Mike Klonsky just posted this as he was leaving to bring coffee and donuts to striking teachers, including his daughter.
I hope this strike has a good outcome for both the teachers and the new mayor. She is not Rahm Emanuel. She inherited the debt for Rahm’s two terms of hostility to the city’s public schools and their teachers.
Mike included this quote:
Yesterday, the parent group, Raise Your Hand, issued a statement on the strike which made a lot of sense.
Please remember to be good to each other out there. At the end of this contract negotiation, we are all parts of school communities that are part of a larger community, the Chicago Public Schools. Our children need all of us working together.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
There was a woman on local news this morning from NTCQ pontificating on the strike. Of course she had to bring up the crushing pension problem and the need to change the constitution so the state can get out of its contract obligations. These people never mention that the teachers paid their share of the pensions without a hiccup. The state and the city (separate pension entities) chose to raid the pension by not paying their contractual share, so they could use that money for other obligations. Now that the debt has grown astronomically, they want to blame the pension system for the problem, not the legislators who borrowed those resources and never paid them back. Changing the constitution will not eliminate the state and city obligations to pay off the debt. Moreover, the federal government reduces any social security benefits earned by 2/3rds of your pension. Career switchers plan carefully! If you teach public school in Illinois, your social security could be significantly impacted. It doesn’t matter that you paid into the system for the benefit through former employment or a second job (teachers are familiar with that necessity!).
I do hope the strike ends with both sides feeling satisfied. Lightfoot has been left with a crushing debt. While the teachers demands for librarians, nurses and support personnel
are reasonable, it may take time to get to appropriate staffing levels. Teachers are not
nurses or librarians or counselors. The system is broken, but so is the city.
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Bringing striking teachers food and beverages is so uplifting. Walking the line with us is so uplifting.
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And when famous people like Diane and Bernie speak of their support of striking teachers, it’s so uplifting.
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