Teaching Jobs in Chicago Eliminated

Posted on July 26, 2010

Over 1500 teaching jobs in Chicago have been slashed, and many teachers are being forced to train their own replacements.

The teachers will be laid off before the new school year begins.

Hundreds of teachers received layoff notices in the mail this week. The Chicago Teachers Union is meeting with school officials Friday to discuss the layoffs.

About 400 teachers and 200 staff members got letters this week. AT the end of June, 239 teachers were dismissed. The Chicago Teachers Union is demanding that the laid off teachers get rehired before new teachers are brought on.

The schools are facing a $370 million defecit. Student to teacher ratios are increasing, and high school classes are being increased from 28 to 33 students. Precious programs, including bilingual programs, gifted programs, and afterschool programs are being cut.

According to InTheseTimes, teachers and youth advocates say increasing class sizes and chopping after school programs is especially devastating given the violence that has plagued Chicago public school students in recent years, including the highly publicized beating death of Fenger High School student Derrion Albert last fall. After-school programs are among the ways youth advocates and parents hope to give students a safe haven and an alternative to gang activity. And more crowded classes mean a more tense and dangerous environment for students and teachers.

Here is the letter that went out:

TO: All REGULAR TRACK Principals

FROM: Alicia Winckler
Chief Human Capital Officer

CC: Chief Area Officers; Senior Leadership Team

DATE: July 23, 2010

RE: HUMAN CAPITAL UPDATES: Conference Calls for Regular Track Principals – Layoff Schedule and Hiring Process

I appreciate your leadership during this time of making necessary, but incredibly difficult decisions regarding how you’ll adapt to a reduced budget.

In the prior two weeks, the Office of Human Capital (in partnership with Finance, Legal, and Labor Relations) has been validating people impacts as a result of revised school budgets in Track E schools. As many of you know, the resulting layoff notifications were sent out this week for Track E school staff.

We will begin this process in our Regular Track schools in the coming days and we have scheduled a series of conference calls to outline the process, timeline, and actions you should expect over the next few weeks. Please hold the relevant times on your calendar.

CAO Conference Call

Monday, August 2, 2010
10:00 am–11:00 am