Mock Vote Shows Teachers Want to Get Back to Class

In a mock vote, nearly 90 percent of the teachers at one south side school indicated they'd like to end the strike and get back to class by Wednesday.

Jay Rau, a delegate representing the roughly 150 teachers of Benito Juarez Community Academy, took the information tally Monday.

He and other delegates got the proposed contract Sunday about 45 minutes after they arrived for the 3 p.m. vote. The strike continued, he said, because delegates weren't given enough time to review it.

"We don't trust the board that much. We've been burnt before by the Board of Education and we just wanted to make sure [that] out staff at the schools ... were with us," said Rau.

Rau and other delegates will vote Tuesday to end the strike that kept students out of class for a sixth day Monday.

Another teacher, who declined to be publicly identified and is not among the 150 Rau represents, said she was upset that teachers weren't able to see the complete contract.
 
More than 26,000 teachers and staff walked out last Monday, leaving more than 350,000 students unattended. Each day has brought reported progress, but momentum expressed last Friday stalled over the weekend.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools attorneys on Monday filed for an emergency injunction to force teachers off picket lines but a judge declined to immediately hear the case.

NBC Chicago has an array of reporters and producers covering the Chicago teacher strike. Check our live blog for continuous coverage and updates throughout the strike.

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