Teachers ring City Hall during protest of layoffs, larger classes

Sun-Times:

Thousands of protesting teachers encircled City Hall and commandeered an entire block of Clark Street during rush hour Tuesday to rail against rising class sizes and deficit-driven teacher layoffs.

One police official estimated up to 4,000 protesters marched from Board of Education headquarters to City Hall and back again.

With mounted police lining the route, teachers decried Schools CEO Ron Huberman's plan to raise class sizes to 35 -- causing up to 3,000 Chicago Teachers Union layoffs -- to battle an estimated $600 million deficit.

"Don't treat our children like sardines,'' read several protest signs. "Don't supersize classrooms,'' said others.

As they completely surrounded City Hall, some teachers chanted "Hey hey, ho ho, Mayor Daley has to go.'' But outside Board headquarters at 125 S. Clark, the last half of the chant changed to "Huberman has to go.''

Very interesting! Tough times at the Chicago Public Schools for sure.