ROGERS PARK — The city's Far North Side will see cuts of at least 49 Chicago Public Schools positions — more than half of them teaching roles — at their schools for the upcoming academic year, according to data released by CPS.
District-wide, the layoffs affect 494 teachers, including 302 at high schools and 192 at elementaries — about 3 percent of the entire teaching staff. More than half of the terminations, 256, are tenured teachers.
Five percent of the CPS support staff will also be let go, including 352 workers at high schools and 140 at elementary schools.
On the Far North Side — made up of the Edgewater, Rogers Park and West Ridge communities — at least 49 positions will be lost across 16 CPS schools. Of those, 28 are teaching roles and 21 are support staff.
Goudy and Swift, both elementary schools in Edgewater, lost the most positions — 7 each.
Mary Beck, principal at Senn High School where four positions were lost, said despite a "significant" loss of $602,000 in funding for the upcoming school year, her teachers would be "maximizing talents" so classrooms and normal daily functions are negatively impacted as little as possible.
That might mean teachers picking up some administrative duties and pitching in to help in other areas traditionally done by support staff, Beck said.
One of the biggest factors contributing to the school's staffing and budget cuts is an incorrect student population projection, Beck said, that shows she'll have less students next year.
"They are estimating our enrollment significantly lower than what we actually show registered — which means we should be able to restore funding in September when students attend," Beck said. "I am confident in our student enrollment exceeding expectations, which is why I am comfortable protecting the positions/master schedule and waiting to fill our buckets for operations once we receive that funding."
The Chicago Teachers Union said the cuts were unnecessary.
"This is no way to run a 21st century school district."
The district said there are 1,000 teaching vacancies for the upcoming year, and the terminated teachers can apply for those jobs. There will be three career fairs, Aug. 10, 11 and 17. About 60 percent of laid off teachers in the past have been rehired full-time, CPS officials said. Another 26 percent of those teachers work as subs in the district.
"The Districts expects the vast majority of teachers to be hired into open positions in other schools, and the District is holding three job fairs to help teachers find open positions and principals find available teachers," officials said in a news release.
See how your school fared below:
Rogers Park
• Field Elementary: 4 teachers
• Armstrong Elementary: 2 staff
• Jordan Elementary: 3 teachers
• Kilmer Elementary: 1 teacher
• New Field: 1 teacher
• Sullivan High School: 1 staff, 3 teachers
• Gale Elementary: 2 teachers
Edgewater
• Swift Elementary: 5 staff, 2 teachers
• Senn High School: 3 staff, 1 teacher
• Rickover Military Academy: 1 staff, 1 teacher
• Hayt Elementary: 2 staff, 1 teacher
• Goudy Elementary: 3 staff, 4 teachers
West Ridge
• Boone Elementary: 1 staff
• Rogers Elementary: 3 staff, 2 teachers
• Mather High School: 2 teachers
• Decatur Elementary: 1 teacher
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