Jesse Sharkey

We're proud of what we accomplished, we moved the needle on educa... by Jesse Sharkey

We're proud of what we accomplished, we moved the needle on educational justice.

Our members are tired, frustrated and miss their students ... we want to return to the classroom, by not restoring days of instruction to our students lost during the strike, the mayor is making it clear that she is more concerned about politics than the well-being of students.

This is genuinely one of the parts of this process that hurts me... by Jesse Sharkey

This is genuinely one of the parts of this process that hurts me personally.

But what we are fighting for is going to be worth it if we can ge... by Jesse Sharkey

But what we are fighting for is going to be worth it if we can get it.

I find my hopes dashed, unless there is a change at the top of this city in regard to their willingness to make meaningful changes, we are not likely seeing a quick settlement of the current strike.

We have in our possession now something in writing about class size, it's a shame that it took a work stoppage to actually get that document.

We've told people to be prepared for a long strike if that's what it comes to, we'd prefer there be no strike at all.

This isn't just about a small group of workers, it's about whether or not our society wants to commit to public education.

The agreement that rank-and-file Union educators fought for, and sacrificed four days of pay for, will continue to protect our school communities, masks will remain in all CPS schools, which research and national polling both show is essential mitigation that the majority of parents and families support.

The mayor's saying she's going to be relentless in prosecuting a case, but the mayor's not a prosecutor and I'm not a criminal being prosecuted, our members are not people who have done anything wrong.

We feel like we’re at a point where we do n’t have enough at the table to be able to go back to the people who, frankly, have sacrificed a lot at this point, and confidently say, ‘ This is something that can help us ensure our safety, the mayoris beingrelentless, butshe’s beingrelentlessly stupid, sheis beingrelentlessly stubborn.

I hear the mayor say that she doesn't want to do remote. But honestly, that's just a talking point, it's an idea, ‘remote is bad.' Remote education is a tool. Teachers view remote education, yeah, it's not as good as in-person.

But like think about it, in the past, in Chicago, it's wintertime. In the past, if you've got a blizzard, you've got two options. You can hold the school during the blizzard, right? In which case what? You know that most people aren't going to come. It can be dangerous to get there. It's going to put people at risk or you could cancel school. Those are the only two options you had. Now we have a third option. We could hold school remotely.

We are literally working to steer CPS to a more responsible path to reopen schools safely, and we are winning, we want to keep working remotely as we bargain an agreement to return to our classrooms safely.

We are not currently locked out because of your unity, your commitment to your school communities, and your fearless solidarity, we are literally working to steer CPS to a more responsible path to reopen schools safely, and we are winning.

They can’t bully us.