CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Public School leaders welcomed back students for the first day of classes Monday morning.
One young student was sporting a new white collared shirt, new Jordans and a Spiderman backpack for his first day at Beidler Elementary in East Garfield Park.
Amid declining enrollment overall, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said they saw an increase last year in migrant students and others learning English.
“We did see a bump up to 5,000 from 3,000…Right now, we’re taking buses to the shelters to register all the new migrant students that are coming. I have a lot of confidence in our programs,” Martinez said.
He said the district has a record low vacancy rate, but there are still about 1,000 teacher openings.
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said they’re delighted to have a former middle school teacher as mayor.
“We in this city deserve someone where the answer is not reflexively ‘no,’” Gates said.
She said over the summer CPS and the union negotiated a package aimed at recruiting more teachers as the district and the country still face a shortage.
It was warming up as students filed into the building for school to start at 8:45. Martinez said they’ve been working through the weekend to make sure schools are kept cool ahead of a forecasted heatwave.
“Of course, our buildings are old…For our families, we have a lot of window units, we have extra window units…We are going to continue to keep an ear out for any school that’s having issues,” Martinez said.
He said every classroom has at least a window unit, but hallways are a different story.
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