CPS plans to hire hundreds of social workers and nurses — but many positions still not filled from last pledge

Noting the trauma faced daily by many students, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced plans to hire hundreds of new nurses, case managers and social workers in Chicago Public Schools over the next few years.

Speaking at Michele Clark Academic Prep Magnet High School on Tuesday, Lightfoot said that CPS will add “at least” 200 social workers and 250 nurses to its schools within the next five years, though schools officials have struggled in recent years to fill those positions.

By the 2021-22 school year, CPS officials hope that schools with higher concentrations of special-needs students — 240 or more — will have at least two full-time case managers.

The district said the nursing positions will help ensure “every CPS school has access to full-time, stable nursing services.” Many CPS schools have only part-time nurses, while others rely on contracted nurses. The announcement Tuesday also indicated that such contractors will “only be used in supplemental and substitute roles.”

Lightfoot cited the trauma that CPS students “experience on a daily basis” as part of the reason for the needed staffing increases.

“For far too many of our children, their school is their safe haven — the only place they know they can get safety and security,” Lightfoot said.

However, critics noted that CPS has made similar pledges in the past.

In July of last year, under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration, CPS CEO Janice Jackson announced plans to hire 160 full-time social workers and 94 special-education case managers. The new staff commitments Lightfoot announced Tuesday are in addition to last year’s planned hiring, a CPS spokesman confirmed to the Chicago Sun-Times.

How the planned staffing changes will impact the caseload per worker is unclear. CPS’ ratio of social workers to students was 1 to 1,200 in 2018, according to data compiled by Jennie Biggs of Raise Your Hand, an activist group. But a CPS spokesman said in an email Tuesday night that, based on school budgets for the 2019-20 school year, the ratio of social workers to students is 1 to 730.

Kyle Hillman, spokesman for the Illinois Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, said as of the end of the school year, 120 of those positions had yet to be filled. However, a CPS spokesman said Tuesday night that there are 53 social worker vacancies (out of 465 positions).

“While we appreciate Mayor Lightfoot’s acknowledgment that CPS needs certified school social workers in our schools, her solution falls woefully short of meaningful change,” Hillman said.

Noting the unfilled positions, he said, “Lightfoot now proposes 200 social workers over five years with no more guarantees that the positions will ever be filled, either.”

And even if they are filled over five years, that would bring CPS up to “an astonishingly bad ratio.”

The Chicago Teachers Union also said Tuesday’s announcement “still falls far short” of what’s needed and called instead for a “real commitment” from the mayor.

“Today’s announcement triggers more questions than relief,” the CTU said in a statement.

The union criticized Lightfoot for failing to outline specifics on how the plan would be put in place or how it would be paid for.

“We’ve been down this path of unfulfilled promises before with the previous mayor, who promised to expand early childhood education and improve special education — when today parents struggle even more to access these services for their children,” the statement said.

More technical training

Lightfoot also announced plans Tuesday to strengthen technical education programs.

By 2023, all students in Career and Technical Education programs will receive “some form of career exposure experience” — such as internships or apprenticeships.

“We know that not every child is going to college,” Lightfoot said. “We need to do more to equip them with the skills ... to take that next step after graduation and get a good job.”

Lightfoot also affirmed a commitment to make school funding formulas more equitable.

“Bottom line is, we’ve got to do better to demonstrate to our kids and their parents that they are seen, they are heard and they are valued,” she said.

The CTU called for the mayor to “put an end to CPS’ distorted and racist school funding formula.”

Contributing: Lauren Fitzpatrick