Chicago union chief apologizes to Duncan

CHICAGO, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis has apologized to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan for joking last month about his lisp.

The Chicago Tribune reported in a video circulated online by a non-profit education group, Lewis said at a teachers union leadership meeting in Seattle, "Now, you know he went to a private school because if he had gone to a public school he would have had that lisp fixed."

She then said in the video: "I know, that was ugly, wasn't it? I'm sorry."

Lewis called Duncan Monday to apologize, saying she can "never let frustrations get in the way of carrying out my responsibilities as a leader."

The Chicago Sun-Times reported a spokesman for Duncan, Peter Cunningham, said the education secretary had spoken to Lewis and she apologized.

"She apologized, he accepted it and he's moving forward," Cunningham said.

Duncan, a former Chicago Public Schools chief, has been at odds with union leaders in that city and elsewhere over his support for education initiatives including non-union charter schools and replacing all teachers and staff at failing schools.

In the video, Lewis, a former stand-up comic, also joked about her use of marijuana while attending college.

And she criticized as "vicious" and "nasty" a cartoon that appeared in the Tribune this month showing her sitting on a chair in a corner with a dunce cap on and with her skin darkened and some of her features exaggerated.