Who was Karen Lewis?
Lewis was born on July 20, 1953, in Chicago, Illinois. She attended Kenwood High School and later attended Mount Holyoke College. In 1972, she transferred to Dartmouth College and was the only African-American woman in the class of 1974. At Dartmouth College, she graduated with a degree in music and sociology. She later earned her Masterâs Degree from Northeastern Illinois University in Inner City Studies. Lewis had been a member of the CTU since 1988. In 2010, she gained control over the CTU by winning 60 percent of the vote in a run-off election.
In the CTU circle, Lewis will be remembered for the famous 2012 strike. In 2012, she led the Chicago Teachers Union on a 10-day strike. Following the strike, the union revised the teacher evaluation system that prevented the instituting of merit pay and also helped the veteran teachers who were working in phased out schools. In one of her earlier interviews with Dissent Magazine, Lewis talked about the impact of