Members of the Chicago Teachers Union are beginning to vote on whether to walk out of Chicago Public Schools as soon as Oct. 7.

Asked if the city was beginning to make preparations for parks and libraries in case CPS students needed a place to go during a strike, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said, “We’re always going to be prepared. We owe that to our students, but our primary focus—both at the mayor’s office and at CPS—is getting a deal done. That’s where we’re spending most of our time.”

CPS officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on contingency plans, but the Chicago Tribune reported in 2012, the year of the CTU’s last multiday strike, that CPS budgeted up to $25 million for a strike contingency, which included plans “to open 145 schools from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, for student activities. The district also plans to partner with other city agencies, faith organizations, nonprofits and other outside groups to provide places for students to go.”



Those plans could be complicated by a potential simultaneous strike from SEIU Local 73, which represents non-teacher employees at CPS.



Lightfoot today reiterated her pledge to come to the negotiating table personally and echoed her negotiation mantra, that there was “absolutely no reason” why the two sides couldn’t make a deal.



She shared a message to teachers preparing to vote: “I would say we value you, and I think we’ve shown that by a very fulsome compensation package, which would result in the average teacher getting an increase in 24 percent over five years. CTU teachers, if this package is accepted, would be among the highest-paid teachers in the country, and it will be the most lucrative CTU package in its history. We’ve heard the response and concerns of teachers about additional supports in the classroom, whether it's nurses, counselors or case managers or special-ed students. That’s why we have baked those into the budget for this year.”

CTU President Jesse Sharkey cast his ballot in favor of a strike today. The union has said that Lightfoot has fallen short of her campaign promises by not putting support staff hiring commitments in writing and that negotiators for CPS are trying to roll back protections.