Chicago teachers can take lead in ending sexual abuse

First of all, thank you, Sun-Times, for the excellent coverage of Chicago Public Schools’ sexual misconduct issues. It’s a great example of why we as a nation need investigative reporting — to keep our democracy thriving. No fake news here.

Buried in the story in Saturday’s paper were two important items. The first was that Maggie Hickey, the outside investigator, said she asked the acting Chicago Teachers Union boss, Jesse Sharkey, to participate in her investigation, but “Sharkey didn’t respond to multiple requests for an interview.”

Then Sharkey put the blame for the CPS sex abuse problem on Mayor Rahm Emanuel. He said that “Emanuel and his hand-picked school bosses have failed repeatedly to protect school children from harm.”

But who is in the classroom where the abuse is occurring? Who has the ability and the duty to report such abuse? Who could organize teachers into a force within CPS to report, cause prosecution and mitigate damage from sexual abuse? Who is totally protected under the whistleblower rules from retaliation if they report abuse?

The answer: Members of Sharkey’s union, the teachers.

Let’s face it. The problem of abuse has been known to teachers and administrators alike for years. They have kept it secret out of self-interest. There is plenty of blame to go around. Just for once it would be nice to see the leadership of CPS and CTU shake hands and jointly go after a problem of this nature and depth, instead of pointing fingers at each other.

Emanuel has been trying hard, more so than any other political leader in Illinois, to keep the public union pension systems afloat — at greater political risk to him. Yet now he is “to blame” for the sexual abuse in the public schools?