Teachers and students in all Chicago Public School districts went back to class last Wednesday, ending a week and a half strike by the Chicago Teachers Union that began on Monday, Sept 10.
The strike forced approximately 350,000 schoolchildren in the nation’s third largest public school system into a mini summer vacation, and it culminated as the last resort for teachers unable to make a deal with the Chicago’s school board over negotiations such as health benefits, job security, and salary.
But teachers considered some aspects of the strike more important than others. “The most important thing for me was reducing the emphasis of student test scores in teacher evaluations” said Phyllis Ryan, an eighth grade English teacher at Audobon Elementary School on the north side of Chicago.
The original ratio in teacher evaluations was about fifty percent to test scores and fifty percent to a principal’s evaluation. Now the majority is devoted to the principal’s evaluation.
The new ratio is about seventy percent principal evaluation to thirty percent test scores. “The system hasn’t been modified since the 1970’s. I believe the new system that they are adopting is a great system,” said Ryan. This new system called the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Evaluation, reportedly provides high quality feedback to teachers to improve their teaching.
Students coped with the break in different ways. Despite the time off, many students were still busy with schoolwork. “I mostly looked at it as extra time to deal with college applications and scholarship stuff,” said Olivia Klevorn, a senior at Northside College Prep. ‘I actually think that the kids were glad to be back in school. We all knew that we had to make these days up. No one wants to be in school until July,” Ryan said.
Two days after the strike started in Chicago, the Lake Forest Education Association went on strike on Sept 12, although classes resumed at Lake Forest High School a week and a day later. “It kind of felt like a five day weekend. We were required to come to school after the weekend though,” said Emily Sherman, a Senior at Lake Forest.
Unfortunately for Lake Forest, students felt the effects of this strike much more. “It was difficult for me because AP classes have a set day that we can take the test, and we lost valuable days. We even had to forfeit some sports games, but we luckily still had a homecoming,” said Sherman.
With so much striking close to home, the opinion of New Trier students and faculty has been mixed over the success or failure of the teacher strikes, and what the implications of a strike at New Trier would mean.
Senior Dana Hankin was disappointed with the strike in Lake Forest because it impacted the New Trier girl’s varsity Field Hockey schedule, of which Hankin is a team member.
“Because of the Lake Forest strike, we haven’t gotten to play their field hockey team and they’re our biggest rival,” said Hankin. “We’d like to play them because we want to see where we stand against another really good team in our conference.”
Senior Zoe Armiros believes that the Chicago and Lake Forest strikes were necessary, but does agree with Hankin that they came at a price. “I think the strike was a good idea for the teachers to get what they wanted, but I think it was a bit selfish in terms of the students.”
When elaborating on the selfishness of the teachers, Armiros pointed to an interview she had watched on the news of a senior girl in one of Chicago’s public schools who was now ineligible to play at State because she had missed too many games. “I just felt so bad for that girl when I watched the interview,” Armiros added. “It’s sad that because of the strike she will miss out at the chance to go to State in her senior year of high school.”
At New Trier, a teacher strike would most likely occur as the last resort for the teachers union, and only if they felt that there was no other way to get what they needed out of a new contract. New Trier teachers will begin negotiating their new contract this winter, as their current contract expires at the end of August 2013.
New Trier’s teachers union is called the New Trier High School Education Association. Although membership is voluntary, 99% of teachers at New Trier are members, according to English teacher and former union president Jay Rosenberg.
While participation is incredibly high being part of a teachers union and going on strike does call for some sacrifices from teachers, too. “Teachers who go on strike are not getting paid,” said Rosenberg. If communication has become so poor as to warrant a strike, “the relationship between the teacher and the students and parents are negatively affected also,” he added.
Depending on the time of the month, teachers who go on strike may not receive any health benefits. Although the teachers in Chicago had healthcare through all of September, if the strike had extended into October, they and their families would have been without any coverage.
The last time New Trier was on strike was in 1980.