The NY Times issues their encyclical.
It’s not being provincial to point out that the NY Times, which stakes some claim on being a national newspaper, generally ignores the middle of the country.
Once in a while you might read 36 Hours in Iowa in the travel section. But that’s about it.
Over this past year they have certainly ignored the story of Chicago and its teachers.
Until this morning, when they decided to lecture the 30,000 members of the Chicago teachers on the folly of striking over teacher evaluations and job assignments.
Their argument, a masterful display of know-nothingness, is that these policies – teacher evaluations based on test scores and no seniority rights when it comes to job assignments – are popular. So get over it.
The strike is based on union discontent with sensible policy changes — including the teacher evaluation system required by Illinois law — that are increasingly popular across the country and are unlikely to be rolled back, no matter how long the union stays out.
Stay out of it?
That’s what happens when you ignore a story for a year and then issue the journalistic equivalent of a papal encyclical.
The Chicago Teachers Union cannot be accused of staying out of it. Did the NY Times have a reporter in the Loop these last two days?
The Times loves the idea of total principal discretion in the hiring of teachers. Teachers with good evaluations and through no fault of their own, who were released from a position due to a school closing, are on their own.
The Times is good with that.
Rahm trotted out some principals for the press yesterday. They looked like POWs making confessions of war crimes.
It was embarrassing to watch this group of groveling mayoral panderers talk fifth floor talking points.
“If I’m going to be held accountable for results than I need the autonomy to make these decisions,” one toady said.
Really?
Was he talking about himself or the teachers?
Could he not see the irony that was he was claiming for himself exactly what has been denied to teachers?
Perhaps the New York Times should go back to doing what they do best.
Lying about the need to go to war.
Fred Klonsky 
Perhaps the New York Times should look in the mirror at their own Emperor Bloomberg. For nearly three terms the Times has failed to cover what is happening in their own public schools.
Bravo CTU for standing up to the bullies for all of us.
Thanks Fred for doing the same,
Jesse The Walking Man
Seems to me that the NYT intentionally scaled down its education coverage in advance of the Chicago strike.
Remember Mike Winerip? He is an excellent education reporter out of Boston, who was a part-timer for NYT when he broke an amazing story analyzing the false promise of online charter schools.
The market punished those companies.
A few months later hedge fund manager and DFER Whitney Tilson writes that he hates Winerip in his blog rants. Then the NYT promoted him to a full time job covering baby boomer issues.
He’s the guy who should be covering this story. Great guy, great writer.
Yes, that was my immediate thought, as well. I was going to say, “Where is Like Winerup when you need him?” Oh, wait–I forgot–he was too good at what he did, so he got moved
to another area.
Just like some of our experienced and best teachers.
Did anyone read the Guardian’s coverage of the first strike rally? That paper’s new Chicago reporter said “hundreds” of teachers rallied.
HUNDREDS?!
Was he even there?