Every kid wants summer vacation to last a week longer. For some 350,000 Chicago students this has happened. Unfortunately, the teacher’s strike is the reason for this. There has been no news for an agreement between the teachers union and school district. Click below to read more.
Some 350,000 Chicago schools students kept from class on the first day of a teachers’ strike remained in limbo at day’s end, with no news of a new contract between the teachers union and the school district.
The strike launched Monday by 26,000 teachers and support staff highlighted a bitter standoff between teachers and Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, who is pushing reforms on the city’s schools, the third-biggest public school district in the nation.
Teachers dressed in red T-shirts rallied in front of the Chicago school district offices in the center of the city, breaking through barriers and spilling onto the streets, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Emmanuel derided the union action, calling it “a strike of choice. And it’s the wrong choice for our children. It’s totally unnecessary, and we need to finish the job.”
He urged both sides to “stay at the table and finish it for our children,” but refused to bend on two key issues at the heart of the standoff: allowing principals the right to choose teachers and teacher evaluations that are based in large part on student test scores, the Chicago Sun Times reported.
The walkout came after a weekend of unsuccessful eleventh-hour contract negotiations between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago’s public schools.
On the first day of the strike, parents in Chicago scrambled to find accommodations for their kids.
As the two sides went back to the table on Monday morning, many parents dropped their children off at 144 contingency locations, “Children First” sites that the school district was keeping open for half days during the strike, allowing some parents to work.
