by Aziah Siid
For many people, the idea of dismantling the Department of Education may seem far-fetched and unrealistic. President Donald Trump, however, has made it a priority: he promised it during the campaign, and last week, he said he wants his education secretary nominee Linda McMahon to “put herself out of a job” by dismantling the DOE.
Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, is taking Trump’s threat seriously. As leader of the third largest school district in the country, preparing for the president’s assault on the DOE includes strengthening the CTU’s contract with Chicago Public Schools, lobbying schools to recruit Black teachers, and pushing for well-rounded experiences for students in and out the classroom.
But Gates is also encouraging people connected to public education — parents, teachers, administrators, even students themselves — to join forces, get involved with their local schools, and push back against Trump’s agenda.
Leading the Resistance in Chicago
A major part of CTU’s strategy to combat the potential demise of the Education Department is to reinforce the district’s contracts with the city. Doing so, Gates says, will add more layers of protection for teachers against unlawful termination that could come from the DOE, and help ensure students get an inclusive, fact-based education.
“We believe that our collective bargaining agreement is an accountability document with the district,” Gates says. “It is easier for us to hold them accountable with our contract. We’re going to leverage our contract to provide the support that Black children need.”
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That includes finding housing for displaced kids, creating learning environments that involve the arts as well as science and literature, and putting more qualified teachers in front of the classroom.
With Black children overly represented in the number of unhoused students in the school district, proposals in the CTU contract would put them and their families at the top of the Chicago Housing Authority waitlist.
In addition to creating sustainability for students outside of school, the nearly 30,000-member union actively seeks qualified leaders unafraid to challenge restrictions on teaching about enslavement and race in America.
CTU wants to ensure there are diverse, competent, and strong teachers in front of the classroom.
To recruit and retain qualified educators, “We have a teacher retention program here at the union where we bring in those teachers who are new or newish to the system,” Gates says. ”We help to translate, support, and resource their experience so they are not always in situations where it doesn’t work for them.”
For years, retaining teachers of color was one of the district’s top priorities: half the teachers are white, and nearly 90% of the students they teach are not. Despite the full-on attack against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, CTU wants to ensure there are diverse, competent, and strong teachers in front of the classroom.
“We will not be Florida where churches are teaching Black history on the weekends,” Gates tells Word In Black. “Black history is going to stay and remain as a course of study in our public schools, and we’re going to teach it during the school day, too.”
Protecting Black Students
In 2008, suspension and expulsion rates for Black boys reached an all-time high, and Chicago had one of the highest suspension rates in the country, with 13 of every 100 students suspended.
Then, the Department of Education saw the data, investigated, and ordered the district to change. If the DOE disappears, so will that kind of protection for Black students.
“It was the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Education that came and investigated the Chicago Public Schools and forced them to have a different perspective on the school-to-prison pipeline,” Gates says. “Without that safety net — that accountability space — I fear those types of [disproportionate disciplinary] practices would still be in full effect in the Chicago public schools.”
During his first week in office, Trump ordered the Justice Department to pause all civil rights litigation. In addition, Trump dismissed 11 complaints and six allegations related to book bans, which effectively allows districts to remove books centered on Black people and other marginalized groups.
Along with the president’s plan to shut down the Department of Education, Gates says, the prospects aren’t good for closing the schools-to-prison pipeline.
“I can tell you that not having a space that can effectively investigate and evaluate the practices of a school district is going to be problematic,” she says.
Source: Seattle Medium
