Chicago Teachers Union-backed educators at two Instituto del Progreso Latino charter schools are going on strike after they say little progress was made during the latest round of contract negotiations over the weekend.
Charter Schools
Chicago Teachers Union-backed educators at a pair of Instituto del Progreso Latino charter schools could go on strike early next month after more than two years of bargaining.
The Chicago Board of Education is expected to renew the campus agreement for Urban Prep charter schools located in Bronzeville and Englewood after a judge ruled that CPS violated its moratorium on school closures by attempting to take control of the schools.
CPS said it has already appealed the ruling
A Cook County judge has ruled in favor of Urban Prep Academies, which had sued to maintain control of two charter campuses after Chicago Public Schools planned to take them over, amid allegations of sexual and financial misconduct by UPA leadership.
The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday voted to revoke the charters for Urban Prep Academies campuses in Englewood and Bronzeville, with CPS itself set to step in and begin managing those schools.
Nine years after Hadiya Pendleton’s death, her mother, Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton, is still fighting to end gun violence. She founded Hadiya’s Promise – a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending gun violence through education.
Classes will resume Tuesday at four Chicago International Charter Schools following a two-week long strike that ended early Monday morning.
A former reading specialist at a Chicago charter school claims she faced retaliation and termination last year after voicing concerns about special education students she believes were illegally denied proper supports.
Educators say Chicago International Charter School leadership refuses to use a $36 million surplus on staff raises or classroom improvements. Around 2,200 students are being impacted by the strike.
About 500 Chicago charter school teachers and 8,000 students were back in the classroom after a historic, nearly weeklong strike came to an end Sunday.
The Chicago Teachers Union said more than 500 teachers will return to classes Monday at Acero’s 15 schools with 7,500 predominantly Latino students.
Classes were canceled for Acero’s 7,500 predominantly Latino students, and Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said the strike would last “until they come back with an offer that respects our students and the people who educate them.”
Kwame Nkrumah Charter School and Urban Prep West Charter School have both failed to “provide a high quality education” for their students, the district says.
Several hundred Chicago charter school teachers say they’re willing to walk off the job if they can’t reach a contract agreement with their charter operator, Acero.
House Bill 768 passed through the state House and Senate easily last year, but the governor’s veto of the legislation, which seeks to limit state oversight of local decisions to shutter underperforming charter schools, doesn’t come as a surprise.
More than two-thirds of CTU voting members cast ballots in favor of merging with the Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff. “We've embraced our common struggle to support our workers, our students, their parents and our neighborhoods,” CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said.
