CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago Public Schools plans to lay off hundreds of teachers and support staff, a move the teachers union calls unnecessary, dangerous, and cruel.
As part of its annual adjustments, Chicago Public Schools will lay off 443 teachers and support staff. It’s among the lowest number of teachers impacted in the last decade.
But the Chicago Teachers Union said cutting jobs during a pandemic isn’t the right move, especially when CPS received nearly $2 billion in federal education funds.
"Let that sink in. Our students and their families need more support, and not less," CTU President Jesse Sharkey said in a statement.
"The mayor continues to be a walking contradiction through her actions, and a classic example of how symbolic gestures ring hollow. On Friday, she declared racism to be a public health crisis in many Chicago communities disproportionately burdened with poverty, unemployment, housing insecurity and violence. Today, she’s destabilizing those same communities by laying off educators at neighborhood schools."
In a statement, CTU President Jesse Sharkey said the highest number of layoffs by ZIP code were in North and South Lawndale and Little Village, which were disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
"The mayor’s plan to gut staffing at schools she had previously threatened to close exposes the hypocrisy at the root of these layoffs," Sharkey said.
CPS officials described the layoffs as part of its annual staff adjustment and hiring process ahead of next school year.
“Each year, CPS conducts its annual staffing adjustment process to enable principals to begin hiring based on the needs of their individual school communities. This year, schools will be hiring for more than 2,000 open teaching and staff positions for the 2021-22 school year, which far exceeds the number of teachers and staff impacted. Consistent with previous years, the district expects many of the impacted staff to be hired for other positions within CPS and the district will be hosting several virtual hiring events in the coming weeks," said CPS spokesman James Gherardi
The district plans to fill more than 2,000 newly opened positions, and expects many of the impacted staff to be rehired.
Still, Sharkey said "We will vigorously oppose every layoff, including those that are retaliatory...Be clear: We will fight these layoffs at this Wednesday’s board meeting, we will fight them in bargaining and we’ll fight them in school actions, as necessary."
Each year, CPS schools conduct annual staffing changes to fit the needs of their school communities due to factors including declining enrollment, changing student demographics, and programmatic changes.
For example, if a school needs an additional bilingual teacher, they may close a position to open a bilingual teaching position in order to serve their student population, CPS officials said in a a statement.
Impacted staff are invited to several virtual hiring events in June and July. In previous years, roughly two-thirds of impacted teachers quickly found new full-time CPS jobs. Additionally, CPS said 336 (65%) district-run schools have no teacher impacts, and 87 percent of all CPS schools have one or no teacher impacts.
Impacted tenured teachers receive full pay and benefits through next school year and non-tenured teachers are offered a substitute teaching position through next school year.
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