photo via the Chicago Reporter
By Daniela Tovar-Miranda
The Chicago Teachers Union, CTU, strike is affecting Dominican faculty, students and programs in unexpected ways.
Programs at Dominican, especially many education classes are affected. For education majors and minors, some classes require fieldwork at Chicago Public Schools.
The district has offered the CTU a 16% raise in teachers’ salaries. However, CTU is also demanding smaller class sizes and for the district to hire more staff, such as teachers and nurses.
Not having teachers at work would affect the program. However, education major and prospective teacher Trevor Fulmer supports the strike.
“Teachers deserve a higher raise and productive learning environments where they do not have to manage oversized classrooms,” he said.
In order to conduct field work, some students have already gone through CPS run background checks and have their fingerprints taken.
Professor Leonard Marinne supports the teachers on strike and their wanting to be supported equally. Marinne gave insight on a committee at Dominican.
“Adjunct Advisory Committee that works on issues relating to part-time instructors and Yasemin Ersun-Hallsby is the committee chair at this time. The majority of instructors are part-time, so our struggles directly impact students,” she said.
Because many Dominican commuter students live in Chicago, and have younger brothers or sisters who will be missing class, the strike may turn them into involuntary babysitters.
Sophomore Karla Guillen commutes and has three younger siblings in public schools.
“Since my siblings attend public schools, if the strike occurs, this means I have to rush home after classes to be able to take care of them,” Guillen said last week.
She would have less time to study with classmates or socialize on campus. If it comes down to the worst scenario, Guillen would even have to miss classes to watch her 4-year-old sister who attends a head start program at Belmont Cragin Early Childhood Center.
Ken Trendel is a staff member at Dominican. Trendel believes it’s a safety concern when teachers go on strike since students are alone instead of being in classes learning.
