CTU's Next Fight: School Closures

" The rank and file may have ratified the contract, but the president of the Chicago Teachers Union said the issue with school closings is her next fight.

"I've still got my boxing gloves," Karen Lewis told reporters Thursday.

Teachers remain worried that Chicago Public Schools officials are secretly planning to close up to 100 schools in an effort to save money.

There is even a growing number of Chicago aldermen who are calling for hearings before Mayor Rahm Emanuel takes action.

"CPS has been doing school closings for 15 years, and for them to try and say that school closings is a way to pay for the contract is not only ridiculous, it's not true," said Lewis.

District officials haven't laid out specific plans on how to fund the $295 million contract but hinted the negotiations offered a new spirit of cooperation.

"It's a great example for our students that even if you start far apart, if you work hard at it you work hard enough at it you can actually come to common ground," said Chicago Board of Education President David Vitale "

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