Instituto Schools Strike After Not Reaching a Deal with Administration
Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy (IHSCA) and Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy (IJLA) demand support, understanding, along with a reasonable deal and agreement to improve the overall schools academic and administrative quality. This agreement has yet not been established, nor reached.
Therefore, more than 60 members of the Chicago Teacher Union gathered together and went on strike Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024 — this was their first day. If no agreement is reached, they plan to keep persisting with the strike. Meaning, they plan to keep it going, if negotiations are unsuccessful and until something is resolved.
The purpose for this strike was because teachers had already advocated about all the issues that the schools are and have been encountering and facing every single day yet administration did nothing to help and actually combat against these issues. That’s why teachers have reached their limit and they now demand answers, action, and improvement for the schools, teachers and especially the school’s student body well being,
Issues and Challenges that IHSCA and IJLA Face on a Daily Basis
Both Instituto schools have been challenged with a great amount of problems that have become more highlighted and advocated for in the recent years. These key issues that teachers would like an improvement include:
- Low bilingual staffing.
- Better pay.
- Protection for immigrants students and staff.
- Lack of Special Education teacher.
- And the lack of case workers and social workers.
These are a few of the issues that have been expressed and that are definitely impacting negatively students and teachers in a way that is interfering even with the student’s academic learning and progress. A lot of the members of the Chicago Teachers Union are very disappointed and upset that these circumstances had to get to this point.
Why Is this So Concerning?
Instituto teachers have done great efforts to bring awareness and inform as many people as possible and the press about this situation, so Administration actually does something effective about it. And essentially help the school that desperately needs it. At this point a lot of staff like teachers, advisors, and case workers have left because of the wage that they are earning.
This situation is becoming unsustainable because inflation keeps going up and the school staff is not having any type of increase in their salaries. According to Dr. Lucas, IHSCA teacher,
We’ve lost a lot of people and they have not been replaced that’s one of our basic issues, which is people leave. They leave because our salaries aren’t competitive with the rest of the city.
Moreover, this is not just about the money aspect, because teachers do what they do because of their passion for teaching. Yet, this problem goes way deeper and back. Everyone is concerned as to where the funds that the schools obtains go to because they are not benefitting or the staff or the students in any way whatsoever.
The Chicago Teacher Union and Chicago Leaders Statements
At a news conference Tuesday morning, Alderman Michael Rodriguez, 22nd, chair of the workforce development committee and Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, voiced and expressed empathy and support towards the teachers on strike.
Ald. Rodriguez said:
Every time you fight for your students and your community, we will fight with you.
However, according to Instituto:
Students are being deprived, and that it will provide educational programming, including English as a second language classes, academic support and meals while teachers are on the picket line. “Education is a right and strikers should leave our students out of their politics.
There has been a handful of teachers that have also spoke about all of this to the press. Alexsandra Villareal, a teacher, said:
We’ve lost a lot of educators because of the working conditions and the lack of resources.
Jen Conant, the chair of CTU’s Charter Division said something very outstanding:
This could have easily been avoided if the Insituto was willing to fund the baseline services that our students deserve and legally entitled to.
Overall, this is a fight were teacher are not going to give up and are going to keep pushing for reform and for the Instituto schools administration to do better.
Written by Jeanette Sanchez
Sources:
NBC Chicago: Teacher strike at two Chicago Instituto charter schools after failing to reach deal
ABC 7 Chicago: Chicago Teachers Union go on strike at 2 Instituto del Progreso Latino charter schools
WTTW News: CTU-Backed Educators at Instituto del Progreso Latino Charter Schools Officially Begin Strike Tuesday
Chicago Teacher Union: Chicago Teachers Union Ready to Strike at Instituto Schools
Images Courtesy of Jeanette Sanchez
