Network Schools – Wayne Gerseny to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview u w B l.html?h I’ll smid=url-share the Is for

As noted in many earlier posts, I have been dismayed to read news accounts blaming teachers unions for delays in the re-opening of public schools. As one who led school districts for 29 years, I had many instances where union leaders and I did not see eye-to-eye, but the characterizations of teachers’ unions as stymying the reopening of schools because they were “only looking out for themselves”. In many respects in many parts of this country, the teachers were not only looking out for themselves, they were looking out for the students and parents they served, students and parents whose concerns were overlooked by politicians who wanted to score political points.

A recent report by the Chicago Tribune’s John Byrne is indicative of the news media’s downplaying of the positive battles the teachers fought on behalf of their students and parents. In the account of the settlement between the union and the city he wrote:

One big win for the union in the proposed plan was the agreement to aid vaccine access for CPS students 16 and older and their families. Priority would be based on ZIP code, and access would be based on vaccine availability, with CPS providing students and families with codes for vaccine registration and blocks of appointments being reserved for them.

The fact that this was a union “win” means that the city was arguing… what? That the access to vaccines for parents and students should NOT be a priority? And if that WAS the position of the city, what does that tell the parents and students? The pandemic is laying bare many of the flaws of our system… and the fact that getting vaccines for parents and students is a ‘win” for unions tells readers all they need to know about the priorities of the politicians who lead that ciy.