CHICAGO (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Chicago public school students are returning to class after teachers ended a seven-day strike, their first walkout in 25 years. The strike in the nation's third-largest school district idled about 350,000 students. The walkout was the first for a major US city in at least six years. It also carried political implications, raising the risk of a labor battle in President Barack Obama's hometown weeks before the presidential election. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who pushed the teachers to return to work, is a former chief of staff for Obama. Chicago's teachers are among the highest paid in the country, but teachers unions nationwide have seen their political influence threatened by a growing reform movement. Some parents expressed hope Wednesday that the tentative contract agreement would benefit students in a district grappling with high dropout rates and poor performance. “They'll win from the strike,” said Leslie Sabbs-Kizer, referring to her children as she walked them to a South Side elementary school. Her son, 8-year-old Nkai Melton, said he was psyched for another reason: “Going on the playground.” For parent Erica Weiss, an end to the strike meant she wouldn't have to take her 6-year-old daughter to work. “I am elated. I couldn't be happier,” said Weiss, who had to leave work in the middle of the day to pick up her daughter from one of the schools that stayed open and then bring her back to her finance job downtown. “I have no one else to watch her. ... I can't even imagine the people who could have possibly even lost their jobs over having to stay home with their kids because they have no alternate care. It just put everyone in a pickle.” Wilonda Cannon, a single mother raising her four children in North Lawndale, a poor West Side neighborhood beset by gang shootings, said she was relieved that her two youngest were returning to class after spending the last seven weekdays with their grandfather. She said she hoped the agreement was the beginning of something new for Chicago's public school system, which has long struggled with high drop-out rates and low test scores. It will take months if not years before parents and teachers will see whether the changes and contract provisions pay off for students. “I don't know all the ins and outs (of the contract negotiations) ... but it does seem as though it's a step in the right direction,” Cannon said. Mayor Rahm Emanuel – who filed a lawsuit this week to try to force teachers back to work – called the settlement “an honest compromise.” — AP
