Labor board sides with Chicago Teachers Union over longer school day

A state labor board has unanimously sided with the Chicago Teachers union in its efforts to seek a stop to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's push for a longer school day.

The Illinois Education Labor Relations Board on Thursday voted 5-0 to seek injunctive relief to block the longer school day from taking effect this year.

The labor board now goes to the Illinois attorney general's office and has to petition a judge, who would grant the relief. Attorneys say that process could take weeks.

If granted, the 13 schools that had voted in favor of the longer school day would have to revert to the schedule outlined in the current union contract.

A school board attorney says board members appeared to have had their minds made up before the hearing. CTU President Karen Lewis says she's pleased with the decision.

Under Emanuel's education proposal, schools that agree to add 90 minutes of instruction time each day this school year can get up to $150,000, and teachers will get lump-sum payments equal to 2 percent of the average salary.

Recently passed education reform legislation allows for Chicago schools to lengthen the school day next year, but Emanuel did not want to wait. He says the longer school day had the support of 68 percent of parents and teachers in a recent poll.

Chicago's public schools have the shortest school day among the nation's 50 largest districts and one of the shortest school years, according to a 2007 report from the National Council on Teacher Quality. But the Chicago Teachers Union insists the city's hours of actual instruction are on par with other cities.

Emanuel's administration has trumpeted each yes vote as a victory for its Longer School Day Pioneer Program. But it's unclear how many of the district's more than 400 elementary schools have voted no because both sides cite wildly different figures: the union claims more than 100 schools have declined, while Emanuel said only four have.

Lewis and other union leaders say they are not against a longer school day but that there's no research that proves a longer day means a better day, and Lewis called Emanuel's insistence on “90 more minutes” a slogan and not an educational policy.

“He's pitting people against each other, trying to divide the union, trying to turn parents against us,” said Lewis, who described a shouting match with Emanuel over the issue in a private meeting, though acknowledged they hugged afterward.

“I don't consider it divisive,” Emanuel said. “What I consider it is taking a step in the right direction and people around the country now are looking at the city of Chicago and what we're doing. This is not about the union.”