By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Like Chicago Public Schools, the start of Lake Forest High School’s new academic year has been marred by an ugly teachers strike.

But while CPS classrooms remain closed as contract negotiations lumber along, Lake Forest High will be open for business this morning, with substitutes, administrators, community volunteers and guest speakers filling in for the AWOL educators, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

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Lake Forest students will be given a daily schedule, comprised of “separate programming for freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors,” reports the Sun-Times. Officials believe this arrangement legally constitutes an official school day, and will use it until an agreement can be reached with the Lake Forest Education Association, the local teachers union.

“Can we do this?” Principal Jay Hoffmann rhetorically asked at a public meeting yesterday, according to the Chicago Tribune. “Absolutely. … the most important thing — and this will be hard — is to keep it as normal as possible.”

The board invited the striking teachers to return to work Monday morning, though it’s not yet known how many of them took the board’s offer.

Those who rejected the offer may soon regret it.

After a mediator suspended negotiations at 4:20 p.m. last Friday, due to the union’s failure to submit its last, best offer, the  school board issued a statement “indicating members are obtaining legal advice on permanently replacing striking teachers,” according to the Sun-Times.

If LFEA members are willing risk their jobs, they must be striking over some pretty important issues, right?

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Not really.

The Sun-Times reports that the 150 Lake Forest teachers are striking for pay raises of 5 to 6.5 percent, even though the average educator in the district earns more than $100,000 a year.

A union spokesman offered this laughable explanation for the union’s decision to strike.

“We are fearful if we as a faculty accept a contract that says new teachers will earn less over the course of their career, our district will no longer be able to compete,” said Chuck Gress, spokesman for the Lake Forest Education Association, according to the Chicago Tribune. “A teacher could work here two or three years … and then look elsewhere.”

That’s absurd.

USA Today reported earlier this year that “half of young college graduates (are) either jobless or underemployed in positions that don’t fully use their skills and knowledge.”

In other words, there are thousands of capable young teachers who would love the opportunity to teach anywhere, particularly in a high-paying and highly-regarded district like Lake Forest.

Striking teachers are given a lot of protection under Illinois law, so it’s unlikely these hungry young teachers will be given a chance to replace the union members. But the board deserves credit for exploring the issue.

Once the dust has settled on both the Chicago and Lake Forest teacher walkouts, Illinois lawmakers should revise the state’s strike law so families are never again at the mercy of selfish, destructive teacher unions.