. I support unionizing because I believe shared leadership that values staff voice is essential to fostering and sustaining classroom environments that push the boundaries of traditional education.” Cat Greim, Project Specialist.

“I want to form a union because teachers and staff will do their best work if they have the safety and job security to take risks, push their practice, and be open about their needs and strengths. Having a union will allow all parties at ChicagoQuest to be more honest, concrete, and accountable, which will directly benefit our students.” Luke Carman, Codeworlds teacher.

ChicagoQuest opened in September 2011 as one of sixteen campuses in the Chicago International Charter Schools (CISC) network. In 2009, three other CICS campuses formed the first union of charter school teachers in the city of Chicago. CICS ChicagoQuest is a unique “game-like learning” school, offering a curriculum that is organized around systems-thinking and game design, which currently serves grades 6-9 in the 2013-2014 school year.

Tell ASPIRA of IL: students deserve stable learning environments and teachers deserve a fair contract!

Recently, a student asked my co-worker, “Why do we keep having new principals?” One thing I have learned in my experience as a teacher is that schools must sustain a stable learning environment for students. This is not the case at ASPIRA of Illinois, which has endured two changes in the network’s administration, repeated turnover in school leadership, and well over 50 percent teacher turnover. Our students deserve stable learning environments.

Please sign our petition to ASPIRA CEO and Board of Directors. Thanks for supporting the teachers of ASPIRA of IL!

Drew Erdelack, Teacher at ASPIRA Antonia Pantoja High School

Chicago ACTS opposes Chicago Public Schools’ overuse of charter schools to advance privatization and calls for a denial of all new charter applications.

Read the full statement.

After closing 50 neighborhood schools due to “underutilization” this summer, CPS is attempting to open 21 new charter schools, often in the very communities where schools were recently closed. The role originally envisioned for charter schools was to give public educators an opportunity to supplement and advance the work of traditional public schools in an innovative setting. In Chicago, however, the board has been using them to replace neighborhood schools entirely, and at great expense.

Coverage by Catalyst Chicago: Charter schools propose big expansion