CHICAGO — Friday's teacher walkout means thousands of children are headed somewhere other than school today.
Ashley Williams, a South Shore resident, was nannying two kids at a Bucktown library while her own children were being watched by their grandmother. Williams still said she supports the teachers.
"I hope they get what they are asking for. It's only fair," Williams said.
Williams said she had not spoken with her children about what the strike means, but was "pretty sure their teacher gave them a rundown."
Chicago Public Schools chief Forrest Claypool has decried the strike, which he called an "illegal" action depriving thousands of children of a school day. Teachers picketing Friday scoffed at the assertion, saying CPS didn't seem so concerned about Chicago families when it abruptly ordered three furlough days this year, though only one on a day when students were supposed to be in class.
CPS set up 250 contingency sites for families Friday.
"Where was [Claypool's] contingency plan the [furlough] day he chose?" said Brian Grauer, a kindergarten teacher at Ogden International School in the Gold Coast.
Melissa Sterne, who is on the local school council at Drummond Montessori School in Bucktown, arranged for her two sons to be baby-sat by the grandmother of a friend, who was watching other kids.
The two families elected not to send their kids to any of the contingency sites, and Sterne said one of her sons will join her baby-sitter for the big Chicago Teachers Union rally Downtown this afternoon.
She will join her other son and teachers from Drummond at the 4 p.m. rally as well.
Earle STEM Academy in Englewood is another contingency site. Its principal, Cederrall Petties, said the school hosted about 50 neighborhood children Friday. The children are playing chess and making arts and crafts, among other things, Petties said.
"The more you can have kids in front of teachers with structured programs in place, it's going to positively impact learning," he said. "If you don't have that, it'll have a negative impact."
Tonika Fields of Englewood brought her children to the school Friday. She stood with the teacher strike.
"They need a raise and I understand, because some of our children could give them a hard time," Fields said. "I work too, so I understand."
Suzie Kloss was shopping at a Mariano's in West Town with her 3-year-old daughter, Savannah, while her 5-year-old daughter was in her kindergarten class at Erie School, a charter school nearby.
"I'm happy that charter schools didn't have a strike and she gets to go to school," said Kloss, a Kenyan immigrant. "I see how hard the teachers work, arriving early and leaving late. My daughter is learning and starting to speak Spanish."
About 30 children went to New Life Covenant Northwest church in Belmont Cragin, according to "safe haven" director Carlos Rodriguez. The church knew about half of the children who arrived because they host them for after-school activities. Parents haven't said much about the strike while dropping their kids off, he said.
"They're just happy that they have somewhere to bring them today because they had to go to work," Rodriguez said. Some of the kids are playing board games, while the older ones are playing video games.
"We just want to make it a simple day, not make it so stressed out about schoolwork or anything like that like we do during the week," Rodriguez said.
On the football field at Cornell Square Park in Back of the Yards, a group of neighborhood buddies tossed around a football on their day off.
One of them was 17-year-old Heriberto Tera, a junior at Back of the Yards High School. Though he was happy to be playing ball with his boys, he said he was disappointed with the state of education in Illinois.
"It's a shame," he said. "People in Springfield don't care about our future. They just want more money for themselves."
His friend Juan Lima, a 17-year-old junior at Crane High School, agreed.
"We're just wasting money on things we don't really need," he said.
Robert Avalos, a 17-year-old junior at Juarez Academy, looked at the positive side of strike day in Chicago: "I'm not gonna lie: I'd rather be playing ball."
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