CPS students walk out of class

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Hundreds of Chicago students from three public high schools walked out of their classrooms in a display of dissatisfaction over teacher layoffs.

At Roosevelt High School, students are protesting the layoffs of nearly a dozen teachers following a round of CPS budget cuts.

"We feel like that we need our teachers to be educated and everything. We need our teachers," Roxana Carreo, senior, said.

"I don't think it's necessary to layoff our teachers just because we're getting budget cuts," Katya Vorja, senior, said

"So far I've only heard of two teachers, but as many as 10, but I don't know who they are," Tim Meegan, civics teacher, said. According to the Chicago Public Schools website, 80 teachers work at Roosevelt High School.

About 300 of the 1200 students participated in the walk out.

"They need the job, and the students need an education. We need our teachers to stay at the school," Louisa Fernandez, aunt of one of the students, said.

Students said they are worried about class size.

"We have some small, decent-sized classes, and if more people are added to them, not enough students are going to get the attention they need," Louis Laguins, senior, said.

Chicago Public Schools officials met with students Monday morning and released a statement: We share the students' concerns about declining state funding... but rather than leave school, we encourage them to direct their activism to Springfield where CPS is fighting for pension equality and for the state to prioritize education funding.