Curate, connect, and discover
Today 300,000 plus Chicago students didn’t go to school today, spending the day at home, hanging out with friends or joining their fellow classmates and over 25,000 educational workers in Chicago who are striking against working conditions and educational opportunities of the Chicago Public Schools.
Along with adequate nursing staff, emotional and mental health support a main complaint from parents is that there aren’t libraries in schools and how that lack of community space deepens the fractures occurring. Linked to the lack of community space in the schools, there is also a lack of bilingual teachers creating another barrier for students who either rely on other students to help them with their work or give up.
The strike has two sides to it: the teachers and the students. The teachers need more pay in order to lessen their financial and connected emotional stress and anxiety so they can focus more on their students and be the best teachers they can. But they are also fighting for their students. By demanding smaller class sizes, mental health resources so student can be assisted before they hit that breaking point, and pushing for school libraries they are fighting for their students now, in their next grade, their next school and the rest of their lives