CHICAGO (AP) — Parents and students are figuring out their options on the first day of a Chicago teachers' strike.
The district is keeping some schools open, and they're serving breakfast and lunch, but there's no instruction and it's only for a half-day.
At one high school, a handful of students trickled in as about two dozen teachers picketed outside. One 17-year-old said she only came to school because she didn't have anywhere else to go.
The teachers union decided to hit the picket lines after it and the school district said both sides remained too far apart in contract negotiations. The negotiations are expected to resume today. Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he will push to end the strike quickly.
Meanwhile, the school district is asking community organizations and church, libraries and other groups to help keep the 400,000 district students busy.
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153-w-36-(Tim Maguire, AP correspondent, with Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis and Mayor Rahm Emanuel)--Chicago public school teachers hit the picket line. AP correspondent Tim Maguire reports. (10 Sep 2012)
<<CUT *153 (09/10/12)>> 00:36
092-a-03-(Chicago Alderman Richardo Munoz, in interview)-"to settle this"-Chicago Alderman Richardo Munoz says the issues need to be solved quickly between the school board and teachers union. COURTESY: ABC 7 Chicago ((mandatory on-air credit)) (10 Sep 2012)
<<CUT *092 (09/10/12)>> 00:03 "to settle this"
GRAPHICSBANK: CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION logo, graphic element on gray (10 Sep 2012)
GRAPHICSBANK: Chicago Teachers Union member walking picket line, Chicago, Illinois, graphic element on gray (10 Sep 2012)
APPHOTO ILMG103: Chicago teacher Alma Hill walks a picket line outside Benjamin Banneker Elementary School in Chicago, Monday, Sept. 10, 2012, after the teachers went on strike for the first time in 25 years. Union and district officials failed to reach a contract agreement despite intense weekend negotiations. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) (10 Sep 2012)
<<APPHOTO ILMG103 (09/10/12)>>
APPHOTO ILMG104: Chicago teachers walk a picket line outside Benjamin Banneker Elementary School in Chicago, Monday, Sept. 10, 2012, after they went on strike for the first time in 25 years. Union and district officials failed to reach a contract agreement despite intense weekend negotiations. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) (10 Sep 2012)
<<APPHOTO ILMG104 (09/10/12)>>
