Chicago Public Schools claims to always put the children’s education first, but over the past four years the only ones being put first are them. Ever since Mayor Rahm Emanuel was elected to office, CPS has faced problem after problem.

There are times when CPS does think about the students, like when officials decided to cancel classes because of the weather. The blizzard of 2011 was the first time CPS ever canceled classes for a snow day since the 1990’s, and since then there have been more snow days. Some days have been canceled not because of snow, but because the temperature outside was just too cold. At first they did try to make attempts to still get children to come to class by having the school heaters start up early so the building would be warm by the time student’s got there. Eventually they realized it was too cold for children to even step out for five minutes.

The first major problem was the closing of 50 Chicago Public Schools, which soon lead to overcrowding in other schools, children have to walk through unknown territory to get to their new school, and many teachers, staff, and other school officials are losing their jobs.

As time went on many schools had their schedule changed, some elementary schools starting as early as 8 a.m. and ending as late as 3:30 p.m. Some high schools ending even later.

Rumors have been flying around, over the past years, that CPS might as well shorten summer vacation because they don’t want to pay teachers and staff during the summer anymore.

In addition CPS SEO Barbara Bryd-Bennett embezzled over $20 million from Chicago Public Schools. She plead guilty but that didn’t change anything, students and especially teachers are still being treated unfairly.

Teachers are being let go and their paychecks are being reduced. Teachers are being forced to take charge of over crowded classrooms, and some aren’t being paid what they earned in the summer months. The Chicago Teachers Union have gone on strike and protested but the results never last long.

CPS says they put the children’s education first, but so far they only things they have been putting first is themselves and the money they want.