Chicago's CORE (Caucus of Rank & File Educators): How to grow a movement

[Hannah Bell]

Karen Lewis:

At first, CORE was a study group. We were concerned about the massive effort to close schools, to turn them into charters, basically giving away public institutions to private organizations. So we got together, teachers and a couple of paraprofessionals, to try to figure out what was going on. We started reading articles, anything we could get our hands on. The big book that we read was The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein; it put so much in perspective. We realized our union hadn’t taken a position that was strong enough on these school closings.

JP:

In many instances it was actually worse than just no response, because the union was collaborating with management to allow these types of “reform” that were just devastating our ranks. The union had virtually no coordination with community organizations or other unions, so as rank-and-file teachers we had to make a move or else be on the verge of complete destruction.

KL:

What we decided to do basically was to attack the Board of Education policies. And to attack the process, which did not include input from communities, from parents and teachers. We also attacked the sham hearings that were being held, the so-called public hearings. So we started going to the hearings. CORE went to every single school closing hearing, every single charter school opening. Our people asked questions, demanded answers, and testified against what was going on. In addition, we started going to board meetings. We made it so every single month our voices, CORE voices, became a visible presence. We started working with community organizations and doing direct action. We were working with the parents, teachers, and other staff who were almost the victims of school closings.

The first meeting I went to, in 2008, there were eight to 12 of us. We could sit around a conference room table. But we gradually gained strength. We started very small, then started growing. We currently have about 450 members...

RS:

So CORE started in April 2008 and by June 2010 you were elected to lead one of the largest teacher union locals in the country. How did you do that?

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/25_01/25_01_petersonsokolower.shtml

[jtuck004]

1. K&R. This is a great organizational leadership story...

about the people who really do the work. Far better than Duncan's approach, I think.

Why people unrec, I'll never know. But they can't un- K&R ;)

Thanks for this.

[Hannah Bell]

2. you're welcome. CORE is impressive so far; much more so than duncan et al.

I hope teachers are starting to organize on the same model.

one thing i took from it is that first, you need to *show up*.

the teachers' unions are selling their membership out. teachers need to take them over.

[BeFree]

5. Show Up? Are you crazy?

Why can't I just sit here and change the world from my keyboard?

You actually think I need to go look these communists in the eye and demand they include me in the meetings and the decisions? Can't someone else do it? Why don't we just hire high-priced lobbyist like THEY do?

I don't want to work, I just want to bang on these keys all day.....

<g>

[Hannah Bell]

6. what are you talking about?

[BeFree]

7. Talking about showing up

From the OP:
""So we started going to the hearings. CORE went to every single school closing hearing, every single charter school opening. Our people asked questions, demanded answers, and testified against what was going on.""

With a hefty dose bit of sarcasm.

Ya know, humor.

[jtuck004]

8. Have you read this one?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/education/28school.html

Improvement within the union structure as well.

Sure belies what Duncan et al seem to think...

[Hannah Bell]

15. thanks.

[jtuck004]

9. Dupe - self delete

[Starry Messenger]

3. k & r

[Gabi Hayes]

4. this is IMPORTANT! it needs much more exposure. it's one of the only

tangible results of the outrage felt at the grassroots level by people who are suffering the wages of corporate control of, well....everything, basically.

as has been said, the last two huge targets left for the corporate pirates are public education and public 'entitlements' (completely mischaracterized as the second are). if they continue to make inroads at the pace they're occurring under our progressive president, it'll make even the hardest core privatizers of the previous admin shake their heads in admiration

[dkf]

10. You know why the charter movement is selling?

Because all those stories start with the kids. All these charter opposition stories start with preserving teacher jobs. The argument is lost right there.

Until the argument against charter schools starts with the detrimental effects on kids it won't work. And until you prove why keeping current teachers is best for kids, arguing to preserve their jobs won't work either. So you've got to prove you have the right teachers but the wrong system or admin or something before you can start to say teachers should be untouched.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. It's selling because of a 30 year disinformation campaign to tear down our schools

Looks like you fell for it.

Making it about teachers is a relatively new phase, with credit going to Bill Gates.

[dkf]

13. To me schools ARE teachers. Ergo fixing schools means fixing teachers.

I would sure love to fix kids but the government has no power to do anything other than arrest them for truancy. That assumption isn't through brainwashing but through my own experience.

And my only judgment on the quality of our schools is the number of dropouts, especially of black boys.

[Hannah Bell]

16. because the waltons, bill gates & eli broad own 9/10th of the country?

you always bring it back to your phony dichotomy: tenure v. children, teachers' job protections v. children.

it's phony as a $2 bill.

all the european countries have strong teachers' unions. so does japan. they have job protection, work rules, better pay.

it's not about choosing between teachers & children, much as you want to pretend it is.

but we know why you want to pretend it is. witch-hunts are a tool of elites: point to an official enemy & steamroll the populace with the elites' phony (& self-serving) "solution".

phony, top-down, billionaire-sponsored bullshit.

only someone who thinks *india* is some kind of role model for education could buy into it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. I was very impressed by the CORE folks I met an our national convention in July

They said they reached out to schools being threatened with closing by the administration in Chicago. And they told them they couldn't prevent the closing but they could help them organize their community to then fight the closing.

Very impressive work and brilliant organizational strategies. I can't speak highly enough of CORE.

[EFerrari]

14. K&R

[laughingliberal]

17. K & R nt