CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago parents leaned on family, friends and community groups as 25,000 teachers in the nation's third-largest school district went on strike this past week, canceling classes for more than 300,000 kids.
For some families, the Chicago Teachers Union walkout meant a day off and a bit of inconvenience for parents juggling work schedules. For the city's most vulnerable families, though, the strike triggered a hasty search for a solution to help kids and let their parents make it to work.
Both Mayor Lori Lightfoot and union leaders said negotiators have several major disputes to resolve, including pay and benefits, class size, and school staffing.
The 29-year-old took off from her job at a grocery store deli counter on Thursday, forgoing a day's pay when every dollar is essential for her family. Finding an affordable place for her kids to go if a strike drags on "takes a weight off my shoulders," Dale said.
Striking teachers argue that students and families in similar situations are the motivation behind their "social justice" agenda, not their own pay or benefits. They're demanding smaller class sizes and more resources for schools, including nurses and social workers, written into the contract along with ways to enforce those changes.
"CPS is not flush with cash," Lightfoot said Friday, noting the district's reliance on loans in its latest budget plan.
Chicago Public Schools' buildings remained open on regular schedules, staffed by principals and non-union employees and prepared to provide students with breakfast and lunch.
Samantha Gutierrez said her daughter preferred the YMCA where she goes regularly in contrast to the school now staffed by people she doesn't know well.
"I didn't feel comfortable sending her to a building full of strangers," said Gutierrez, 25, an orthodontist assistant. "And I think she would feel a little intimidated there. She said she wanted to go to the Y where she knows kids."
Ira Cox worked out at the YMCA Friday morning before heading home to spend the day with his 7-year-old girl and 9-year-old boy. Cox said he sent his children to their school on Thursday while he worked but said it felt like "crossing a picket line."
He arranged to work from home on Friday.
"I know I have options some people don't have and I am not criticizing anybody," Cox said. "But I can do this, so I am doing it in solidarity with the striking teachers."
"We have people that are bringing four kids in one family," Holmon said. "They can't afford four times $65."
Jalisa McKissick brought her 9-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son to a Salvation Army center on Friday morning before heading to work at a downtown department store. McKissick said she took Thursday off but couldn't afford to give up another day of pay as a single mom.
McKissick, 27, said she's frustrated by teachers' decision to strike just as her kids were settling into their classes and worries that they will have little time to get back on track before classes let out again for holidays.
"These children should not be going through this," she said. "I think they're being inconsiderate and insensitive."