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After a seven-day strike hit the public school system in the city of Chicago, things appear to be mostly business as usual once again. Students are back in school. Teachers are back in their classrooms. Both the teachers union and the mayor’s office are declaring at least a partial victory in sticking to their guns and hammering out a compromise both sides can tolerate. While the Chicago teachers strike is over by all visible signs, remnants of this latest labor move may have ramifications nationwide that last for some time to come.

Throughout the summer, negotiations continued between the Chicago Teachers Union and school administrators and the mayor’s office. Mayor Rahm Emanuel was pushing for longer school days, hiring autonomy for principals, and a revamping of the teacher evaluation process. Teachers were looking for better pay increases, job security, smaller classroom sizes, and more services for their students. As the summer negotiations wore on, some were hopeful a strike wouldn’t have to happen. Others voiced fears that a strike was exactly where the teachers union was headed.

This video from the Chicago Teachers Union discusses what was learned from the teachers' strike.

Two Points of Contention

When union delegates finally voted to strike right after the start of the new school year, two key issues remained in the balance. The first was autonomy for principals in the hiring process.

After a summer of intense negotiations, the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago 51����s have failed to reach an agreement, resulting in the first strike to hit the city in 25 years. This week, students who had just started into new classrooms for the school year have found themselves with nowhere to go – and parents are scrambling to find safe options for their children during the school day. With one day of the strike already gone, it appears teachers will be on the picket lines for at least another day, as school administrators, union representatives, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel continue to try to work toward a compromise everyone can accept.

The Anatomy of a Teachers’ Strike

The two sides of this conflict have been working for months to try to find a resolution. A fact-finder brought in over the summer in an effort at mediation called the relationship between the two “toxic.” At the crux of the controversy is a wide range of issues, from classroom sizes to school hiring policies. While some of these issues have reached an agreement, many more still appear to be miles away from any sort of compromise.

At the center of the controversy is Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Before Emanuel even took office, he ran on the campaign platform of reforming Chicago’s troubled school system. According to the , Emanuel worked quickly after moving into the Mayor’s office to allow principals autonomy in the

Despite heated negotiations that have taken up most of the summer months, Chicago schools did open on time with a full day of school. The teacher’s union failed to file a10-day intent-to-strike by the deadline that would initiate a strike prior to the first school day. However, the sigh of relief breathed by parents, politicians, and members of the school board did not last long. The intent-to-strike was filed a few days later, which puts a walk-out day for teachers on September 10 if a compromise is not found shortly. If CPS teachers pick up the pickets, kids in Chicago schools will get only about a week of education before the entire system grinds to a halt.

This video reports on the 2012 teachers' strike.

Points of Contention

The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago 51����s have met a total of 46 times in an effort to find a compromise both sides could swallow. A fact-finder was also brought in over the summer to find a solution to the conflict. The fact-finder told the Chicago Sun-Times that the relationship between the two sides was “toxic.” Some of the points of contention that have not been resolved include:

Teacher Recall: The reports that the union wants CPS to hire from a pool of teachers who have been laid off by the district, rather than allowing principals to hire

Going back to school can be anxiety-provoking enough for some students and parents, but how do you handle the transition in the wake of a major community tragedy? That is exactly the question educators in Aurora, Colorado, have been forced to ask, as students in this community prepare for a new school year just two weeks after a deadly shooting in a local movie theatre left 12 people dead and 58 more injured. Some of the victims were students themselves, bringing this event too close to home for many students in the area. Administrators, teachers, and support personnel are preparing for a back-to-school event in Aurora this year that is sure to be bittersweet and even scary for some of the students they serve.

This video reports on the aftermath of the Aurora mass shooting.

The Impact of the Tragedy

According to a report at , the Aurora 51���� District estimates that approximately 150 students, parents, and staff from Aurora schools were in one of the theatres during the shooting. Gateway High School, the High School closest to the theatre, had 50 current or former students in the theatre alone. One of the victims that were killed, AJ Boik, graduated from Gateway in May.

The suspected shooter, James Holmes, lived in an apartment building not far from the theatre and within close proximity to Paris Elementary School.

The first day of school for Chicago 51����s is just weeks away, but a myriad of problems continues to plague the district and even threaten the ability of schools to open on schedule. With ongoing conflict between school leaders and the teacher’s union, accusations of lying, and even a bond downgrade by Moodys’, CPS doesn’t look like a district getting ready to welcome students back to their schools. Will the problems be resolved by the looming August deadline?

Is a Strike Inevitable?

Disagreements between the teacher’s union and school administrators continue to heat up, and talks of a strike are concerning many in the Chicago school district. reports that a recent rejection of a fact finder’s recommendation fuels worries that teachers and school leaders will not be able to come to an agreement before the school year begins. The recommendation included a double-digit raise for district teachers, a move district officials have said they simply cannot afford.

The fact finder, Edwin Benn, made the recommendations after the two sides failed to come to an agreement on the proposed budget for the upcoming school year. The proposed $5.73 billion budget included a two-percent pay increase for teachers for the next school year, but the teacher’s union has said that amount is unacceptable. The Chicago Tribune reports that teachers booed the proposed budget when it was announced earlier this month.

The proposed budget also included a $665 million deficit, increased property taxes