Monday’s court ruling by a federal judge offers a ray of hope that displaced, tenured Chicago Public Schools teachers could soon get their jobs back.
Monday’s court ruling by a federal judge offers a ray of hope that displaced, tenured Chicago Public Schools teachers could soon get their jobs back. U.S. District Judge David H. Coar granted the Chicago Teachers Union a temporary injunction against CPS, directing the school board to “rescind the discharges of tenured teachers under the Board’s June 15, 2010 resolution; (directs) the Board to promulgate, in consultation with the Teachers Union and after good faith negotiation, a set of recall rules… within the next 30 days; and preliminarily and permanently enjoining the Board from conducting future layoffs or ‘honorable discharges’ in a similarly unlawful manner, until such time as the recall rules have been promulgated.” “I am confident that this ruling gives us the window of opportunity we need to bring back tenured teachers who were illegally discharged,” Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, told the Defender. “Our students have been without their teachers too long.” The school district is exploring its next move, in the wake of the judge’s ruling. “CPS is reviewing (the) federal court decision and it is considering legal options—including whether to appeal,” a written statement from the school district read. “But the district is pleased that the court found that CPS is not required to restore positions eliminated as the result of budget cuts. The court acknowledged that the teachers union did not ask to restore eliminated positions. Instead, the union asked only that the district provide tenured teachers an opportunity to be considered for existing vacancies (and) CPS has provided—and continues to provide—tenured teachers with that opportunity.” Lewis said all CPS teachers are on probation during their first three years of teaching and can be fired at any time without cause. But in their fourth year, teachers become tenured and are given the right to defend themselves against disciplinary actions, which could lead to losing their jobs. “(While) it’s not a guarantee at least tenured teachers (have) some protections from arbitrary and retaliatory dismissals,” she said. According to CPS, 417 of the 749 tenured teachers laid off this year have been hired for vacancies across the district. The CTU contends in its lawsuit, filed Aug. 13 against the Chicago Board of Education, “the Board implemented layoffs of 1,289 teachers in sequential phases that ended by Aug. 31. (And while) all laid off teachers received notice of their termination they were not provided an opportunity to demonstrated their qualifications for retention in some capacity within the school system.” “While all layoffs are painful, one of our choices was to lay off teachers who received unsatisfactory ratings in their evaluations prior to laying off higher-performing teachers. We believe that this approach is in the best interest of our students, and we’re disappointed that the union does not share this view,” said CEO Ron Huberman, in response to the lawsuit’s filing in August. One displaced, tenured teacher, Jacqueline Sanders, 50, said she believes CPS targeted for layoffs teachers at schools with top-heavy salaries. Sanders is currently receiving her full salary and benefits until June 2011 at which time if she has not found another CPS teaching position, she would lose her seniority, salary and benefits. “But if I find another CPS teaching job in October I will be paid the starting salary, which is around $35,000 a year,” Sanders explained. “There are six salary grades for teachers and I am at grade five, which is around $75,000, so I would lose all my years of seniority and have to take a huge pay cut.” In June Sanders was laid off after 21 years teaching at Bradwell Elementary School on the South Side. She has been a CPS teacher for 26 years. However, tenured teachers said they are still unclear if Monday’s court ruling means they will automatically be rehired. “I am still waiting for someone to call and tell me I can return to work,” said Tina Walker, a CPS teacher for 10 years who was displaced in June as a faculty member at Gresham Elementary School on the South Side. She has not had a teaching interview since losing her job. “This ruling sounds good for future teachers moving forward but what does it mean for those us who lost our jobs illegally?” she questioned. Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender
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