This is not a happy weekend for teachers and school support staff in Chicago.
The Associated Press reports that nearly 850 Chicago Public Schools employees received layoff notices on Friday. This includes about 550 teachers, along with scores of teacher assistants, bus aides, custodians and others.
Officials said they had identified $52 million in budget cuts to help close a $1 billion deficit in the next fiscal year. The estimated savings does not include how much the district might save through layoffs – most of them resulting from the Board of Education’s decision last month to close 50 schools.