CTU Survey Says: Chaos

A new survey shows Chicago schools are reeling from recent staff cuts.

The survey was conducted earlier this month by a biased party—the Chicago Teachers Union … which is suing the district for laying off tenured teachers.

Union delegates at 146 schools painted a bleak picture:

• 1 in 3 schools reported having substitutes in place for students instead of permanent teachers.
• 40 percent of schools have new hires with no teaching experience.
• 70 percent of schools said kids are in classes that exceed class-size limits.

CTU president Karen Lewis gave CPS the results yesterday at its monthly board meeting, along with a request:

LEWIS: Fully staff our schools, and use that $100 million dollars that the U.S. Department of Education sent you to do just that.

CPS says the survey is not an accurate picture of staffing in schools. The district says it’s called back 630 teachers—most of them experienced and tenured. That’s about half of all teachers laid off due to budget cuts over the summer. CPS says it has a normal number of substitutes working in schools.