ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 23, 1997 TAG: 9702240118
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: Associated Press
Albert Shanker, the legendary teachers union leader who championed public school reforms, died Saturday. He was 68.
He died of cancer at Sloan-Kettering Memorial Hospital, said Bert Shanas, a spokesman for the United Federation of Teachers, New York City's teachers' union.
Weakened by the cancer and the treatments to fight it, Shanker gave many of his last speeches sitting down to conserve his strength, but his powerful words still brought many to their feet.
``Al spent his life in pursuit of one of the noblest of causes, the improvement of our public schools,'' President Clinton said Saturday. ``He challenged the nation's teachers and schools to provide our children with the very best education possible and made a crusade out of the need for educational standards.''
Shanker, who split his time between union headquarters in Washington and his home in New York, was president of the 900,000-member American Federation of Teachers union, the nation's second-largest, since 1974. He also worked to end his union's feud with the 2.2 million-member National Education Association.
Shanker had argued that public schools can be improved by imposing rigorous academic and conduct standards on students.
He endorsed the idea of freeing certain independent public schools, known as charter schools, from many regulations so they could become laboratories for reform. The schools, created by groups of parents, teachers or others, follow separate charters that outline what students are expected to learn.
But Shanker stressed the need to maintain high standards, employ certified teachers, and hold these nontraditional schools accountable for student performance.
Sandra Feldman, Shanker's successor at the 125,000-member United Federation of Teachers, called him ``a teacher's teacher - brilliant, logical, caring and deeply committed to both public education and the labor movement as a means of creating a better life for all Americans.''
Born in New York City to Russian immigrants, Shanker graduated from the University of Illinois after being confronted with anti-Semitism as a freshman - an experience that fueled his union fervor. He also did post-graduate work at Columbia University.
He taught mathematics in New York City public schools before becoming a leader of the United Federation of Teachers. He also had served as UFT president from 1964 until 1986.
Shanker also served as a vice president of the AFL-CIO since 1973.
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