By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

CHICAGO – Does the Chicago Teachers Union think the public is stupid?

They’re trying to cause a stir by pointing out that Xian Barrett, an award-winning history and law teacher at Gage Park High School, was among the 1,000 educators recently laid off by the school district.

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According to an article published by InTheseTimes.com, “Barrett is among those who see the layoffs and school closings as part of a larger plan to reduce the size and power of the teachers union and to replace regular public schools with non-union charter schools.”

Actually the layoffs and school closings are part of a desperate effort by Chicago Public Schools to close an estimated $1 billion budget deficit. That effort was complicated by last fall’s teacher strike, which resulted in all educators receiving a whopping 17 percent pay increase that cost the district millions.

If the teachers wanted to avoid layoffs, they could have agreed to a much-needed pay freeze. And if they wanted to save the best teachers from the layoff process, they should have abandoned their stupid “last in, first out” layoff policy that they’ve clung to for decades.

That policy, common to many schools in the nation, simply says seniority will be the primary factor in layoffs, not the skill of the teachers in question. The policy is written into the CTU collective bargaining agreement at the insistence of the union.

The contract wording is simple and to the point: “Teachers shall be displaced in inverse order of seniority, with the least senior teacher being laid off first.”

If this policy didn’t exist, school administrators would be free to keep their most effective teachers and part ways with the less inclined. But the union would never hear of such a change.

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The news item did not mention how many years Barrett has been on the job. But it did note that he’s a union activist who is dedicated to teaching the “social justice” curriculum that the CTU values so much. He’s obviously a union favorite. If he were laid off improperly, contrary to contract rules, you can bet the CTU would be fighting the move, tooth and nail.

That’s not the case.

The union folks have one good point. At least one teacher whose work is widely valued is being laid off. But they’re ignoring the reason for that layoff. They don’t want taxpayers to know Barrett is losing his job due to a union-imposed policy that’s designed to keep more veteran teachers working and move younger teachers out the door, even if they’re more effective than the veterans.