Chicago Teachers Union officials want to make their case directly to aldermen to counter the blitz Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration has undertaken to institute a longer school day.
Union president Karen Lewis sent out letters to aldermen Wednesday, inviting them to attend one of three private meetings at a Loop hotel Monday to “share our vision for Chicago’s public school educators and students.”
Ald. Nicholas Sposato, 36th, said it will be helpful for the teachers union to explain their position directly to him and his colleagues at the Monday meetings.
“I think teachers have gotten vilified lately,” said Sposato, a Chicago firefighter who supports a longer school day. “Somehow or another, things got twisted around about this.”
Ald. Timothy Cullerton, 38th, said a longer day is a good idea, but trying to implement it school-by-school is not the right way to go about it. “It’s just how we implement it and what we do with these extra minutes. . . .I don’t agree we should entice one school against another school,” Cullerton said.