Chicago Teachers To Strike Monday

By Chuck Sudo in News on Sep 10, 2012 3:25AM

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis has announced that the rank-and-file will go on strike at midnight after negotiations with the Chicago School Board ended this evening without an agreement. It's the first teachers strike in Chicago since 1987.

Lewis and Chicago School Board President David Vitale each said over the weekend that talks between the two sides had improved, but that they were still divided over key issues. During a press conference that just completed a few moments ago, Lewis and CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said the major issues holding up an agreement were on recall and evaluations, but Lewis listed a litany of other issues including setting up a timetable for installing air conditioning in schools and "receiving textbooks on the first day of school, rather than six weeks into the school year."

Vitale said that negotiations Sunday ended between 7 and 8 p.m. and left it to CTU to make the call to strike. With a strike happening, Chicago Public Schools' contingency plan will go into effect Monday. For locations and more information about the contingency plan, call 311, 773-553-1000, visit cps.edu/childrenfirst.

We'll have more on this story in the morning.