CHICAGO PUBLIC school students were the ultimate losers in the contract battle between the Chicago Board of Education and Chicago Teachers Union that prompted a 10-day school strike, the leader of a school financial watchdog panel said Tuesday.
G. Alfred Hess Jr., executive director of the Chicago Panel on Public School Finances, assailed the board`s strike settlement because, he said, it will rob students of a week of school.
Initially, the board had 185 classroom days on its 1984-85 school calendar, but, as part of its negotiating strategy, the board proposed shortening the school year by 4 days to save money.
The school year was ultimately shortened by 5 days because the contract settlement restored only 5 of the 10 school days lost in the strike.
