In the year prior, CTU had lost $4 million. Photo: CLARISSA BONET | HAIR AND MAKEUP: DENISE MILLOY/MAKEUP MAGIC INC. Age: 43. Chicago Teachers Union, Constitution. Stacy says, What about the rest of the kids? Sharkey recounts. The Chicago Teachers Union voted to go on strike on Oct. 17. Accessed June 02, 2020. Then You Havent Been Paying Attention. chicagotribune.com. Her detractors blame her for contributing to a contentious relationship between the CTU and the mayor that resulted in an 11-school-day teachers strike in October 2019the longest in decades. It was a tough year, she says. This whole country said at one point, postGeorge Floyd, that Black lives matter, she called out from the Jacqueline B. Vaughn Hall stage on that final night of February. [1] Law, Justin, The Courts vs. As a 19-year-old, she says, it wasnt clear to me that injustices are already embedded into our school communitieslarger societal deficits, disinvestments., After college, Gates moved to Chicago, a city that had beckoned and shaped her elders. In 2017, Ms. Davis Gates was elected Chair of United Working Families, an independent political organization by and for working class people and our movements. On the elevator, I asked her if her speech was prepared. Subscribe for free today! CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates speaks about parents keeping their CPS students remote until Lightfoot's CPS team provides testing and safety guarantees as teachers, parents and members of the Chicago Teachers Union outside Park Manor Elementary on Jan. 3, 2022. In addition to leading the political and legislative agendas for the CTU, Stacy is a regular contributor to radio shows and print publications. [38], The Chicago Teachers Union is led by CTU President Jesse Sharkey, who was appointed to the position in 2018. 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. Accessed June 02, 2020. This effort resulted in both support and opposition. They are a measure that Duncan, who went on to become U.S. education secretary, exercised frequently during his eight-year stint as CEO and that Rahm Emanuel put to use as mayor. 2020. I was meant to be a Chicagoan., In 2004, she became one, landing a job as a history teacher at Englewood High School. Accessed June 02, 2020. Accessed June 02, 2020. [2] In the 2010s and early 2020s, the CTU has aligned with the ideological radical left; in 2019,the union faced criticism after representatives including a union executive board member traveled to Venezuela in support of the de facto socialist dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro. Day, Marcus, The International Socialist Organization backs Mayor Emanuels attack on Chicago teachers, World Socialist Web Site, February 18, 2016. May 24, 2022 | Blair Paddock. I liked the ability to free someone from something that was unfair or unjust.. [14] After a strike in 1987, there was a period of relative peace, with no teacher strikes until 2012. That was the moment I was radicalized.. We know how to teach remotely. That figure is composed of merit raises and other specific pools of raises that do not apply to all union members across the board. 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. You may use these HTML tags and attributes:
, Enter your email address to receive new and updated COAL website news articles. [42], In its Form 990 disclosure for July 2017 to June 2018, the Chicago Teachers Union had total revenue of $28 million and total expenses of $30 million, resulting in a net loss of approximately $2 million. Gates and her husband, Kevin, have three childrenin second, fifth, and seventh grades. Chicago is a city that can leave behind, even devour, its young. Bernie Sanders, also vying for the presidential nomination, attended a CTU rally before the strike. And also really scared. But the union's vice president, Stacy Davis Gates, said teachers are dealing with "severe staffing shortages" and a lack of mitigation measures against Covid-19. Paraprofessionals & school-related personnel, Standing united to protect immigrant rights, DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), Safe and welcoming public schools for all, AFT resources for organizing and back to school programs. So not only does she really have a lot of head for strategy and thinking about politics, but she also tracks a tremendous amount of things, in both a good and a bad way. Thats one reason negotiations have been fractious with the mayors team. to promote racial, economic and social justice in order to achieve educational justice and build community and labor coalitions to achieve that objective. When the school closed in 2008, Gates moved to Roberto Clemente Community Academy in Ukrainian Village, a high school that had been tasked with absorbing students reassigned from Austin Community Academy High School, which was shuttered in 2007. That was the moment I was radicalized.. Gatess allies, though, credit her with helping transform the landscape at the citys 636 public schools, which are on track to add a nurse and social worker to every building by 2024a hard-fought victory in the strike three years ago. [9] It would not rejoin the AFT until 1937, when the Chicago Teacher Federation and various other Chicago teacher organizations consolidated to create the Chicago Teachers Union, which once again joined the American Federation of Teachers as Local 1. Yet they remain a part of Gates. Website by Governmental Strategic Solutions, LLC. [8], In 1916, the Chicago Teacher Federation founded the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and became the Local 1. Continue to pray for Ukraine. (Lewis died in 2021.) My credibility came slowly, and it had nothing to do with my instruction or my understanding of content, she says. Accessed June 02, 2020. In addition, CTU PAC donated $1.2 million to candidates and political organizations. The Chicago Teachers Union has elected a new president: Stacy Davis Gates. Ms. Davis Gates lives on the South Side of Chicago with her husband and three children. 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. Accessed June 01, 2020. The ongoing pandemic has disproportionately affected Chicagos Black and brown residents, who make up close to 90 percent of CPS families. Their daughters, Laura and Hazel, are named after Gatess grandmothers, both of whom picked cotton to earn money. Accessed June 02, 2020. We may not like it, but it just makes sense right now. The fact that you have to fight for these things, it feels like punishment. But she has no choice, she says. And it was an early glimpse at the way some kids are placed on a path to succeed, while others are left behind. 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. DJN. Accessed June 02, 2020. Elizabeth Warren, a presidential candidate at the time, joined teachers on the picket line on a blustery October morning. At a press conference shortly after the majority of CTU members voted in January to work remotely, Lightfoot accused the union of turning Chicago into a laughingstock all across the country and declared: We will not pay you to abandon your posts and your children at a time when they and their families need us most. Davis Gates is currently on leave from the classroom, where she taught high school social studies for over a decade at Englewood, Clemente, and Mason Community Links high schools. She has raised millions of dollars to elect classroom teachers to all levels of local government, and challenge school privatizers and union busters. If you dont fight for it, you wont receive it.. [23], The Chicago Teachers Union also operates a philanthropic organization, the Chicago Teachers Union Foundation (CTUF). Im PROUD of you. She graduated from John Marshall High School and proudly serves on the schools alumni committee. Chicago magazine newsletters have you covered. In January, shortly after teachers and students returned to their classrooms, students staged a massive walkout to protest a lack of safety mitigations during a record-setting surge of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. 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. Shes also extremely sensitive. When my members hear how much I love them, they hear Laura., Shes loath to squander the opportunities they provided her. Stacy Davis Gates, the incumbent vice president, led CORE's slate and will take over as president with her running mate Jackson Potter for a three-year term beginning July 1. Accessed June 02, 2020. And it also is paralyzing, because youre trying to make sense out of nonsense.. 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. Year: 2016: Full Name: Stacy Davis Gates EDITOR'S NOTE, OCTOBER 30, 2019: The profile below was first published on August 2, 2019. In 2020, the city was running an $838 million budget deficit, and Chicagos school system bonds have been rated below investment-grade in recent years. CTU argued that this was an undue burden. She attended Saint Marys College, the University of Notre Dame, and Concordia University. Find out where to go, what to eat, where to live, and more. (When asked about it on the Crains Chicago Business podcast A.D. Q&A in January, Gates said that the notion of her running was something she first heard from Lightfoots lips and was not a priority for her. So we got next. [19] Ultimately, when the 11-day strike ended, the city of Chicago declined to incorporate housing policy into the contract with CTU. After the Chicago Teachers Union achieved the power to collectively bargain, CTU teachers went on strike nine times in twenty years, with four strikes in the first seven years. She remembers Arne Duncan, CPSs CEO at the time, delivering the news at her building. [34], Between October 2018 and October 2019, the CTU donated $1.7 million to political campaigns and related political action committees. Salary Constraint Annual Dues; Members other than Paraprofessional: $57,869* or more: Between $46,439* and $57,869* 1% of salary. [1] American Federation of Teachers, To Form a More Perfect Union. 1)Frederick Douglass, Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight, 2)When they call you a terrorist, a black lives matter memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors & Asha Bandele, foreword by Angela Y. Davis, 3)How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates. Accessed June 02, 2020. When the group first challenged the unions current administration three years ago, Sharkey won reelection handily, with two-thirds of the vote. I am not a union member nor am I a teacher but if you knocked on my door with that speech, I would start paying Chicago Teachers Union dues. The Chicago Teachers Union has some 20,000 teacher and clinician members. Thats my family, she said. 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. She attended Saint Marys College, the University of Notre Dame, and Concordia University. One-on-One with CTU President-Elect Stacy Davis Gates. Accessed June 02, 2020. Three years ago, TEAM Englewood closed as well. Gates understands the frustration, particularly around strikes. Ms. Davis Gates lives on the South Side of Chicago with her husband and three children. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. Stacy can be contacted at [emailprotected]. She is also the Executive Vice President of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and an Executive Vice President of the American Federation of Teachers. The challengers. Because focusing on the actual context and the thing? But it was an early taste, she says, of airing a grievance, of pushing back on behalf of those who arent in the room. Guidestar, Chicago Teachers Union, 2017 990. Holocaust-denier gets nearly 40 percent of vote in 2 Mount Greenwood precincts. Photo: CLARISSA BONET | HAIR AND MAKEUP: DENISE MILLOY/MAKEUP MAGIC INC. Stacy Davis Gates has served as the Political and Legislative Director for the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) for the past six years. [5], In the 2019 negotiation with Chicago, the CTUs key negotiating goals were the duration of the contract, increased support staff (including elimination of privatized nurses), reduced class sizes, increased compensation and benefits, and job security protections, including limiting some teacher evaluations and Principal authority over grading practices. South Side of Chicago McQueary, Kristen. In fall 2019, she helped lead a 15-day strike and negotiate a historic contract that provides for smaller class sizes, ensures a nurse and social worker in every Chicago public school, secures sanctuary protections for immigrant families, and supports students and families experiencing homelessness. Stacy Davis GatesPresident, Chicago Teachers Union Stacy Davis Gates is the President of the Chicago Teachers Union and the Executive Vice President of the I. Wikipedia. Discord between CTU leadership and the mayor is hardly novel, either. Thank You! Davis Gates has also spearheaded successful statewide legislative campaigns to pass the strongest charter school accountability measures in the country, to restore the bargaining rights of Chicago Public Schools employees, and to fully fund public education by ending tax loopholes for the 1%. The winning caucus of Rank-and-File Educators, or CORE Caucus, secured 56% of the vote. Really tired. Accessed June 01, 2020. We felt like the system was being sabotaged by the people who were in charge of it, and the union was the one institution that had both the interest and the ability to do something about that. But she didnt play any games. Enrollment had declined precipitously. Sharkey taught at Chicago Vocational Career Academy (CVCA). Accessed June 01, 2020. The couples son is named after his father. Photo: Colin Boyle/Associated Press These are people who represent institutions, and the institutions have conflict, and the conflict is about how resources get spent and whose opinions get to count and how power and money are spent. I think about them often in this work, she says. If someone mistreats her, she notices. Before her election to the office of President in 2022, Ms. Davis Gates served for four years as Vice President of the Union. Copyright 2023 InfluenceWatch. ), My counsel to her is One thing at a time, Sharkey says. It was like a family. The CTU represents Chicago area teachers in regular collective bargaining contract agreements. Both branches took the same path, Gates says. We got next because theres a Stacy Gates.. Bellware, Kim, Chicago teachers say they will go on strike. Chicago Teachers Union, CTU History. Animosity between the CTU and the mayor, who controls the citys schools, often dominates the discourse around public education in Chicago. It felt like people were still begging American institutions to see our humanity. (That didnt rattle Lewis, who years later told a crowd gathered at the Hideout for an event, I know bad words, too. Chicago Teachers Union vice president Stacy Davis Gates talks about the looming vote to decide whether members will work remotely, in opposition to the schoo. This salary is 12 percent lower than average and 18 percent lower than median salary in Chicago Teachers Union. It felt like the humanity was removed from us. He hasnt publicly ruled it out, but he says his current plan is to return to the classroom. It felt like we were set up to take this fall because there were few investments, few supports, and timetables for achievement that they knew we couldnt meet. Belsha, Kalyn, Chicago teachers union leaders back Sanders, becoming latest to offer personal endorsements as unions tread carefully, Chalkbeat, March 04, 2020. Whenever I see our sister, you know who I see? Stamps called out. Stacy Davis Gates is the President of the Chicago Teachers Union. You are confronted with different children from different households coming inside a school community who are processing rape and violence and trauma in so many different ways. Her maternal grandmother left Arkansas, worked on the West Side of Chicago, and wound her way to South Bend. Email Monica Trevino at Mtrevino@ift-aft.org. [1] Grossman, Ron, As Chicago teachers vote to authorize a strike, a look back at the citys labor history, Chicago Tribune, September 27, 2019. Dont be compelled to turn around and walk backwards in the time of need. The impact of historical, generational disinvestment on the South Side and West Side of the city is difficult for people who are experiencing it to challenge, because its every day and it covers all facets of their existence. Despite Chicago Public School enrollment dropping by over 6,000 students in 2019, and by 80,000 students since 2000, the Chicago Teachers Union has refused to allow schools, even failing schools, to close. [43], https://www.aft.org/periodical/psrp-reporter/fall-2015/form-more-perfect-union ^. Neither side backs down from the fight. At the national level, Christel has worked on the PSRP Professional Problems Committee for the American Federation of Teachers and was a member of its Summer Organizing Institute in Houston, Texas. The Chicago Teacher Federation threw itself into political advocacy, organizing behind candidates who were favorable to their goals. She has raised millions of dollars to elect classroom teachers to all levels of local government and to challenge school privatizers and union-busters. Chicago Teachers Union, Press Release: STRIKE! I think about the lessons I got as a kid: You have to be twice as good to get half as much. Prior to that, she served as the unions Political and Legislative Director. Widely known as the firebrand counterpart to wonky union head Jesse Sharkey and viewed by some as at least as powerful among the rank and file this former CPS teacher gained a reputation for backing down to no one, not even Mayor Lightfoot, who reportedly resorted to barring her from final negotiations. Sharkey was first elected vice president in 2010, when Karen Lewis was elected CTUs president. Ms. Davis Gates lives on the South Side of Chicago with her husband and three children. When the CTU had the city nailed to the wall during last years 11-day-long strike, the unions No. Mitch Smith and Monica Davey, Chicago Teachers Strike, Longest in Decades, Ends, New York Times, October 31, 2019. In 2017, Davis Gates was elected chair of United Working Families, an independent political organization for working class people and movements. She made it OK to be powerful, curious, and vulnerable all at the same time.. 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