Month: September 2012

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Chicago Teachers Strike: What Happened to the ‘City That Works’?

red ribbons

Chicago teachers strike.

I was watching the news last night and was ashamed of my City.  In the midst of what is obviously a heated situation, I saw Karen Lewis yell at reporters and chide one who dared to bump her with a microphone.  I saw Mayor Emanuel, the candidate that got my vote, face the cameras and call out the Chicago Teachers Union time and again.  He was backed by a bevy of City big wigs representing schools, police, negotiators, and the Board of Education.

Between 10 PM and midnight, there was much casting of blame, much discussion of text messages, and a lot of work trying to curry the favor of Chicagoans from both sides.

I support labor.  I come from a long line of union workers.  My Mom’s uncle was shot in Chicago’s Memorial Day Massacre around striking steel mill workers.  My sister, a PhD labor historian, just published her first book about the labor movement, Eyes on Labor.  There is a lot of union blood that runs through my veins.

But still, I was not happy with everything I saw.  When adults choose to bicker through the media about who is sending whom text messages, I shake my head on behalf of all of Chicago’s children.  When the CTU puts out a letter condemning the City’s contingency plan as a “train wreck,” I’ve got to wonder.  If the CTU believes Chicago’s children are unsafe in said contingency plan, then stay at the table.  If they think the kids will be cared for in a ‘good enough’ fashion, then don’t put out alarmist rhetoric.

As for the contingency plan, the irony of administrators highlighting that there would be one adult for every 25 children just made me angry.  If a 1:25 ratio is valued and of importance, then why are teachers expected to work with numbers that far exceed that ratio?  What is good for the goose must be good for the gander.  For our children to succeed, not only do our kids need more time in school, they need to be in schools that are conducive to learning.  And, yes, that includes air conditioning.

I heard David Vitale, president of the Board of Education, this morning, hemming and hawing on NPR that the BoE wants air conditioning for all Chicago public schools, too, but if they pay for air conditioning, they can’t pay for people.  No joke.  This is 2012, Mr. Vitale, and your boss is pushing for school year round.  A/C is as necessary in Chicago as heat is in January and February.  You can thank global warming for that.  And my guess is that the BoE offices are nice and temperate year round.  Again, if it’s good for the goose, it must be good for the gander.

Last Friday I was named an “Our Town, Our Hero” by GM.  I got a cool plaque and a nice Visa gift card, and the use of a pretty sweet Buick for a week.  GM asked some supporters of our charity, Donna’s Good Things, to help support me at the official passing of the keys, if you will.  A bona fide first photo op.  Well, I am not much for photo ops, but I reached out to Katie, the Director/Owner of the dance studio where we fund scholarships, and she went to town for me.  At the award ceremony, Katie had arranged for not only the Alderman to be there (nice to meet you, Ms. Silverstein), but invited the teachers of Rogers Elementary School to support me.

Rogers Elementary is the Chicago public school where Donna’s Good Things is funding weekly dance education for every student for the 2012-2013 school year.  The administrator has been fantastic to work with on this initiative.  The faculty has been so supportive that every single one came out last Friday to support me and DGT at the GM ceremony.  This was Friday at 3:30 PM, just as their strike was looming.

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I had never met these teachers before and they don’t know me, Donna, or my family from Adam, but there they were.  They are an enthusiastic crowd.  I chatted with many and none wanted to strike.  Their wish was to be in the classroom this morning.  But on a Friday afternoon, long after they could have gone home for the day, there they were, supporting a stranger who is working to support their classroom kids.

I was moved beyond belief.

Those are the teachers I support.  Those teachers who are invested in the education their classroom kids receive.  Those teachers who want very much to be back in the classroom, doing their jobs.  Those teachers who don’t get a hell of a lot of support from the Board of Education or the Mayor.  Those teachers who are responsible for the next generation of Chicagoans.  I support those teachers.  All of them.

Now let’s get them back to work.

And as for Rahm and Karen Lewis?  Well those two both got to get it together.  Their egos are MASSIVE.  Huge, bullying individuals, both of ’em.  They need to stop thinking about who will win and who will lose in this negotiation.  They need to work together, modeling behavior for the students they both profess to worry over, and get it done.  No more cheap shots.  No more sparring through the media.  Just get it done, do their jobs, and prove that Chicago is still the City that works.

The teachers, parents, and students of Chicago are waiting.  Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.

toilet

You see what I did there?

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Radiothon: Being THAT Family

radiothon

For years I have listened to Eric and Kathy’s annual 36 hour Radiothon to raise much needed funds for Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.  I am ashamed to say that I never once made a donation.  I would listen to the stories of the children treated at Children’s Memorial Hospital, now Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and I would shed some tears, and then I would turn the radio off, thinking to myself, “Wow.”

Then I would go on about my day.

A lot changes when you move to Cancerville.  Everything, really.  In 2007, during the Radiothon, I walked through the hospital lobby to get to Donna’s inpatient room.  There was a little thrill that I could actually see Eric and Kathy, morning drive personalities, as they interviewed a family.  Click. Connection made.  Oh, this was that Radiothon.  The funds raised go directly to this world class institution where we have entrusted Donna’s care. Oh. That ‘click’ was loud.  LOUD.

I remember driving home later that afternoon and being introduced to some of the children treated before Donna.  Kids with names like Ollie and Mark and Gus.  None of them had made it.  I turned the radio off, sobbing.  Too close, too close, too close.  Too damn close.

In twelve years of hosting the Radiothon, Eric and Kathy have raised over twenty million dollars for Children’s Memorial.  $20,000,000.00, for freaks sake.  That is an astounding number of zeroes.  Chicagoans open up their wallets every year, moved by the stories they hear.  Tomorrow, for the first time, they will hear Donna’s story.

A few months ago we got a call or an email from the hospital foundation, I honestly can’t remember which, wondering if we might be interested in participating.  Without knowing what all was involved, without consulting Mary Tyler Dad, I heard myself say, “Yes, of course.”  We feel completely full of love and gratitude toward Lurie Children’s Hospital.  Anything we can do, anything, to help that institution, we will.  This is a given in our home.  It is understood that we owe a tremendous amount, the length and quality of Donna’s too brief life, to the fine folks inside those walls.

So tomorrow morning, bright and early for the 7AM kick-off hour, me and Mary Tyler Dad and Son will drive down to share Donna’s story with all of Chicagoland.  We will be the first family to sit in the nest of the new Crown Sky Garden Lobby on the 11th floor of the hospital now dedicated to the fine efforts of Eric and Kathy, and share our Donna’s story.  We will see, for the first time, her “story song,” a video made of photos of Donna and snippets of an interview we did in studio a couple of months ago.

There will be tears, Lordy, I know there will be tears.  And pride, too, and gratitude.  Probably a little laughter.

Most remarkable to me about Eric and Kathy and about the staff at Lurie’s that scouts the families to tell their stories, is that they are not afraid of the dead children.  The children who have died, the Marks and Ollies and Guses and Donnas and Bennys and Mayas, are not forgotten, not banished from hope.  They, too, are worthy of having their story told.  Their death is as much a testament to the wonderful care provided at Lurie Children’s as the glorious survivors who are saved.  As the mom of a daughter who is buried, I cannot tell you how grateful I am for that.

So tomorrow, we become THAT family.  We will tell Donna’s story, our story, and maybe you will listen.  You might be sitting in your car, your kids in the backseat, on your way to school.  Or in your kitchen, packing those lunches.  Or in bed, bleary eyed and tired, waking for the day.

And maybe, just maybe, you will be better than I was all those years, and you will make that donation, supporting the work of a place I hope you never need.

The Radiothon can be watched live here.  You can donate here.  And you can listen to the 36 Hour Radiothon at 101.9 FM, The Mix in Chicago, or streamed online.