CPS defends its handling of layoffs
Sally Scott, an attorney for CPS, told the three-judge panel in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that the district followed all the proper rules for layoffs laid out by the Illinois General Assembly.
She argued the though the legislature has granted tenured teachers many protections, the district has the authority to lay them off, regardless of seniority, in the face of economic hardship.
But Tom Geoghegan, an attorney for the Chicago Teachers Union, said the district's method of termination was improper and has effectively barred many experienced quality teachers from reapplying for new job openings within the district.
Geoghegan said he is not asking the court to restore these teachers to their old positions, but simply not to penalize them through layoffs. Nearly 1,300 teachers -- more than 60 percent of them tenured -- were laid off before school started last year to help close the district's mounting budget deficit.
Of the 749 tenured teachers who were let go, 417 have been rehired in the system, CPS officials said.
In October, U.S. District Judge David Coar sided with the union, ruling that the layoffs were improper.
