By Pat Barcas
Staff Writer
Thursday, Sept. 27
     The dust has settled since the Chicago Teachers Union strike ended and teachers and students returned to class last week, but what did the teachers get out of it, and what influence will the strike have on the November election?
     The National Council on Teacher Quality, a think thank that “advocates for reforms in a broad range of teacher policies at the federal, state and local levels” analyzed the strike and released a report. They say the teachers won, more or less.
     “From our perspective, the proposed contract can be summed up as generally moving the district in the right direction — mostly steps forward but a step back here and there,” the report stated. “It does keep pace with national reforms. On balance it is more positive than negative. Some of the most positive changes like the longer school day predate the contract and are a result of state law or previous negotiations.”
     Indeed, it does look like the teachers won a lot as the CTU encourages a “yes” vote this week as preparations start towards ratification.
     They got more money for school supplies, more than 600 new teachers to be added to teach art, music and P.E., greater leeway in testing accommodations, textbooks on the first day of class, caps on class sizes, special ed teacher assistants, more special education teachers, and more social workers and nurses.
     Aside from the ramifications the strike had toward a better quality education for Chicago students, the strike also had national political ramifications, as both Republican candidate Mitt Romney and President Obama weighed in on the situation.
     Romney commented only on the first day of the strike, a statement that Obama criticized for politicizing the strike.
     “I am disappointed by the decision of the Chicago Teachers Union to turn its back on not only a city negotiating in good faith but also the hundreds of thousands of children relying on the city’s public schools to provide them a safe place to receive a strong education,” said Romney in the statement. “Teachers unions have too often made plain that their interests conflict with those of our children, and today we are seeing one of the clearest examples yet.”
     Obama was put in an awkward spot as he could neither take the side of his former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, or the teachers union. The strike also kept him out of Chicago for fundraising while it was going on.
     “I just really get frustrated when I hear teacher bashing as evidence of reform,” Obama said in a “Today Show” interview that aired on NBC Sept. 25. “All across the country people want results. It was very important, I think, for Mayor Emanuel to say, ‘Let’s step up our game,’ and it was important for the teachers union to also say, ‘Let’s make sure we’re not just blaming teachers for a lot of big problems out there. Let’s make sure we’ve got the resources.’ So I’m glad it was resolved, but I do think that from the perspective of Democrats, we can’t just sit on the status quo or say that money’s the only issue. Reform is important also.”

Pat Barcas’ e-mail address is pat@foxvalleylabornews.com.