A Day Off Or A Day To Make A Point? Student and Teacher Voices At Chicago Strike

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As Chicago’s teacher strike heads into its fourth day, with more than 350,000 students out of school, parents scrambling to find alternatives and presidential election pressures weighing on both sides, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and union leaders are under great pressure to find a solution. Much movement in the talks was cited late Wednesday by both sides – with some hope of classes resuming Friday. But for Thursday, it was expected to be another missed school day filled with passion and protest as teachers and the administration press their cases to a public eager to see the strike end and the children back in their seats. Both sides claim to be acting in the students’ best interests, but sometimes the young voices of CPS students are left out of the public debate. We spoke with three students from Northside College Prep who joined their teachers at the CPS strike and express support for the CTU’s cause, saying this strike is “all about us (students) in the first place.”

 

 

Meanwhile, at Curie High School, a mix of teacher and student voices hoping to be heard on class size, the need for more counselors and respect for the 29,000 CTU workers who have walked out and are striking Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his schools team as a nation looks on – perhaps to see what direction school reform is headed.

Sites, Sounds from the Chicago Teachers’ Strike

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By Audrey Cheng and Jennifer Starrs

Emotions and rhertoric have been running high as CTU teachers and paraprofessionals formed picket lines, beginning early Monday and continuing Wednesday with no quick end in sight for the first schools strike since 1987. Teachers are pushing for a contract, better working conditions and more social workers in schools, amomg other issues – while administration officials are pressing for big curricular and testing changes, including a greater emphasis on programs like charter schools.  

Audrey Cheng and Jennifer Starrs are reporters for The Chicago Bureau. 

Widespread Worry in Chicago About Safety of Children as Strike Continues

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Following another Chicago summer during which many youth were slain in gang or drug disputes, there was concern on both sides of the Chicago teachers’ strike this week about the safety of the children whose school doors have been shut during negotiations over a new contract. There was little patience and much anger leading up to, and following, the breakdown of talks late Sunday, which picked up again with the new week but so far have failed to stem the first strike here since 1987. That’s a quarter century of relative labor peace in a city where walkouts and the delay of the school year were regular. While remembering those union battles might stretch the memory of many Chicagoans, there's little need to stretch the imagination about what might happen if minors are left unwatched or unsupervised as parents return to work. Consider: Through the first week of September, homicides in Chicago were up nearly 30 percent over last year to 366, and overall shooting incidents were up 10 percent.