CONTRACT AGREEMENT The Chicago Teachers Union and School Board reached a tentative agreement on a five-year contract that provides 4 percent raises each year. Under the agreement, announced Sept. 23, teachers will work a longer school day, a shorter school year and pay more for health benefits. The proposal also calls for the board to commit $1 million to examine and remedy large class sizes. The agreement must be approved by CTU delegates and ratified by the union’s 35,000 members. If approved, the contract will be the longest multi-year contract in the district’s history. The old 4-year contract expired June 30.
AT CLARK STREET Pedro Martinez is the new CPS budget director, replacing John Maiorca who became chief financial officer of School Financial Services. Martinez previously served as a finance director for Catholic Charities of Chicago. … Wilfredo Ortiz, former chief officer of high school programs, was named principal of Gage Park High. He replaces interim principal Katherine Smith, one of seven principals removed from their schools in August. (See related story.) … Nathaniel Mason, former principal of Lincoln Park High, was named area 23 instructional officer; Phyllis Wright, assistant principal, becomes acting principal. … School Board President Michael Scott has been appointed to the Public Building Commission of Chicago, which oversees public construction projects, including schools, libraries and parks.
MOVING IN/ON Clarice Berry, principal of Fiske, was elected president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association in a special election held to fill the vacancy left when long-time President Beverly Tunney died in June. Jackson-Berry beat three opponents in a run-off held in August. … Chicago lawyer Gerald Jenkins was named president of the board of the Chicago Charter School Foundation, a nonprofit that operates seven CPS charter schools. He replaces James Murphy, who founded the group in 1997. Elizabeth Delaney, formerly assistant professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was named executive director of the foundation, replacing Heidi McDermott. … New co-chairs of the Donors Forum of Chicago’s education funders group are Sandra Blau, executive director of the George M. Pullman Educational Foundation, and Kaberi Banerjee Murthy, a program officer of The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation.
PRINCIPAL CONTRACTS The following interim principals have been named contract principal: Dyanne Alexander, Cregier Multiplex; Granzlee Banks, Bass; Gail Brakie, Deneen; Tyrone Dowdell, Green; Frank Embil, Woodlawn; Donald Fraynd, Jones College Prep; Rolland Jasper, Joplin; Geraldine Laury, Avalon Park; and Patrick MacMahon, Gallistel. Acting Principal Doris Hobson-Staples at Grant has become contract principal.
The following principals have had their contracts renewed: Shirley Antwi-Barfi, Jensen/Miller; Roscoe Beach Jr., Buckingham; Beverly Bennett, Simpson Alternative High; Fanchion Blumenberg, Kennedy; Lennette Coleman, Ariel; Leon Hudnall Jr., Morse; Joyce Kenner, Whitney Young; Geraldine Moore, Beidler; Juana Rivera-Vidal, Washington High; Lawrence Turner, Mann; Rita Ware, Robinson.
PRINCIPAL RETIREMENTS Mary Margaret Bloom, Ebinger; Marilyn LeBoy, former assistant principal at Gray, is the acting principal; Patricia Grissett, Harlan High; Gertrude Hill, former interim principal at Cregier Multiplex, becomes acting principal.
TALES FROM THE CLASSROOM Leslie Baldacci, a CPS teacher and former Chicago Sun-Times reporter, has published a book detailing her two-year classroom internship in the Teachers for Chicago alternative certification program.