The hubris of Brizard and Rahm toward Chicago public school teachers is really a shame.

madfloridian

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Sat Jun-25-11 11:25 PM
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The hubris of Brizard and Rahm toward Chicago public school teachers is really a shame.

They went to a charter school last week, and while there they talked of public schools in third person mode....as though they were inconsequential and not worthy of a visit. That's typical of our Democratic leaders now, they only visit charter schools with other reformers.

The school board appointed by Rahm voted to take away the 4% raise which had already been negotiated by teachers. They said there was not enough money, yet the administrators got raises added to their already large salaries. Rahm approved of this 4% raise being stopped, saying that it would hurt the students. He is saying that when teachers stand up for themselves or fight for better working conditions, they are hurting students. That is an insulting thing to say.

Kids got 'the shaft' while CPS teachers got raises

(AP/M. Spencer Green) Emanuel says Chicago Public Schools students "got the shaft" while union teachers got pay raises.

That's hubris also, accusing teachers of harming children for wanting a pay raise. Arrogant.

Jean-Claude Brizard wants to carry the cuts further, refusing to give automatic pay raises for experience and credentials. The reformers don't believe that those with advanced degrees deserve a raise, and they may take away what we call the "step" raises for experience.

But wait until you hear what Jean-Claude Brizard intends to demand of the teachers after cutting their raises. Oh, and before folks step in here to say that's great...teachers should make home visits...let me explain about that.

We used to do that for years. It is a great idea. However the hours it takes means that much less time spent at home with family or preparing for class time.

And the really strange thing was that the people who stopped it were the parents. Yes, it really happened. There were enough of them who thought of the visits as intruding on their home lives, government butting into their business so to speak. So there are two sides to that at least. Anyway that is just the tip of the iceberg of what he wants to demand of teachers.

CPS teachers making home visits? New CEO Jean-Claude Brizard floats idea

Mayor Rahm Emanuel visits Officer Donald J. Marquez Charter School and participates in a town hall discussion with students, teachers and parents. Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard,Elizabeth Swanson, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Mayor for Education, Emanuel and UNO CEO Juan Rangel observed teacher Heather Aspen's 1st grade class. | Rich Hein~Sun-Times

If Brizard gets his way, teachers could also lose their automatic pay raises for experience and credentials and be asked to pay two �home visits� each year to build a �better connection� to students� parents or guardians.

.."If the Chicago Teachers Union contract will allow it, Brizard said he �absolutely� wants to replicate the UNO model and implement a longer school day and school year championed by Emanuel and authorized by state lawmakers.

If you change no other factors, if you only require longer hours....all you will get from that is tired teachers and children.

When asked how a system grappling with a $712 million deficit could afford to compensate teachers for more time in the classroom, Brizard talked about also eliminating the pay raises of between 1 and 5 percent teachers get for adding experience or boosting their credentials.

Brizard mentioned two visits a year by each teacher, which I assume to mean two visits to the home of each child in a year. There are good points to that. But good grief, he is taking away all the chances they have for raises, giving them longer hours and days...and demanding so much more. It is also a total lack of respect and understanding for what teachers do.

He made it sound like teachers were fearful to go there to the homes.

Brizard bristled when asked whether he considered it safe to send teachers into crime-ridden Chicago neighborhoods.

�Our kids go there every single day, so why not?� he said. �As a teacher, I visited schools. I visited homes. I worked in Bushwick, Brooklyn. It was not a cupcake neighborhood. If our kids go there every single day, why shouldn�t our adults be there, too?�

Cupcake neighborhood? What a weird thing for an education CEO to say.

It's hubris from a man who left his last job with some very negative feelings from teachers. He made a very strange remark. He said he was not a "serial superintendent."

"I am not a serial superintendent,� Brizard said."

"Jean-Claude Brizard, Mayor-elect Emanuel's choice to head Chicago Public Schools, fielded questions in Rochester, NY yesterday about his decision to leave that city's school district for the challenges of handling the nation's third-largest public school system. Brizard tried to downplay the perception in Rochester that he's an opportunist and said he's leaving because he became a "lightning rod" for criticism.

�I'm not going to say I'm not ambitious. Everyone wants to be ambitious. I work hard. For me, it is about the work, not about money and certainly not about seeing what is next. I am not a serial superintendent,� Brizard said.

Nice to know.

..."After some media reports that indicated Brizard's leaving for another job may have been subject to a mutual agreement, Rochester's school board seems to be saying, "good riddance." School Board Member Van White told the Sun-Times he believes Brizard should cover the costs of searching for his successor instead of taxpayers. With Brizard leaving for Chicago on a fast train, details are now coming out regarding his handling of the Rochester schools that seem to conflict with the "reformer" message he and Emanuel are touting to the press."

The Chicago Sun Times had an editorial about those home visits which I found interesting.

Teacher home visits should be voluntary

A chat in a living room can help cement a key relationship. A home visit can show parents how much a teacher cares. And when a teacher sees a student�s home life firsthand, it goes a long way toward explaining what she sees in the classroom.

.."But Chicago Public Schools leaders would foolish and naive if they tried to require all schools to do home visits.

The visits, which would be about 30 per teacher, are immensely time-consuming, may be unwelcome to some parents and can be unsafe. Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard, a former teacher who regularly visited his students, bristled when asked about safety, saying �Our kids go there every single day, so why not?�

Fair enough, but it�s unfair to dismiss legitimate concerns teachers may have. Making sure teachers feel safe is vital to making home visits worthwhile.

Indeed some parents would find it unwelcome. They did in our area. It made many of them uncomfortable, when a phone call could serve the same purpose in most cases.

Rahm hired Brizard even though his record in Rochester was very iffy. It just did not seem to matter. It seems that accountability is only limited to teachers.

Rochester's new mayor, Thomas Richards, described the schools as poor.

"Look, this performance is no good," Richards said. "We simply can't allow this kind of performance to go on and on and on without significant change."

Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel announced Brizard's appointment to lead CPS on Monday, the centerpiece in a complete overhaul of leadership at the beleaguered Chicago school district.

On Wednesday, Brizard faced some of his critics at a news conference at school district headquarters in Rochester. In his first public remarks since appearing with Emanuel in Chicago, Brizard defended his record and said he was leaving the district on solid ground.

The new reformer leaders do not demand accountability of themselves. However they have the nerve to take away teachers' pay and job security and demand far more of them. That is hubris. They have made teachers and other public employees the enemy in order to force through their plans for corporatization of education.

It is "overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance".