Stacy Davis Gates EDITOR'S NOTE, OCTOBER 30, 2019: The profile below was first published on August 2, 2019. I was hurt. The winning caucus of Rank-and-File Educators, or CORE Caucus, secured 56% of the vote. Her detractors blame her for contributing to a contentious relationship between the CTU and the mayor that resulted in an 11-school-day teachers strike in October 2019the longest in decades. Gates understands the frustration, particularly around strikes. [25] Upon the sale of the tower, the CTUF refocused its mission towards teacher advocacy and grantmaking to underserved communities. We felt like the system was being sabotaged by the people who were in charge of it, and the union was the one institution that had both the interest and the ability to do something about that. Her maternal grandmother left Arkansas, worked on the West Side of Chicago, and wound her way to South Bend. In Gatess office at CTU headquarters, a Notorious SDG print with her likeness hangs above her deska riff on those Notorious RBG prints that were ubiquitous for a while. Accessed June 02, 2020. Ms. Including the mayor. In 1915, the newly elected Mayor of Chicago, William Thompson, appointed a school board that was largely hostile to the interests of the Chicago Teacher Federation. After 12 years as one of the primary faces of the Chicago Teachers Union, Jesse Sharkey is returning to the classroom. Ms. Stacy Davis Gates is the Political and Legislative Director of the Chicago Teachers Union AFT Local 1. Before her election to the office of President in 2022, Ms. Davis Gates served for four years as Vice President of the Union. 2020. Accessed June 02, 2020. The UIC administration is offering raises of 17% over four years, averaging 4.25% per year, the union said. Youd see these kids going to school-closing hearings, singing, performing, saying, Please dont close our school. Ms. Davis Gates is currently on leave from the classroom, where she taught high school social studies for over a decade at Englewood, Clemente, and Mason Community Links High Schools. Jackson Potter is the Vice President of the Chicago Teachers Union. Enrollment had declined precipitously. All Rights Reserved. We sat at a table debating ventilation during an airborne pandemic. I need to vote for someone like you. Key Data. [1] Law, Justin, The Courts vs. Weve got this amazing band program. And theyd close it anyway. It made me feel powerless. The CTUF also funds some professional development programs for teachers and scholarships for underserved communities. She has raised millions of dollars to elect classroom teachers to all levels of local government and to challenge school privatizers and union-busters, most prominently Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his rubber-stamp City Council in 2015.Ms. It depresses you. Yet they remain a part of Gates. We see the surveillance and pain in our neighborhoods. And it also is paralyzing, because youre trying to make sense out of nonsense.. And also really scared. Gatess allies, though, credit her with helping transform the landscape at the citys 636 public schools, which are on track to add a nurse and social worker to every building by 2024a hard-fought victory in the strike three years ago. Widely popular with its more than 25,000 members, she was considering a run for mayor when she was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, in 2014. I aint said live yet. 2 was swinging the hammer, appearing before the cameras with the unwavering narrative that the well-being of students was the unions single overriding concern. Sharkey was first elected vice president in 2010, when Karen Lewis was elected CTUs president. Whenever I see our sister, you know who I see? Stamps called out. Christel Williams is a 25-year veteran of Chicago Public Schools, serving as a PSRP delegate, district supervisor, functional vice president and American Federation of Teachers-Illinois Federation of Teachers (AFT-IFT) convention delegate in that time. And theyre not paying attention to a Chicago where you have two Black women who have leadership and influence who think differently. Four years later, after undergoing brain surgery, she retired, and Sharkey, her vice president, took over. After playing a key role in organizing for Karen Lewiss election to the CTU presidency, Jackson served as the CTU staff coordinator from 2010 to 2018, when he left his Union staff position to return to the classroom as a social studies teacher at Back of The Yards College Prep. This marked a split among teachers union organization leaders, as AFT President Randi Weingarten endorsed Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), while AFT leader Loretta Johnson and New York City teachers union leader Michael Mulgrew endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden. The Foundation supports education-related advocacy efforts aligned with the interests of the CTU. While Chicago officials did not give them everything they demanded, the city did agree to a 16% raise over five years, smaller class sizes and more support staff, including social workers, nurses, librarians, and others. Photo: CLARISSA BONET | HAIR AND MAKEUP: DENISE MILLOY/MAKEUP MAGIC INC. So not only does she really have a lot of head for strategy and thinking about politics, but she also tracks a tremendous amount of things, in both a good and a bad way. Thats one reason negotiations have been fractious with the mayors team. Stacy Davis Gates Stacy Davis Gates is vice president of the 28,000-member Chicago Teachers Union and a mother of three children in Chicago's public schools. A 1987 strike lasted a record 19 school days. It was like a family. The teacher alleged that she was being forced to subsidize CTUs speech, and this was a violation of her own first amendment rights. They were a constant in a time when things were just all over the place. She made it OK to be powerful, curious, and vulnerable all at the same time.. Karen LewisChicago Teachers Union / PresidentKaren Lewis was an American educator and labor leader who served as president of the Chicago Teachers Union, Chicagos division of the American Federation of Teachers, from 2010 to 2014. Prior to her current role at the CTU, she served as the unions Political and Legislative Director. God Bless. She says there were fights every day on the corner of Western and Division. In the absence of a union endorsement, two senior CTU leaders, Jesse Sharkey and Stacy Davis Gates, endorsed the Vermont Senator. Accessed June 02, 2020. That figure is composed of merit raises and other specific pools of raises that do not apply to all union members across the board. Ms. Davis Gates lives on the South Side of Chicago with her husband and three children. Stacy Davis Gates is the President of the Chicago Teachers Union. [1] American Federation of Teachers, To Form a More Perfect Union. [10], In 1917, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the Loeb Rule was constitutional, and the CFT and Chicago Board of Education reached a settlement in which the fired teachers were rehired and CFT disaffiliated itself from other labor unions. Ms. Davis Gates has also spearheaded statewide legislative campaigns to pass the strongest charter school accountability measures in the country, push for the restoration of the bargaining rights of Chicago Public Schools employees, and fully fund public education by ending tax loopholes for the 1%. They remain on strike. In response, the Chicago Public Schools said that teachers were only required to make basic accommodations rather than entirely new plans. The rhetoric on education reform and pension reform in Chicagois upside down. In the fall of 2019, she helped to lead a 15-day strike and to negotiate an historic contract that provides for smaller class sizes, ensures a nurse and social worker in every Chicago public school, secures sanctuary protections for immigrant families, and supports students and families experiencing homelessness. Prior to that, she served as the unions Political and Legislative Director. Then I started thinking that would put me on the wrong end of the spectrum of justice, she says. I remember we were never able to take a book home because they didnt have a book for every student, says Latoyia Kimbrough, a 2005 graduate who now works as in-house legal counsel for CTU. In the fall of 2019, she helped to lead a 15-day strike and to negotiate an historic contract that provides for smaller class sizes, ensures a nurse and social worker in every Chicago public school, secures sanctuary protections for immigrant families, and supports students and families experiencing homelessness. Ms. Davis Gates lives on the South Side of Chicago with her husband and three children. It makes you angry. The gifted students were invited on a field trip to Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell and other historic landmarks. Photographs and illustrations, as well as text, cannot be used without permission from the AFT. In 2020, the city was running an $838 million budget deficit, and Chicago's school system bonds have been rated below investment-grade in recent years. By her second semester of teaching, Gates started looking for ways to make inroads with her students that had little to do with curriculum. And for those who are not experiencing that in the same way, it is difficult to even grasp why this is happening., Gates wanted to be Perry Mason when she grew up. South Side of Chicago I think thats why I go so hard, why Im so clear about my leadership. Accessed June 01, 2020. Unless, that is, she is somehow beaten out in the May 20 election by a dissenting caucus of Chicago Public Schools employees called Members First. And she did go on the trip. [27], In 2019, CTUF grantees included a mix of progressive activist organizations and community charity organizations like the Action Now Institute, Equip for Equality, Grassroots Collaborative, Rainbows for All Children, and the UIC Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy. As the Political and Legislative Director, Stacy works to ensure that public educators, students, and their families have a strong voice in the policy making process. This effort resulted in both support and opposition. Accessed June 02, 2020. Simply put,the school districts budget is being balanced on the backs ofschoolchildren, senior citizens, and public employees.MayorEmanuel does not have a budget crisis he has a prioritycrisis. Op-Ed by Stacy Davis-Gates August 22, 2013 (Sun Times), I heard you on Progressive Talk Rado yesterday youre a WINNER and a KEEPER! 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