560 CPS Employees Cut Loose -- For Starters
Cuts resolve only one-sixth of budget deficit
By KRISTIN NEHLS and PEGGY CASSIDY
Updated 1:19 PM CST, Tue, Jul 28, 2009
Lives of nearly 560 Chicago Public School employees are officially off-kilter after the Chicago Public School system laid off nearly that many employees. And that's only the beginning.
Those layoffs come as new national jobless figures hit a 26-year high of 9.5%.
The CPS layoffs -- all in non-classroom positions -- are a result of efforts to fill a $600 million budget gap and will account for about one sixth of the deficit.
So, 560 disrupted lives in exchange for one-sixth of a solution? Combine that with a report from Chi-Town Daily News stating that CPS is making "little progress in student achievement," and , yikes, it is not a good day in the Chicago Public School system.
District spokeswoman Monique Bond told the Chi-Town Daily News that the cuts will save the district about $100 million. She says details of further cuts are “still being worked out,” but the number of people laid off could reach 1,000, based on her earlier statements.
The majority of the cuts were done at district headquarter, and no cuts were made to positions inside the classroom, Bond said. The departments hit hardest were human resources and information-technology.
Bond says the laid-off workers have been promised a severance.
The job losses come just weeks after the district’s chief executive officer, Ron Huberman, announced two new positions as part of a new executive team. No pay raises were granted to those holding current positions.
First Published: Jul 2, 2009 12:36 PM CST
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