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The union wants retro-fitted buildings, solar panels, electric
school buses and carbon-neutral programs, in addition to major
increases in pay and staffing levels.
CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said it was students who pushed
the union to bargain about things not immediately connected to
reading, writing and arithmetic.
“The young people in this city have been very vocal about the
responsibility and the accountability that grown-ups have in
sustaining our Earth,” Gates said.
Jeff Fiedler of the Chicago Republican Party said CTU leaders
want to change the narrative.
“They don’t want to talk about how the kids are failing in
Chicago Public Schools, how minority kids are failing, how
people are leaving,” Fiedler said.
CPS enrollment is down about 20% since 2010. Taxpayer funding of
CPS has increased more than 50% during the same period.
Fiedler explained that the climate demands are CTU’s Green New
Deal.
“How is any of this going to solve the immediate problem that
most of the children, who are Chicago children, cannot read,
cannot write, and cannot compute?” Fiedler asked.
Both Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Teachers Union
negotiators focused on the union’s Green Schools Campaign during
their first public negotiating session.
Fiedler said it is a disgrace that the Chicago mayor and
teachers union boss are focused on green schools 15-to-20 years
down the road.
“Are the kids in Chicago Public Schools right now throwaway kids
Brandon Johnson? Are those throwaway kids Stacy Davis Gates? Do
those kids matter? They matter a lot,” Fiedler said.
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