An open letter to Mayor Lightfoot: Limit class sizes
Dear Mayor Lightfoot,
You are the mom of a middle school student. I am the mom of a middle school teacher. I believe we want the same things for our children — a safe and positive learning environment in which creative, caring and hard-working teachers can help students become life-long learners and do their best work.
I believe you would not want your daughter to be one of 30 students in a class with one teacher. I do not want my son to be a single teacher attempting to create a positive learning environment for 30 students at the same time.
Please give strong consideration to writing a class size provision into the teachers’ contract. This is vital. If you are looking at average class size across all Chicago public schools, please be sure to review the data by specific regions or, better yet, by school. You will find wide disparities. The system-wide data may show a student-to-teacher ratio of 22-to-1, but dig deeper. That does not reflect what is really happening in the classroom.
My son teaches middle school social studies in Woodlawn. He has 30 students in each of his classes. Additionally, his school has no teaching assistants, no nurses, no librarian and no library. If a student is ill or just needs a quiet space to settle, there is nowhere for that student to go. The student must remain in the classroom, affecting the learning environment for the other 29 students.
Writing a class size provision into the Chicago Teachers Union contact would go a long way toward building trust among the teachers, parents and students. It would send a message that you want to give all CPS children a fighting chance for true learning and advancement.
Mayor, you ran on a commitment to build trust and equity across all the neighborhoods. You are seen by many Chicagoans, including me, as a leader who cares about all our city’s residents — not just the ones who can afford high property taxes. Enforcing smaller classes in all our schools, especially on the South Side and West Side, would go a long way toward demonstrating your values while dramatically helping our students and teachers to be successful.
Margaret Stender, Mom of a middle school CPS teacher