Reader Asks: What Happens to Sports in a CPS Teachers Strike?

I got this email from a reader. Afterwords is my candid response:

Neil,

I have a few questions about the strike vote and a possible sports impact:

1) If the CPS teachers go out on strike - what happens to conference play?

2) what has happened in the past?

3) Can teams still meet? practice? compete?

4) What about at the IHSA level?

5) Should cps strike during regionals and sectionals can the CPS teams compete? Can indivs compete in sports that allow that like cross country and golf?

6) Has CPS sports addressed this with the AD's?

7) Is there a plan?

I think there might people interested in finding out the answers to some of these questions!?!?!?

Thanks again for all of your support and hard work on behalf of all the CPS athletes!

I have been through the pain of a CPS high school strike when I was a student in the 1980's- the last time the CPS teachers went on a strike.

What happened back then was during the teachers strike all formal athletic activities ceased to exists immediately. This includes formal practice, meets, games, playoff games, etc. As for playoffs, the IHSA has a minimum number of games or meets that a team must participate in before they are legally allowed to participate in the state series. Each sport has a different number. In football it may be 4 games, in cross country it may be 3 meets. There are IHSA rules for each sport. I do know in the 80's, the school season started as normal and teams were able to get some games/meets in. Then, the strike happened sometime in September. At that point, all of our games and practices were cancelled. That was the worse period of my life, because it was my senior year and I really looked forward to the the precious few cross country meets. I think we got in 1 or 2 early meets, then 1-2 late meets by the time the strike ended. By the time the city meet started, it was basically a skeleton city meet because some teams decided to cancel their whole season. Of course, Lane runners still ran unofficially during the strike so we were ready. But frankly, the city meet sucked because half the teams were not there. We would have won anyways, but that is a season that has to have an asterisk to it.

All teams from all CPS schools suffered. The Lane football team had it especially hard. I think going into the season, they went into the year ranked in the area. They had this super QB named Kevin Krebs. Krebs, was like 6-5, 230lbs, had a super arm and ended up accepting a scholarship for Northwestern University where he was on the NU Rose Bowl team. At the end they had to scramble to meet the minimum number of games. They barely got the minimum number of games to make the state playoffs but lost a good game to Mt. Carmel.

I'll say this. Nobody wins- except for the pocketbooks of teachers and their unions. The students lose, good teachers lose, tax payers lose, and especially student athletes lose who are entering their senior years.

I hope that helps answers some of your questions.

Comments

[Soliloquy all wrong]

First thing first... the above soliloquy needs to be written in paragraphs because it's hard to follow. Secondly, cross-country is a team sport on the IHSA level. It cannot be contested solely as an individual one.

[@soliloquy]

Incorrext "soliliquoy". You should probably know your facts before posting. XC is indeed an IHSA sport where individuals can enter the state series as individuals only. It is written in the by-laws and happens frequently at schools that only have one or two people competing though. Nice misinformation you tried to provide though.

[Zepplin]

Instead of labeling someone as an X?, why don't you tackle the issue on hand.

What is wrong with wanting to keep sports alive and financed properly?

What is wrong with asking the city, the state, the CPS, and anyone else to be financially responsible?

[wink wink]

@zepplin
I agree. Spring coaches did not get paid on time...surprise, surprise! People then blame the teachers and coaches for the problems the BOE creates. All my paperwork was turned in on time. Maybe Rahm and JCB used our stipends to pay for all those radios ads against us teachers and our union. Did anyone notice that ad was only played on radio stations that have predominantly african american listeners? I wonder why?

[Red Baron]

All sports in the CPS stop in a strike.Practices, games, everytthing.

This is about money the teachers unions want a 30% raise. The CPS, the city, the state, does not have the money to pay for that raise. It is as simple as that.

If a strike happens, athletes get screwed.

[cps]

WTF did CPS pay coaches stipend late. They gotta get their financial house in order.

[whoopaa]

Those ads and robocalls were some big time $. It's great the Board has $ for such, but can't seem to get some Kindergarten classes under 38 students. I hope the poverty pimps and astroturfers will finally come to some sense and see the conditions of the overall system.

[urbanleftbehind]

wink,

I heard the "chamaco" version of the ad on one of the Spanish stations. White people havent been listening to FM radio for years, thats why every other station is in Spanish. (the # of Black or urban stations ahs remained steady) If he's trying to get whites, it aint through conventional radio, more like Groupon, Pinterest, FB, or satellite radio.

[Baron shot down]

@ Red Baron

How The F@CK do you know for sure that CPS does not have the money.

Oh thats right because politicians said they don't have the money. You can always trust you friendly neighborhood politician and what they say.

They're the ones who put the system in the hole. When the cow was full of milk, there was too many chiefs downtown collecting a bign pay check for doing very little. Finally, they have reduced the number of administrators and coordinators. Too little too late.

[Rahm]

Neil,

From one northshore guy to another, thanks for the article.

Appreciate expressing your opinions, even though your kids like mine don't attend a CPS school.

WTF. Those damm greedy CPS teachers. Whats wrong with asking a lot more of them and reducing their salary in half?

If they want extra money, they should coach. Then they probably will complain about how little the coaching stipends are compared to their counterparts.

What you can live off of 200 hours at $20?

Then, they are going to complain that they didn't get paid yet.

Its all about the love. Love will pay your bills.

Hey Neil, GO TREVIANS!

[Red Baron]

It is public knowledge and all over the news that the cps is broke.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-03-28/news/ct-met-cps-budget-preview0328-20120328_1_cps-budget-budget-deficit-school-day

The cps is in a 700 million dollar budget deficit. Next year it will be worse as 260 million from federal stimulus funds passed in 2009 will dry up.

Look for deficit to grow close to 1 Billion Dollars.

Yes the CPS can find or borrow more money. But do they really want to do that.

It would be like a person who goes from $70,000 in credit card debt to $100,000 in credit card debt, is it wise to give that person another credit card or to take the credit card away. You tell me.

[Snoopy]

Mr. Red Baron,

The union is asking for a large salary increase. Why? You might ask. I hypothesize because Senate Bill 7 has locked the union into only being able to bargain over wages, not conditions. It's pretty obvious if the Board doesn't move on improving conditions (class sizes, better day for kids, libraries in schools, etc. etc) the won't move on wages. Tit for tat

[@red baron]

@red baron
If I can only afford to buy a 200k house, I shouldn't be looking at 400k houses. If cps can't afford to extend the day, then they shouldn't try to extend the day. Maybe they should target schools who are not meeting the standards and leave the others alone. You could accomplish both and save a lot of money!

[Zepplin]

Great point. Do not extend the day except for maybe select schools. Save sports, keep salaries and costs as is. Strike averted.

I see CPS's idea to extend school days by theory. The reality is nobody can afford it. Make it a case by case basis and decided by each school locally if they want the extended days and if they want to pay for it. Herein lies the problem.

The CPS can't do that across the board. They do nto have the flexibility of let's say letting Orr teachers work more hours and then letting Payton teachers keep their current hours.

Screwy system that is inflexible, now everyone may have to pay a stiff price.

[night and day]

"Incorrext "soliliquoy". You should probably know your facts before posting. XC is indeed an IHSA sport where individuals can enter the state series as individuals only. It is written in the by-laws and happens frequently at schools that only have one or two people competing though. Nice misinformation you tried to provide though."

Before you correct someone try correctly spelling first... you are right, xc runners can be entered as an individual on the state level. However, the state series itself is performed as a team sport. The series will be conducted as an individual sport should anyone quit their team or the CPS strikes.

[Old Man]

Why is the CPS financial in the whole... because the Tribune says so. A company that has been in bankruptcy court for over two years.

The local polls don't have any idea about the financial condition of the CPS. They only know what RAHM tells them.

The CPS budget has historical been a DREAM LIST. They started the 2011-2012 school year with a $700 million dollar deficit, but cut staff, positions, programs, etc. to start the year with a balance budget.

How many of these positions and cuts have been restored in the 2012-2013 budget?

Do you Know!!! Only Rahm Knows..

[^]

^clearly that was a typo, probably posted from a phone or something. And, clearly, your post makes no sense whatsoever. A. Read the IHSA bylaws...the state xc series is conducted as both an individual and team sport simultaneously. Hence the reasons that individuals are allowed to qualify for the finals, even if their team doesn't. Genius. B. Someone quitting their team or the CPS striking has nothing to do with whether the state series is conducted as an individual sport. That might seriously be the one of the stupidest comments on here ever. You do realize that if I am on a team, and I quit, that I can't still qualify down state on my own while my former team still goes about competing, right? I really hope you know that. And, if the CPS strikes at the time of state series, that's it. You can't just magically declare that you are going to compete as an individual CPS athlete during the time of the strike.

Wow, as I actually typed that out it dawned on me just how unintelligent your statements are. They are similar to the last post under your name which also was foolish.

[steveej2]

Simple answer. Teachers go on strike everything stops until it ends.

[.....................]

Looks like charter schools will be the only schools playing sports or atleast the ones not housed in cps building

[Strike Effect]

I learned most spring coaches pay is scheduled for June 29th. They said all ADs were told but my AD didn't tell me. Good to know it's coming. Word is payroll has new people and is advertising the payroll director job in case any of you are interested.

When the strike happens there can be no union staff working with teams, but teams can unofficially practice on their own. Football would suffer most only being able to play once a week. If it went on for a few weeks football teams would likely lose an opportunity to qualify for state. Other sports could still get the minimum requirements in.

[no mas]

Maybe, the strike will help the two Chicago Conference teams getting an automatic bid to state in football, it couldn't hurt as they get blown out year after year.

If Chicago Conference teams don't play enough games (9), then they will not qualify for state and it'll save themselves the humiliation.

Looks like Taft will not get another t-shirt which reads, "We Are 4X State Qualifiers, 4X Whipping Boys"

[Riddle Me This.]

Looks like censorship happens if teachers go on strike (a couple posts deleted for those of you wondering). Neil, what's wrong, can't answer the hard questions?

[Red Baron]

Hard questions can be answered and debated at any time. Insults, labeling someone, and bringing up someones political affiliations add no value or meaning to conversations and should be deleted.

If you don't agree with what someone brought up by all means debate the issue, don't attack the person. Attacking the person will rightfully get your post deleted.

[Red Baron]

CPS teachers work an average of 5.5 hours a day currently. That is well below the national average for teachers. Emanuel wants to increase teachers hours to more of the norm nationwide. For this teachers unions want a 30% pay increase over 2 years. What world are teachers living on? Where do they expect the cps will get the money? Teachers can demand anything they want. But when you start out with an unrealistic demand, you ask for the whole pie, you are going to get the pie thrown back in your face.

[Red Baron shot down again]

@ Red Baron

Dude, come on. If you going to post please use facts, not what Rahm & CO. tells a newspaper who backs them up.

Since day one, Karen Lewis asked for transparencies. CTU was never given any and I'm sure we would find major mismanagement of monies. For instance, when Rofus was president of the CPS, he used money for limos on trips, new office furniture, and liquour for xmas parties.

I have an idea where CPS can get money. Stop mismanagement of money and TIF's. Baron have you ever heard of TIF's? The same TIF money that is being used to subsizied big business development?

Do you have any idea how the extra day is going to be used? You probably don't because you read the local papers who back Rahmi. The extra time will not be used toward core subjects, PE, or the arts. It will be used toward "enrichment." When you find out what that means let the CBoE know because they don't know.

Each school is to come up with their own "enrichment" curriculum to fill up the extra day.

Baron, maybe you should look at the big picture. Rahm is not hiring cops. Keep the kids in school longer until the afternoon/evening shifts begin for Cops.

In 2016, Rahm will be on his presidential campaign using the promise of a longer school day in Chicago as an example on how he keeps his political promises.

Red Baron, who you crapping?!

[Snoopy]

"CPS teachers work an average of 5.5 hours currently." Has the Baron been breathing in too many fumes?

[lane tech alum]

Hey dumb fuck Neil, NU made Rose bowl in 95-96 season. Kevin was already gone. Known your facts.

[papa smurf]

Because of the new day our kids will be getting less PE. Our students use to get PE twice for a total of 80 minutes. Now, they will get it once a week for 45 minutes. This extended day is just a babysitting service and will not make the day better only longer. Our first 15 minutes of school is serving breakfast. Over 65k to hire an outside group to handle recess! What a joke!

[funny]

http://dianeravitch.net/2012/06/25/ctu-strike-humor-what-about-those-greedy-teachers/

[WTF]

Any spring coaches check their first class email? I got a letter stating I will not be paid out until July 13th. People wonder why it is hard to get good coaches in CPS and keep them! Anyone thinking of coming to CPS please stay away. I will go back to the burbs and coach!

[Rahm]

Hey Neil,

Don't forget. Coaches pocketbooks are going to win too. Those greedy bastards are going to get paid for the spring season on July 13th.

Greedy Bastards!

[@WTF]

Sorry about your problem WTF, but I didnt get a letter so that means Im getting my coaches pay tomorrow. I heard about 20% of coaches wont get paid due to a payroll mishap, but if you dont get an email you get paid tomorrow June 29. As my kids say, I'm all good.

[system of a down]

Payroll mishap... hahahahaha...

[really]

@ Rahm,

Coaches don't get paid as much as you think. Why do you think WTF states that he going back to the burbs. If you think coaches are greedy just ask a coach what he/she gets two or three months after their season.

[Rahm]

@really

Wow. That one went over your head.

[Heinrich]

Quit blaming the politicians for having teachers pensions funds so broke. The politicians did not take the money away. The state contributes to a teachers fund for pension. A separate non-gevernment entity is responsible for managing those funds. The problem is that the bozos managing the fund have done a terribel job at doing so. They assumed an 8% average return on their investments. A couple years ago, they lost 20% instead of gaining 8%. Now the fund is underfunded. This means teachers will not get their money owed to them.