Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Saturday touted his administration’s success in getting three Chicago elementary schools to agree to extend their day by 90 minutes and urged other schools to follow suit.
Teachers at the three Chicago Public Schools campuses who agreed to opt out of their union contract in exchange for 2 percent bonuses “voted right for our children’s future,” Emanuel said during a news conference before the 14th Chicago Football Classic at Soldier Field.
“The teachers did right by their profession and they did right by the children that they teach,” Emanuel said while surrounded by several schoolchildren in cheerleading outfits and band uniforms.
A majority of teachers at Genevieve Melody, Skinner North and STEM Magnet Academy schools approved the pacts to extend the school day, CPS officials say. They were rewarded with one-time bonuses equal to about 2 percent of the average district salary, and the schools were awarded as much as $150,000 in discretionary money.
On Saturday, Stem principal Maria McManus stood by Emanuel and said teachers at her school were eager for what she said would be 40 minutes more for math and reading. CPS officials say 76 percent of teachers at Stem voted in favor of extending the school day, starting this month.
“We have a very unique curriculum at the Stem Magnet Academy, and in order to effectively execute that, they felt that they needed a longer school day,” McManus said.
At Skinner North, 60 percent of the teachers supported extending the school day, also this month, a district representative said. At Melody, 75 percent of the teachers approved starting a longer school day in January.
Chicago Teachers Union officials reacted with outrage last week to the longer school days, saying CPS effectively bypassed the collective bargaining process.
The voting at the three schools amounted to about 40 teachers in total, said Stephanie Gadlin, a spokeswoman for the teachers union.
“They do not represent all of the elementary schools in the city of Chicago,” she said, adding that the union has not been given ballot information to validate CPS’ claims about how teachers voted.
“This is an unfortunate distraction as we prepare for the new school year,” she said.
The Football Classic featured Hampton University and Alabama A&M University, with Emanuel handling the coin flip before the game.
Before Emanuel hit the field, he and other city officials boasted about another new school-oriented initiative: free subway and bus rides for children and their parents on the first day of classes.
“We recognize how critical it is that every student be in school on the first day,” said Terry Peterson, chairman of the Chicago Transit Authority board, estimating that the CTA provides about 99,000 rides per day to CPS students.
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