The editorial “With 4 in 10 teachers ‘chronically absent’ in ’23, are CTU demands fair?” (Nov. 24) correctly notes that teacher absences in Chicago Public Schools (as in the state overall) increased after COVID-19 but somehow fails to consider that this trend might be related to COVID-19. If the threshold for being “chronically absent” is 10 absences, we should not be surprised that more teachers surpassed that threshold during a time when a positive COVID-19 test resulted in an automatic 10-day (later a five-day) quarantine.
The editorial also cites state data showing that in the Waukegan school district, less than 1% of teachers are chronically absent — an extreme outlier compared with other districts. I would love to know what magic Waukegan has conjured to prevent its teachers from being sick, having to go to the doctor or having their kids get sick — or if the data Waukegan is reporting to the state is even accurate. I wish the the Tribune Editorial Board had called up Waukegan schools and asked.
Finally, the editorial mentions that CPS spends $30,000 per pupil but falsely implies that most of that money is going to teacher salaries. In fact, if you take the average teacher salary in CPS ($86,439), multiply it by the number of teachers (about 24,000) and divide it by the number of students (325,305), you get less than $6,400 per student.
Where does the rest of the money go? As a teacher, I wish I knew! The bathrooms don’t even have soap sometimes. Many schools don’t have enough special education teachers and staff members certified in English as a second language to provide services that are required by state and federal laws.
I wish the editorial board would give more attention to these issues.
— Conrad Gordon, Chicago
CTU’s unrealistic demands
The Chicago Teachers Union is operating unchecked. It demands more pay and benefits for its members while offering no solutions on how to pay for these demands. I’ve met Chicago Public Schools teachers over the years. I’m not even sure if they are being represented correctly. They seem to be happy for the most part yet are forced to go along with the union’s demands, whether they like it or not.
— Mark Weitekamper, Chicago
Focus on working conditions
As a former Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 student, I feel that I graduated from a school that provided me with a quality education and sufficiently prepared me for my current enrollment in college. I am aware that OPRF teachers are well compensated, so I was shocked to see that district teachers’ chronic absenteeism rate was nearly that of CPS teachers. It is important to acknowledge that CPS schools face different challenges, such as serving a much larger and more diverse student population; however, the question remains why well-funded districts such as OPRF have similar absenteeism rates.
The editorial portrays the Chicago Teachers Union as making “outrageous demands” that burden Chicago’s “beleaguered” taxpayers who then see teachers take apparently excessive amounts of time off in return.
The fact is, despite competitive compensation, teachers in Chicago-area districts continue to be chronically absent. If we genuinely want to address this issue, we have to consider what factors, outside of compensation, could be at the root of this issue.
Teachers openly discuss the burnout they experience from spending long hours at school, only to continue working unpaid outside school to prepare for the next day. They emphasize the importance of having skilled social workers and counselors, effective academic and behavioral supports, and strong administrative leadership. Without these resources, teachers often feel overwhelmed and exhausted, which inevitably leads to an increase in time off.
It’s likely that if we compared school districts with lower absenteeism rates, such as in Naperville, with CPS and other Chicago-area districts, we would find superior working environments that include comprehensive support for teachers.
As the editorial clearly demonstrates, chronic teacher absenteeism is not driven, at least exclusively, by compensation. If we are genuinely concerned about the financial burden on taxpayers and the educational impact on students, we must shift our focus beyond salaries and toward improvements in working conditions.
— Hailey Nowak, Oak Park
Greed and ineptness in city
The Tribune Editorial Board makes a good point about the true cost of well-paid and “chronically absent” Chicago Public Schools teachers. The damage to our children — and city budget — is significant.
I would further suggest that this sort of behavior by a public union and its political lapdogs helps explain Donald Trump’s rising popularity in Chicago and Cook County. Even good liberals are saying, “Enough is enough.”
As a Democrat, I find it painful to see the greed and administrative ineptness that now define a crucial segment of our political leadership, notably including the mayor and his union chums. My hat is off to the bold aldermen who are fighting to enforce discipline and common sense to city government.
— Gary Sullivan, Chicago
Not jealous of CPS teachers
As a teacher in a suburban Cook County school district, I take exception to the implication that I should feel jealous of Chicago Public Schools teachers as they engage in collective bargaining for higher salaries. The Tribune Editorial Board state that teachers in the Chicago Teachers Union make a median salary of $95,000, which is above the national median. It elides the fact that Chicago’s cost of living is also above average for the nation. It stands to reason that if teachers are required to live in the city to teach in its public schools, then they should receive a salary commensurate with the cost of living in the city.
The other part of the argument is that because more than 41% of teachers were chronically absent last year, all teachers do not deserve raises as part of collective bargaining. That statistic may be shocking at first blush, but a further investigation into the reasons for teacher absences may be revealing. As the editorial states, this number does not include breaks and holidays. It shouldn’t, as those are not instructional days. To suggest that winter break, spring break and other holidays are somehow enough time off from work for teachers is silly. Reasons for teacher absences can range from personal illness to caregiving for a child, parent, spouse or other family member to personal days. The editorial board implies that teachers can somehow schedule their illnesses or their obligations to their families around the provided breaks, which is ridiculous.
More generally, the critique of teacher absences as some kind of symptom of what is wrong with the district misses the point. In her book “Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side,” Eve L. Ewing, a former CPS teacher and a professor at the University of Chicago, argues that “any enterprise dealing with the care and nurturing of children is likely to be inefficient at times, and striving for efficiency often requires sacrificing things like care, patience, and flexibility.” Simply put, the corporate cost-cutting model is in conflict with the care work central to educating children.
Beyond that, there’s no reason to think denying the CTU’s request for a raise will cause teacher absences to decrease. That claim is unsupported by the evidence and reasoning provided.
— Rob Drewry, Wilmette
Editorial fails arithmetic
The Tribune Editorial Board’s criticism of the Chicago Teachers Union fails on two points of arithmetic.
First, it is impossible to make any generalizations about members of an entire population from the group as a whole. That is, there is no reason to posit a direct relationship between those who are “chronically absent” and the arithmetic artifact of a median (especially as opposed to an average). That is a logical fallacy. More specifically, it is called the ecological fallacy of attempting to deduce the characteristics of any individual from an abstract description of the whole.
Second, the editorial board’s argument compares means or averages with median in its city-to-city comments. There is no interest in the major reasons for national differences. It also compares city to suburban abstract without accounting for the many reasons for substantial difference in medians. Of course, Chicago salaries are higher than the median of many different suburban areas. It cannot be otherwise.
The Tribune Editorial Board fails tenth grade arithmetic.
— Harvey J. Graff, professor, Chicago
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