re Rahm Emanuel's desire to increase class size all over Chicago:

Some kindergarten and primary classrooms around the city have over 40 students. Would you want your child in a classroom with over 40 students? With such overwhelming numbers, it is impossible to apply the best educational practices, such as differentiation and rigorous small group instruction.

With the Chicago Teachers Union’s proposal to lower the size of classrooms to 20 to 23 students in the primary grades, teachers will be able to provide high quality education that aligns with the class size numbers of other Illinois districts.

These low class sizes are supported at the Lab School where Board member Penny Pritzker and Mayor Rahm Emaneul’s children attend. At the Lab School, the average class size is 18 students, drastically lower than the 40 students in some CPS schools. On the Lab School’s website, director David W. Magill concludes, ‘When planned thoughtfully and funded adequately, long-term exposure to small class sizes in the early grades generates substantial advantages for students in American Schools.’ The students of CPS deserve the same quality education that Rahm Emanuel and Penny Pritzker’s children are receiving.

http://www.fightbacknews.org/2012/6/6/chicago-teachers-union-take-strike-vote

i watched karen lewis' speech at the big rally they had. i was glad to see her call out the loss of paraprofessionals in the schools. they have been slashed. i agreed with pretty much every thing she said, although i have my quibbles about how some of it plays out on the ground.
she had the crowd fired up. it looked to me like there was a lot of support.
either way, there will be shake ups. teachers appear to be retiring in droves. 11 at the neighborhood (large) school.
should be interesting.