Occupation: Vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union. So we got next. We got next because theres a Stacy Gates.. Accessed June 02, 2020. Students have lost parents, grandparents, and caregivers. It makes you angry. The CTU is no small thing. The CTU represents more than 25,000 teachers, paraprofessional and school-related personnel, and school clinicians working in the Chicago Public Schools and, by extension, the students and families they serve. An accredited provider of Illinois Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE), Chicago-Kent's Continuing Legal and Professional Education (CLE) programs offer participants an affordable opportunity to network with other practitioners, discuss current issues and trends, and problem solve with those that write, teach, and practice in the area. [41], The CTU Vice President is Stacy Davis Gates, who is also executive vice president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Chairwoman of the United Working Families political organization. I think about the lessons I got as a kid: You have to be twice as good to get half as much. [1] American Federation of Teachers, To Form a More Perfect Union. More change is coming in May, when the CTU selects its next leader. Accessed June 02, 2020. Fusco, Chris, The Watchdogs: How Chicago Teachers Union spends its money, Chicago Sun-Times, January 30, 2017. They led every meeting with school-based discussions of billionaires, banks and racism., The union started partnering with community organizations known largely for fighting gentrificationthe Pilsen Alliance, Logan Square Neighborhood Alliance, Kenwood-Oakland Community Organizationto attend school board meetings and host community forums on school closures. Age: 43 I remember spending a lot of time in preparation for classesgetting primary sources together, getting supporting documentation together, making connections through newspaper articles and periodicals that related back to the historical thing I was teaching. While at the CTU, Ms. Davis Gates has been the architect of bold political and legislative campaigns for the schools and city that all Chicagoans deserve. Stacy Davis Gates and her leadership team have put their interests ahead of our unions members and the students we serve, Mary Esposito-Usterbowski, the groups presidential candidate and a citywide school psychologist, told me in an email response to my interview request. American Federation of Teachers (AFT) STACY DAVIS-GATES, VICE PRESIENT. Accessed June 01, 2020. I would like to thank you for taking a stand,and expressing your thoughts and how to respond to the republican party. She also serves as a board member for the Action Center on Race & the Economy (ACRE), a nexus for organizations working at the intersection of the struggle for racial justice and Wall Street accountability. In what era has it ever been ethical, moral or vogue to close schools in poor, under-resourced blackcommunities and fire experienced, dedicated school personnel,and then try to justify those decisions by claiming budgetshortfalls on unwieldy retiree pay..Chicagos Mayor RahmEmanuel has abdicated his responsibility as chief executive of thecity and made it a practice to scapegoat his wrong-headedpolicies on the most vulnerable populations in the city. My other grandmother was born out of wedlock and ostracized from both sides of her family tree. She also serves as a board member for the Action Center on Race & the Economy (ACRE), a nexus for organizations working at the intersection of the struggle for racial justice and Wall Street accountability. She has raised millions of dollars to elect classroom teachers to all levels of local government, and challenge school privatizers and union busters. The Chicago Teachers Union has some 20,000 teacher and clinician members. I was meant to be a Chicagoan., In 2004, she became one, landing a job as a history teacher at Englewood High School. Shouts of Talk, Stacy! filled the room. It was simple: Someone did something wrong, there was an investigation and they always got the wrong guy, and Perry always got them off. [34], Between October 2018 and October 2019, the CTU donated $1.7 million to political campaigns and related political action committees. [19] Ultimately, when the 11-day strike ended, the city of Chicago declined to incorporate housing policy into the contract with CTU. chicago.suntimes.com. While interest groups on all sides sought Obamas involvement in the negotiation, President Obamas spokesman said that Obama has not expressed any opinion or made any assessment about this particular incident. [16], In 2018, CTU supported the first major strike by charter school teachers in US history. A native of Chicagos West Side, Christel was raised by a single mother who retired as a school clerk. She didnt have any notes with her onstage. Jackson was elected to Vice President of the CTU in 2022, taking office July 1, 2022. img[alt="Christel Williams-Hayes"] {max-width:288px;}. The Chicago Teacher Federation threw itself into political advocacy, organizing behind candidates who were favorable to their goals. I was hurt. One-on-One with CTU President-Elect Stacy Davis Gates. Chicago Tribune, August 20, 2019. . [43], https://www.aft.org/periodical/psrp-reporter/fall-2015/form-more-perfect-union ^. I love you.. My credibility came slowly, and it had nothing to do with my instruction or my understanding of content, she says. It will not happen on my watch., At her own news conference, Gates fired back, going after Lightfoot personally: This mayor is unfit to lead our city. This outcome led the CFT to prioritize collective bargaining rights as a primary goal. Moran, Theresa, Behind the Chicago Teachers Strike, Labor Notes, September 10, 2012. Accessed June 01, 2020. Photo: CLARISSA BONET | HAIR AND MAKEUP: DENISE MILLOY/MAKEUP MAGIC INC. Issa, Nader, Chicago Teachers Union sues Betsy DeVos, CPS over coronavirus special education requirements, Chicago Sun-Times, May 20, 2020. But, she argues, historical wrongs arent quickly righted. We dont have infrastructure in our public schools to deal with the impact of the traumas our youths walk into our schools with, Gates says. As a rank-and-file member, she was active in the charter outreach committee, clinicians steering committee and the CTU Latino Caucus policy committee. Shes also extremely sensitive. He hasnt publicly ruled it out, but he says his current plan is to return to the classroom. That was the moment I was radicalized.. American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. I need you to be even more in love with equity and justice. CTU charter educators strike UNO/Acero, December 04, 2018. [32], In 2017-2019, the CTU PAC donated $133,000 to the campaign of Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson (D), who was also on staff with the Chicago Teachers Union as a registered lobbyist. In the absence of a union endorsement, two senior CTU leaders, Jesse Sharkey and Stacy Davis Gates, endorsed the Vermont Senator. While at the CTU, Ms. Davis Gates has been the architect of bold political and legislative campaigns for the schools and city that all Chicagoans deserve. 1971: Four-day strike results in salary increases and full health benefits. While at the CTU, Davis Gates has been the architect of bold political and legislative campaigns for the schools and city that all Chicagoans deserve. But that doesnt faze Gates. From milquetoast to militant is how Jane F. McAlevey described the unions evolution in her 2016 book, No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age. She attended Saint Marys College, the University of Notre Dame and Concordia University. Chicago Teachers Union Foundation, About. For more than 75 years the Chicago Teachers Union has fought for the schools Chicagos students deserve. The school went through three principals her first year. And she doesnt like it., He calls her sensitivity her superpower, even as it invites blowback. Chicago has closed or radically shaken up some 200 public schools, or a third of the district, since 2002, according to a WBEZ investigation. They take away the things we need the most in order to survive. I tell people all the time Im only one generation separated from a cotton field, Gates says. DJN. Key Data. If the labor movements instinct has been to reduce demands in order to sound reasonable, the new CTU took the opposite approach, McAlevey wrote. Year: 2016: Full Name: Gateswho had stepped away from the classroom in 2011 to ramp up her union activities, traveling to Springfield to lobby for the CTUs legislative agenda and serving as the organizations political directorwas elected to fill his post. I aint said live yet. My granny was a teenage mothera teenage single mother with an alcoholic father who was a sharecropper. However, in 2012, after 9 months of contentious negotiations between CTU, the Chicago School Board, and then-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D), who had been actively closing or privatizing failing schools, the CTU went on strike again. They attend a public school on the South Side. Stacy Davis Gates is the President of the Chicago Teachers Union. Stacy Davis Gates Won't Back Down The Chicago Teachers Union's heir apparent sees herself as a righteous champion of not just educators but of students. Campbell, Alexia Fernndez, The 11-day teachers strike in Chicago paid off, Vox, November 01, 2019. That was the moment I was radicalized.. All rights reserved. Its a high bar. Stacy Davis Gatesis the Vice President of the Chicago Teachers Union and the Executive Vice President of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Chicago magazine newsletters have you covered. Im going to continue to embody both of their hopes and dreams, but also provide a pathway for the Hazel and the Laura in my household right now, that they get to be whoever they want to be in this world. Later she tells me: I cant advocate on behalf of public education and the children of this city and educators in this city without it taking root in my own household.. The Chicago Teachers Union is an organization of educators dedicated to advancing and promoting quality public education, improving teaching and learning conditions, and protecting members rights. 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