Post by title1parent on Jun 8, 2010 8:01:04 GMT -5
www.suntimes.com/news/education/2366730,CST-NWS-skuls08.article
Chicago Teachers Union to sue over class sizes
35 students to a room unlawful and dangerous, union says
June 8, 2010
BY ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter
Chicago Teachers Union officials vowed to file suit today, charging that plans to raise city class sizes to 35 are unsafe and violate the municipal code.
"You're looking at a very dangerous situation,'' CTU President Marilyn Stewart said at a news conference Monday.
"We're asking the Board [of Education] to prove that you can do this without violating the law.''
The suit -- which may be the first of its kind -- will hinge on a municipal code requirement that classrooms contain 20 square feet of floor space per person.
That means a room of 35 students and one teacher must be at least 720 square feet. Even more space would be required if parent volunteers, special education aides or anyone else entered the room at any time, CTU attorney Jennifer Poltrock said.
The code was passed after the 1958 Holy Angels School fire, which killed 92 students and three nuns and led to new occupancy levels nationwide, CTU officials said.
"I've gone into schools and noticed occupancy levels [posted] in auditoriums but not in the classrooms," Stewart said. "For CPS not to have occupancy levels for classrooms is horrible.''
Some 90 percent of CPS classrooms are at least 700 square feet, and newer classrooms are about 900 square feet, Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Monique Bond said. The "typical'' classroom is 720 square feet, she said.
"We would never endanger the safety of a student,'' Bond said. "If we get to this point, every step will be taken'' to ensure student safety.
CPS officials have estimated they would knock about $125 million off a budget deficit that could be as large as $600 million if they raise the average class size from 30 to 35. Schools CEO Ron Huberman also has warned that the system may not be able to afford 4 percent teacher raises.
Stewart said she had not formally polled teachers on whether they are willing to swap raises for smaller classes, but her informal questioning of some indicates they aren't.
"It's not our fault [CPS] is facing a deficit," Stewart said.
Poltrock said the CTU suit may be unprecedented. She could not find any suit alleging that too many kids in a classroom poses a hazard.
The suit will include affidavits from teachers who have measured their classrooms and found them smaller than the 720 required by law, Poltrock said.
Larger classes are especially dangerous in rooms housing children in wheelchairs who require ramps just to enter and exit the school, Stewart charged.
Stewart said the suit has nothing to do with her Friday union run-off election against King College Prep teacher Karen Lewis. She noted that she raised the code issue publicly back in April.
CPS' formal notice last Friday that it wants to talk about raising class size to "up to 35'' gave the union the legal footing for a suit, Poltrock said.
In a 2006 story on class size, the Chicago Sun-Times noted that some of the city's most affluent and highest-scoring public schools also had some of the largest classes in the early grades.
Wildwood School teacher Renee Oseran said her 32 third-graders were so crammed into four rows of desks she could barely walk down an aisle without bruising herself.
"I'm black and blue,'' Oseran told a reporter during a 2006 visit.
Chicago Teachers Union to sue over class sizes
35 students to a room unlawful and dangerous, union says
June 8, 2010
BY ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter
Chicago Teachers Union officials vowed to file suit today, charging that plans to raise city class sizes to 35 are unsafe and violate the municipal code.
"You're looking at a very dangerous situation,'' CTU President Marilyn Stewart said at a news conference Monday.
"We're asking the Board [of Education] to prove that you can do this without violating the law.''
The suit -- which may be the first of its kind -- will hinge on a municipal code requirement that classrooms contain 20 square feet of floor space per person.
That means a room of 35 students and one teacher must be at least 720 square feet. Even more space would be required if parent volunteers, special education aides or anyone else entered the room at any time, CTU attorney Jennifer Poltrock said.
The code was passed after the 1958 Holy Angels School fire, which killed 92 students and three nuns and led to new occupancy levels nationwide, CTU officials said.
"I've gone into schools and noticed occupancy levels [posted] in auditoriums but not in the classrooms," Stewart said. "For CPS not to have occupancy levels for classrooms is horrible.''
Some 90 percent of CPS classrooms are at least 700 square feet, and newer classrooms are about 900 square feet, Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Monique Bond said. The "typical'' classroom is 720 square feet, she said.
"We would never endanger the safety of a student,'' Bond said. "If we get to this point, every step will be taken'' to ensure student safety.
CPS officials have estimated they would knock about $125 million off a budget deficit that could be as large as $600 million if they raise the average class size from 30 to 35. Schools CEO Ron Huberman also has warned that the system may not be able to afford 4 percent teacher raises.
Stewart said she had not formally polled teachers on whether they are willing to swap raises for smaller classes, but her informal questioning of some indicates they aren't.
"It's not our fault [CPS] is facing a deficit," Stewart said.
Poltrock said the CTU suit may be unprecedented. She could not find any suit alleging that too many kids in a classroom poses a hazard.
The suit will include affidavits from teachers who have measured their classrooms and found them smaller than the 720 required by law, Poltrock said.
Larger classes are especially dangerous in rooms housing children in wheelchairs who require ramps just to enter and exit the school, Stewart charged.
Stewart said the suit has nothing to do with her Friday union run-off election against King College Prep teacher Karen Lewis. She noted that she raised the code issue publicly back in April.
CPS' formal notice last Friday that it wants to talk about raising class size to "up to 35'' gave the union the legal footing for a suit, Poltrock said.
In a 2006 story on class size, the Chicago Sun-Times noted that some of the city's most affluent and highest-scoring public schools also had some of the largest classes in the early grades.
Wildwood School teacher Renee Oseran said her 32 third-graders were so crammed into four rows of desks she could barely walk down an aisle without bruising herself.
"I'm black and blue,'' Oseran told a reporter during a 2006 visit.