Chicago Teachers Strike: Games Won't Go On, Practices Might

Monday's decision by Chicago public school teachers to strike not only affects 350,000 students but an estimated 11,000 student-athletes who participate in fall sports. And following the Illinois High School Association's refusal Monday afternoon to waive bylaws and policies related to strikes that would have allowed games to be played - granting such a request extended beyond their authority, IHSA officials said - the decision of whether teams can even practice is now in the hands of local school boards.

"While IHSA By-law 2.140 prohibits schools that are on strike from participating in interscholastic contests, it does establish conditions under which school boards can approve practice sessions for a school that is on strike, should those local school boards wish to do so," IHSA executive director Marty Hickman said in a statement.

That option might be exercised at some schools, according to Chicago Public High School League director of sports administration Calvin Davis. "We will give consideration in cases where certified coaches are present and all participating student-athletes have parent permission and medical clearance," Davis wrote in a text message to the Chicago Sun-Times. "Safety is paramount and location is important as well."

Football programs would suffer the most if the strike is protracted, according to Michael Ciric, writing for ChicagoNow.com. "Teams must play a nine-game schedule to be included in the seeding for the IHSA State Playoffs," he said in a post this morning. "Football, unlike other high school sports, do[es] not have an 'automatic entry' into the state playoffs. And given the fact that a 5-4 won-lost record generally puts a team onto the 'playoff bubble list,' it is imperative they not miss playing their scheduled games."

There are considerations beyond win-loss records, too. "A lot of guys are still planning on meeting at different places and practicing," Jason Richardson, football coach at Julian High - and a CPS student-athlete the last time Chicago teachers went on strike, in 1987 - told the Chicago Tribune. "Football teams have to stay active. You just don't want to put them in the streets. What will happen is you will lose your team. Especially in the Public League, it is tough enough getting 40 or 50 kids in your program. If you just let them loose and tell them you don't know when you're coming back, you're going to lose them. Even in the offseason, I try to make sure my guys stay around for a while so they're not out there with the after-school crowd, where a lot of stuff happens. We get them in weight room, talk and have study hall so they don't get caught up in the element."

Even though CPS will open 144 schools for half-days, there still will be plenty of idle time to fill, which worries coaches who also are teachers and might not want to cross the picket line. "I don't think other teachers will consider it crossing the picket line if it's done away from school," King High School coach Lonnie Williams told the Tribune.

But Bob Geiger, a teacher and girls' cross country coach at Whitney Young High School told Sun-Times reporter Mike Clark that he isn't taking chances. "Any union member that coaches a [Public League] team is a scab," said Geiger, who distributed workout plans for the entire season to his upperclassmen runners, in the event of a strike. "I told them, 'You guys organize practice. You guys have learned everything you need to know, pass that knowledge on.' "

A decade ago, a teachers' strike in Billings, Mont., shut down high school sports for two weeks. David Williams, then the executive director of activities for the district, told AB that "it was the most difficult time of my professional life. We pride ourselves on creating a positive atmosphere for kids, and then we had this conflict between adults that ended up hurting kids and taking those positive activities away from them. As an athletic director, you don't have any control over it. It's really painful."