Chicago teachers strike over pay, class size, and prep time

The Chicago Teachers Union went on strike Thursday after failing to negotiate a contract with the city, cancelling class for 300,000. 

|
Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune/AP
Striking teachers and supporters, picketing outside Lane Tech High School in Chicago on Oct. 17, 2019, are some of the 25,000 members of the Chicago Teachers Union who walked off the job in hopes of forcing a new contract deal.

Chicago teachers went on strike Thursday, marching on picket lines after failing to reach a contract deal with the nation's third-largest school district in a dispute that canceled classes for more than 300,000 students.

The strike came after the Chicago Teachers Union confirmed Wednesday night that its 25,000 members would not return to their classrooms. It follows months of negotiations between the union and Chicago Public Schools that failed to resolve disputes over pay and benefits, class size, and teacher preparation time.

The strike is Chicago's first major walkout by teachers since 2012 and city officials announced early Wednesday that all classes were canceled for Thursday in hopes of giving more planning time for parents.

Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said Wednesday night that the hope is for a "short strike with an agreement that will benefit our schools and our teachers." He said Thursday morning while joining picketers outside Peirce elementary school that striking teachers have long been frustrated by their classroom sizes and crowded conditions they face while trying to teach.

"There's a pent-up frustration among our membership about what conditions are like in our schools," he said, noting that Peirce elementary doesn't have a kindergarten class with fewer than 30 students.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she was disappointed by the union's decision to strike.

"We are offering a historic package on the core issues – salary, staffing, and class size," she said Wednesday night at a news conference, adding that school district negotiators will remain at the bargaining table and that she hopes the union does, too.

During the 2012 strike, the district kept some schools open for half days during a seven-day walkout. District officials said this time they will keep all buildings open during school hours, staffed by principals and employees who usually work in administrative roles.

Breakfast and lunch will be served, but all after-school activities and school buses are suspended.

Janice Jackson, the district's CEO, encouraged parents to send their children to the school that they normally attend, however they will be welcome in any district schools.

"We've put together a really comprehensive plan for the students," Ms. Jackson said. "We will make sure they are safe and they have a productive day."

Also striking will be 7,000 support staffers, whose union also failed to reach a contract agreement.

Before the strike announcement, June Davis said if teachers walked out, she would likely send her 7-year-old son, Joshua, to his usual elementary school – Smyth Elementary on the city's South Side where almost all students are low-income and minority.

Ms. Davis said she would otherwise have to take her son to his grandmother's in a southern suburb, requiring an hourlong trip on a regional bus line.

"Everybody's hoping they will come to some kind of agreement, find some compromise," Ms. Davis said.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Chicago teachers strike over pay, class size, and prep time
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2019/1017/Chicago-teachers-strike-over-pay-class-size-and-prep-time
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe