Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) president Stacy Davis Gates said on Monday that “all children belong to” the union.
At the City Club Chicago event, Gates bashed President Donald Trump for lessening the power of teachers’ unions, calling his education agenda a “relitigation” of the Civil War while complaining about the failing state of Chicago schools.
Quoting civil rights activist James Baldwin, Gates tells the crowd, “The children are always ours. Every single one of them, all over the globe.” Gates then mocks parents who would respond by saying “CTU thinks your children are its children.”
“Yes, we do,” Gates said. “We do.”
CTU did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Gates also implied that Trump’s efforts to dismantle the Department of Education (ED) and fire federal workers are an attack on the civil rights movement.
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has seen chronic failures within its district, with fewer than one in three elementary students reading at grade level and just 18% testing proficient in math, according to the district’s 2024 report. CTU’s frequent strikes have kept students out of school for days at a time.
The union fought to keep kids out of schools for over a year during the COVID-19 pandemic, finishing the 2020-2021 school year entirely remote and not returning to the classroom until August of 2021. CTU continued to push through 2022 to for remote learning, resulting in schools closing again for five days after the union walked out.
Chicago schools are also currently facing a federal investigation due to its alleged refusal to give up discriminatory diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The district allegedly focuses “on remedial measures only for black students, despite acknowledging that Chicago students of all races struggle academically,” according to ED.
The Chicago school system also allegedly tried to hide its sex education program from the public, which was revealed by the DCNF to be riddled with gender ideology content, including “Gender and sexuality workshops.”
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