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It’s been over a week since public high school teachers in Durham went on strike, closing schools for 21,000 students, and no one seems to be able to explain why.

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“Perhaps someone (either side) can actually tell us why talks are not being held? There is such a lack of concrete information,” Trish Scovil Taylor, a parent, wrote on the Durham District School Board Facebook page. On that site and on Twitter, parents are pleading with the board for answers, questions it deflects to the teachers’ union.

Even the education minister, Liz Sandals, has repeatedly told reporters she can’t explain why the teachers have walked away from local negotiations and the classroom.

“It’s up to the union local to explain clearly what is the local issue on which they decided to have a strike,” she said, the same refrain she’s echoed since teachers first walked out in Durham last Monday.

But for parents that’s not a good enough explanation, especially as Sudbury joins Durham on the picket lines, shutting a total of 26,000 students out of class. And it’s not just about missed days. One high school in Durham has cancelled a trip to New York City, while older teens are worried about proms and graduation and ensuring their final grades are ready for universities come fall.