About 25,000 Chicago public teachers began a strike on Monday morning, leaving around 350,000 students out of school. The strike comes after months of negotiations with Chicago Public Schools, and a lack of agreement around wages, job security and teacher evaluations. One of the issues negotiations have been centered around in a proposal to lengthen the school day, something that teachers say that they should be paid more for. The district says that their offer would compensate teachers fairly. The teachers' union said that a strike was a last resort, and not something the teachers undertook lightly. The city has criticized the strike, saying that they have made the teachers a fair offer and that they are hurting kids by striking. The strike comes in the second week of school for most students.
See "Teacher Strike Begins in Chicago, Amid Signs That Deal Isn't Close", Steve Yaccino and Monica Davey, The New York Times, September 9, 2012