Good First Step: Chicago Board of Education Holds Some Class Sizes in Some Schools to 28
During yesterday’s negotiations between the Chicago Teachers Union’s 40-member negotiating team and the Chicago Board of Education’s legal representation, the Board’s lawyers said they would cap some high school class sizes at 28 – mainly core classes such as English, math, science and social studies -- but only for the regular track schools that start September 7th. According to the Chicago Teachers Union, a very rough estimate is that about 300-400 teachers might be rehired. “It’s a small step in the right direction, but when dealing with the Board’s lawyers, the devil’s always in the details. One major detail overlooked by their lawyers is that Chicago Public Schools received $100 million from the federal government to rehire at minimum 1,000 laid-off teachers. This doesn’t come close,” said Karen Lewis, President of the Chicago Teachers Union.
“The Board needs to get to work. They’ve made a mess and they’re going to have to clean it up. Hiring back all of our members who were wrongfully terminated is not a matter of if, or who, but when,” said Lewis, who added that, “I hope the Board agrees that parents and students will not quietly tolerate one substitute, one placeholder, or one new hire this school year,” said Lewis.
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The Chicago Teachers Union represents 32,000 teachers and educational support personnel working in the Chicago Public Schools and, by extension, the students and families they serve. CTU, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, is the third largest union in the country and the largest local union in Illinois.
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