Submitted by Illinoisnoki1 on Sun, 09/16/2012 - 15:33

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 By Jeff Bryant at Campaign for America's Future, Sept. 13, 2012

"So much for Democratic harmony," is the way Herold Meyerson chose to start his op-ed in The Washington Post analyzing the ramifications of the current Chicago teachers strike on the well being of the Democratic party.

His conclusion is that there must be some kind of "win-win solution," but a meaningful compromise has been thwarted because Chicago mayor Rham Emanuel "from the start… had no interest in working with the teachers, and the teachers reacted as angry and aggrieved partisans."

Viewing the Chicago teachers strike from another point of view, "life-long Democrat" Eva Moskowitz, founder and chief executive of New York City charter school chain Success Academy Charter Schools, concluded something quite different. In her view, the Chicago teachers are afflicted with a "solution-phobia" against "reform measures," in particular, new standardized test-based teacher evaluation systems that "would help identify whether teachers are actually succeeding at elevating student achievement."

But what's important to note is that in both of these op-eds, regardless of their sympathies, each author gets crucial facts wrong.

In Myerson's sympathetic view of the Chicago Teachers Union, he can't help but repeat a patently untrue point that Chicago’s school day is "one of the nation’s shortest at six hours" and "should certainly be lengthened."

Contrary to what Myerson wrote, the meme that Chicago's school day is one of the nation's shortest is a talking point that was made up by Stand For Children's Jonah Edelman and subsequently repeated by Rham Emanuel in his campaign to discredit the union. This was captured in a video of Edelman's presentation at the Aspen Institute.
To continue reading, see Here 
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2012093713/who-can-democrats-trust-about-chicago-teachers-strike