Tens of thousands of students are back in school this morning in Chicago.
As we told you yesterday, the Chicago Teachers Union voted to end the seven-day walkout. This morning, reports The Chicago Sun-Times, everyone was excited to get back to normal — the teachers, the students and even the mayor.
The Sun-Times reports:
"'I'm excited our kids are back,' Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at a Wednesday morning news conference at Chopin Elementary, 2450 W. Rice.
"'My first goal was to right the ship academically,' he said.
"'Our taxpayers are paying less, and our kids are getting more.'"
The Chicago Tribune reports that both the mayor and the teachers in the country's third-largest school district, are claiming victory in the fight. The truth is both sides seem to have gotten a bit of what they wanted: The mayor got a longer school day and a teacher evaluation system that takes student performance into account. The teachers received a "double-digit salary increase over the next three years" and managed to fight off "more stringent requirements in a new teacher evaluation system and secured a recall policy for top-performing teachers who are laid off because of school closings."
The Tribune spoke to one parent who said she had to work from home to care for kids.
"It was a little bit of a roller ride," Liz Shirley told the paper. "I never picked a side. I understand the mayor's and teachers' challenges."
But, today, she said she hit the "reset button emotionally."
"We're back to routine," she said.
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