Tim Kraus Elected President of the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers
Technology Teacher to Succeed Sue Taylor who was Recently Elected President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers

The Cincinnati Federation of Teachers (CFT), has elected Tim Kraus a high school technology teacher and chairman of the union's bargaining committee as CFT's new president. Kraus won with more than 80 percent of the vote. Elections also were held for other CFT offices. A full report from the union's election committee, including vote totals, can be found at the union's Web site www.cft-aft.org.  Kraus will succeed current president Sue Taylor on May 9. Taylor was recently elected president of the state-wide teachers' union, the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT).

"I'm very excited about leading this union," said Kraus. "I look forward to partnering with the district, but I also want to hold them accountable for their actions. The layoff of 115 teachers and school workers that were announced at last night's school board meeting is a demonstration of the poor planning and weak financial management that has characterized this district in recent years and it's our children and school employees who are paying the price."

Kraus is in his 10th year of teaching, nine of them teaching education technology at Hughes Center High School for Teaching and Technology in Clifton. He assistes students in all grades and subject areas learn how to use computers.

"Tim is an excellent communicator having worked in public radio before becoming a teacher, he's an education reformer and he knows our union," said Taylor. "As chairman of our negotiations committee, he will be able to keep negotiations for a new contract on track." The union has been negotiating a new contract with the school district.

CFT represents 3,000 teachers, librarians, guidance counselors, secretaries and other school employees in the Cincinnati Public Schools. The union is an affiliate of the OFT, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the AFL-CIO.