January 25, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Bond has been set at $500,000 for a basketball coach at EPIC Academy Charter School in Chicago accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old student he offered a ride home.
As public funding for Chicago charter schools increases, so do questions about accountability and governance within these publicly-funded–but privately-run–institutions.
(CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Bond has been set at $500,000 for a basketball coach at EPIC Academy Charter School in Chicago accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old student he offered a ride home.
Weeks after Federico “Fred” d’Escoto stepped down from the board of the United Neighborhood Organization, his company, d’Escoto Inc., got its first check from the influential charter-school operator toward what now totals more than $1.8 million in state-funded payments.But d’Escoto Inc.’s ties to UNO — part of a pattern of insider hiring now under scrutiny by state authorities — date back years before that, internal documents obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show.
The controversial president of ASPIRA charter schools was fired late Monday evening during a stormy board meeting that included a chorus of community protests about ASPIRA’s management...
[ASPIRA CEO Jose Rodriguez] is no stranger to controversy...More recently, under Rodriguez’s leadership, ASPIRA schools were investigated in 2008 for strip-searching high school girls and altering grades.
But in the end, according to sources, it was the test scores of ASPIRA students that led to Rodriguez’s dismissal. ASPIRA students have underperformed Chicago Public Schools averages for at least the last six years, according Illinois Report Card data...
...ASPIRA operates three high schools and one middle school.
Samantha Kipp, an ASPIRA teacher and council president of the Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, presented a litany of complaints to the board, including a lack of resources such as textbooks and computers and administrators showing disrespect to teachers in front of students...
Former Prairie Crossing Charter School principal Brian Greene has filed a lawsuit contending his firing in December was based on false claims against him by Director Nigel Whittington and two others.
Greene’s attorney, Anthony Esposito of Libertyville, filed the suit Tuesday in Lake County circuit court. More than $50,000 in damages are sought from the Grayslake public choice school for claims including breach of contract, defamation, civil conspiracy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Court documents state Whittington made bogus claims against Greene in a letter last Nov. 29 recommending the principal’s dismissal. Whittington falsely stated Greene disclosed the substance of confidential teacher union negotiations to a parent and lied about the completion of curriculum maps, the suit says.
The lawsuit also contends false comments by former Prairie Crossing board member Mark Dybas and his wife, school spokeswoman Dilrukshi Dybas, were used by Whittington as part of his ouster. The Dybases have a child who attends the school...
Along with the charter school, Whittington, the Dybases and all board members were named individually.
Prairie Crossing Charter School's board president says she doesn't want bickering among her colleagues to hurt education there, so she's asked a state agency for help.
Temporary legal advice and oversight for the elected officials at the suburbs' only charter school is on the way from the Illinois State Board of Education.
Representatives from the state are expected to meet with officials at the Grayslake public school this week. In part, the board wants state guidance on "acceptable standards for civil behavior."…
In the past month or so, the following incidents have occurred at Prairie Crossing, which is the suburbs' only charter school:
- Board member John Rizzo leveled accusations against a colleague. After some board members tried to quiet him, Rizzo went into the audience and said he'd continue speaking as a parent, not an official.
At one point, board member Kim Vander Yacht demanded Rizzo's removal from the meeting room.
- Wiens and three others tried to oust board member Laura Elizabeth Fay as treasurer. Wiens contended Fay overstepped her bounds. The moved failed in a 4-4 vote.
Fay said her opponents were upset she reported the school had a "precarious cash flow."
- Director Myron Dagley issued a memo stating a "hostile and ugly" office atmosphere created by a board member prompted three employees to threaten to quit.
State board of education officials hope this week's meeting creates a better understanding between the feuding board members, spokesman Matt Vanover said…
Prairie Crossing Charter School's director says a "hostile and ugly" office atmosphere created by a board member has triggered the pending resignations of at least three administrators.
Myron Dagley, the director and top administrator, issued a memo last week stating Prairie Crossing is "dead in the water" if the employees suddenly quit…
Dagley didn't name the board member he contends is causing problems or the employees who want to quit. He said the pending resignations of three or possibly four staffers stem from personal attacks and accusations of inappropriate actions spread by the board member…
He said the board member at issue has created a "hostile and ugly work environment," prompting his friends to ask if Prairie Crossing Charter School is a "crazy place."
Administrators subjected to the rumors and innuendo live in the Grayslake area and have been confronted by residents about such "tripe" while in the community, Dagley said…
At least one board member at Prairie Crossing Charter School in Grayslake is frustrated with one of its co-founders, who sold land to a nearby private Montessori program for $10.
Prairie Crossing board member John Rizzo of Gurnee said it would have been good if the charter school had received a similar $10 deal from Victoria Ranney. She was a founding board member when the public charter school opened in 1999.
Ranney is president of Prairie Holdings Corp., which developed the namesake subdivision where the charter school was built. The public school borrowed $2.3 million to buy its buildings and property from Prairie Holdings.
"If we were not paying debt service (like interest) on $2.3 million," Rizzo said, "we'd be in much better shape than we are now."
However, Ranney said Wednesday that Rizzo's reasoning was unfair. Lake Forest Montessori School broke ground last week for a building on a Prairie Crossing organic farm site that it purchased for $10.
"The situation is not comparable," Ranney said.
Ranney said she won't be drawn into any effort to pit the two schools against each other because her family has put its support behind both institutions…
Financial woes recently led Prairie Crossing's interim director to say officials must consider reducing staff and halting almost all spending in discretionary accounts so the school can live within its means.
Whether Grayslake's Prairie Crossing Charter School is better off with a nine-member board that consists of mostly appointed members was up for debate Tuesday night.
Six of Prairie Crossing's board members are appointed and three elected by parents. A petition with about 120 signatures presented at Tuesday's board meeting contends Prairie Crossing should become more democratic and have six of the nine board members elected by parents.
Proponents of the current structure say Prairie Crossing is a nonprofit corporation unlike traditional school districts and needs a board that selects most of its members with the right expertise…
Todd Lemmon represented those who want a board mostly elected by Prairie Crossing parents. He said that would lead to better representation and accountability.
"It just goes right to the heart of good corporate governance in a democracy," Lemmon said.
However, parent Steve Barg said Prairie Crossing's board works well under the current system and that a majority of elected members could tamper with the "unique, innovative and different" charter school. He also questioned the petition submitted by Lemmon.
"I've heard from several parents who feel they were pressured into signing (the petition), and now regret that they did," Barg said…
In the cramped main office of the Choir Academy of Chicago Charter School a photo shows off beaming choir students singing in the grassy infield of U.S. Cellular Field as fans crowd the stands behind them…
The snapshots will stand as highlights for the 7-year-old school, whose leaders Thursday told more than 30 parents and their children that a $500,000 budget deficit is forcing them to close the doors at the end of the school year…
The coed school, modeled after New York's Boys Choir of Harlem Academy, had been struggling for at least a year. Last May, it had to enlist school leaders, teachers, and parents to raise funds to pay for teacher health benefits and salaries.
The financial problems stem partly from a move made last year from a nearby Catholic school to its current location at 3630 S. Wells St., where it shares space with Abbott Elementary School. After the move, enrollment dropped from 200 students and now stands at 140 students, Muldrow said.
The enrollment drop meant the school lost some state funding…
According to state data, 11 percent of charter students left in 2009. There has yet to be a comprehensive analysis of why students leave charters. But many of these schools have strict rules that are tougher than those in traditional schools…
Noble Street and other charter schools emphasize calm and order as a prerequisite to learning. To accomplish this, many charters have discipline codes that are tougher than the CPS Student Code of Conduct.
But tougher rules are a double-edged sword. Charter critics say these schools routinely push out problem students, forcing neighborhood high schools to cope with more than their share of troublesome youth.
A joint investigation by Catalyst Chicago and WBEZ-Chicago found a complicated dynamic: A higher percentage of students transfer out and are expelled from charter schools than from traditional schools. Yet interviews with parents and students reveal support for tough rules, and do not support the notion that charters are inordinately “pushing out” children with behavior or academic problems.
The Catalyst / WBEZ investigation found that:
About one out of every 10 charter school students (2,700 out of 24,659) who were enrolled in 2009 either transferred to another school or otherwise failed to return in the fall of 2009, according to the Illinois State Board of Education Charter School Annual Report. (That number does not include students who left CPS.)
Traditional schools do not have comparable statistics. But an internal CPS memo provides evidence suggesting that students are more likely to leave charters: Between November 2008 and November 2009, 20 percent of students from traditional schools transferred out, compared to 26 percent of charter students, according to the memo. The memo also states that students who transferred were more likely to have lower test scores.
Charter schools expelled 146 students in 2009, or 5 of every 1,000—a higher rate of expulsion than traditional schools, which posted an expulsion rate of 1.5 for every 1,000 students. (See chart.) In 85 percent of charter school cases, students were expelled for less serious offenses that are not eligible for expulsion under CPS rules. Once expelled, charter students are sent back to their neighborhood school by the district’s Office of Adjudication.
Magnet schools are comparable to charter schools, with lotteries for coveted seats and no attendance boundaries. Charter school operators often boast of long waiting lists; one school says it had a list of about 11,000 students this year. Yet a far higher percentage of students leave charter schools. As of yet, there’s no comprehensive study to explain the discrepancy…
From interviews with charter school officials, students and parents, it’s clear that some students leave—or are counseled out—of charters because they can’t or won’t, get on board with the school’s rules and requirements. Neighborhood schools do not have the luxury to adopt their own discipline codes or force parents to sign agreements that students will comply.
At Noble Street, for instance, credit recovery costs $140 per class, nearly three times the cost at a traditional public school.
“It was ridiculous,” says Rosalla Bernard, who took her son, Christopher, out of Noble Street’s Rowe-Clark Math and Science Academy in Humboldt Park. “$5 for coming late. $5 here and $5 there. It seemed like a lot of punishment.”…
April Goble, executive director of KIPP Ascend Charter, says she has actively worked to eliminate some of the factors that might force students to leave. About 13 percent of students transferred out of KIPP in 2009. (KIPP, for Knowledge is Power Program, is a national network of college prep charter schools.)…
Only 16 percent of students expelled from charter schools are sent to an alternative school, where students from traditional Chicago public schools are sent upon expulsion. The rest of the students kicked out of charters are sent to regular neighborhood schools. The reason? Charter school discipline codes are tougher than the districts, and many of the offenses that get students expelled from charter schools aren’t severe enough to warrant expulsion from CPS…
Charter schools are being talked about a lot lately as a strategy for improving urban education. In Chicago, families line up for the chance to get their kids into these schools, drawn by tougher discipline and academic standards; 11,000 kids are currently on waiting lists…
But a closer look shows that some Chicago charters lose 15, 20, even 25 percent of their students in a year—and these are schools kids are clamoring to get into…
This story was produced with support from the Hechinger Report, a nonprofit news source based at Teachers College, Columbia University.
An influential Latino community group that oversees a number of charter schools in Chicago tried to cover up the sexual assault of a student -- and retaliated against the teacher reporting the incident, a federal lawsuit claims.
The alleged assault occurred last November at the Major Hector P. Garcia M.D. High School, run by the United Neighborhood Organization, or UNO.
A male student getting ready in the locker room for gym class was pinned by a teenager while another student rubbed his genitals against the victim, according to the lawsuit and interviews.
The alleged victim resisted and was beaten, to the extent that red marks were visible on his body, the suit claims.
When gym teacher David Corral saw the boy minutes later, it was clear something had transpired, so Corral contacted a counselor for help, the suit says.
School officials pieced together what happened, police were called to the South Side building -- at 4248 W. 47th St. -- and the alleged assailants were arrested, the suit claims. Law enforcement authorities confirmed the two were arrested, but the case was eventually dropped.
Corral was fired days later for "improper monitoring of students' behavior overall and in the locker rooms," according to UNO spokesman Mark Flores.
Corral, though, filed a lawsuit against the UNO Charter School Network in June saying he really was canned because he blew the whistle on the incident, which school officials had wanted to keep secret…
Garcia High, which has 450 students, is one of UNO's nine charter schools. They receive public funding but aren't subject to many of the stringent rules in place at traditional public schools.
The inspector general's office for Chicago Public Schools was unaware of the lawsuit until contacted by the Better Government Association.
An IG official said his agency has jurisdiction to look into the matter, and now plans to do so…
CHARTER SCHOOL FAILS THE TEST, SHUTS DOORS, January 17, 1999, Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Chicago Preparatory Charter School was conceived with lofty goals, by an official with Mayor Daley's Office of Substance Abuse Policy, for a needy student population - recovering drug and alcohol abusers.
And yet, marijuana smoking was common in washrooms, students were allowed "therapeutic" cigarette breaks, and reading scores were the worst in the city, former students and Chicago public school officials say.
After 1 1/2 years, Chicago Prep has become the first city charter school to shut its doors. Left in its wake are unpaid bills, dozens of displaced students and angry parents. As students scramble to find new high schools in midyear, some of their parents question whether Chicago's experiment in charter schools needs more supervision. Others wonder how the school could have ever hired a former Chicago public school principal who had been fired for alleged ghost payrolling...
As one of 11 city charter schools operating this school year, Chicago Prep received $290,000 in taxpayer funds and functioned free of most state and union rules in exchange for a "charter" promising certain results. However, the school still has not produced an audit due Nov. 1 under its charter, never paid into the teacher pension fund as required by law, has not paid its teachers since November, and never secured its planned location, said Greg Richmond, the Chicago Board of Education's charter school point man.Record keeping for some programs ranged from a "confusing mess" to "non-existent," Richmond said...
Even Chicago Prep board member and spokesman Jim Fair did not know the amount of the school's debt, but said the school hopes to reopen this fall. Fair said he was unaware that the principal, Judith Riggins, had been fired from the Chicago Board of Education in 1995 following allegations that, while principal of Fuller Elementary, she placed her son on the payroll even though he did no work.
Although Riggins said she had merely paid her son for work several months after he did it, a state hearing officer ruled there was "no valid documentation" that the son had ever performed the work. The hearing officer found Riggins had twice submitted falsified records - including once under subpoena - that stated the work had been done at a time when her son had actually been away at college. The hearing officer called Fuller's record keeping "substandard" and Riggin's offense "irremediable."
Since Chicago Prep's closure, Riggins has become director of Chicago College Preparatory High School, 2314 E. 83rd St., school material indicates. She did not return phone calls for comment. Last year, Chicago Prep's high school reading scores tied for worst in the city. On a typical day, a third of its students failed to show up, board records reveal...
[Nicole] Montalvo said her daughter was among at least three students without substance problems who were recruited and told the school was expanding beyond recovering substance abusers. Montalvo said Riggins promised a "gifted" setting in which Destini would advance at her own pace in small classes. Instead, Destini said she took a chemistry class in a school with no science lab, did jumping jacks and skipped rope in the cafeteria for physical education and never saw a gym, library or student computer. Such amenities were expected in a different location that never materialized, one teacher said.In a recent letter to other charter schools, Richmond said he "lost all confidence in the school's educational program." He wrote that "very rarely did I observe adults instructing students. Classrooms had numerous students napping, listening to music through headphones or reading the paper. . . . Students would enter and leave classrooms at will."...
Even as the Obama administration promotes charter schools as a way to help raise the academic performance of the nation’s students, half of Chicago’s charter schools have been running deficits in recent years, an analysis of financial and budget documents shows, calling into question their financial viability…
But even though Chicago’s charter schools brought in $21 million in private money from foundations, corporations and wealthy individuals in 2007 — the last year for which complete information is available — half have run an average of $700,000 in deficits in recent years, with some of the shortfalls reaching $4 million, according to an analysis of Chicago Public Schools data by Catalyst Chicago, an independent magazine on urban education.
The data showed that two-thirds of the schools could not cover core expenses, like salaries, facilities and overhead, without private money. A third needed private money to fill more than 20 percent of their budgets. A recent study by Ball State University found that Chicago’s charter schools depend far more on private financing than those in other big cities, including Boston, Miami and New York.
Robert Runcie, chief administrative officer for Chicago Public Schools, said the district needed to take a “serious look” at the fiscal health of charters and was developing a system for stricter oversight. Four Chicago charters have been shut down since the 1990s largely because of financial problems…
In addition, teacher turnover at charters is high: Catalyst Chicago’s analysis of charter teacher lists found that half of teachers left from 2008 to 2010, a rate comparable to that in many of the most troubled district-run schools.
Charter school operators say teacher turnover can be good if it means that bad teachers are being fired. But education experts say that high turnover is often a result of poor working conditions, and charter teachers typically work longer hours for less pay than teachers in traditional schools. Experts also say high turnover causes an unstable learning environment…[See New study: charter schools have more chronically inexperienced teachers ]
A host of national studies have found that charter-school performance is mixed and, on the whole, no better than that of traditional public schools…
Teachers at a Chicago charter school are now subject to private-sector labor laws, rather than state laws governing public workers. The move could impact how public schools are run down the road.The ruling, made by the National Labor Relations Board last month, said the Chicago Math and Science Academy is a “private entity” and therefore covered under the federal law governing the private sector.The decision overrules a vote taken by teachers last year to form a union in accordance with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act. At the time, two-thirds of teachers at the school approved the union and it became official under state law...
The Chicago Math and Science Academy (CMSA), a public charter school, fired a highly regarded pregnant teacher who helped organize a union at the school in June. The firing occurred as the school also challenged its teachers’ right to form a union.The teacher, Rhonda Hartwell, was eight months pregnant at the time of her firing and was forced to move up her scheduled delivery to ensure it occurred before her health insurance was cut off.“It’s one thing for the school to fight the union’s legitimacy, but it’s quite another to retaliate against a union organizer who has been rewarded with performance bonuses and was pregnant. This is about as low as an anti-union administration can go,” said Kim Bobo, executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice.Hartwell had just received a $1,500 performance bonus, and the school had renewed her contract in April, inviting her to come back to teach this fall. Attorneys for the union filed an unfair labor practice charge against the employer…Two-thirds of the teaching staff—well over the majority required by law—signed union authorization cards to be represented by the Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff (Chicago ACTS), an affiliate of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers. Chicago ACTS also represents teachers at eight other charter schools in Chicago.
Teachers and their supporters—which include local community groups, and religious, labor and political leaders—have vowed to fight what they say is a total disregard for the law by school officials…The school cited budget reasons for terminating Hartwell, but she and her colleagues are not buying it. They assert that CMSA is hiring new teachers, and a few days before the union organized, CMSA offered all teachers a 5 percent pay raise…
A top Chicago charter school has done great things for students, but won't recognize strong teacher support for a union...
Until last year, I only vaguely knew about the school because one of my choir members, who spoke highly of the school and its teachers, attended and graduated in its 2010 class, which had a college acceptance rate of 100 percent. But the school loomed larger when it moved from its original location to a spot about one block from my house.
Although I had been inside the school once, I had never met its leadership or teachers. Nor did I know much about its philosophy. I just knew it was doing a good job. The academy, as its website touts, is one of the top three charter schools in Chicago. It’s clearly doing something right for the students and their families. But there is some weirdness here…
What neither the Concept Schools nor the Chicago Math and Science Academy websites mention is that most of the leadership is part of something called the Gulen Movement. Despite my many years of interfaith work, I was not familiar with the Gulen Movement, although what I have read about it impresses me. But there is something weird about a charter school being so closely linked to a philosophy, the Gulen Movement, that isn’t even mentioned or referred to on its website.
When I went to the school’s board meeting on July 8, I was taken aback to see a board of directors comprised entirely of men. They all appeared of Turkish, Bosnian or Croatian descent. Although I have nothing against Turkish, Bosnian or Croatian men, it does seem that a school board serving students who are 58 percent Hispanic/Latino, 25 percent African American, 12 percent Asian and 5 percent white might be well served by some women board members and board members from ethnic backgrounds the school predominantly serves.
And now for what really worries me: In the winter of 2010, the teachers began to organize a union. They were concerned about staff turnover, which they believe is related to frustrations about having little input into decisions affecting their work and teaching. They were eager to help the school’s leadership grapple with issues around budgeting, staffing and turnover. The teachers believed that the best way for them to have the input they needed and affect the direction of the school was to organize a union.
So the teachers contacted Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff (Chicago ACTS), a local union of charter school teachers and staff members affiliated with the Illinois Federation of Teachers (AFT). Two-thirds of the teachers signed union authorization cards, clearly indicating strong teacher support for having a union.
On the afternoon of June 23, the teachers announced to Principal Ali Yilmaz that they were forming a union. But right before they marched into his office to deliver the message, Yilmaz, apparently tipped off about the event, fired Rhonda Hartwell…
Chicago Math and Science Academy has hired Seyfarth Shaw, a notoriously expensive union-busting law firm, to advise it in dealing with the union. Anyone who has experience in labor issues in Chicago knows the anti-union reputation of Seyfarth Shaw. It is sad that a school facing budget cuts would waste resources in hiring a law firm to help it fight having a union. But that is exactly what is happening……On July 29, Chicago Math and Science Academy filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board claiming it should be covered by the NLRB and not the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. This switch would mean that the school would not have to recognize the union, but would rather be able to insist on a board certified election. The principal told a community delegation I led on August 5 that he now believes the union wouldn’t have as many supporters with all the laid-off teachers. I’m sure he didn’t mean to imply that he laid off union supporters – but it sure sounded like it!
Compounding the ugly is the blatantly anti-union letter Yilmaz sent to parents. It is written in classic anti-union code – probably scripted by Seyfarth Shaw’s high-paid attorneys…
Join Arise Chicago, Chicago ACTS, and teachers from north-side Chicago Math and Science and Academy (CMSA) in taking action to recognize their union!
- Today, Thursday, Nov. 11
- 5:00 PM: Meet at Citizen Action Illinois, 27 E. Monroe, for pizza and to discuss the teachers’ situation.
- 5:45 PM: Walk down one block to 76 E. Monroe (University Club of Chicago) to leaflet dinner guests (at a Niagara
Foundation dinner – see below), hold a prayer vigil outside, and send a delegation inside with a letter requesting a meeting and action.
Because of the work of Arise Chicago, Chicago ACTS, and all of you who pledged your support, the teachers at Chicago Math and Science Academy (CMSA) are on a path to resolving the conflict with the school. Therefore, we are suspending tomorrow’s scheduled vigil aimed at the International Gulen Conference, sponsored by the Niagara Foundation.Acknowledging the widespread community support, the Foundation has responded positively and affirmatively to what the union requested. Foundation leaders wrote a letter to the CMSA Board of Directors repudiating the school’s refusal to accept the NLRB ruling favoring union rights for teachers. But the letter went further and invoked Niagara Foundation's own principles of promoting dialogue, civic engagement, human dignity and workers’ rights. It cited these principles in embracing fully the right of CMSA teachers to unionize!Foundation President Dr. Bulent Aydogan emphatically called on CMSA to:
- Withdraw the NLRB appeal,
- Recognize the teachers’ union,
- Negotiate with teachers, community leaders and union leadership to resolve all outstanding issues.
As a result, Concept Schools Inc., which operates CMSA, has agreed to meet with teachers, union and community leaders next week. This is an exciting step toward victory for these teachers! It is the sustained support and solidarity of our community allies that makes such victories possible. Thank you to all who pledged to attend the vigil and support these courageous teachers!
A highly regarded public charter school in Chicago has leveled a series of union-busting tactics at its teachers this fall—which has been met by a community-union partnership that’s fought back…The school is run by Concept Schools, which operates 24 other charters in the Midwest. Concept Schools is a participant in the Gülen Movement, an international, interfaith educational movement of “understanding and respect” that comes from Turkey.But considering the progressive politics of the area, and the supposed philosophy of the school, teachers and community members were disappointed when the teachers found neither understanding nor respect when it came to their decision to organize.When the CMSA teachers decided to begin organizing, they contacted the Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff. Chicago ACTS is a joint program of the Chicago Teachers Union and the state and national American Federation of Teachers. CMSA teachers and Chicago ACTS began meeting, often using nearby space at Arise Chicago, a local interfaith workers’ rights organization……When they approached the principal with a request to recognize their union, CMSA fired one of the lead organizing teachers (claiming budgetary reasons) and later filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board, arguing that the teachers should not be able to unionize because the school was not a public employer (even though the school’s own website lists CMSA as a “public charter school”).The NLRB rejected CMSA’s claim, ruling that the school was clearly part of the public education system, meaning its teachers and staff are public employees, who have the right to unionize. Once the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board certified the union, Chicago ACTS would be able to begin collective bargaining. Or so it seemed.School administrators filed an appeal, and community partners stepped up their support for the teachers.When Chicago ACTS learned that the Gülen movement was having its international conference in Chicago, teachers began strategizing how to boost their campaign. The conference was being supported by several sponsors—including the Niagara Foundation, which supports the Gülen movement.Chicago ACTS asked Arise Chicago to support a prayer vigil and action outside the conference’s opening event on November 11. Arise Chicago activated its network to turn out supporters…Now, Concept Schools will meet with teachers and union and community leaders during the week of November 15. The vigil was called off, as the sustained support of community allies brought victory one step closer.
CHICAGO - If Sulejman Dizdarevic were peeking out the window of his swanky law offices on Feb. 11, he surely would have been startled. There staring at him from the opposite side of the street, with bulging eyes, long nose and whiskers, chomping on a cigar and holding sacks of cash, was a giant, ugly rat.The inflatable rat was erected by supporters of teachers at Chicago Mathematics and Science Academy in front of Dizdarevic's office, because he sits on the board of directors of the charter school that they accuse of subverting teacher's rights to form a union and violating Illinois labor law by refusing to negotiate a contract. Dizdarevic is an attorney at Belongia, Shapiro and Franklin."Regardless of the anti-union reasons motivating these charters, we are finding fear of transparency is the key issue," said James Thindwa, an organizer for Chicago ACTS, which is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers and now represents teachers at eight charter schools."In almost every case, we have discovered that schools have more money than they claim. Teachers at Civitas were told there was no money for a raise, but when an audit was done, $2.5 million was found lying around," said Thindwa…"CMSA are saying this is a private school, not subject to state law," said Thindwa. "They walked away from the bargaining table despite the fact that this union is certified under state law. What CMSA is saying is they don't recognize the state."Charter schools are covered under Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board and employees are required to get the support of 50 percent plus one to gain union recognition. CMSA refused to accept this and took their case to the National Labor Relations Board, claiming they were a private company not covered under the law…Thindwa said every board member of CMSA would be targeted for pressure because they were personally responsible for the downward spiral the school finds itself in. They started with Dizdarevic; a delegation of community, clergy and academics delivered a letter to his office demanding management comply with state law."We told him we are not going away," said Martha Biondi, a professor at Northwestern University. "We are community members concerned about the right of teachers to organize a union, especially under the law of Illinois. It's outrageous that they are flouting the law of Illinois."…
Tensions are heating up at a North Side charter school where teachers have formed a union. About two-thirds of the teachers and staff at the Chicago Math and Science Academy signed union cards last school year. Art teacher Kate Ostler, who’s taught at the school for three years, was among them. She said her hope is that a union will improve working conditions for teachers and learning for kids.
“I didn’t like the climate of the school every year when it came to going in there on my own to talk to a principal who it seemed was very hostile to any kind of improvements that I wanted in my working conditions—improvements that would certainly benefit the learning conditions of my kids,” said Ostler.But Chicago Math and Science Academy has not recognized the teachers’ union.
At issue is whether a charter school is a public or private entity. The schools are publicly funded but privately run. Under state law covering public schools, the union is official. But the school wants to follow federal labor law governing private entities. That would force teachers to hold a vote on whether to unionize—and not all teachers are in support…The little school’s pending case before the National Labor Relations Board is a big deal: The country’s two biggest teacher unions, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and Nevada’s attorney general have all filed briefs in the case.
A decision, which may not come for months, could help determine how union issues in other charter schools around the country are handled.
CHICAGO—The Chicago Math and Science Academy, a public charter school, has agreed to a $40,000 back-pay settlement to a highly regarded teacher who was fired in June after she helped organize a union at the school…“CMSA is adamantly opposed to the union organizing effort and used this teacher as a scapegoat. Its scheme to use an anti-union scare tactic backfired—CMSA teachers want a union more than ever to have a voice in working and learning conditions without fear of reprisal,” said Dan Montgomery, president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. “This case illustrates clearly just why having a union is so critical.”Since the teachers filed for representation, CMSA has spent over $113,000 of taxpayers’ money in legal fees to fight the union…The school continues to claim its teachers are private employees subject to the National Labor Relations Act. The National Labor Relations Board is expected to rule on the matter soon…
…From what I can gather, the American teachers simply want to have an equal say and equal treatment. I believe that they are tired of having to carry the educational burden of the Turkish staff. Again I assume this is the case within other Gulen schools, the American teachers at CMSA are required to carry a full load while the Turkish staff are permitted to have fewer classes with fewer students. The American teachers are further required to put in more hours, while the Turkish staff are permitted to leave or choose rather not to spend extra time with the students at school. Lastly, the teachers are tired of having the administration dictate what is best in the classroom…
Based on my experience with Gulenists, they [the teachers] are premature in declaring victory. All the school has done is agreed to meet with them.
I have also attended meetings with Gulenists, so I know how they go. They talk and talk. At the end of it, they do what they wanted to do all along.
The Gulenists made this conciliatory gesture to avoid the embarrassment of the vigil in front of the conference, which would have been very damaging for them. Having got what they needed, they won't want to concede any more.
The teachers are going to be very disappointed.
…Their entire modus operandi is based on abusing teachers. I hope to be proved wrong, but my belief is that they will never give in on this one.
Instead, they will offer the teachers some meaningless concession, which they will then retract in a couple of months anyway…
CHICAGO - A former Chicago school principal, whose home computer contained hundreds of illegal images of child pornography when he was arrested, was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in prison following his guilty plea. This sentence resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Dr. Joseph Nurek, 57, was sentenced Sept. 4 in federal district court by U.S. District Judge Wayne Andersen to 20 years in federal prison, the statutory maximum, on one count of receiving child pornography. Nurek was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and participate in a sex offender rehabilitation program. Nurek also agreed to pay about $500,000 in restitution to his child-abused victims for counseling and other treatment.
Nurek was employed as a principal at the Chicago International Charter Schools West Belden Campus when ICE agents arrested him in March 2004 after executing a search warrant at his Chicago residence. A forensic exam of his home computer revealed hundreds of images of child pornography involving young boys engaged in sexually explicit activities, and multiple videos containing child pornography.
In June 2004 Nurek was indicted on eight counts of receiving and possessing child pornography. In October of that year Nurek was indicted by a grand jury on additional charges that he transported minors across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity. He pleaded guilty in December to one count of receiving child pornography, but yesterday's sentencing took into account all the conduct contained in the charges against him. Nurek had been held in federal custody without bond since October 2004.
"ICE is committed to bringing all of its law enforcement resources to bear on cases like this that involve the greatest violations of public trust," said Elissa A. Brown, special agent-in-charge of the office of ICE investigations in Chicago. "We've made it an agency priority to stop individuals from using the Internet to abuse and exploit innocent children. ICE is committed to protecting those who cannot protect themselves, and the victims of child sexual exploitation are at the top of that list."
Nurek's arrest is part of a global ICE child pornography investigation that focused on an Internet billing company based in Minsk, Belarus, and its affiliated entities in the United States. In January 2004, the Belarus firm was charged with money laundering, as well as providing credit card billing services for 50 child pornography websites worldwide and operating child porn websites on its own. After dismantling the leadership of the enterprise, ICE agents turned its focus to customers who purchased child pornography subscriptions, including Nurek.
Nurek's arrest and prosecution were part of Operation Predator, ICE's comprehensive initiative to safeguard children from foreign national pedophiles, international sex tourists, Internet child pornographers, and human traffickers. Since Operation Predator was launched in July 2003, ICE agents have arrested more than 10,000 individuals nationwide, including more than 540 in Illinois…
