As CPS Promises $100 Million In Cuts, Principals Await Details
CHICAGO (CBS) -- CPS principals are bracing to implement $100 million in potential cuts, but they don't yet know how much each school will be required to axe and that's producing plenty of anxiety.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley has a look at the process.
Yesterday, Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool said schools will asked to cut $100-million dollars in costs if the teachers' contract isn't settled soon.
"The administrative and support staff in the school will probably bear most of the brunt of the layoffs," Claypool said.
But the head of the principals association says that doesn't mean the cuts are insignificant.
"This is in our estimation a nuclear attack on the schools," said Claire Berry of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. "Principals simply cannot manage to run a school with the kinds of cuts that CPS is asking for."
According BGA education expert Sarah Harp, teachers won't be affected. School clerks and teachers assistants will be, but principals are still waiting for details.
They are sort of upset that Chicago Public Schools told the media they're cutting all this money, but that principals have yet to receive an amount," Karp said. "As of yet, they have yet to get that email that says, 'hey, this is exactly how much you have to cut."
A CPS spokesman says principals should have more information on the process by the end of the week, but wouldn't say whether that includes their bottom line amount to be cut.
Claypool held a conference call with principals yesterday, but some principals said it was more of a spin session on the teacher talks with very little information regarding the upcoming cuts.
