Back to school for CPS teachers, students
After Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) members went on strike for the first time in 25 years and made national headlines, the CTU and Chicago Public Schools finally reached an agreement.
350,000 public school students returned to their classrooms Wednesday. Mayor Rahm Emanuel called the agreement “an honest compromise,” and while CTU president Karen Lewis said they will never have a “perfect contract,” they agreed they “couldn’t solve all the problems… and it was time to suspend the strike.”
The new contract for CTU members will cost $295 million over four years and accounts for a freeze in healthcare premiums and co-pays for members who participate in a wellness program; more than 600 new positions in art, music and physical education; and a $250 reimbursement for teachers who buy school supplies.
DePaul online teaching service wins award
The DePaul Online Teaching Series (DOTS) received an award Tuesday honoring its online teaching service for faculty members.
The 2012 Sloan Consortium award given to DOTS recognizes “outstanding contributions to the field of online learning.”
Gian Mario Besana, associate vice president for Academic Affairs-Online Learning and Internationalization, told DePaul Newsline that they were “extremely proud” that DOTS won the award. “DePaul continues to invest significant resources in this training program and fully supports its mission and goals,” said Besana.
This week in DePaul history:
Four DePaul University students faced off against Texas Christian University on the then-popular TV quiz show “College Bowl” on CBS Sept. 24, 1961.
Unfortunately, the DePaul team was soundly defeated 190-45.
In its front-page story, the DePaulia wrote that the article “(was) not an attempt to condemn, condone or criticize, constructively or otherwise, any one or thing connected with DePaul’s effort on the show.”
“Nor is it an attempt to explain the results,” it added.
Some of the criticism levied at DePaul’s team was the overemphasis on science majors (which comprised three of the four team members) and an overall lack of preparation.
The DePaul team’s coach – Prof. James Diamond, who later served as the Dean of the College of Commerce from 1971-78 and died in 2002 – told the DePaulia for the Sept. 29, 1961 issue that a penalty for answering the question before the question was completed may have made the team more cautious.
“Caution, in this case, could have been one millionth of a second,” Diamond said. “When one person presses the buzzer, it breaks the circuit. Our people practically had bleeding hands from pressing the buzzer.”
The DePaulia summed up the situation thusly: “We met a better team and we lost.”
