Waukegan Schools Won't Open Immediately, Even If Teachers Strike Ends: Officials
(CBS) – Thursday marked three weeks of no school for 17,000 students in Waukegan Unit District 60.
Negotiations between the district and teachers adjourned 9 p.m. Thursday and were expected to resume at 10 a.m. Friday.
"Today's 11 hour session ended with both sides agreeing to roll up their sleeves and hit negotiations hard in the morning," Waukegan Teachers' Council President Kathy Schwarz said in a prepared statement.
No matter how quickly a settlement is reached, reopening the district's 23 schools will take awhile.
The first stumbling block is food. Federal law requires the district to have milk on hand for all 17,000 students, along with nutritious food, and most of the milk and other perishables in school refrigerators have spoiled.
District 60 spokesman Nicholas Alejakis said Thursday that cleaning out refrigerators and lining up the needed milk and food could take 48 hours.
As a result, he said, "should a resolution be reached at 5 o'clock on a Monday evening, schools would be unlikely to reopen Tuesday and may go until Thursday until we actually open the doors."
There also is the question of make-up days. Alejakis said District 60 administrators expect classes to go late into June. Spring break is also likely to be canceled along with certain holidays, although not Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Alejakis said the district is making staff available to help seniors meet deadlines to submit college applications. The District 60 registrar is processing requests for transcripts.
But Alejakis said it is up to individual teachers and counselors to determine if they will provide recommendation letters to students.
District 60 has administered PSAT and SAT tests, as scheduled, since the strike began. But Alejakis said it will have to "play catch up" with standardized tests District 60 students normally take during school hours.
The school district has not issued proposed lesson plans for students since the strike began, although the Waukegan Park District and Public Library have both offered enrichment classes in place of classes.
While some fall sporting events have been rescheduled, many have simply had to be forfeited, he said, because of Illinois High School (IHSA) regulations requiring classes to be in session for events to go forward.