As CPS schools empty: Mayor Emanuel, don't let this crisis go to waste (Chicago: magnet school)

[Manterro]

The school system is still deep in debt. Its annual payments into the teachers pension system, an estimated $784 million in fiscal 2018, are projected to rise until 2059. That’s not a misprint. 2059."

http://e.chicagotribune.com/a/hBZ8Lw...384c43597e1682

[lepoisson]

I'm baffled at how CPS continues to go deeper into debt as more and more schools close and more and more teachers are laid off.

[MikeMak27]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

I'm baffled at how CPS continues to go deeper into debt as more and more schools close and more and more teachers are laid off.

They have a golden plate contract that includes salary step increases and regular raises, along with paying virtually none of their own pension contributions. The best thing for CPS is to continue to see enrollment declines so that they can close more and more schools and fire more staff.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

I'm baffled at how CPS continues to go deeper into debt as more and more schools close and more and more teachers are laid off.

You think ol’ “triple D” was the only one who said “I want a piece of the action”? Central office is a cesspool of folks who’ve made out like bandits simply because “they know somebody”. Every time one of the rare souls who actually cares about CPS getting a fair deal for goods & services gets fed up and tries to spill the beans insiders say “if know what’s good for you just retire and we won’t take away your pension”.

That leaves behind the most corrupt bunch of scum this side of a Colombian drug cartel, all blissfully spending huge sums on garbage that does not help a single kid.

The real miracle of high performing magnet school in CPS is not that they exist, but that nobody has tried to to stack ‘em with do nothing staffers...

CPS has several regional offices as well the Central Office and guarantee that if you ask ANY honest hardworking CPS teacher whether they’ve had any positive contact with the gold bricking staffers from the administrative offices they would laugh at the very idea...

Most of those staffers as so connected to alder-critters and various Ward Bosses that if you ask what they get paid for you’ll end on a list that reveals the ugly power of the City Council to find problems with every “permit application ” you’ve had to fill out ...

[Chicago60614]

Yeah, I have multiple friends who work at CPS and they absolutely despise the Union as much as the Central Office. You can't get ahold of anyone at the district office because there are 15 layers of administration all thinking your issue is someone elses. My friends say they literally can't even get ahold of any union reps, my one roommate of five years worked at CPS the entire time and said she couldn't get ahold of her rep EVER. The rep was on permanent vacation.

Enrollment dropping by 10,000 per year now, down over 60,000 in the past decade. Expenses skyrocketing through the roof. Desperately needed school consolidations and closings that keep being pushed back by the union.

They all said burn the union contract and disband it. Fire everyone in the central office. Just give them some more base pay (honestly it's not that much contrary to popular belief, a lot of it is select tenure teachers that make a fortune) and stop with the 100 sick days a year they can take, the fights, the stupid benefits they don't want or need.

It's all a mess, a huge multi-billion dollar mess for a district with terrible graduation rates, terrible outdated schools and crashing enrollments.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

Yeah, I have multiple friends who work at CPS and they absolutely despise the Union as much as the Central Office. You can't get ahold of anyone at the district office because there are 15 layers of administration all thinking your issue is someone elses. My friends say they literally can't even get ahold of any union reps, my one roommate of five years worked at CPS the entire time and said she couldn't get ahold of her rep EVER. The rep was on permanent vacation.

Enrollment dropping by 10,000 per year now, down over 60,000 in the past decade. Expenses skyrocketing through the roof. Desperately needed school consolidations and closings that keep being pushed back by the union.

They all said burn the union contract and disband it. Fire everyone in the central office. Just give them some more base pay (honestly it's not that much contrary to popular belief, a lot of it is select tenure teachers that make a fortune) and stop with the 100 sick days a year they can take, the fights, the stupid benefits they don't want or need.

It's all a mess, a huge multi-billion dollar mess for a district with terrible graduation rates, terrible outdated schools and crashing enrollments.

As much as I do not like Rahm, this single issue is why I'd vote for him over Chuy or some other political hack who would get into bed with the CTU to get elected. I'm not saying Rahm has done a lot but he's at least tried. They got pretty much everything they wanted for decades under the Daley administration and it's created a monster.