March 04--Chicago Public Schools will cancel classes on March 25, Good Friday, as one of three furlough days for workers that the financially troubled district says will save $30 million.
The other furlough days for teachers and school-based workers are set for June 22 and 23, which were to have been professional development days when students would not be in the classroom.
The district said it estimated that "as many as 8,000 staff members" were planning to take Good Friday off work, roughly quadruple the daily average. Principals were expecting absences "so widespread" that some principals planned to hold all-day assemblies in school auditoriums or show movies, according to CPS.
"After hearing from many principals that they were concerned about staff capacity on Good Friday, which normally falls during Spring Break, we determined the best course of action was a furlough day, combined with non-instructional year-end days," district CEO Forrest Claypool said in a statement.
"It's never easy to furlough employees, but our priority was to preserve instructional time for our students while preserving year-end cash and continuing to chip away at our budget gap."
The furlough days for teachers comes on top of a district promise to eliminate its long-standing practice of picking up the bulk of pension contributions for teachers, which led the Chicago Teachers Union earlier this week to threaten a strike as soon as April 1.
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said the furlough decision "only strengthens our resolve to shut down the school district on April 1."
"The mayor is already seeking a 7 percent pay cut, and today's directive adds another reduction in salary and benefits," Lewis said.
District administrative staff will be furloughed for two days next month, April 21 and 22, when the district is on spring break, the district said.
jjperez@tribpub.com
