IHSA Reviewing CPS Request To Allow Sports During Teachers Strike
CHICAGO (CBS) – The Illinois High School Association is considering a request from the Chicago Public Schools to allow athletic events to go forward if a teachers strike begins next month.
In a written statement, IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman says the regulating agency has received CPS's request to waive bylaws that would restrict sports programs. The board of directors is expected to review it at the panel's regularly scheduled meeting on Sept. 10 in Bloomington.
Typically, a member school must suspend interscholastic activities if it does not have at least 51 percent of its students in attendance, according to IHSA policy.
CPS chief Jean-Claude Brizard is trying to avoid suspending athletic activities in the event of a teachers strike. Chicago Teachers Union officials voted Thursday to go on strike Sept. 10 if a new contract isn't hammered out by then. Negotiations continue.
Fears of a potential strike – and suspension of high school football – loomed at the Friday matchup of Carver and Bronzeville.
Victoria Almanza was there to watch her son Brandon, a junior who hopes to get a college athletic scholarship.
"It is frustrating because they've been playing since June, so from June till now it's a long haul for them," Almanza told CBS 2's Marissa Bailey.
