CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- As Chicago teachers vote on whether they should strike over their contract demands, Mayor Lori Lightfoot says a walkout would be catastrophic for the city's schoolchildren.
Speaking after a South Side ribbon-cutting on Thursday, Mayor Lightfoot again stressed her view that negotiators for Chicago Public Schools are offering teachers a generous salary hike and offering some guarantees on more librarians, counselors and nurses.
The focus must be on the children, who are better off -- and safer -- in the classroom, Lightfoot said. A strike could put 360,000 school children on the street, just when a deal is at hand, Lightfoot said.
