Chicago City Wire

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jesse Sullivan is praising a Chicago Teachers Union whistleblower for a document dump showing the teachers union’s support of what he calls radical ideology in classrooms.

Sullivan's campaign noted that the “Power to the Parents” agenda inspired the whistleblower.

“When we launched our Power to the Parents agenda, our goal was to give power back to families and shine light on what has been going on in our schools," Sullivan said in a press release. "We are grateful to the CTU whistleblower who answered our call and brought forward these documents that show CTU members violating the prohibition on political activities for public officials, using their taxpayer-funded positions to indoctrinate our children with a radical political agenda. These activities are why I have called to defund the CTU and end political indoctrination in Illinois schools once and for all. As governor, I will end the practice of taxpayer-funded Chicago Public Schools collecting millions of dollars in dues on behalf of the Chicago Teachers Union."

The story was covered by Fox News. CTU President Stacy Davis Gates shared a post from a library specialist who has been told to discontinue discussions about race in the classroom. 

"In my own experience as a former English teacher in Chicago Public Schools for 15 years, CPS told teachers twice to ban curriculum and limit discussions about race," Gina Caneva, the library media specialist for East Leyden High School in Franklin Park, said. "I didn't listen either time.” 

Another Facebook post by CTU executive Jackson Potter focused on the book "All About Love" by Bell Hooks. 

"Anyone taught with Bell Hooks' ‘All About Love?’" Potter wrote on Facebook. "Today I had some of the most wonderful and intense conversations with students as we explored how patriarchy, materialism and white supremacy shape our notions of love. Honored by their empathy & disappointed it took me so long to teach this. Also a testament to making ourselves vulnerable as teachers to the patient examination of emotion and how our culture can posit or negate our needs as human beings. We took two full days to annote 4 pages and it required every minute.” 

CTU executive board member Sarah Chambers also posted her lesson plans. 

"When I taught 8th grade social studies," Chambers’ Facebook message reads, "We used to do a lesson, where we walked in and started taking students' pencil cases and stuff. And that's how we started our Christopher Columbus lessons," she posted, noting that students protested. "Some adults clearly should have been in my class because they are acting like this country wasn't built on stolen land by people who stole everything from people of color. How do you think they filled the museums? They looted countries all over the world.” 

Sullivan said that these messages are violations of the State Employee Ethics Act. The act prohibits public employees to engage in political activity during a state-compensated time.

Sullivan has a 10-point agenda to "Clean up Illinois." He said it is an anti-corruption roadmap that will address the most severe ethical problems facing the state.