The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Chicago Schools without Librarians:
Shame on the Mayor!

Aug 4, 2014

Three librarians approached Chicago’s school board last month. They were there to point out the sorry state of libraries within Chicago Public Schools.

More than 160 public schools in Chicago did not have libraries before the strike in 2012–a fact pointed up by the struggle of the mothers at Whittier Elementary.

In the last contract settlement, Mayor Rahm Emanuel agreed to hire almost 600 teachers–including librarians. Instead cuts eliminated almost all of those teachers and 50 librarians.

Of the 50 schools that took students from the schools Emanuel closed last year, 31 do not have libraries. Librarians estimate that only about 300 of the city’s more than 600 schools have functioning libraries at this point.

They don’t even pretend to be providing Chicago students a good education.