CPS won’t say why it suspended activist teacher Sarah Chambers As former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett stood before a federal judge on the day of her sentencing last week, a grammar school special education teacher named Sarah Chambers began the third week of her school board-imposed suspension. There's a connection between the two cases, as you'll soon see. Byrd-Bennett was the quintessential go-along-to-get-along bureaucrat, who agreed to be the public face on the city's decision to close 50 schools in predominantly poor, black communities in 2012. In exchange for her subservience on that racially charged issue, Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed Byrd-Bennett to the top schools post. Then, in ... Continue reading... http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/sarah-chambers-cps-special-education/Content?oid=26375865
Let Sarah teach EVERYONE WHO knows Sarah Chambers--a Chicago Public Schools (CPS) special education teacher and activist in the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU)--can see she has ample energy. Nevertheless, being disciplined for union activity must be exhausting. Chambers is being charged with "misconduct" and has been removed from her classroom by CPS officials. But she is fighting the bogus charge and remains confident and undeterred, telling journalists, "I know I'm going to win the case." Perhaps some of Chambers' energy and confidence comes from anger at Mayor Rahm Emanuel's relentless deform shakeups in CPS throughout the eight years she has been teaching. Some ... Continue reading... http://socialistworker.org/2017/05/03/let-sarah-teach
