BY SUN-TIMES STAFF September 10, 2012 12:10PM
Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks about the teacher's strike at Maranatha Church, 3542 W. 59th Street, Chicago on Monday, September 10, 2012.
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Updated: September 10, 2012 12:35PM
Mayor Rahm Emanuel urged both sides Monday in the teachers’ strike to “stay at the table and finish it for our children.”
Emanuel made his remarks just before noon Monday and said the two remaining issues in the negotiations could be settled quickly.
“This is my view, it’s a strike of choice, and it’s the wrong choice for our children,” Emanuel said.
The two issues involve evaluation of teachers and who controls who teaches at local schools — the principals being held accountable for their schools’ performance or “downtown,” as Emanuel put it.
Emanuel said he should not a flashpoint for union anger or an impediment in finishing the talks.
“Don’t take it out on the kids...if you got a problem with me.”
Negotiations resumed 10 a.m. Monday, but no progress reported.
The mayor said the two remaining stumbling blocks involve re-hiring laid off teachers from schools that get shut down or shaken up and a new teacher evaluation process that the union says puts far too much weight on student test scores.
The evaulation process, Emanuel said, has involved teachers in every step of the process.
Hiring decisions, meanwhile, should be in the hands of local school principals, he said.
“Dictation should not come out of downtown,” Emanuel said.
