No School Monday, CTU to Reconvene Tuesday

Teachers asked for more time to look over contract

School will not resume on Monday and the Chicago Teachers Union will remain on strike.

"So our house just met and they would like the opportunity to exercise their democratic process and take the tentative agreement we have come to, that is still not quite finished in terms of language," said Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis. "They would like to go back to their schools, back to their members and have discussions with them. We will reconvene here on Tuesday."

Lewis added the decision was also out of respect for for the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah, which began at sun down on Sunday.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel did not take the news well and vowed legal action to end the strike.

"I have instructed the City's Corporation Counsel to work with the General Counsel of Chicago Public Schools to file an injunction in circuit court to immediately end this strike and get our children back in the classroom," Emanuel said in a statement. "This continued action by union leadership is illegal on two grounds – it is over issues that are deemed by state law to be non-strikable, and it endangers the health and safety of our children."

During a press conference at City Hall, Chicago School Board President Dave Vitale stood behind the mayor's decision.

"There is no reason why students can't be in school," Vitale said. There will be 147 sites open tomorrow for children as "we do whatever we can," he said.

The city plans to file the injunction as soon as possible.

Delegates plan to reconvene on Tuesday, which means students may have to wait until Wednesday to get back into the classroom.

Last Monday, more than 26,000 teachers and staff walked out, leaving more than 350,000 students unattended. For five days, thousands of teachers picketed outside schools and twice converged on the Board of Education headquarters downtown.

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