As the Chicago Public Schools teachers strike entered its second day Friday and negotiations wrapped up in the evening without a deal, the Chicago Teachers Union said it saw progress, but in almost all cases that was followed by, “It’s not enough.”

Union officials said their CPS counterparts offered a new proposal for staffing of nurses, social workers, special education case managers and bilingual teachers but still not at the levels the union can accept. A number of other outstanding issues also remain.


Our members are not going to be locked into a five-year contract that doesn’t give the students what they need,” CTU Chief of Staff Julie Johnson said. “… Our schools have been inadequate for too long. This is time for an investment.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS CEO Janice Jackson put out a statement late Friday that their latest offers on staffing and class sizes show they are “working to the core issues that CTU has said are central to reaching an agreement — in writing.”


The statement also said: “We are encouraged that today’s negotiations were productive and yielded real movement on a number of key issues.”

Talks are set to resume at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The union, which has been fighting to gain more influence over the direction of the school system, has rejected the city’s offer of 16% base-pay raises over five years, asking instead for 15% over three years. But while state law mostly restricts teachers to striking over pay and compensation issues, union leaders have highlighted demands related to staffing, class sizes and prep time. They want nurses, social workers and librarians in every school, and more special education classroom assistants and case managers — and they want all those items in their contract.

The Board of Education has set up contingency plans for parents, including keeping school buildings open with principals and other non-union staff. Parents said they have a variety of plans, from staying home with their children to bringing them to their local YMCAs to sending them to camps being offered by local groups. Here are some other suggestions.

Here are updates from Day 2 of the strike:

6:45 p.m. Friday: Lone counter-protester shouts down union

As the teacher’s union concluded its press conference Friday evening, a counter-protester carrying a megaphone antagonized and yelled at union officials as they walked away.

“What do we get as parents? What do we get as a community?” the man, who was wearing a “MAGA” hat, shouted to union members’ backs.

“It’s time we protest the union,” he said. “You all are worthless. Y’all been failing children, now y’all want to come muscle the community out of more money.” — Javonte Anderson

3:55 p.m. Friday: March wraps up

By a little before 4 p.m., most of those at the rally were drifting away, and the city declared all the streets that had been closed for the march were reopened.

During the march, the crowd spanned several city blocks as it progressed back across the river towards Daley Plaza. A band led the way, followed by the front of the pack carrying a large banner that read “solidarity” in large block lettering alongside the CTU and SEIU logos.

The band that led the march played on in the center of the plaza as the crowd began to disperse. They were joined by a group of men drumming on buckets. Chanting continued from a smaller group under the Picasso statue.

“What do we want? A fair contract!”


“What do we want it?”

“Now!” — Marie Fazio

3:10 p.m. Friday: Teachers march through the Loop, River North

After marching around City Hall, the group marched back east and then turned north on Dearborn Street, then marched over the Chicago River on the Dearborn Street Bridge.

The group then marched west and then back south over the river on Clark Street, led by a marching band. — Marie Fazio

2:15 p.m. Friday: Rally turns into march around City Hall

The large group gathered in Daley Plaza started moving slowly and loudly west along Randolph Street, filling the street, then turned south on LaSalle Street.

Marchers with bullhorns were interspersed throughout the crowd.

“Lori Lightfoot get on the right foot,” they chanted.

The crowd turned left on Washington Street as police officers on horses formed a wall. One waved at the teachers, prompting cheers from the crowd. More officers waved in return.

As the crowd stalled along the route, people in the third floor of Burnham Center waved through the windows.

“I feel so bad for tourists,” one teacher said. — Marie Fazio

2 p.m. Friday: Teachers rally in the shadow of the Picasso

Beneath the Picasso statue in Daley Plaza, speakers, including a teacher from the bargaining table, rallied the crowd.

”Twenty percent of students are English learners and 50 percent of students are Latino and Latina,” said Linda Perales, a special education teacher at Corkery Elementary, 2510 S. Kildare Ave., calling for books, resources and staff to aid the schools.

Thousands of Chicago public schools students are without bilingual services that they are “legally entitled to get,” she said.

One teacher spoke about teaching 31 students one first grade classroom, which makes it extremely difficult to meet goals.

“We shouldn’t have little kids that small twig hit by one person,” the teacher said. “We have to do what’s right by our kids, these are our kids”

Service Employees International Union Heath Care president Greg Kelly said he’s proud of the ”historic” events of the past few days and that teachers and staff are doing what’s right for the common good for people in all neighborhood.

“The message of solidarity that we’ve shown the last few days are sending shockwaves throughout the entire country,” he said. — Marie Fazio

1:55 p.m. Friday: Fifth City neighborhood church opens its doors to families

“Five, six, seven, eight,” the young girls counted off as they practiced a coordinated dance Friday afternoon in the parking lot of People’s Church of Harvest on the city’s West Side.

Around them, other children tossed balls at each other while other small children played with hula hoops. The church, located at 3570 W. 5th Ave., opened its doors to families who needed help with child care during the on-going Chicago Teachers Union strike. On Friday, the church was taking care of 23 children, slightly down from the 28 children who showed up Thursday, said Gloria Wilson, the assistant director of the church’s safe haven program.

“The past two days has been fun because we did receive students that didn’t even know our program existed that’s new to the area,” Wilson said. “So that was a good thing, that means the kids are getting to meet (and) making new friendships.”

The church already runs an after-school program and told many of those families about their extended hours during the strike. Children from area neighborhood schools who aren’t part of the church also participated in the program, Wilson said.


The program includes breakfast and lunch, talking about a topic such as respect, and time outdoors. The children were planning to watch “Toy Story 4,” in the afternoon, Wilson said.


“Friday’s normally our fun day so we always try to make the children have a happy Friday,” Wilson said.

In between fun periods, the children have asked if they will have to make up the days they are missing because of the strike.

“That’s their main concern is how are they going to make up the days,” Wilson said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said CPS will not extend the school year to make up days, but CPS hasn’t made clear what the plan is for adding instruction days.

East of the church, Marillac St. Vincent Family Services in the East Garfield Park neighborhood opened its doors to about 40 children each day during the strike, said Maureen Hallagan, the chief operating officer. The organization’s location on the North Side saw even more children -- 150 -- during the past two days.

The children in the program the past two days already participate in one of the organization’s programs. But if the strike extends into next week, Marillac planned to open up the services to anyone in the community, Haliagan said.

“I think our concern is the safety of the children,” Haliagan said. “And that they are doing activities.”

Wilson said the People’s Church of Harvest also plans to keep its program going through the strike.

“Hopefully the strike will be over soon,” Wilson said. “We will be here, our doors will be open.” — Elvia Malagón

What do you think about the Chicago teachers strike? What are your thoughts, questions or concerns about how the Chicago teachers strike could affect you, the city or your neighborhood? Let us know here.

1:30 p.m. Friday: Union President Jesse Sharkey says discussions ‘have been positive,’ but ‘not there yet’

Chicago Teachers Union president Jesse Sharkey said discussions so far today “have been positive” but added that they’re “not there yet” in terms of reaching an adequate agreement.

Sharkey and teachers union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates gave a brief update to the media Friday afternoon outside of Malcolm X College where they have been engaging in negotiations for much of the day.

Sharkey then left for the afternoon teachers strike rally while Davis Gates stayed behind at the Near West Side college.

Sharkey said the negotiation groups discussed special education this morning and plan to talk more about staffing this afternoon. He said the city has offered language that would provide for the hiring of 250 school nurses, but he said the union has to look at that against current staffing levels.

“We can do the math," he said, noting there are almost 520 schools in the district. The union has called for a nurse in every school. — Madeline Buckley

1:25 p.m. Friday: City preps for another afternoon teachers strike rally

1:20 p.m. Friday: Teachers gather briefly in front of Wrigley Field

A small group of teachers gathered Friday afternoon outside Wrigley Field. The teachers, who were holding picket signs, took selfies in front of the Wrigley marquee.Several cars going up Clark Street honked in approval. The teachers left after the photos. — Paul Sullivan

1:10 p.m. Friday: Supporters prep for CTU rally

Supporters decked out in “education red” gathered at Daley Plaza eagerly picking signs out from a large pile more than a half hour before the rally was slated to begin.

A large group of teachers and classroom aides had painted their faces in tradition Día de Los Muertos skeletal fashion and carried homemade signs shaped like gravestones that said “RIP CPS obeying bilingual laws” and “RIP idioma y cultura hogar?”

“Lightfoot escucha estamos en la lucha” they chanted loudly, accompanied by drums and maracas as the crowd grew larger.

“We’re mourning the loss of bilingual services for our students,” said Nick Limback, 4th grade bilingual teacher who also serves on the bargaining board.

He said many bilingual students don’t receive the required one hour of support needed each day because of lack of bilingual support staff.

Nelly, who declined to give her last name, is a special education classroom assistant at McCormick Elementary school. She said it feels like she “is given four jobs” including acting as a nurse and setting up and serving lunches to her preschool students.

“We really do need a lot more support,” she said wearing the yellow and purple SEUI shirt. “It’s a rough job being a SECA.” — Marie Fazio

12:31 p.m. Friday: CTU leader on city lawyer strike comments: ‘Rich white men tell black women ... in CPS what to do all the time’

A note from a Chicago Public Schools lawyer asking striking teachers union leaders to spend more time at in negotiations and less at rallies prompted an angry response from the union vice president.

“Rich white men tell black women with children in the Chicago Public Schools what to do all the time," Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said. Read more here.

11:05 a.m. Friday: Outside Lake View High School, ‘Honk if you are in our corner’

As a teen, Tasha Young found herself pregnant with twins. She credits educators in her life for helping her get through college so she could become a high school counselor.

“Every single student deserves the same opportunities that were offered to me,” said Young, 46, as she stood with a lively crowd of teachers Friday who walked off their jobs at Lake View High School amid tense contract negotiations. Cars zooming past the busy intersection of Ashland Avenue and Irving Park Road honked at the crowd. One woman stood on a fire hydrant while holding up a strike sign.

“Honk if you are in our corner,” one sign read. Another read: “Even Hogwarts has nurses,” a reference to the Harry Potter book series. The crowd walked around the intersection chanting, “Get up, get down, Chicago’s a union town!”

Among the crowd was Young, a counselor at Lake View who grew up in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side. Her family transferred her to a suburban school because her parents didn’t think the neighborhood schools would give her enough opportunities. She said many of her siblings traveled north for better schools, something she still sees her own students do today.

For Young and some teachers, the strike that has now lasted two days is about improving and expanding opportunities for students.

“This strike is not about money,” said Brian Wittenwyler, another teacher on the picket line. “This strike is over better schools for our own children and our students.”

Wittenwyler, a special education math teacher who works on the school’s restorative justice program, said the high school has a medical clinic within the school, which he said some students use for primary care. But he noted that not all schools have that. For example, his son’s school doesn’t have a nurse all the time.

His son, Henry, is in seventh grade at a public school. The young boy, who stood on the picket line with his father, said he likes his school and doesn’t like that his classes were interrupted. Still, he doesn’t understand why the city doesn’t reach a deal with the Chicago Teachers Union.


“I don’t know why they won’t agree to a deal,” the small boy said.

Erin Unander, a math teacher at Lake View, said her three children are in public schools in the city. She noted that recently she and other parents raised $50,000 for art supplies for one of her children’s schools.

“They were able to raise $50,000, but not every school has parents that can afford to make up that $50,000 gap,” Unander said.

At Lake View, Young said her colleagues pushed each year until the school’s administration was able to budget for six counselors. She said she has seen a rise in students needing help, coping with anxiety and depression. She also thinks the city should invest more in services that will help support students dealing with trauma from violence.

“For me, it was not the pay, it’s building those relationships with students,” Young said about why she’s on strike. “It’s a life calling, this is not an easy job. I’m hoping this can be a short strike, but (Mayor Lori Lightfoot) has to put it in writing.” — Elvia Malagón

10:30 a.m. Friday: Mayor Lori Lightfoot reiterates CPS won’t extend school year after the strike

At a news conference at City Hall, Mayor Lori Lightfoot reiterated that CPS isn’t planning to make up the instruction days lost by the strike by extending the school year.

Lightfoot said she wants a five-year deal, despite the union’s desire for a shorter pact. She also said she won’t extend the school year to make up for lost days. When CPS did that in 2012, Lightfoot said, it created “unintended consequences” for students, including trouble getting financial aid packages.

CPS hasn’t made clear whether the school system would make up the days in other ways, such as by cancelling in-service days or other days off during the school year. — Gregory Pratt

10:25 a.m. Friday: Mayor Lightfoot leaves doughnuts for protesters at her home

Friday morning, Lightfoot left donuts outside her Logan Square home for protesters gathered outside.

“I hear you. I hope we reach a deal very soon. We are working hard all day,” Lightfoot wrote on a green note left atop a Dunkin Donuts box.NBC-5 Chicago political reporter Mary Ann Ahern tweeted about the doughnuts.

And the managing editor of Jacobin Mag tweeted that a teacher had written a response on the back of the note, “Smaller class sizes not donuts. #contractsnotDONUTS.”

— Gregory Pratt

10:24 a.m.: City says CTU leaders need to stop rallying and get back to bargaining

As Chicago’s teachers strike entered its second day, city negotiators are pushing Chicago Teachers Union leaders to begin 10-hour daily negotiating sessions — and quietly expressing concern the walkout could extend into next week.

Talks are expected to pause Friday while the union stages a demonstration outside Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office. Read more here.

Striking teachers and supporters walk a picket line outside Von Steuben Metropolitan High School in Chicago, on the second day of a strike by the Chicago Teachers Union on Friday, Oct. 18, 2019. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

9:30 a.m. Friday: At Ida B. Wells elementary, a library of books, but no librarian; at Phillips high school, 47 kids in one class

At Ida B. Wells Preparatory Elementary School, 249 E. 37th St., there is a library full of books, but no librarian.

The books mostly sit unused without someone to help students access the materials, and as overextended teachers try to manage massive class sizes, teachers there said Friday morning.

The school has a contracted social worker that comes once a week and mostly sits in meetings, according to teachers. A nurse also comes on a weekly basis, but in between visits, teachers have to call ambulances for injuries that might have been handled in-school if a nurse was there every day.

The teachers rallied Friday morning outside the Bronzeville school that serves more than 400 students. They are frustrated because they say they are facing unmanageable classroom conditions that do a disservice to students, but feel the public believes they are only after money.

“It’s stressful. I want the best for my students and I’m going to do that by any means possible,” said Monisha Washington, a teacher at Wells.

Dominique Patterson, a parent volunteer, brought teachers coffee and donuts while they stood outside in the chilly fall weather.

“What the teachers are asking for isn’t unreasonable. It’s necessary,” Patterson said.

Inside the school, Patterson said students were painting thank you cards for their teachers.

Earlier, Jon Pardo, a history teacher at nearby Wendell Phillips Academy High School, 244 E. Pershing Road, asked his fellow teachers who among them has taught in a classroom with more than 40 students.

“47,” one teacher shouted out.

“42,” another replied.

“There’s no real teaching happening,” Pardo said, of when classrooms are that large.

The school has one social worker for more than 600 students -- and they are luckier than many schools, Pardo said.

The high school teachers marched up and down the sidewalk on Pershing Road, demanding a fair contract and shouting, “If we don’t get it, shut it down.”

A 10th grade student, Jasmine Ortiz Conners, stood in solidarity with her teachers, wearing pink pants because they were the closest to red that she owned. The teenager has been in those large classrooms, trying to learn amid disruptions, she said.

“I need my education,” she said. — Madeline Buckley

9:03 a.m. Friday: Mayor Lori Lightfoot tries to up pressure on union leaders for longer, daily negotiations

At an appearance at the Gads Hill Center, 1919 W. Cullterton St. in Pilsen, Mayor Lori Lightfoot served breakfast to small children. And after serving the food, tried to apply pressure on the Chicago Teachers Union, saying the union needs to negotiate 10 hours a day, seven days a week, with top union leaders at the table during all that time.

“Let’s spoon up some cereal,” Lightfoot said as she walked into a room with first lady Amy Eshleman.

“The choices on the menu are Cheerios and corn flakes,” said Lightfoot, who favors the latter.

In an availability after the cereal serving, the mayor alluded to her administration’s frustration with union leaders for attending a rally Thursday instead of spending all day Thursday negotiating.

“We need to be at the table every single day, seven days a week, at least 10 hours a day until we get a deal done,” Lightfoot said. “The ball is very much in their court. We didn’t leave the table.”

At least one of either CTU President Jesse Sharkey or Vice President Stacy Davis Gates “have to be at the table in order for this to move forward,” Lightfoot said.

Lightfoot reiterated that the school district’s offer won’t be sweetened financially.


“The fact is, there is no more money,” Lightfoot said. “Period.”

Echoing her concerns about the union not negotiating hard enough, Lightfoot lamented that they didn’t get more work done on Thursday.

“The only issue that was talked about was around class size,” Lightfoot said. “We weren’t really at the table together that long yesterday unfortunately.”

Lightfoot wouldn’t get into specifics about the administration’s most recent staffing proposal but said her budget in August planned to hire 200 more teachers, nurses and counselors.

“We put that money into our budget, that’s there,” Lightfoot said.

Again, Lightfoot said both sides could reach a deal done “in a matter of days” or even the weekend if they sat down together with a sense of urgency. — Gregory Pratt

8:47 a.m.: Changing careers to become teachers — and finding themselves on picket line

A few years ago, Michele Burke said she prayed and talked to her family before switching careers from healthcare to education.

Burke, 37, moved from the suburbs to Chicago and has spent the past three years working as a special education teacher at Frederick Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center in the North Park neighborhood.

She was among a group of teachers who rose early Friday to join the picket line, something she didn’t imagine doing when she was changing careers. “I’ll just continue to stay out here, walking the line, hoping to see change,” Burke said.

During her time teaching, she has seen how teachers such as herself end up becoming the nurses, social workers and counselors for students. “I think a lot of teachers, they want to make a difference,” she said.

Another teacher on the picket line, Meghan Visser, grew emotional as she thought about how she hasn’t seen her students for two days. “I already felt more sad,” she said. “This is the place I want to be. We want to be teaching and I don’t think that’s always communicated.”

Like Burke, Visser, 36, changed careers to become a teacher. This is her first year as a full-time diverse learning teacher, which includes special education, English and environmental science.

When she worked with adults, she found many were set in their ways and weren’t flexible. “I was excited to be working with kids,” Visser said as she held onto Mason, her Australian Shepherd dog. “They are open to change and want to learn.” — Elvia Malagón

8:10 a.m. Friday: Outside Von Steuben, the ‘fight is not over’

Richard Myers knew his Advanced Placement students were already behind on the first day of classes for Chicago Public Schools.

Myers, an AP human geography teacher at Frederick Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center in the North Park neighborhood, said students in the suburbs start school about two weeks earlier than those in Chicago. And as a Chicago Teachers Union strike entered into its second day, Myers knows his students won’t get these days back before they have to take the Advanced Placement test in his subject, which can give them a leg up on college admission and college credit.

“The test date is the test date,” Myers said. “...So we are always playing catch up all around the city.”

Myers was among a group of teachers who walked off the job and picketed outside the school at 5309 N. Kimball Ave. As the sun rose over the brick and limestone building, motorists on Kimball honked in support. One person on the picket line blared, “Walk it out,” by rapper Unk.

“C’mon negotiate,” the teachers chanted.

Myers has worked for 21 years in Chicago public schools. Over the years, he’s had an increasing amount of paperwork to fill out. Teachers also have been mandated to add to the curriculum, meaning Myers has to spend time coming up with new lesson plans. That’s why he often gets to work by 6 a.m. though classes don’t start until 7:30 a.m.

“I’m all for this, OK,” Myers said of the new subjects he has to teach such as LGBTQ history. “But where do you find the time to put these lessons together?”

Although he doesn’t want his students to miss out on instruction, he doesn’t think a contract agreement will be reached until early next week.

“They took a lot away from us in 2012 and that fight is not over,” he said. — Elvia Malagón

Computer science teacher Ann Winterhalder (cq), left, and history and geography teacher Richard Myers (cq) sit outside of Von Steuben Metropolitan High School (5039 N Kimball Ave) in Chicago, on the second day of a strike by the Chicago Teachers Union on Friday, Oct. 18, 2019. Winterhalder has been with Von Steuben for 14 years and Myers for 21 years. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

7:22 a.m. Friday: CPS staff join teachers at early Friday morning rally at South Loop school

Gene Cox was hospitalized on the job three times last year.

As a special education assistant for Chicago Public Schools, Cox said he often works with children in distress in schools that don’t have proper resources and training to handle the students’ needs. Last month, he was badly bitten by a student. Last year, he suffered a back injury, a knee injury and his thumb was dislocated.

Special education assistants help students off buses, assist teachers and sometimes change diapers. Some assistants told the Tribune they have worked in schools stretched so thin, they have been asked to fill in as security guards and substitute teachers rather than doing their own job.

“There’s not enough pay,” Cox said Friday morning during a rally outside Jones College Prep in the South Loop. “We can’t live comfortably and be refreshed to come to work.”

Cox is one of 7,500 Chicago Public Schools staff who are striking alongside teachers while contract negotiations with the city resumed Friday. Cox and several dozen other staff members, including security officers, bus aids and custodians, marched with signs and megaphones to demand a fair contract.

“We’re out here at the same time (as teachers) to change the way the city of Chicago looks at public education,” said Jeffrey Howard, executive vice president of SEIU Local 73, the union that represents the staff.

Howard said most of the union members are women, particularly women of color, working low-wage jobs that are critical to keeping CPS schools clean and safe.

Citali Soto, a security officer at Amundsen High School on the North Side, is often the first person the students see for the school day. She works the front desk and the metal detectors, keeping an eye out for signs of anxiety or aggression in the students.

“We don’t know what they go through,” Soto said. “They have so much on their plate.” — Madeline Buckley

Catch up on all our CPS teachers strike coverage

Here are updates from day 1 of the strike:

7:33 p.m. Thursday: CTU discusses the day

CTU chief of staff Jennifer Johnson said the parties spent 10 hours Thursday at the bargaining table and put in hard work, but there remain a “significant” number of open issues. In addition to a written counterproposal from the city on class sizes, they also received a verbal response to counterproposals on teacher evaluations, she said. The union also gave CPS a revised staffing proposal Thursday.

“Our team is resolved. We are glad to see some movement. The movement across the table from CPS is serious,” Johnson said.

But she said “unfortunately” the union will still be on strike Friday because they didn’t see enough movement. — Hannah Leone


Lightfoot and CPS CEO appear on ‘Chicago Tonight’

Lightfoot said Thursday’s bargaining session was scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. but didn’t start until 11 a.m. and was truncated by the large union rally. Lightfoot also said there hasn’t been enough discussion on “core issues” and wouldn’t commit to making up school days canceled under a strike.

Jackson also countered one of the union’s frequent talking points, that the district received a billion dollars from Springfield and has more money than its suggesting. Most of that money went toward pension obligations. She said the district still borrows extensively to make ends meet. — Greg Pratt

Striking CPS teachers and supporters rally in front of Chicago Public Schools headquarters in downtown Chicago on Oct. 17, 2019. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

6:15 p.m. Thursday: Jesse Jackson on scene as city, union try to hash out agreement to end strike

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, speaking briefly to reporters after emerging from Thursday’s negotiating session, said both sides were continuing to bargain.“Each side has some validity,” the civil rights leader told reporters. “There must be some common ground.” — Juan Perez Jr.

5:45 p.m. Thursday: Strike will continue; CPS cancels classes for Friday

Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates confirmed via tweet that the teachers strike will continue into Friday.

“See you on the (picket) line tmrw 6:30A,” she wrote.

Chicago Public Schools officials had not yet updated their website to say classes are canceled for another day Friday, but the district tweeted that “classes will not be in session tomorrow.” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said earlier that instruction will be suspended as long as walkout by teachers and support staff continues.

Union officials said progress has been made Thursday but that negotiations would not go on all night Thursday night.

5:16 p.m. Thursday: One boy’s concern: Will strike hurt his chances of perfect attendance ribbon?

Joceyln Quinones’ 7-year-old son was worried that missing school Thursday would hurt his chances at another perfect attendance ribbon like those he’s earned in past years.

Quinones, 34, tried to explain to her son why the teachers were on strike. She told him no one knows how long the strike would last or if it would hurt his chances at the coveted perfect attendance ribbon.

“I told him they are on strike,” she said. “They are asking for more things to support themselves and their families but also the school needs to help them out a little bit more.”

As the pair passed by Lyman A. Budlong Elementary School in the Ravenswood neighborhood Thursday, he wanted to stop and check on his teachers who were out picketing, she said. The young boy was also intrigued by a man using a horn to lead the group in chants.

“He’s like, ‘I want to do that,’” she said.

Quinones works at the Albany Park Community Center, which set up a day-long camp for schoolchildren in the area. Her son was able to join the other children at the camp. But if she wasn’t able to bring him to the camp, she would have been forced to take off from work.

“I’m a single mom and he’s always with me and no school means I would have to be at home as well,” she said. — Elvia Malagón

4:50 p.m. Thursday: At Northwest Side community center, ‘It’s just been one crazy day’

The staff of the Albany Park Community Center made arrangements for a citywide teachers strike that shut down public schools, but they weren’t fully prepared for the high energy from the children who had an unexpected day off.

“It’s just been one crazy day,” said Antoinette Peterson, the director of youth development.

The center, 5101 N. Kimball Ave., set up a “just in case camp,” ahead of the strike. Parents pay $25 per day for the camp, but Peterson said many of the children in the program qualify for a subsidized fee with help from the city or state.

Thursday afternoon, a trickle of parents started to pick up the children from the program, which runs until 6 p.m. Peterson reminded two boys to walk, not run, down the hallway as they went into a room to finish watching the movie “Chicken Little.”

There were 83 children who participated Thursday in the program, ranging from 5 to 12 years old, Peterson said. The program made some exceptions and allowed older teens who needed somewhere to stay to participate in the camp.

But with it becoming more likely that the strike would extend to a second day, Peterson said the program was already expecting 110 children to show up for Friday’s camp.

The center is modeling the “just in case camp” after its summer camp, during which each week has a theme for programming. Thursday the children went to the park to play soccer, take a nature walk or just to play, she said. At the center, the children spent the day making scarecrows and watching a movie.

“We are just planning to keep them busy, engaged,” Peterson said. “Hopefully, (the strike) won’t last too long but you never know.” — Elvia Malagón

4:30 p.m. Thursday: ‘Look, we’ll get there’

Street closures were reopened about 4:15 p.m. downtown, according to city officials.

On the front line of the march, union leaders had walked arm in arm as they proceeded from near CPS headquarters, eventually ending up in Grant Park. Union leaders were upbeat about reaching an agreement, with one saying that after the direction of Thursday’s negotiations, “we’ll get there.”

Among the hundreds of marchers were clever signs - “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% WALKING OUT” - and a few people in costumes, including a banana, a hot dog and a tyrannosaurus rex.

Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates linked arms with AFT President Randi Weingarten and CTU President Jesse Sharkey.

But as they marched down LaSalle Street, Davis Gates and Sharkey darted away from the group, Davis Gates slipping into a Loft store hoping to quickly find a black turtleneck to wear on WTTW later, an appearance that was not on her mind when she got dressed in the morning and put on a casual denim shirt under red CTU gear.

As she glanced around the store, she thought maybe a wrap dress would work instead. She didn’t have much time, as she and Sharkey were due back at the bargaining table, where talks had been ongoing in their absence.

On progress today, Davis Gates said, “I’m sure the strike had everything to do with it.”

“The positive impact today is that they put it in writing, class size, and now we’re reacting to it. And it’s going to take a minute to get to where we need to be,” Davis Gates said, pausing to talk with a Tribune reporter near a sweater display.

“This is the first time that I’ve been at the table where I feel like we’re actually negotiating. Today feels like a real negotiation,” she said.

“If we can keep moving in the same direction, I feel like there’s a lot of promise for us.”

Last Saturday, the union gave the city a class size proposal with components – teaching assistants, class size caps, and doing something in areas of the city where students have it the worst. But “They want to keep the class size caps that we have in the contract currently ... We don’t want that, we find that problematic.”

The two sides still need to reach agreement on “the numbers, how we do it and how we enforce it.” But the Board of Education is willing to enforce class size caps in some way.

They gave the proposal on class size to CPS on Saturday so “it shouldn’t have taken a strike today,” Davis Gates said.


“We’re not there yet, we still have some disagreement. Look, we’ll get there.” — Hannah Leone

4:15 p.m. Thursday: With teachers on strike, Chicago public libraries offer quiet, warm place for families with school-age children

Early Thursday afternoon, Bea Cabrera, 24, brought her babysitting charges to the Lincoln-Belmont branch to return books and check out some new ones. Cabrera student teaches at Brennemann Elementary School in Uptown while she completes her certification at DePaul. She would usually be in the classroom at this time of day, as would the two second graders she was babysitting.

“It’s one of the few places that’s open for them today,” Cabrera said as the kids excitedly selected books about microbes.

Their parents work full-time, so Cabrera expects to watch them as long as the strike continues.

A few tables over, Robyn Donner sat with three of her four sons, all of whom attend Audubon Elementary. They read silently while their mother chatted.

“I’m in a position where it doesn’t cause too much stress,” she said. “I’m one of the lucky ones ... I’m thankful that our teachers are doing the right thing.”

Audoban Elementary frequently holds fundraising efforts that allow the school to “make up for what CPS doesn’t give us,” Donner said.

She brought her sons to the picket lines this morning with signs and coffee for the teachers to teach them a lesson in “equity, what it looks like and how you get it and how it’s better to band together,” she said. “Everyone matters, not just the ones who can afford it.”

Her oldest son was a CPS student during the strike in 2012, and she said she has a feeling this strike may last a while."This isn’t our first rodeo," she said.

The family plans to take a field trip and ride the "L" downtown on Friday. “If you’re truly a public school person, you can’t be upset,” she said. “This is for you, this is for your kids.” — Marie Fazio

4 p.m. Thursday: CTA reroutes continue in the Loop

Just before 4 p.m., union members and their supporters were still marching downtown, but appeared to be wrapping up. A number of CTA buses were being rerouted around the marchers. For a full list, check the CTA’s website.

3:30 p.m. Thursday: Playing basketball at South Shore Prep

Brandon Williams, 14, dribbled the basketball between his legs, stepped back and nailed a jump shot. He pumped his fist in satisfaction.

Williams, 14, was playing one-on-one against fellow Simeon freshman Chervon Piggott.

Despite the chill, the two CPS students spent a chunk of their afternoon playing basketball on the outdoor courts at South Shore International College Prep. And at 3 p.m., they showed no signs of slowing down.

Williams said he doesn’t mind being out of school right now, but he hopes the strike doesn’t go on for too long. “Eventually, I’ll be at home bored with nothing to do,” Williams said.

Piggott, 15, said he understands the teacher’s perspective and hope they get what they need.

“I feel like the teachers gotta do whatever gotta do to get their righteousness.” — Javonte Anderson

3:20 p.m. Thursday: Newlyweds join march and rally for solidarity

Still in a white wedding dress and tan suit, newlyweds Angel and Don Cornelius stopped by the march when it was near the Thompson Center after their riverfront ceremony. They brought their wedding photographer and posed in front of the marching crowd.

One striker handed Angel Cornelius a strike sign and she held it high in her left hand, still grasping her wedding bouquet of white roses and greenery in her right. Both union flight attendants, the couple supports Chicago Teachers Union because “we know they’re trying to give more to the kids,” Angel Cornelius said.

As strikers marched a few blocks away, CPS substitute teacher Jabali Clay leaned against the Chicago Public Schools building smoking a cigar, wearing tortoiseshell sunglasses, a CTU beanie and a blue CTA jumpsuit from his days working for the Chicago Transit authority.

“I’m almost 70 years old,” Clay said. “This is my fourth strike.”

He walked out with CTU in 2012, with the CTA in 1979 and with the United States Postal Service in 1970.

To him, the most important issue for this contract is class size, and how it all relates to equity.

“When you start with a disadvantage, for you to get ahead, you have to get an advantage,” Clay said. “One advantage would be a smaller class size.” — Hannah Leone

2:20 p.m. Thursday: Downtown rally: ‘Our demands are about Chicago’s future’

During the rally near CPS headquarters, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, had the crowd repeat after her.

“Educators want,” she said.

“Educators want,” they repeated.

“What students need."

”What students need."

They went on:

“Educators want what students deserve. Mayor Lightfoot, we listened to you in your campaign. Mayor Lightfoot, please listen to us. Our demands are about our kids. Our demands are about Chicago’s future, whether we be CTU or (SEIU) Local 73.”

Weingarten listed some of the unions’ demands - smaller class sizes, nurses in every school, libraries and librarians.

Such things are standard in suburban schools, she said, so “Why can’t we have it in Chicago?”

“I want everyone in the city of Chicago to take note,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey shouted to supporters. “We’re too often ignored. We’re too often overlooked. We’re too often scorned.”

“This strike is not just about our pay and benefits,” Sharkey said. “This strike is about our aspirations for a better future, for all of our students and for everybody.”

“We don’t just want a fast deal,” Sharkey said. “We are going to hold fast for a just deal.” — Hannah Leone and Juan Perez Jr.

Striking CPS teachers and supporters rally in front of Chicago Public Schools headquarters in downtown Chicago on Oct. 17, 2019. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

2:05 p.m. Thursday: Mother supports the strike, but ‘it’s a loss for our children’s education’

Mirza Gonzalez didn’t want her preschool-age son and high school daughter, who both attend Chicago public schools, to spend the entire day cooped up inside watching television so they stopped by nearby Riis Park on the city’s Northwest Side.

The strike Thursday meant Gonzalez, 42, took a day off from cleaning homes to watch her children.

Gonzalez and her sister, who also has two children, have a plan for the next couple of days. Gonzalez’s regular day off is Friday and her sister has Monday off. She’s hopeful the strike won’t stretch into late next week.

“It’s a loss as a parent and it’s a loss for our children’s education,” Gonzalez said in Spanish. “It affects us all.”

Riis Park, 6100 W. Fullerton Ave, in the city’s Belmont Central neighborhood, was designated as a contingency site for parents who needed help with child care during the strike. But just before 1 p.m., only a handful of parents had stopped in, according to park staff. The parents opted to take their children to the nearby playground on the edge of the vast park rather than leaving them in the field house.

Gonzalez heard schools remained open as part of the contingency plan for the strike, but she was skeptical of dropping off her children there, particularly because her daughter is in special education classes.

“I don’t like that,” she said in Spanish. “You don’t feel confident without a teacher you know that will be there all day.”


And her young son is very active. He quickly darted out of the field house to the playground to join his sister and cousins.

“You see why I can’t leave him alone,” Gonzalez said in Spanish as she trailed her son.

Although Gonzalez wants the strike to end soon, she sides with the demands from the CTU.

She used to clean public schools and remembers one class had 48 chairs. She doesn’t understand how the students could learn in that type of environment or how a teacher could have control of such a crowded classroom. She also thinks teachers should get better health benefits.

“As a parent, I side with the teachers,” she said. “They are parents too.” — Elvia Malagón

2 p.m. Thursday: ‘Mother Jones’ watches over rally crowd

For the rally, the unions set up a staging area directly in front of the CPS main entrance on Madison Street.

Speakers ranged a high school freshman who led the crowd in chants of “I believe that we will win” to union leaders intent on being her champions and leaders of other unions expressing solidarity.

“This fight is about the future of our society,” said Carl Rosen, national president of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America.

At the front of the line of demonstrators was a large purple inflatable of Mother Jones--Mary Harris Jones--a prominent labor organizer in the late 19th and early 20th century who was long based in Chicago and was a co-founder of the radical Industrial Workers of the World union.

Les Plewa, an Advanced Placement government and politics teacher at Taft High School, said he spent three hours Saturday with his father and brothers constructing the wheeled wooden platform for the inflatable in his Northwest Side garage.

The inflatable is on loan from the Mother Jones Museum, which focuses on the labor movement. It has a small museum in Mount Olive, Illinois and also has traveling exhibits, according to its website.

Teachers were prepared to be on strike “as long as it takes to get the schools the kids deserve,” and that their working conditions are their students’ learning conditions, he said. —Hannah Leone

2 p.m. Thursday: Family makes strike day a teaching moment

The strike became a family affair for one household in McKinley Park when the Moser children rose before dawn Thursday.

Instead of getting ready for classes at the Velma Thomas Early Childhood Center, 5-year-old Lucy and her younger brother Mark made neon posters to encourage their picketing teachers.

Lucy, a kindergarten student, lay on the ground and used a Sharpie to scrawl the message: “I support my teachers.”

Anthony Moser, her father, said the family went to pick up donuts for the teachers and joined them in rallying outside of Velma.

“(Lucy) was super excited to see her teachers.” said Moser, a 35-year-old software engineer. “She ran over right away and she was right in the middle of it. That’s kind of her personality.”

Moser and his wife Kate, a former CPS teacher, said they wanted to their children to participate to learn about the importance of collective action.

“We think that a lot of problems have to be solved by people working together democratically, and that’s what the union is about,” Anthony Moser said. “We want them to understand that and we want them to support their teachers. Their teachers are the ones on the front line doing all the work.”

While the Mosers said they want the teachers to accomplish their goals, they also hope the strike is resolved quickly. — Elyssa Cherney

Four-year-old Lucy Moser greets her teacher, Rachel Krueger, and she and others picket outside Thomas Early Childhood Center Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in the McKinley Park neighborhood of Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

1:38 p.m. Thursday: CTU president says progress being made, but deal unlikely Thursday

During a break in negotiations at Malcolm X College, Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said bargaining had been productive Thursday and confirmed the union now has something in writing from the city about class size.

“Details matter here. It’s about adequacy, it’s about if we can provide relief in the places that need relief. I think what you saw in schools across the city (today) is that teachers have been taking a hard swallow. That comes when you see something that’s wrong and you just can’t do anything about it,” Sharkey said.

Sharkey said he thinks something meaningful can be done Thursday evening but said it’s highly unlikely there will be a deal done by end of the day.“We’re going to work for the rest of the day,” he said. He also mentioned that they will likely not bargain through the night, calling it “not a productive use of time.”

Stacy Davis Gates also spoke, calling it a shame that a strike had to happen for decisions to be made.

“We offered this framework on Saturday. It has taken them until Thursday. It has taken them until a strike to get to that. It shouldn’t be like that in the city of Chicago,” she said. — Jessica Villagomez

1:15 p.m. Thursday: Teachers union rally gets under way early

Chicago police blocked streets ahead of a rally and march scheduled by the Chicago Teachers Union and others near Chicago Public Schools Headquarters, 42 W. Madison St.

After officers blocked Madison Street between Dearborn and State streets, strikers began walking down that stretch of Madison.

Strikers marched along Madison from State to Dearborn, where they stopped behind a long orange sign stretched from one end of the street to the other that read, “The schools we need, not LaSalle Street Greed.”

“Let us march. Let us march,” they chanted until the Chicago police cars that had been blocking the path westward ahead pulled away, drawing cheers from the crowd.

Striking CPS teachers and supporters rally in front of Chicago Public Schools headquarters in downtown Chicago on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

12:59 p.m. Thursday: Elizabeth Warren tweets support for Chicago Teachers Union, SEIU

Count Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren in the camp supporting Chicago’s striking teachers and support staff members.

“I stand with @CTULocal1 and @SEIU73 members on strike. We need to invest in all of our public school staff — because when they succeed, our students succeed too. They need a #FairContractNow. #PutItInWriting,” Warren tweeted.

The Massachusetts senator is not the first of the Democrats looking to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020 to voice their support for Chicago educators. Bernie Sanders spoke at a pre-strike rally last month.

When the Vermont senator later took the stage, he thanked the teachers union for “becoming the conscience of the United States of America."“What we are seeing is teachers standing up and fighting for justice," Sanders said at the rally. “... Every problem in society — hunger, domestic violence, poverty — it walks into your doors, doesn’t it? You see it every day and at a time when we, in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth.” — Juan Perez Jr.

12:15 p.m. Thursday: Kids ‘strike’ demand: Subway sandwiches

In Humboldt Park, about 30 students had come together Thursday morning to make their own list of demands: Subway sandwiches every day, extra computer time and they wanted their mentor to dye her hair.

“Do you want to be on strike?” one young boy asked another student, echoing what much of the city has talked about in recent days.


“Don’t do it, that’s too much money,” another child said.

The students, who ranged from 5 to 15, had sought refuge at the New Life Centers of Chicagoland, at 3908 W. Hirsch St., during the first day of the teachers strike strike. The community-based non-profit opened its doors at 10 a.m. to children in the area.

Just before noon, the children played board games and basketball inside and outside ran away from a “zombie.” The program will provide each child with a snack and lunch during the strike, said Jessica Quigley, the site director. The organization already runs an after-school program but extended their hours to accommodate families in the neighborhood who needed help taking care of the children.

The center is planning a pajama party for the children on Friday if the strike continues, she said.

An hour in, Quigley was busy keeping up with the children. She suspected many families kept their children at home during the first day of the strike. But she thinks more will show up in future days if the CTU and city don’t reach an agreement.

Layla, a 10-year-old who led the charge for Subway sandwiches, said she didn’t mind missing school.

“School’s hard,” the girl said. “I don’t like school.” — Elvia Malagon

11:45 a.m. Thursday: Classes Friday? Not looking likely.

The district has not announced whether classes will resume Friday, but it’s looking less likely by the hour.

Asked whether a call had been made about closing schools Friday, a CPS spokeswoman said Lightfoot had answered that in her morning press conference.

But the mayor was not clear about plans for Friday, only saying school was canceled as long as teachers were on strike.

“Until we get notification from the CTU that they’re intending to come back to the classroom, school is canceled for the duration," Lightfoot said. — Greg Pratt and Hannah Leone

11:45 a.m. Thursday: CTU to target Lightfoot with radio ads

The Chicago Teachers Union says it is launching a $100,000 radio advertising campaign to promote its cause. A series of 60-second radio spots will air in English and Spanish starting on Friday, the union said. The ads target Mayor Lori Lightfoot directly.

“When she was running for mayor, Lori Lightfoot promised to do more for our kids and our schools,” a narrator says in one spot. “But her campaign promises don’t mean a thing unless she tells Chicago Public Schools to make good on them.”

The ad goes on to promote the union’s desires for additional staff including nurses, librarians and counselors — as well as the union’s demands to lower class sizes.

“Other cities across America have made it happen, let’s do it here in Chicago,” the ad says. — Juan Perez Jr.

11:28 a.m. Thursday: Neighborhood Boys and Girls Club is ‘family for people who don’t have family who live here’

Parents trickled in and out of the Neighborhood Boys and Girls Club Thursday morning, dropping off their kids for something to do during the strike.

“When schools are out, we’re in,” said Jeffrey Sadowski, executive director of the organization. It was one of the few places that stayed open during last winter’s polar vortex that shut down Chicago schools for two days.

Around 250 CPS students signed up to attend the organization’s programs at 2501 W. Irving Park Rd., Sadowski said. The programs cost around $60 per day, but scholarships are available. The center is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. to accommodate working parents.

“I’ll see you dude, love you,” said one dad as he gave his young son a hug and rubbed his hair.

Lori Novak dropped off her 6-year-old son Daniel on her way to work. He attends Cooley Elementary. As a full-time working mom, she has relied on the organization in such situations. “They’re family for people who don’t have family who live here,” Novak said.

Allison Hanig’s 15-year-old step-daughter Ava is a freshman at Lakeview High School. She’s been attending the Neighborhood Boys and Girls Club since she was in sixth grade and now is a leader for the organization, supervising kids and overseeing activities.

Ava said she is in support of the strike, but hopes it won’t last too long. “I agree with why they’re doing it and hopefully they get what they want.”

11:15 a.m. Thursday: Nurse splits her time between four campuses: ‘It’s a lot’

Barbara Raphoon is a certified school nurse. That means she’s a registered nurse who also holds an educators’ license.

It’s a difficult job in the Chicago Public Schools system. Raphoon splits her time between four campuses. She said she was assigned to six schools last year, and was ready to quit.

“These kids are sick,” Raphoon said of her patients as she stood in a picket line outside CPS headquarters Thursday. “A lot of them have chronic illnesses. Diabetes, seizures, medications, ADHD. We just got one in with post-traumatic stress. She’s a kindergartner.

"It’s a lot. These kids need somebody.”

The union and district are grappling over how to increase the number of nurses in the system, along with a long list of other jobs. That includes the dozens of social workers, counselors, psychologists and other staff who joined Raphoon to flood Loop sidewalks at the morning rush.

“These are people who provide specialized services to children who need them,” said Beth Eysenbach, a teacher and speech language pathologist who works at three schools in South Austin and North Lawndale.

“My students have communication disorders, and the idea is to get them to be able to communicate to the best of their ability so they can function in the outside world. How is a child going to be able to get a job once they get out of high school if they can’t communicate?”

It’s an example of how the union sees hiring policies as having a direct link to classroom conditions.

In the case of nurses, the union has proposed creating a system that would recruit and train staff, help them get more advanced credentials and raise their wages.

“It is true that it is difficult to hire people. A lot of that is because of conditions. For instance, our nurses can probably make a better living working in other areas, where maybe they’re not being sent all over the place from one school to another. They can stay in one spot,” Eysenbach said.

“It would be really terrific for the children just to have a nurse at the school for when they get hurt or there’s some kind of crisis,” she said. “But in order to do that we need to have those nurses be willing to come here.” — Juan Perez Jr.

10:50 a.m. Thursday: A break from routine at the Ark of St. Sabina: ‘Sometimes school is boring’

Davianna McKinley and her sister Gregoryanna McKinley were the first two students to arrive at The Ark of St. Sabina on Thursday.

Normally the two girls would be at Paul Cuffe Academy, where they are in seventh and fifth grades, respectively. Instead, they walked over to the community center, where they greeted their class monitor, LaTasha Rudder, with big hugs.

“Y’all hungry? “ she asked. “Do you want breakfast?”


The two girls nodded affirmatively. Then they headed to the classroom space.

“It’s a free program. We have fun here,” said Davianna, 12. She said she was actually happy to have a day off from her regular routine.

“Sometimes school is boring,” she said.

“We must get an education,” her 10-year-old sister piped up. “Today is a happy day ... because we allowed it to be.”

Just as the girls were signing in, the Rev. Michael Pleger, the pastor of the church, strolled into the lobby to check our the scene. He gave the girls hugs and greeted the staff.“

Personally, I think most parents can work something out for today and tomorrow,” he said. “If this strike goes into next week, it will become harder to work out child care.“I’m hoping it all gets resolved today.”

Thursday morning, the students trickled in. By 10.30 a.m., only six students had shown up. — Lolly Bowean

10:41 a.m. Thursday: Parents and students join striking teachers in North Center: ‘It’s baby’s first protest’

Bucket drums, maracas and passionate chants echoed down Irving Park Road as parents and students joined striking teachers outside Coonley Elementary School at 4046 N. Leavitt St. in the North Center neighborhood.

“We’re all here to have fun,” said David Teruel, who works security at the school and brought his trombone to the picket line “just to make some noise.”

A teacher, Rachel Michel, brought her 5-month-old son. “It’s baby’s first protest,” she joked. Michel said she was taking a stand “for his future.”

Erin Dubose, the school counselor at Cooley Elementary, carried a sign that said, “Recommended counselor ratio — 250:1 My ratio — 1029:1 CPS, Seriously?!?” Despite those numbers, she guessed that she doesn’t even rank in the top five worst compared to other CPS counselors.

Rhoda Gutierrez brought her son James, a 4th grade Cooley student, to the picket line because she wanted him to see democracy at work.

She said she was proud to support the teachers because not every school has the advantage of frequent parent-led fundraisers. “It’s about that powerful commitment to all kids across Chicago,” she said. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a nurse in every school. It’s not a big ask.”

She said that many working parents have coordinated childcare among themselves, some volunteering to watch groups of children while working from home or taking time off from work.

Second grade teacher and CTU deputy Chuck Lair said many of the parents at Coonley Elementary School didn’t realize other schools don’t have nurses or librarians. “Their schools should look like ours,” he said. “I don’t think we’re asking for anything that’s ridiculous. Money isn’t even the biggest issue on the line.” — Marie Fazio

10:23 a.m. Thursday: Mayor Lightfoot says ‘We could get a deal done today if there’s a seriousness of purpose’

As a city source expressed optimism about reaching a deal, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, at Lawndale Christian Health Center’s Breakthrough Clinic, 3219 W. Carroll Ave., said she hopes the strike won’t last long.

Lightfoot reiterated her argument that she’s given the union strong offers on compensation. She said they’ve made “significant progress” on class sizes and staffing that can be the framework for a deal but added, “we can’t bargain by ourselves.”

“We could get a deal done today if there’s a seriousness of purpose and a willingness on the other side we could get a deal done today,” Lightfoot said. “Today.”

Lightfoot also said the salary offer won’t be sweetened.

We’re not moving any further on money because we can’t,” Lightfoot said.

“From a financial standpoint, we always have to keep in mind the taxpayers. CPS is just on the other side of a pretty significant crisis and we don’t have unlimited resources,” Lightfoot said. “Having said that, we’ve put very generous offers on the table both for teachers and support personnel and I’m hopeful we’ll be able to bring them back to the table and resolve all the other open issues.”

Lightfoot rebutted criticism from the union that she isn’t living up to her campaign promises around supporting neighborhood schools and spending more equitably. Lightfoot pointed to CPS’ budget, passed in August, that will hire more nurses, counselors, and case managers.

"More recently, the two issues that they’ve asked us to focus on – class sizes and staffing – I thought we made actually significant progress on in responding back and forth to their expressed desires around those two issues,” she said.

“We need to get this deal done, and we need to get back to business as usual because we need to get our kids back in school,” Lightfoot said. “Every day we’re out, that hurts our children.” — Gregory Pratt

10:11 a.m. Thursday: Kids join the picket line at Benito Juarez High School in Pilsen

Outside Benito Juarez Community Academy High School, 2150 S. Laflin St. in Pilsen, picketers played instruments and waved silver streamers on the sidewalk.

Rap music played from a speaker while strikers threw a football to each other. Jose Anaya, a math teacher at Juarez, was among those playing catch with coworkers. Anaya, who said he’s been teaching for 20 years, is concerned about how the school has changed during his career.

“I’ve had classes bigger than I’ve ever had in the past, I don’t think it’s good for the students or schools,” he said.

Several children holding handmade signs joined the picket line.

Molly Chochola, 12, goes to LaSalle Language Academy in Old Town and joined her mother Moira McNellis, on the line. McNellis, a special education teacher at Juarez, said she has seen her class size grow to up to 30 students.

“She chose to be here,” McNellis said of bringing her daughter to the strike. “I hope to see some movement with the contracts today.”

Molly held a sign that said “Can u read this? Thank your teachers!” and donned a red hat and scarf.

“There’s only a nurse on Tuesdays at my school,” she said. “The teachers want a contract and smaller classes. And a nurse in the schools more than day a week.” — Jessica Villagomez

10:05 a.m. Thursday: What if a teacher crossed the picket line?

As Chicago Public Schools teachers and support staff begin their strike, union leaders say they’re not worried about anyone crossing the picket lines, considering nine out of 10 members voted for the walkout.

But if that were to happen, the Chicago Teachers Union has rules about the potential consequences for so-called scabs. Someone who crosses a picket line could face “appropriate charges” by the CTU executive board and then go through a judicial process akin to a trial. If found guilty, scabs could be fined, or even expelled. — Hannah Leone

10 a.m. Thursday: Mayor Lightfoot reads “A Bad Case of Stripes” to children at contingency site

Dozens of protesters gathered outside Lawndale Christian Health Center on the West Side ahead of a Lightfoot appearance. Circling around the front entrance, the crowd chanted, “Don’t balance the budget on the backs of our babies!”

The teachers chanted for “nurse power,” “library power” and “people power” as they waited for the mayor. One woman at the front held a “We got catfished” sign accusing Lightfoot of campaigning for “schools first” while delivering “schools last.”


Inside, Lightfoot read “A Bad Case of Stripes” to about 30 students — mostly third to fifth graders — while First Lady Amy Eshleman and CPS CEO Janice Jackson stood nearby. The center is a contingency site for children who need childcare during the strike. — Gregory Pratt

9:10 a.m. Thursday: Striking teachers try to catch Mayor Lightfoot at West Side YMCA

Mayor Lori Lightfoot started her morning with a photo opportunity with children who were spending their first strike day at the McCormick YMCA, 1834 N. Lawndale Ave., in Humboldt Park. Alongside First Lady Amy Eschleman and CPS CEO Janice Jackson, the mayor sat with a table full of children and colored a sheet showing the water cycle.

While Lightfoot was inside, a crowd of teachers union picketers walked over from nearby McAuliffe Elementary School, arrived outside the Y and chanted for a fair contract. Lightfoot left the building through a rear door and didn’t see the strikers. — John Byrne

Teachers and supporters from McAuliffe Elementary School show up on the sidewalk near an event where Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson were visiting with children, ages range from 5-12 years old, at McCormick YMCA in Chicago on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019. Children were dropped off at this YMCA because of the first day of a strike by the Chicago Teachers Union. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Mayor Lori Lightfoot visits with children, ages range from 5-12 years old, at McCormick YMCA in Chicago on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019. Children were dropped off at this YMCA because of the first day of a strike by the Chicago Teachers Union. Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson is behind the Mayor. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

9 a.m. Thursday: Parent with few child care options: ‘I’m praying this doesn’t drag on too long’

It was close to 9 a.m. when Yevonia Banks-Boykin arrived at Westcott Elementary School in Auburn Gresham to drop off her 9-year-old daughter.

As she approached the entrance with Taniyah Davis, the girls’ teachers sang out her name and greeted her as she crossed their picket line.

For Banks-Boykin, taking the girl, who is her foster daughter, to school was the only choice Thursday morning.

“I work,” she said. “Unfortunately I don’t have any other child care options. The teachers want additional benefits for the hard work they do. It’s unfortunate that the children end up suffering ... no matter what.”

Normally Taniyah would take the bus to school, but there wasn’t service on Thursday. It left Banks-Boykin scrambling to get the young girl to school while trying to figure out how’d she make it to her job in Lake Zurich on time.

“I’m praying this doesn’t drag on too long,” she said. “I keep thinking, ‘get through today and tomorrow. I’m off on the weekends.’ I’m worried about after that — we need a solution.” — Lolly Bowean

A student arrives at Westcott Elementary School in the 400 block of W. 80th Street on the first day of the Chicago teachers strike on Oct. 17, 2019. Schools are opening their doors to students who can spend days there during the strike. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

8:50 a.m. Thursday: Contract negotiations to resume at Malcolm X College

The Chicago Teachers Union said it plans to resume contract negotiations with city officials at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at Malcolm X College at 1900 W. Jackson Blvd. That’s around the same time Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS CEO Janice Jackson plan to visit a “contingency site” where students can go during the strike. Both sites are on the West Side.

8:33 a.m. Thursday: Student joins picket line at Simeon High School

Across the South Side, as teachers and staff danced, waved their signs and even played their instruments, few students drifted into the buildings.

When Anthony Jordan showed up at Simeon Career Academy High School, 8147 S. Vincennes Ave., Thursday morning, his teachers rushed from the sidewalk to embrace him. But the 18-year-old senior wasn’t there to go to school: he grabbed a sign and joined the picket line.

“I want to support my teachers because they taught me everything I know,” the Chatham resident said. “Our class sizes are too large. We really do need more nurses. It’s worth being out here because it’s for a good cause. It will help us all in the end.”

Nearby, Mary Manning squeezed her arms together shivering in the cold. Then the Simeon custodian hoisted her sign high. Her school-age grandchildren are too young to understand a strike, she said. All they know is they get a day off from school.

"They called me asking to come over my house,” she said. “I told them ‘No. Who knows how long I’ll be out here.’“

Manning’s grandchildren opted to stay at home, she said. She suspected many others did too.

Most students empathize with the teachers, Manning said. What happens in the school buildings affects so many, she said.

“By me being a custodian, I know the classes are too big. I set the chairs out,” she said. “Some rooms, there ain’t enough room for all the chairs. It’s ridiculous. It means there are some kids that are going to get it (the lesson). The ones in the back sit quietly and get passed along. How can we expect better of them?” — Lolly Bowean

7:50 a.m. Thursday: Englewood teachers cheer students coming in for the day

At Benjamin Mays Elementary in Englewood, the teachers chanted “Lightfoot get on the good foot,” and vented their frustrations to each other.

“This is not about money,” said David Miller, a counselor at the school. “My daughter’s school in Oak Park has a gym teacher, an art teacher, a music teacher, a Spanish teacher and a librarian. I want my students here to have the same thing. We’re trying to get more staff and at least make us comparable to other schools.”

Leland Sanford teaches fourth graders at the school and said he’s just plain tired of the disparities when compared to North Side, more well-funded schools.

“This Mayor — who I voted for — I expected her to be at the bargaining table getting it done. I expected her to be out here, listening to our needs. She’s repeating the lines of the school board,” he said. “She should be ashamed.” — Lolly Bowean

7:29 a.m. Thursday: A common refrain: Chicago schools need more nurses and counselors

Teachers at numerous picket lines Thursday emphasized what they believe is a critical need for more student support workers at their school.

Among them: Marshall High School theater and computer teacher Alison Thomas.

“We have a high trauma rate at our school, we need a support staff to give special attention to students who have traumatic experiences,” said Thomas, who has been teaching for 20 years, 18 at CPS. She joined the picket line at Marshall in the Fifth City neighborhood, where the scene included music blaring from a boom box and picketers on the sidewalk.

Thomas said she wants her school to get more counselors and a full-time nurse.

“We have a nurse at this school for six to eight hours a week,” she said. — Jessica Villagomez

7:10 a.m. Thursday: 'I got 99 problems and CPS won’t fund 1’

Teachers and staff gathered outside Lane Tech College Prep at Western Avenue and Addison Street and were greeted by an almost constant stream of honking from passing cars.

The picketers bobbed signs in the air, including a homemade one that said, “I got 99 problems and CPS won’t fund 1.”

Striking teachers and supporters walk a picket line outside Lane Tech High School in the 2500 block of W. Addison Street in Chicago, on the first day of a strike by the Chicago Teachers Union, Oct. 17, 2019. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Lane Tech, a selective enrollment high school, employs 265 teachers, according to union chair Curt Maslanka, who teaches English at the school. Lane Tech doesn’t face the same issues that neighborhood schools do, Maslanka said, but he singled out large class sizes and only two social workers and one psychologist and one nurse for all the students as main problems.

Maslanka has worked for Lane Tech for 21 years, including during the last strike. “We’re seizing the opportunity because CPS is in a much better financial state right now ... to use the cliche, we’re fighting for the schools our students deserve." he said. “It’s maybe a once in a lifetime opportunity and we want to make a difference in this city.”

The last thing he did before he left school Wednesday was make sure recommendation letters for students’ early admission college applications were submitted ahead of the deadline.


Several music teachers brought instruments to keep the spirits up. Others brought their dogs or children.

Courtney Feuer, who teaches English, brought her 9-year-old son who held a handmade sign. He was on the picket lines at the last strike as a 2-year-old. “We talk about these things over the dinner table. It’s important that they know,” Feuer said. — Marie Fazio

7:00 a.m. Thursday: Teacher on picket line asks parents for support

In the chilly darkness of morning, Grace Dellano unloaded picket signs and helped fellow teachers set up a table and chairs in front of Poe Classical Elementary School in Roseland.

Normally she would be dropping her own children off at their Catholic School in Beverly and making her way to work, where she teaches special education students. But with her bright red cap and jacket on, she joined seven colleagues hoisting signs and waving at passing traffic.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I hope this will bring true change and they can make a deal so we can get back into school and the teaching and learning can begin.”

Some parents are scrambling to find care, and are worried about how long the strike will last, but they should stand with the teachers, Dellano said.

“I know it’s a sacrifice,” she said. “It’s also a sacrifice for us. If parents can support us, they’ll see what we’re doing is for us but also for their children. We want a fair contract ... we want it in writing.”

Nearby Kimberly Washington, who teaches Spanish at the school, waved at cars passing by that were blowing their horns in support.

“No teacher came into this profession to get rich,” she said. “We just want to be respected for what we do. We see students that need clinicians and need specialized help. We have one clinician here a week — and they are stretched. We want better for our students. — Lolly Bowean

Linda Calhoun snaps a selfie with fellow striking teachers at a picket line outside Westcott Elementary in the 400 block of W. 80th Street in Chicago on the first day of a strike by the Chicago Teachers Union, Oct. 17, 2019. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

6:40 a.m. Thursday: ‘Lightfoot, Lightfoot, get on the right foot’

Early morning picketers chanted “Lightfoot, Lightfoot, get on the right foot,” and “If we don’t get it, shut it down,” outside of Cather Elementary School on the West side. Picketers wore the union’s signature red and clutched cups of coffee while dancing and chanting with signs. Nearby drivers honked their horns in solidarity.

A group of about 20 picketers circled outside the school on the sidewalk. Among them was Christel Williams-Hayes, the recording secretary of CTU, who said she plans to be at the bargaining table representing the union later this morning.

“We’re fighting because our teachers deserve to work in an environment that’s safe and that is conducive to being able to provide instruction to our students.

”Williams-Hayes said the CTU is fighting for smaller class sizes and more resources like social workers and counselors.

“Our students are dealing with trauma in these streets every day and they have to come to school after that. There’s a lot of insufficiencies.” — Jessica Villagomez

6:30 a.m. Thursday: Picket lines open at schools across Chicago

More than 25,000 CTU teachers and support staff are expected to open picket lines at 6:30 a.m. Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago Teachers Union will both be staging public events Thursday.

Lightfoot will appear with Janice Jackson, the CEO of Chicago Public Schools, at two “contingency sites” where students can go during the strike.

• 8:30 a.m. at the McCormick YMCA of Metro Chicago, 1834 N. Lawndale Ave.

• 9:30 a.m. at the Breakthrough FamilyPlex at 3219 W. Carroll Ave.

The union will hold a 1:30 p.m. rally at CPS headquarters, 42 W. Madison St. During the day, CTU leaders and American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten will join picket lines at various locations.

6:15 a.m. Thursday: Cool weather but no rain expected as teachers start picketing

As picket lines were forming around the city Thursday morning, the National Weather Service reported brisk temperatures in Chicago.

The temperature just before picketing was expected to begin was about 41 degrees, according to forecasters. Though the day is expected to remain dry and the temperature should quickly increase, the high is only expected to reach 54 degrees.

Forecasters said wind speeds were in the low single digits, making for a calm but cool start to the first day Chicago Public Schools teachers are on strike. — Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas

6:10 p.m. Wednesday: CPS teachers strike is officially on

It’s official: Chicago Public Schools teachers will begin a strike on Thursday after failing to reach a new contract deal with the city.

About 300,000 CPS students and their families will be affected by the strike, as well as about 25,000 teachers. It marks the teachers’ first walk out since 2012. Thursday classes were canceled ahead of the announcement in expectation of teachers hitting the picket lines.

In calling off classes, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she can’t accept the Chicago Teachers Union’s demands, saying they would cost $2.5 billion that the city can’t afford. Meanwhile, CTU President Jesse Sharkey said the union’s bargaining “cannot recommend postponing the strike” because Lightfoot’s camp hasn’t provided adequate resources to improve conditions and equity in the schools.

CPS schools will remain open and meals will be served to children who need a place to go. Other organizations like parks and libraries are also offering programming for schoolchildren.

5:40 p.m. Wednesday: At Lindblom Park, one athlete’s mother couldn’t make football game rescheduled for CTU strike

With eight and a half minutes to go in the first half of an abruptly rescheduled high school football game, Rita Edwards walked into Lindblom Park on Wednesday evening, craning her neck in search of a player in a maroon No. 65 jersey.

Edwards’ nephew, a Lindblom Math and Science Academy student, was waiting to take the field in a tied game against North Lawndale College Prep. The family expected to watch this game on Saturday, until prep teams across the city adjusted schedules to avoid the week’s teachers strike.

The young man’s mother is a Safe Passage worker and couldn’t make the game, Edwards explained.

“I’m mixed,” Edwards said of the strike. “I do believe teachers deserve more money, but I don’t understand the affordable housing thing.”

Union negotiators have promoted efforts to bargain over city affordable housing policy in a prospective contract. Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration has resisted the idea. But the union sees the idea as part of a broader social policy agenda with a direct link to classroom conditions. Come to think of it, Edwards said, that makes sense.

“I don’t agree with teachers banking sick days, though, because you already see the situation that they’re in,” Edwards said of Chicago Public Schools’ finances.

Edwards said she was a single mother who raised two CPS students. Her children are long out of school, but Edwards said she's pleased with their education and knows teachers often pay for supplies out of their own pockets.


“I don’t feel that’s right,” Edwards said. "They’re basically caregivers five days a week. They need more respect. They need more pay. They need more power.”

The sun broke through the clouds, bathing the field in amber light. North Lawndale scored a touchdown on a long running play. A Lindblom wide receiver set up a fast response with a one-handed catch near the goal line. Edwards said she felt the union and city could soon reach a compromise.

“These young lives, they really matter,” she said. “And I really believe that both sides are going to try to come to an agreement. So I don’t think it’s going to be a long strike.”

Edwards grinned. “I don’t know how the kids feel about that.” — Juan Perez Jr.

3:09 p.m. Wednesday: Food Depository offering meals at libraries, parks, YMCAs

The Greater Chicago Food Depository is supplying snacks and, in some cases, cold meals for students at libraries, YMCAs and Chicago Park District field houses.

The food bank plans to provide food Thursday and Friday, and will “monitor and respond accordingly” if a strike continues longer than that, according to a news release.

Fruit and snacks will be provided at 15 Chicago Public Library branches, 11 YMCA sites and 21 Chicago Park District locations. Some library branches and YMCA locations will provide a cold meal, such as sandwiches and wraps, for people 18 and under. More details and the full list here. — Madeline Buckley

2:50 p.m. Wednesday: Long strike could keep CPS football teams out of state playoffs

The Illinois High School Association will place Chicago Public Schools teams that qualify for the state playoffs in the state playoff brackets Oct. 26, even if a teachers strike is still going on, the association announced Wednesday.