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90_HR0068
LRB9005030KBkbA
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, Albert Shanker, President of the 907,000 member
3 American Federation of Teachers for the past 22 years, died
4 February 22, 1997 at the age of 68; and
5 WHEREAS, Albert Shanker received his professional
6 education and training at the University of Illinois at
7 Champaign-Urbana in 1946 before returning to his home state
8 of New York, where he began his involvement in education, the
9 labor movement, and his history of civil rights activism; and
10 WHEREAS, Albert Shanker was a tireless and passionate
11 advocate for those he represented, but also provoked national
12 discussions on the best way to improve public education,
13 focusing on restructuring schools in the 1980s and becoming
14 the driving force behind today's movement to set high
15 national standards for student achievement that could match
16 the records of other nations; and
17 WHEREAS, Albert Shanker, while fighting the cancer that
18 eventually took his life, served as an advisor to U.S.
19 Presidents since the Carter administration and was described
20 in 1996 in an Education Week article as "probably the most
21 influential person in American education"; and
22 WHEREAS, In 1993, Albert Shanker became the founding
23 president of Education International, the worldwide teacher
24 union federation formed by the merger of the International
25 Federation of Free Teacher Unions, to which the AFT belonged,
26 and the World Confederation of Organizations in the Teaching
27 Profession, to which the NEA belonged; and
28 WHEREAS, Since 1973, Albert Shanker served on the
29 executive council of the AFL-CIO and was chairman of its
30 International Affairs Committee for many years; and
31 WHEREAS, Albert Shanker is survived by his wife of 35
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1 years, the former Edith Gerber; children, Carl, Michael,
2 Jennie, and Adam; and three grandchildren; therefore, be it
3 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
4 NINETIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
5 express our deepest sympathies to the family of Albert
6 Shanker; and be it further
7 RESOLVED, That we also wish to express our most sincere
8 appreciation for his leadership on behalf of America's public
9 schools and his vision that teachers and their unions have a
10 vital role in helping students to succeed in the classroom
11 and in their lives; and be it further
12 RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
13 presented to Edith Shanker, the Executive Council of the
14 American Federation of Teachers, and the Executive Board of
15 the Illinois Federation of Teachers.