This week, one of the major news headlines is something that is
affecting thousands of kids only fifteen miles away from my house. According to
this CNN article, "the nations third-largest
public school system entered Sunday without a contract with teachers and with a
strike looming." Most Chicago Public Schools started only this past
Monday, September 4th but with Mondays school day starting in less then 12
hours and no contract, parents and students are planning on no school for the
upcoming week or two. No school "for about 400,000 students" will
cause big problems, the first being that children won't be able to get an
education for the day. This is extremely important for children who live in
neighborhoods where going to school is an escape for about eight hours.
Secondly, especially for the younger children, parents will need to stay home
from work. Lastly, depending on how long the strike lasts, the last day of
school could be in early July which disrupts children's summer break plans and
schedules.
The reason for the strike is because of the
amount of money the CPS teachers are getting payed. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel successfully managed to extend all of CPS school days, however the teachers are
arguing that because of the extended time in school, they need to be getting paid
more. According to this Chicago Tribune article, "the union rejected the district's last known offer
of 2 percent increases each year for four years, saying teachers deserve more
because of the longer school day that Emanuel successfully pushed." I
agree with the CPS teachers. I think teachers should be getting paid more,
especially if they are going to be working longer hours.
One of the most unique things about America is
it public school systems. However in the past ten years or so because of the
lack of funding many of the public schools have begun to fail. In order to
combat this, people like Rahm Emanuel have tried to fix them with longer school
days and a longer school year. But in order to start fixing problems like
these, teachers need to be on board for them. Because if they aren’t then it is
going to cause even bigger problems like the one CPS is facing today. What do
you think, should CPS give in to the teachers request of a pay raise?
Well I am kind of bias because my aunt teaches at a CPS magnet school and I know how hard she works and how working the extra time will inconvenience her with picking up my cousins from their assorted after school activities, but either way I think they should get a pay raise because of they are working more hours then they should get paid more. But I understand the city's reluctance, I don't think anyone will benefit if there is all this tension between the teachers and the officials, especially the students
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