Paradise Gone

Until now, Evergreen Park, Illinois.

What you say, but your Chicago Public Schools teachers were just out on strike?

You heard me. They were just not going to work and disrupting other people lives in order to get their way. Yes, you heard me once again.

How many days did the strike last? Seven days. How many days pay did they actually lose? Zero. How long did the Lake Forest, Illinois teachers strike last? Five days. How many days pay did they actually lose? Zero.

Zero pay loss? The length of the school year is set by law. If the days are made up and the teachers who went on strike teach, they lose no pay.

Why is Evergreen Park different?

From the Evergreen Park Patch:

The Evergreen Park Federation of Teachers’ bargaining team walked out of contract talks Monday evening after learning that the Dist. 124 school board would not be allowing paying teachers or staff nor allowing them to make up missed work days lost during the strike.
……
The school district is prepared to forego state aid—about $7,000 per day—for each day the teachers are out on strike. Illinois public schools are required to carry 176 attendance days.

D124 Superintendent Dr. Robert Machak said the loss of teacher and staff pay for days lost to the strike was “one part of the conversation” during Monday’s contract talks.

“There was no discussion about it,” Machak said. “The union’s response to the board was that they got up and left.”

The state allows school districts five emergency days. Should teachers and paraprofessionals return to the classroom before the end of this week, no state aid or teachers’ pay will be lost due to the strike.

“If teachers come back Thursday this is a non-issue,” the district superintendent said. “You are paid to be in school in the classroom. If you voluntarily choose to walk out from that responsibility why would you be paid for that?”

Last night ABC Chicago was reporting that Evergreen Park would use substitutes for the required make-up days.

This from CBS Chicago:

The union said earlier contract talks ended when the school district threatened to not allow students to make up days lost to a school strike, or pay teachers for those lost days.

But the board has denied providing the union with a proposal denying students make-up dates for school days lost to the strike. The board said it did tell the union before the strike that teachers would not make up lost days, and would not be paid for them.

A statement from the board said, “the board does not intend to reward striking employees who harm the students, their parents, and the community.”

A strike is not a strike when you still get paid, it’s just harassing other people, and every single one of them should be arrested for creating a public nuisance when they play that game.