Karen Lewis, RIP
By 
Former teachers union President Karen Lewis has died.
Lewis, a Hyde Park native, was a passionate and vocal advocate for Chicago’s teachers and students for years, even as Chicago Public Schools closed schools and dealt with a shaky budget. She led the Chicago Teachers Union during its 2012 strike and considered running for mayor in 2015 — with some predicting she’d beat incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel — only to cancel those plans when she learned she had cancer.
Lewis died overnight Sunday. She was 67.
“The nation has lost a true champion,” Stephanie Gadlin, a former CTU spokeswoman who worked under Lewis, said in a statement. “Karen Lewis was one of the most powerful and prolific voices in public education, advocating for students, their families and the communities in which they live. For her tenure as president of the Chicago Teachers Union, she was the architect of today’s fight for education justice.
“Our city has lost a great voice.”
In 2010, Lewis ran for president of the teachers union, pushing a progressive policy and working against the expansion of charter schools. Her grassroots campaign rejuvenated the powerhouse union.
Lewis then led the union during a strike in 2012, the first such action from the teachers in decades. The union won salary bumps and protections for teachers who worked at schools being closed, among other things.
The CTU was a fairly moribund union when Lewis won in 2010. She revitalized it and showed what power teachers can have. She had a very real chance at beating Rahm in 2015 when she had to step away from the mayoral race. I am only happy she managed to live this long. But she’s still gone too soon. Lewis will go down as one of the most important labor figures of the early 21st century.