Teacher's Strike Continues and the Mayor Takes the Fight to Court, By Nina Bharadwaj

The week old teachers' strike beginning on September 10, 2012 in Chicago Illinois will continue into another week although the union leaders and school officials have reached a contract deal. This has left the mayor, Rahm Emmanuel, promising to take this to court because it was a choice that is wrong for students and also illegal. The Chicago Teacher's Union President, Karen Lewis, wants more time to discuss the contract with union members. The House of Delegates will meet again Tuesday afternoon to decide whether the delegates will end the strike. However, as of Sunday, the Delegates were not happy with the agreement.

The negotiations have been taking place behind closed doors. Union members are concerned about the decision to close schools. However, a school spokesperson said that the union claim that 200 hundred schools will close is false. Another dispute involves the teachers evaluation system. Principals will have the authority to hire teachers. In addition, teachers who were highly rated can follow students from the closed schools to the remaining open schools. There are also pay structure changes. David Vitale, the Chicago Board of Education President, said that there is no reason why kids cannot be in school while the agreements are finalized.

This dispute could also follow high schoolers to college, as their scholarship money is at stake.

Analysis:

The authors of this article are Kyung Lah and Greg Botelho. They wrote this article to inform us about the status of the school strike. I would say that they are neutral in this article. They are not stating that the teachers or the city officials are right or wrong, so you cannot infer what side the authors are on. This article is important because thousands of students are being negatively affected by this. They are not getting an education. Also, with college application deadlines approaching, schoarships are also in jeapordy. To summarize, the Chicago schools are not in a great state at this time, and they need to get back on track.

Source:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/16/us/illinois-chicago-teachers-strike/index.html?hpt=hp_t1