Chicago Teachers Union Sues For Racial Discrimination

Educators feel school closing effect Black teachers disproportionately.

Fresh off a strike in September, city of Chicago teachers are picking another fight.

In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday, the Chicago Teachers Union is suing the school district, Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to shut down or reform underperforming schools effects Black teachers disproportionately.

Reuters reports:

It alleges that more than half of the tenured teachers fired in the most recent round of school closings and turnarounds were African American.

But blacks make up less than 30 percent of the tenured teaching staff in the district and 35 percent of the tenured teacher population in the failing schools.

CTU says that while the school district is closing existing neighborhood schools, primarily in minority neighborhoods, it is simultaneously approving new, mostly nonunion charter schools.

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