Over two years ago, the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools began the process of negotiating a new contract to take the place of the one expiring at the end of the 2014-2015 school year. That contract, won after a strike in 2012, brought a number of changes for teachers, primarily a more complex evaluation system. When the 2015-2016 school year started, no new contract was in place.
Still, teachers and staff came to work. They planned lessons and graded papers. They went to meetings, called parents, and organized field trips. They worked. All year. Without a new contract.
The 2016-2017 school year has been underway now for one week. In that time, teachers have returned to buildings that are significantly less well-staffed. In addition to the approximately 500 teachers who lost their jobs over the summer, there are now only 160 librarians for 551 schools. Most schools share a nurse and a social worker with at least one other school. Class sizes have increased, some to as many as 35 in a core class like math and over 45 in elective courses like physical education and choir.
There are stories emerging about principals who have rewritten job descriptions to eliminate experienced (read: expensive) teachers and reopened new, similar positions with slightly different qualifications so they could hire someone cheaper to save enough money to keep the bathrooms supplied with toilet paper and pay someone to answer the phone. Coaches of elementary school sports are now being asked to "donate " their time instead of being paid, and many teachers are being told that, sorry, there's no money for supplies like paper to make copies of readings or worksheets.
Teachers are worried about what is happening to our students. How can they learn in classes where there aren't enough desks for the students now crammed into a classroom? What good is a library full of books and computers if there isn't anyone there to check those materials in and out or keep them working? How can a student who needs their medication get it when the nurse is there part-time?
Keep this in your minds when the word "strike" starts to populate in conversations on the news and social media. You'll hear that teachers are greedy. That they want too much money. That they get the summers off. By law, strikes can only be over very specific things, like compensation (i.e. money) but that isn't the only thing the contract covers. Money may be the legal lever, but your kids are the reason for the fight.
