Class is back in session for more than 300,000 CPS students who started a new school year Monday morning.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and CPS CEO Macqueline King celebrated their return at Leland Elementary, where staff literally rolled out the red carpet for students.
The new year comes as Johnson is pushing the state to give the district another $150M that the Chicago Board of Education has factored into its budget.
Johnson is a former 7th grade social studies teacher and told students, families and staff at Leland “we have to demand more from those who have the ability to give more, to do more.”
Schools have started to recall some teachers and staff who were laid off as CPS wrestled with a $732M budget shortfall.
Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter says he heard from a teacher who was called on Saturday to come back to work.
