Foolish feud between the CTU and Mayor Lightfoot is doing schoolkids like me no good

Chicago is facing millions of dollars in damage to small businesses on the South and West Sides, a global pandemic is killing a disturbing number of Chicagoans, and reforming police departments has shifted to the center of the national political discussion.

But the Chicago Teachers Union, claiming to have students’ best interests at heart, and a self-proclaimed “progressive” mayor have time to fight over an internet meme.

I’ve had enough.

I am a graduating senior at Whitney Young High School. In the fall, I’ll be attending Yale University. I will be forever grateful to the dedicated teachers and administrators who have contributed to my education. But what has transpired between the mayor and the CTU over the past school year is reprehensible, and I hold both sides accountable.

Lightfoot and the CTU have been playing political games since the mayor’s election, with every battle coming at the expense of the students. When the 2019 teachers strike started, more than 300,000 students, myself included, were left at home while the mayor, the Chicago Public Schools and the CTU played a game of political chess.

The mayor complained that the city, already cash-strapped, was being extorted. The union sent out stories about teachers dealing with comically large classrooms and receiving peanuts in compensation. The union even managed to solicit a guest appearance from Elizabeth Warren. All of this was done “for the students.”

All the while, I and thousands of other high school seniors scrambled to complete college applications without the much-needed support of our teachers, parents of younger students were forced to find day care on short notice, and kids who relied on their schools for safety and protection from troubling home situations and neighborhood violence became more vulnerable.

Even after a contract deal was reached, the jabs continued on both sides. When COVID-19 forced schools to close for the rest of the year, CPS and the CTU bickered over the remote learning plan. Meanwhile, students who did not have access to technology or internet service were left in the dark, literally.

The meme tweeted out by the CTU on Wednesday — in which Lightfoot, dressed in a police officer’s uniform, is portrayed as the villain in a “Scooby Doo” story — is just the latest in a political battle that doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon. Lightfoot has compared this internet joke to a right-wing racist attack and questioned the character of the CTU leadership.

“It’s concerning to me because our young people are always watching,” Lightfoot said. “They’re always watching our leaders.”

Yes, Madam Mayor, we are watching, and boy are we disappointed. Caleb J. Dunson, Whitney Young

High School graduating senior

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