Second day of Chicago charter school strike

Chicago, IL – Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff at 15 charter schools run by the Acero charter network (formerly known as UNO) are in the second day of their historic strike.

Management and the CTU bargaining team remain far apart on critical issues that include UNO/Acero’s treatment of paraprofessionals and educators’ demand for lower class sizes, which are currently set at 32 students per class – four more than what Chicago Public Schools seeks to meet at district-run schools. CTU members have called those class sizes both outrageous and unsafe for students, particularly children in kindergarten through second grade, where one adult simply does not have the capacity to safely supervise, let alone educate, 32 young children.

Management also continues to refuse to include language in the contract that would provide assurances that Acero would follow federal law in providing special education services to students and refuses to include a commitment in the contract to ensure that its schools operate as sanctuary schools, a virtually no-cost commitment that would provide protection for its overwhelmingly Latino student population.