School’s Out in Chicago as Teachers Strike, Parents Scramble
School was out in Chicago on Monday and parents scrambled for child care after public school teachers staged the first strike in a quarter century over reforms sought by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and endorsed by President Barack Obama’s administration.
Some 29,000 teachers and support staff in the nation’s third largest school district were involved, leaving parents of 350,000 students between kindergarten and high school age to find alternative supervision.
Churches, community centers, some schools and other public facilities prepared early on Monday for thousands of children under a $25 million strike “contingency plan” financed by the school district. The children will be supervised half a day and receive breakfast and lunch, allowing some parents to work.
