Teacher contract negotiations set to begin in Chicago—they want ‘climate action’ for ‘green’ schools

See also “President of Chicago Teachers Union says conservatives take an ‘oath’ to prevent black children from learning to read

If progressive Democrats remain designated as the custodians of education and learnedness, we’re doomed.

In March of this year, I wrote a blog on the impending expiration of the employment contract between the city of Chicago and its teachers—that agreement has now expired, and the two parties are set to enter into official re-negotiations this Friday.

As we’re only a few days out, we’ve gotten a glimpse into the demands from the teachers, and though the absurdity isn’t surprising, it’s still absurd; the fact that these people are not qualified to mold the minds of our youth, based on their ludicrous proposals alone, needs to be iterated.

Here are some of the specifics, from E&E News:

Chicago teachers demand climate action in union contract

The Chicago Teachers Union on Friday will open public contract negotiations with the city — and among its demands will be the union’s ‘green schools’ initiative. 

The teachers union is pushing to electrify the school bus fleet, cut building emissions via energy-saving retrofits and solar panels and create new technical education programs to train students for renewable energy jobs.

Allow me to remind you of a few things, the first being that the city of Chicago is expecting to be faced with a deficit of more than half a billion dollars in just a few months time, and we’ve seen firsthand how unbelievably expensive and bankrupting “Green New Deal” policies have been on the national level—thank you Congress and Joe Biden for the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—there’s not enough money to force a city-wide “green” school mandate, for multiple reasons.

Secondly, the Midwest has a reputation for brutally cold and blizzardy winters—do we need to revisit what happens to battery-charged vehicles in freezing temperatures? Apparently so.

Remember this?

Entire fleet of Jackson’s rechargeable buses out of commission, public transit service falls back on the ever-reliable diesel engine

Care to wager why those electric buses weren’t in working order? Well, if you guessed it was because of the bitter cold Wyoming weather, then you guessed right.

One would think though that Chicagoans themselves would be well-acquainted with frigid winters? I mean, the story below was just six months ago:

Electric vehicles may be the way of the future, but many EV owners are having trouble dealing with Chicago’s bitterly cold temperatures.

Public charging stations have turned into car graveyards over the past couple of days.

‘Nothing. No juice. Still on zero percent,’ said Tyler Beard, who has been trying to recharge his Tesla at an Oak Brook Tesla supercharging station since Sunday afternoon. ‘And this is like three hours being out here after being out here three hours yesterday.’

Beard was among the dozens of Tesla owners trying desperately to power up their cars at the Tesla supercharging station in Oak Brook. It was a scene mirrored with long lines and abandoned cars at scores of other charging stations around the Chicago area.

(For commentary on those events, see this blog.)

Never underestimate the stupidity of fools—but the asinine demands don’t stop there:

Now, the CTU is fighting for a more ambitious suite of climate actions, including a 2035 goal of net-zero emissions district-wide.

This is actually probably achievable, just as long as the city stays the course and continues to promote abortion, erode the right to self-defense, raise taxes, and let third-world invaders wreak havoc on the Chicagoans still holding out for a brighter future—those policies will compel the mass exodus so commonly seen from blue states to red states, and reap a lot of death, which of course is the fastest way to get to “net zero.”

Still more though:

It [CTU] proposes installing solar panels, heat pumps and composting programs at 50 schools, as well as a fully electrified school bus fleet and a moratorium on new gas heaters. It asks for a ‘carbon neutral schools’ pilot program at five schools — with a goal of cutting energy costs 30 percent by the end of the next school year.

The union’s proposed contract wants windows that can open in every school and the removal of lead pipes from all buildings. It proposes a ‘climate champion’ for each school to coordinate climate initiatives, as well the establishment of heating and cooling centers that would be available to the community during extreme weather.

They’re Democrats—why wouldn’t they eliminate the only reliable source of heat when it’s crucial to maintain warmth, given the frequent subzero temperatures, and the electric grid could easily give out at any moment.

And a “climate champion” position? Naturally, this is what Chicago schools need to prioritize and spend taxpayer dollars on, for the kids of course. Never mind the fact that one-in-four Cook County adults is “functionally illiterate,” and who cares that a vast majority of students are not grade-level-proficient in core subjects. From an article published this past November:

Test data released by the Illinois State Board of Education once again shows the Chicago Public Schools system has not prepared students to meet proficiency in core subjects.

About three-quarters of Chicago Public Schools students cannot read at grade level on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness in 2023. Nearly 83% did not meet proficiency in math.

75% can’t read at the level which they should? Truly obscene.

But yes, the people responsible for those numbers and the failing state of “education” are the best and brightest and they certainly know what matters most—can we please just defund any and all departments of education at this point?

Free image, Pixabay license.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license.

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