PACT: ProActive Chicago Teachers and School Employees

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PACT is a caucus of the Chicago Teachers Union, begun in 1996, dedicated to saving our jobs, our schools and our union.
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 The PACT 2010 Leadership Team              

                                                 
                                 
                              Deborah Lynch           Josephine Perry

                   Gage Park High School Teacher          Tanner Elementary Teacher

                                for CTU  President                  for CTU Vice President

                        Maureen Callaghan       Mary Ellen Sanchez

                        Curie High School Clerk                Byrne Elementary Teacher

                         for Financial Secretary                  for Recording Secretary

                Mary Edmonds             Kevin Condon         Danny Vanover

             McDade Classical Teacher    Stevenson Elementary Teacher   Taft High School Teacher

                    for Area VP                              for Area VP                       for Area VP

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Experience makes the Difference!

Deborah Lynch

Teacher & Delegate Gage Park High School. Ph.D from UIC

CTU President, 2001-2004, AFT/IFT Executive Boards

CTU High School Functional Vice President 2005-2007

CTU Quest Center Director, 3 yrs/AFT Educ. Issues, 8 yrs

Elementary Teacher 12 yrs, High School Teacher 6 yrs

Josephine Perry

Teacher & Past Delegate, Tanner Elementary School

CTU Delegate 8 years

CTU Rules Election Committee Member

CTU PAVE & Social Committee Member

Mary Ellen Sanchez

Teacher & Past Delegate,

Byrne Elementary School   CTU Delegate, 6 years

LSC Teacher representative, 7 years

National Board for Prof. Tching Standards assessor, 2 yrs

Maureen Callaghan

Clerk and Delegate, Curie High School

CTU Treasurer, 2001-2004

CTU PSRP Liaison,AFT PSRP Policy Council

IFT Executive Board Member, 2001-2004

AFT/IFT Convention Delegate

Kevin Condon

Teacher & Delegate, Stevenson Elementary School

CTU Delegate, 8 years

CTU District Supervisor

AFT/IFT Convention Delegate

Mary Edmonds

Teacher & Delegate, McDade Classical Elementary

CTU Delegate, 6 years

McDade Pension Representative

AFT/IFT Convention Delegate

Danny Vanover

Teacher & Delegate, Taft High School

CTU Delegate, 7 years

CTU Executive Board, 2001-2004

CTU School  Finance & Taxation Committee Chair and

member CTU Testing Committee

December Campaign News link:

http://beverlyreview.net/full.php?sid=463¤t_edition=2009-12-02

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More than 250 attend Campaign

kickoff at South Side

restaurant... PACT, Lynch

in the race again

George N. Schmid

www.substancenews.com

The race to run the Chicago Teachers Union looks like it will be as long and candidate-filled as a Democratic Party primary season, with former CTU President Deborah Lynch making the formal announcement before a large after-school crowd on October 23, 2009. In front of a crowd that numbered more than 250 union members, Lynch announced that she is a candidate for President of the CTU and introduced her main running mates.  

Former Chicago Teachers Union President Deborah Lynch (above at podium) formally announced her candidacy for president of the Chicago Teachers Union at a well-attended dinner meeting at the Mayfield on S. Archer Ave. in Chicago on October 23,2009. Behind Lynch are her campaign leaders and candidates for the union's top office. Left to right:Josephine Perry (teacher at Tanner Elementary School and candidate for vice president), Mary  Edmonds (teacher at McDade Elementary School and candidate for recording secretary), Kevin Conlon (teacher at Stevenson Elementary School and candidate for financial secretary), Maureen Callaghan (clerk at Curie High School and candidate for treasurer), Cynthia Haywood (teacher at Vanderpoel Elementary School and co-chair campaign coordinator), and Alan Bearden (co-chair).

The PACT campaign tee shirt featuring the slogan "Stop Million Dollar Marilyn" was one of the best selling items at the event. Lynch told the audience that Marilyn Stewart had wasted more than $1 million in union dues firing vice president Ted Dallas — one half million on legal costs for the firing itself and a half million dollars to buy out the remainder of Dallas's contract through May 2010, the term for which he had been elected. According to Lynch, Dallas is also getting a pension of $130,000 per year as a result of the pay and perks he received during the four years he was CTU vice president before Stewart purged him from her ranks. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.The CTU election will be held on May 20, 2010 unless the current union leadership tries to sabotage it as part of an ongoing move to centralize executive power at the 31,000-member union [see related articles at substancenews.net and in the November print edition of Substance].

Former CTU President Deborah Lynch formally announced her candidacy and introduced her four running mates at a dinner for more than 200 teachers and other CTU members at the Mayfield Restaurant and Banquet Hall on S. Archer Ave. on October 23.

More than 250 people attended the event, which witnessed people arriving and leaving across the three-hour time from immediately after school at 3:30 p.m. well into the evening after 6:30 p.m. By 4:00 p.m. the hall’s parking lot was overflowing and a number of people who came had to park as far as two blocks away.

At 5:00 as people were finishing their dinners, Deborah Lynch introduced her four running mates. In addition to Josephine Perry (a teacher at Tanner Elementary School ) who is running for vice president, Lynch’s team includes former CTU treasurer Maureen Callaghan (again running for treasurer), Stevenson Elementary teacher Kevin Conlon (financial secretary) and McDade Elementary teacher Mary Edmonds (recording secretary).

Wearing her PACT 'Stop Million Dollar Marilyn' tee shirt, Tanner Elementary School teacher Josephine Perry speaks to the October 23 campaign kickoff dinner. Perry is running for vice-president of the 31,000-member union. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.Deborah Lynch and her running mates each introduced themselves to the crowd and spoke about the issues in the forthcoming election.

Because of the complex election rules and large number of offices elected in the largest union in llinois , CTU elections require that candidates get as many as 150 union members to run with them. Unless the rules are radically changed this year, the CTU will be electing five officers, six trustees, three area vice presidents, six high school vice presidents, 16 elementary vice presidents, three teacher assistant vice presidents, and one vice president for each of the following groups: school clerks; school community representatives; school nurses; hearing and vision testers; guidance counselors assistants; and others.

At 5:00 p.m., Deborah Lynch spoke briefly, outlining the PACT critique of the six year-rule of incumbent president Marilyn Stewart and trying to set the record straight about Lynch’s own record during the three years (2001 – 2004) she served as CTU president. A teacher at Gage Park High School Lynch became the first former CTU president in the union’s 75-year history to return to the classroom following service at the union’s office.

Lynch’s campaign is especially critical of the way in which Marilyn Stewart has managed the union’s finances.

Above, part of the dinner crowd at the Mayfield can be seen in the background while Josephine Perry (left) and Deborah Lynch (right) await another speaker. Perry displays the PACT platform on the back of her "Stop Million Dollar Marilyn" tee shit. By 4:00 p.m. the parking lot of the event was filled, and people were still arriving at 7:00 p.m. for a meet and greet. More than 200 tickets to the event were sold, according to campaign co-chair Cynthia Haywood, and at one point a Substance count counted 204 people. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.“We left office with $5.6 million in the union’s treasury,” Lynch told the October 23 crowd. Within three years, she noted, Stewart had driven the union into near bankruptcy by overspending, at each point trying to blame the Lynch administration for the problems.

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PACT announces 2010 slate/platformat