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Education

Chicago’s 26,000 Teachers & Support Staff Go on Strike for the First Time in 25 Years — Here’s Why

Sep. 10, 2012 8:30am Billy Hallowell

CHICAGO (TheBlaze/AP) – As Chicago is grappling with an increase in violence, it seems there’s another major issue on the horizon — a major battle over the city’s education system. On Monday, the city’s teachers went on strike for the first time in 25 years after their union and district officials failed to reach a contract agreement despite intense weekend negotiations that the union said were productive — but still failed to adequately address issues such as job security and teacher evaluations.

The two sides were not far apart on compensation, but were on other issues, including health benefits — teachers want to keep what they have now — and a new teacher evaluation system based partly on students’ standardized test scores, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said.

“This is a difficult decision and one we hoped we could have avoided,” she said. “We must do things differently in this city if we are to provide our students with the education they so rightfully deserve.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel condemned the union’s decision, and said the negotiations could be resolved if the two sides kept talking, “given how close we are.”

“This is not a strike I wanted,” Emanuel said. “It was a strike of choice … it’s unnecessary, it’s avoidable and it’s wrong. ”

More than 26,000 teachers and support staff were expected to hit the picket lines early Monday, while the school district and parents carried out plans for keeping nearly 400,000 students safe and occupied while classes remain empty in the coming days in the nation’s third largest school district.

Police Chief Garry McCarthy said he was deploying police officers to those sites to ensure kids’ safety but also to “deal with any protests that teachers may, in fact, have” while protecting their rights. He also was taking officers off desk duties and redeploying them to the streets to deal with potential protests — and thousands of students who could be on the streets.

Emanuel said he will work to end the strike quickly.

“We will make sure our kids are safe, we will see our way through these issues and our kids will be back in the classroom where they belong,” Emanuel said Sunday night, not long after the union announced it was going on strike. “I would like all the parties to do right by our children. … Our kids belong in the classroom. The negotiators belong at the negotiating table and finish their job.”

Both Emanuel and union officials have much at stake. The walkout comes at a time when unions and collective bargaining by public employees have come under criticism in many parts of the country, and all sides are closely monitoring who might emerge with the upper hand in the Chicago dispute.

And, as noted, the timing may also be inopportune for Emanuel, a former White House chief of staff whose city administration is wrestling with a spike in murders and shootings in some city neighborhoods and who just agreed to take a larger role in fundraising for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.

Chicago Teachers Go on Strike for First Time in 25 Years| Rahm Emanuel

In this Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012 file photo, members of the Chicago Teachers Union distribute strike signage at the Chicago Teachers Union strike headquarters in Chicago. The Chicago Teachers Union announced Sunday night that its 25,000 members will go on strike Monday morning, Sept. 10, 2012, for the first time in 25 years after contract talks with the school district failed over issues that included benefits and job security. (AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong)

As the strike deadline approached, parents spent Sunday worrying about how much their children’s education might suffer and where their kids will go while they’re at work. While educational programming will be off, some of the schools will remain open so that kids who depend on them for food and nourishment will be able to eat.

School officials said they will open more than 140 schools between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. so children can eat lunch and breakfast in a district where many students receive free meals. The district asked community organizations to provide additional programs for students, and a number of churches, libraries and other groups plan to offer day camps and other activities. But it’s not clear how many families will send their children to the added programs.

“They’re going to lose learning time,” said Beatriz Fierro, whose daughter is in the fifth grade on the city’s Southwest Side. “And if the whole afternoon they’re going to be free, it’s bad. Of course you’re worried.”

Eric Ferrer, a cook, said his children can stay home Monday with his wife, who works in a store. But if the strike goes more than one day, they would have a problem — one that he sees no way to solve.

“My wife is off tomorrow, (so) we can keep them at home,” said Ferrer, as he sat in a McDonald’s restaurant on the city’s Southwest Side with his wife and their 8-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. “She works the next day (and) so do I.”

School board President David Vitale first announced Sunday night that talks had broken off, despite the school board offering what he called a fair and responsible contract that would cover four years and meet most of the union’s demands. He said the talks with the union had been “extraordinarily difficult.”

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (Credit: Getty Images North America)

Emanuel said the district had offered the teachers a 16 percent pay raise over four years, doubling an earlier offer. Current data show that, on average, teachers in the district make $74,839; administrators make $120,659 on average. During the 2012-2013 school year, there are 681 schools in the Chicago Public School District.

Lewis said she would not prioritize the issues, saying that they all were important to teachers.

That included concern over a new evaluation that she said would be based too heavily on students’ standardized test scores, which she said would be unfair to teachers because it could not adequately account for outside factors that affect student performance, including poverty, violence and homelessness.

She said the evaluations could result in 6,000 teachers losing their jobs within two years. City officials said they did not believe that was true, but said the union would not tell them how they came to that conclusion.

Emanuel said the evaluation would not count in the first year, as teachers and administrators worked out any kinks. Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard said the evaluation was mandated by state law but “was not developed to be a hammer,” but to help teachers get better.

Emanuel said the union should have postponed the strike because an agreement is close. He also said his negotiating team would be available all night if the union was willing to talk, but Lewis said negotiations would resume Monday.

The strike is the latest flashpoint in a very public and often contentious battle between the mayor and the union.

When he took office last year, Emanuel inherited a school district facing a $700 million budget shortfall. Not long after, his administration rescinded 4 percent raises for teachers. He then asked the union to reopen its contract and accept 2 percent pay raises in exchange for lengthening the school day for students by 90 minutes. The union refused.

Emanuel, who promised a longer school day during his campaign, then attempted to go around the union by asking teachers at individual schools to waive the contract and add 90 minutes to the day. He halted the effort after being challenged by the union before the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board.

The district and union agreed in July on how to implement the longer school day, striking a deal to hire back 477 teachers who had been laid off rather than pay regular teachers more to work longer hours. That raised hopes the contract dispute would be settled soon, but bargaining continued on the other issues.

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Comments (261)

progressiveslayer
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:09am
Here’s a progressive puke stating the NEA’S position and he doesn’t mince words describing his position.Public sector unions should cease to exist,they’re parasites feeding off the host, us taxpayers.
It’s to bad president Reagan didn’t abolish the Dept.of education,he tried but didn’t get any support from congress and gave up.Who knows maybe the inevitable depression that’s coming soon will end them,one can only hope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLxZ9V2ns84

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- SocialistSlayer
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:22am
  They are Morons teaching Morons – How’s that Hope & Change working? Teachers are nothing but a bunch of Communists and Leaches nestled up to the American T**eat! Disgusting people!
  
  Report this comment
- Sirfoldallot
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:23am
  We have let this group become a monster we can no longer feed.
  
  Report this comment
- mersey
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:24am
  The progressive Utopian ideology at its finest. Let’s see them try to blame George W. Bush for this mess.
  
  Report this comment
- doomytram
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:27am
  Breakfast, Lunch, Video Games. Breakfast, Lunch, Video Games. What’ s the difference? The Lunch Lady’s can edumacate more than the teachers.
  
  Report this comment
- ginger100
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:28am
  Don’t let a good crisis go to waste!
  
  Report this comment
- sWampy
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:31am
  Thank god, these kids will be getting the best education they have gotten in 25 years. The #1 priority in the US should be defunding public mis education.
  
  Report this comment
- grimmster
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:33am
  So, how do you like the unions now rahm?And of course, the teachers are sticking for the children, end the unions in public the sector now, run them out and destroy them…..
  
  Report this comment
- johnjamison
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:33am
  This is an easily solved problem the fedearl government actually has to sway over states educational systems. The states can destroy the DOE and the teachers unions. Chicago should point blank cut all teachers salaries who striked by 15% and state if they aren’t at work tomorrow don’t bother coming in the day after tomorrow. They work for the tax payers not the unions.
  
  Report this comment
- backoffmonkey
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:38am
  I don’t understand what the major issue is with the ‘teachers’—–The only thing that is of any interest to Karen Lewis is how much more Church’s Fried Chicken she could stuff into that massive lardass. Plus her request for a super large desk and chair to complete her 4 hour work day beez reasonable.
  
  DO DAT BE ASKIN’ ALLOT ?
  
  Bus-in d’em Pink Slips!
  
  Ya’ll Payz D’em CROOK COUNTY Property Taxes, Foolz!
  
  Report this comment
- LiveNation
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:38am
  Just turned the schools into soup-kitchens..
  
  Report this comment
- Getoffthecouch
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:47am
  I will go out on a limb and predict that Chicago will soon be the next Detroit. “Obama’s dream of the imperialist USA” …could you believe these characters have the nerve to ask for a raise when the district is 700 million in the red….Oh I forgot, its about the children
  
  Report this comment
- Prosoldier
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 10:37am
  It’s kind of funny to me when these pro “super-union” politicians think that they have these big unions in their back pockets and it comes back to bite them in the buttocks!
  
  Today’s unions (especially the big ones) aren’t like the unions of the past. Today they’re all about money, greed, and power. Half of them don’t even do anything for individual union members because they’re too busy lining their own pockets and the pockets of the politicians who will keep them in power.
  
  Teachers there make on average almost $75K per year and they’re complaining??? Summers off, long holiday vacations, snow days, guaranteed weekends, vacation days, health insurance, generally work indoors in temperature controlled buildings, and next to impossible to fire and still they want more? They should try a job like I used to have…make less than half of their salary per year, work more weekends than not, on call to come in at all hours of the day and night, be forced to live in a tent that may or may not have air conditioning (usually in some of the worst places on the globe) for between 6 – 15 months with NO days off, often working 10-18 hour (or longer) days, eating dehydrated foods from a little brown bag for meals, trying to avoid getting hit when you have bullets, rockets, grenades, missiles and IEDs coming at you at all hours of the day and night, and CANNOT complain about any of it and usually WOULDN’T, even if you could because you had pride in what you were doing.
  
  Report this comment
- JBaer
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 10:48am
  “Public sector unions should cease to exist,they’re parasites feeding off the host, us taxpayers.”
  
  So true! Couldn’t have said it any better!
  
  Report this comment
- Displacedsoutherner
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 11:10am
  Thug vs thug: if there was ever any doubt that all the Lib rhetoric boiled down to self-interest this should resolve it. Emanuel wants to get re-elected so now his union loyalty goes out the window; the teachers want unrealistic raises, a lack of accountability and job guarantees…to hell with “It’s all about the children”.
  
  Name a Lib policy and it gets back to “what’s in it for me”, principles are a lame cover for obtaining and keeping power.
  
  Report this comment
- Gold Coin & Economic News
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 11:58am
  I think it’s a hoot that ultra liberal Rahm Emanuel is getting to see liberalism run amok. Chicago is broke and yet these union thug teaching FOOLS rejected a 16% pay raise over 4 years at a cost of $400 million. Such ignorant fools that supposed teachers can’t even do the math on the utterly bankrupt system:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrDBBTzvNgw
  
  Report this comment
- edcoil
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 12:44pm
  It is a strike of choice?
  
  Choice of what?
  
  Report this comment
- No Owebama
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 2:59pm
  the begining of the Oct surprise.
  
  Report this comment
- old white guy
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 3:07pm
  i think rush had it right. they are going to have the magic neg-o ride in in and save the day ala a campagian ploy. silly fu-king people there sems to be a dearth of thought in the u.s. today.
  
  Report this comment
- Wolf
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 3:25pm
  Fire the lot of them. It’s time mothers stayed home again and taught their children rather than allow the government brainwashing to continue..
  
  Report this comment
- Northpaw
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 3:55pm
  As Rahm Emmanuel said about crises in general we should not let it go to waste. Applied here by Hizzoner, Da Mare can cash in and rescue those young skulls full of mush from the ignorance and epic failure of current dumbed down teaching and curricula.
  
  Report this comment
- turkey13
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 4:18pm
  I don’t see a problem here. Emanuel just needs to start hireing all those students that have been out of college for the last 3 years and can’t find a job. Shucks you could open it up to the whole country and people will pay their own bus fare. Start all off at $45 to $50 grand and you will save money and weed out all those union leeches that have to get their little red book out before they can respond to even a question.
  
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- lefty5005
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 4:35pm
  Bring in teachers from other parts of the country and open some schools. I bet a lot of unemployed and under employed teachers would work for that. Bust the union, govt sector unions should be outlawed…period. If not that, tell them you have 72 hours to go back to work, if not you all are fired. You will be arrested if on the street protesting or impeding the county replacing you with other teachers.
  None of this will happen in Chicago though.
  
  Report this comment
- smokeysmoke
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 4:42pm
  Obamas war of against children? for his neglect of schools in chicago as his buddies in SEIU and the unions bleed the city dry, at the EXPENCE OF THE KIDS… how can we allow this? ITS BIG GOVT and RAHM is playing the good guy is a negoation where the unions are asking for a HUGE INCREASE IN PAY, and if they get 1/3 in the end its STILL A HUGE INCREASE… so rahm is the SAVIOR and the city pays the unions huge pay… MORE THAN THE AVERAGE CHICAGOIAN… THIS NEEDS TO BE TIED TO HOW OBAMA IS LETTING THE UNIONS RUN WILD, in SC, WI, WA and general moters…
  
  Report this comment
- Bikkiboo
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 4:58pm
  Maybe the Rapture will occur soon, thus taking 90% or more of the children 12 and under. The schools would definitely fall apart then.
  
  Report this comment
- ginger ghent
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 5:14pm
  I find it hilarious that this should happen to a socialist mayor …..golly gee whiz scooter…what just happened?? the teachers want a 19% raise, and they do not want to pay for their health care…isn’t that what the mayor wants for the entire country??? So, just give them what they want and let “the taxpayers” pay for it and remember it when you run for re-election.
  
  Report this comment
- rodrob
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 5:45pm
  Yea them teachers are a pain in the ass all right. Do you know how to read, write, know some history, some science? You owe that to teachers and schools. If school administrations, school boards and city administrators we’re such ******** there wouldn’t be any need for unions. Same in industry: be fair with your workers. Don’t tell people they have to bow down to get a paycheck that’s too small for the amount of work they have to do. I hear people talk about all the paid holidays and Christmas break and spring break and get paid for it. Well teachers usually sign a contract to work so many days, typically 180 days, and NO PAID vacation time. They get paid for their work days and it’s spread out over the whole year. Like to see you complainers get in a classroom and work your butts off, keep order, and get them kids to learn something. It’s hard, because a whole lot of them don’t want to learn.
  
  Report this comment
- whereizzy
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:50pm
  OK, Rahm, lets’ see if this is a crisis you can’t let go to waste!! Tables turned!!!
  
  Report this comment
- madasblazes
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 10:54pm
  Patriots: Do not confuse these government employees with private unions; such as the AA pilots,(most who fought for our Country). These pilots are trying to fight against a socialist takeover of the air-transportation industry. Just go to Airlines4America. Obama has replaced the ATA.
  You might get a $10.00 lower ticket price but you will be get outsourced workers servicing your fancy new jet with wi-fi.
  
  Do you really want pilots that are from Indoniesia, Iberia Air or Ethopia? That’s OUTSOURCING for America.
  Obama is fully behind the Socializing of the Air Transportation Industry…good luck!
  (wasn’t it an Egypt pilot who flew his plane into the ground, screaming Allah Akbar?).
  
  Careful what union you hate….ONE just might be on Your side.
  
  Report this comment
- bplumb23
  Posted on September 11, 2012 at 7:16am
  That’s a bunch of crap; Rahm has put the unions back in their place several times and won. I was surprised by it because I thought he’d just bow to them given some of his past. But he has been known to be ruthless before.
  He’ll win and they’ll give in.
  And stop blaming the public education system for the failures in children. Be a parent instead. Get involved. Do something. Parents make the difference, people make the difference.
  We can’t just blame the left and say that all they do is blame us. We can step up too.
  
  Report this comment
- REALLYSERIOUSLY
  Posted on September 11, 2012 at 7:36am
  My husband is a teacher, and I am a staff person at the same school. I will not defend the union on this and neither will he. He has taken a pay freeze for 4 years because the district could not afford the raises that are scheduled in. He is non union and prefers it that way. He cares about the kids but it is hard to teach when kids are not taught at home how to behave and is constantly having to deal with disruptions by the kids who make it hard for the other kids to learn. He only gets paid roughly 31,000 a year, I work all year long and only make 19,000 a year. So these people striking for more money and benefits make us sick!!
  
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- cosette
  Posted on September 11, 2012 at 1:13pm
  They could close the schools and the I.Q. level of the students would probably improve. These people speak as though their proficiency levels match those of their victims…er.. students. Pathetic!
  
  Report this comment
The_Jerk
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:06am
More ‘proof’ that teachers care little about kids and education. Spit on the next person that repeats the lie that they do.

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- TAXEVERYONE
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:38am
  When the kids start paying union dues, the teachers might start teaching them.
  
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- oneshiner
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 10:36am
  How many times in the last 10 years have we heard, “it’s for the children?” Baloney! Those teachers don’t give a dam about the “children” they only care about their raise and retirement, otherwise, they’d have their azzes in school teaching (ha, most have no idea how to teach)
  In our countries downturn, so many out of work and they want more money? This is worth shutting down the schools?
  FIRE every dam one of them and hire little grandmothers to teach them; the truth is they would probably make better teachers than the ones belonging to the unions. Unions do NOT make good teachers. The unions need to get out of the way of education so these kids can learn.
  
  I remember the hateful display those teachers made in Wisconsin. That really opened my eyes about how bad, mean, & hateful some of these teachers are. A monkey could teach better.
  
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- The_Cabrito_Goat
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 11:30am
  Teaching is a CALLING in life. It is not a job or profession to make profit from, just like nobody runs for office just to get a lavish tax payer funded pension. Oh wait…
  
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- verum
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 3:28pm
  Teachers Unions are a danger to our society, our culture and our children. We need to stop making ALL teachers (NEA) a protected group above criticism when not only our children’s future but the Nations future is at stake.
  
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JohnDoeSr
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:00am
Teachers almost always resist being evaluated, pretty much no matter what kind of evaluation it is. In my state an 8th grade level evaluation was given to public school teachers and many could not pass.

The only evaluation they would agree to is one that says, “You did great!!”

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- bekhiet
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:05am
  You make a valid point, I was wondering just how learning actually takes place anyways. I would not trust my child’s education to a Chicago public school system.
  
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- Miguelito
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:06am
  Its all about the kids right teachers? Yes, right! This is your Dem. Party!
  
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- mersey
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:26am
  Learning? It’s nothing but indoctrination to a progressive ideology.
  
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- FREEDOMoverFEAR
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 12:14pm
  I bet if those 400,000 kids died tonight America would be a better place.
  
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- tucsila
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 10:18pm
  Did you know, because of the unions, teachers are given notification when they will be having their evaluations. So, even if you are a lousy teacher you can make it look like you are a wonderful teacher. All teachers are not bad, you have a lot that really do care about the children by giving up lunches, before and after school and weekends. They also have the kids engaged at all times. Kudos to those teachers and shame on the ones in Chicago. Firing them and getting rid of the unions would be the best thing the country could do.
  
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biohazard23
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:57am
“We must do things differently in this city if we are to provide our students with the education they so rightfully deserve.”

Yeah, so to properly educate the kids, let’s all go on strike! That’ll learn them real good, won’t it? (sarc)

They’re not educators, they’re a bunch of union tools and idiots.

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:19am
  What was it that one of the teachers union leaders said? Something to the effect of we’ll start caring for the kids when they start paying union dues.
  
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- SCREW-WINDOWS
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:33am
  What is so hard to say three simple words “Sorry You No Longer Fit Our Budget”
  
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- biohazard23
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 10:11am
  RJ, that was Albert Shanker. then there’s this. It’s video from the 2009 NEA convention. “Teachers,” my a$$….
  
  http://blog.heritage.org/2011/07/02/nea-convention-reminds-us-it%E2%80%99s-about-union-power-not-children/
  
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- dmforman
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 2:51pm
  CPS is not part of the NEA, it’s part of the AFL-CIO. Get the facts straight.
  
  Report this comment
- biohazard23
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 5:15pm
  So that makes CPS better? Don’t think so. They’re still putting their selfish a##es ahead of the children that they apparently don’t care much for.
  
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eluding
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:55am
Isn’t this the same folks who supported Obamacare? He said they could keep their health care; now that it is apparent to the teachers that the statement wasn’t true, I wonder if they still support the Prez and his policies.

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- poorrichard09
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:01am
  Does this make sense? 0bummers biggest supporters-unions-on strike in his hometown-Chicago-which is run by his best buddy-Rhambo. Watch 0bummer swoop in with a few billion $$ to save the day and be a hero to all involved to be trumpeted by the press from now till election time. IMHO
  
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- SCREW-WINDOWS
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:37am
  They should be happy with Obamacare “It’s Free”.
  
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- CatB
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 11:26am
  The same thing is happening at GM … since Obama gave it to the unions .. the union workers thought they would get more perks … more pay etc .. not happening .. the union is taking care of the union … and in this case they thought because Rahm was “one of them” he would give them the moon .. people haven’t figured out that we can’t afford the MOON.
  
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NHwinter
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:55am
Fire them all like Reagan did with the striking control tower workers. It would be the best thing to happen to education. Start fresh with good teachers. Public workers should not be allowed to strick.

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- IndianaJan
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:07am
  Yes. Fire them all if they don’t return to work tomorrow.
  You will note that the “charter schools” are not closed. They have non-union staffs and teachers. And they are preferred by parents because they do a much better job. What does that tell you???
  
  I pulled my kids out of the CPS during the last strike, and put them in the Catholic school. I voted with my feet. But most parents in Chicago won’t do this, because of the free meals and free babysitting all day. And you wonder why Chicago is such a mess?
  
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- MadinIllinois
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:08am
  IF indeed, this is ALL ABOUT THE CHILDREN and their education, then why are these teachers picketing now when the school year has started…because it is not and never was about the kids!! This has to do with the benefits of teachers, and only teachers and bleeding the tax payer completely dry…
  
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- LIBS-ARE-DINGLEHEADS
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:21am
  The Obama Paradox:
  
  If you approach any Obamavik, and carefully, slowly explain the conomy, how jobs are created, and point out the numerous.NUMEROUS flaws in Obama”Care” – along with sound fiscal arguments against……
  
  They (and I have tried this…numerous times);
  
  *Agree with you..or have no valid solid argument……
  
  ….but they still say they’re voting for Obama…
  
  Unless the religious right rises up and goes to the polls enmass…..this complete fraud has a chance….
  
  Report this comment
- psychokittis
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 1:27pm
  The kids are safe with those morons having their little temper tantrum.
  
  Report this comment
LLPH1776WP1789
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:55am
ahhh dont you love when liberals are fighting liberals its refreshing to see the BS systems they set up and get used to backfire. Rahm first wanted to extend their day but that was a no-no teachers cant work longer. Now these teacher want a 16% pay increase but are not willing accept the new standardized testing. Funny how their strike signs say “on strike for better schools” unionized teachers are ruining this countries youth and draining states budgets dry. They should have to meet all standardized testing if they don’t fire them. They want to strike and not accept the new guidelines fire them. If education was privatized our world raking would be getting closer to number one not further away from it like we are under the current system.

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- IdahoAdrienne
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:44am
  Actually, they wanted something in the way of a 30% raise. The 16% is what they’re being offered.
  
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AJAYW
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:53am
This is what I don’t understand ” While educational programming will be off, some of the schools will remain open so that kids who depend on them for food and nourishment will be able to eat.” How is it that the schools are now responsable for- Food and Nourishment- No wonder they’re broke.
What does these parents do with the Food Stamps and Welfare money they get. Next the school will be made to provide cloths for them. A population of free loaders has been breed in this country and they’re about to bring it down. What a waste

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- The_Jerk
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:08am
  The education stops, but the free food restaurant paid with our tax dollars remains open.
  
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- loriann12
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:18am
  They know the parents don’t buy food with their debit cards (what used to be called “Food Stamps.” I think we need to go back to stamps. In the 70′s they even had 50 cent coupons, $1, $5, etc. If something cost $.75 and you paid with a $10 food stamp, you got as much change back in food stamps as possible. People were going in and buying a 20 cent pack of gum with a $10 food stamp, getting $9.80 back in cash and then buying booze and smokes. Now they don’t even have to do that. They get Debit cards that can be spent on ANYTHING, why oh why would they actually buy food?
  
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- SCREW-WINDOWS
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:42am
  It’s easy they sell them.
  
  http://www.fbi.gov/detroit/press-releases/2012/flint-store-owner-found-guilty-of-conspiracy-to-commit-food-stamp-fraud
  
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- Link8on
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 3:25pm
  Given how bad the graduates and how unsafe the facilities …
  
  I am surprised that it was the teachers, instead of the parents and students who are declaring the strike.
  
  There are so many working couples I know, who moved away to the suburbs as their kids reached pre school age.
  
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- fiddlefaddle
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 4:00pm
  Close down the “free” food and then the parents will get involved!
  
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- BlueStrat
  Posted on September 11, 2012 at 5:25am
  @Screw-Windows
  
  Win95??
  
  You mean they finally upgraded from Windows for Workgroups 3.1??? LOL!!
  
  BTW, FreeBSD/XFCE-desktop user here. Nice to see another *nixer here. :)
  
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- dustynbob
  Posted on September 11, 2012 at 7:39am
  The constitution specifically forbids taking money from one person and giving to another, the supreme court has been ignoring this for years. We MUST stop all entitlements. It will not be easy; start with a back to work plan, no work, no welfare. Stop giving these moms money to have babies, it is not the welfare moms having abortions it is the working moms. Stop all the non-reading riting and rithmatic teaching, that will stop the socialist platform. We must do this before the welfare state is greater than 50 percent.
  
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Brushjumper
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:52am
Fire them all NOW

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welovetheUSA
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:52am
I will Never feel sorry for teachers…they work 150 days a year..get summers off..several vacations..free healthcare..and retiremen that is out of this world…they teach our children nothing and cause nothing but trouble………fire them all and start over.

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- GrayPanther
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 11:12am
  Don’t blame the classroom teachers.A few might be more union than teacher but, they are not the problem. Democrats have always catered to unions because of the dues transfer to Democrat campaigns. Also, local union members can be turned out in large numbers to campaign for their cause. Yes, the kids are the “excuse” for the higher taxes to support public education. The best thing Romney-Ryan could do is to close the Department Of Public Education (DOPE) and send the existing funding to the school districts without strings attached. That would “save” valuable administration time at the state and school district level. Then, encourage states to disallow automatic dues deduction form pay checks. Also, disallow striking as it is a highly disruptive public service. Lets hope the Romney-Ryan administration will bring us out of the dismal economy and make great changes in the way schools are controlled and funded.
  
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PIGSWILLNEVERFLY
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:51am
Time for education to be given back to the parents. Sending young minds to an institution for communist indoctrination which lacks basic American principles and values is immoral. Look what we’re dealing with. Education…this is no education. This is communist unions destroying America from the ground up. William Benton, 1946 Asst. Secretary of State UNESCO Speech: “As long as a child breathes the air of nationalism, education in world-mindedness can produce only precarious results. As we have pointed out, it is frequently the family that infects the child with extreme nationalism. The schools should therefore..combat family attitudes that favor nationalism. We shall see presently recognized in nationalism the major obstacle to the development of world-mindedness. We are at the beginning of a long process of BREAKING DOWN the walls of national sovereignty. UNESCO must be the pioneer.” (Mission: re-educate society to accept the NWO)
SOVEREIGNTY IS FREEDOM
Please find a way to get your children out of the death trap of these “schools”..Federal Institutions!

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TarheelFlyer
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:50am
The phrase I heard on the radio was that the evaluation system now was a “Threat to Job Security”. Imagine this….you suck at the job and don’t expect to get fired. Guess what teachers, learn from the rest of us for a moment….if you stink at your job, much like any of us in the REAL world, you will get fired.

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- SCREW-WINDOWS
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:46am
  It’s hard to find a job when your still using Windows 95.
  
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- rp454
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 5:59pm
  Furthermore, if I told my boss I wanted free healthcare, a pension and complete job security or I would go outside and yell and wave a sign around, he would probably consider it voluntary termination.
  
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Tri-ox
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:47am
But, who’s going to brainwash the little children and teach them to be pro-abortion, pro-premarital sex, anti-Christianity, anti-America, lazy, societal-leech obama thugs?

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- antitheist
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:30am
  Even if that were the case, it would be less extreme than brainwashing them into beleiving that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree
  
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- thetruthmustbetold
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 1:43pm
  Dear Atitheist,
  Atheism
  The belief that there was nothing
  And nothing happen to nothing
  And then nothing magically
  Exploded for no reason,
  Creating everything
  And then a bunch of everything
  Magically rearranged itself
  For no reason what so ever
  Into self-replicating bits
  Which then turned into dinosaurs.
  Makes Perfect Sense
  
  Report this comment
PA PATRIOT
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:47am
Good Job Rahm. !
WAIT who set the tone for this in Washington with the present adminstration?
Rahm who??

Toilet has said it best.
:Liberals eating their own..

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South Philly Boy
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:45am
Greed

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militarybrat1
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:45am
16% over the next four years? The public school system is rotten. As a small business owner, who lost a lot over the last few years I had to take my kids out of private. Had one teacher that was far worse than others. Tried to have several meetings with her and superiors. She laughed and sails “you can’t fire me, I have tenure!” that’s why they don’t want evaluations based on scores!

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- jettson
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:04am
  Of course they don’t. They don’t want to live in the real world. Unions suck. They will destroy the country.
  
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00gabooga
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:44am
Rahm should call Gov. Walker for advice.

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Dannytheman
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:44am
It sure looks like Karen Lewis could well afford to miss a few meals. Not hatin’, just sayin’

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Bermuda Onion
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:43am
This is all being done for the children you know.

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- Link8on
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:03pm
  Rahm Emanuel will only care about this after his own kids are in those schools.
  
  The excuse of his “kids are too smart” sounded very phony when he moved back from DC.
  
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ilovetheusa1
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:43am
fire all of them, have them go thru the qualifying process and then start over.

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progressiveslayer
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:42am
Public sector unions are what you find at the bottom of a septic tank. Even FDR no capitalist by any stretch didn’t think they were a good idea but we have them none the less. They’re bankrupting several states and in a perfect world public sector unions wouldn’t exist at all.

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azghost
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:38am
Unemployment is sky high in America, will they all go on welfare while on strike? More proof the unions teach are children to be takers and not makers!

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- AintLIBSjuzGreat
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:52am
  Consider this; the average cost per pupil in New York City schools is 22,256.83.its slightly higher in Chicago. If you were running a school and these are the numbers…How well could you do?
  
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MAULEMALL
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:37am
Fire them ALL…

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- Francisco_d
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:53am
  Agreed, then get people that WANT to teach in there. Give the kids books for this year and then pass them on to the next grade. It’s not like they’ll miss anything with this group of teachers.
  
  Any chance Wisconsin can annex Chicago?
  
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- teddrunk
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:32am
  Fransisco, Wisconsin doesn’t want Chicago. It’s bad enough we have Madison.
  
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watashbuddyfriend
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:35am
Good, what would the kids learn, anyway?

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toiletclogga
Posted on September 10, 2012 at 8:35am
Liberals eating their own! Ironic isn’t it? Fire them, and start over by having each teach reapply for their position!

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- SCREW-WINDOWS
  Posted on September 10, 2012 at 9:53am
  We will have the last laugh cause unions eat their own. Ever watch a snake eat a rat it’s fascinating.
  
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