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Teachers in Carpentersville School District 300 went out on strike this morning after failing to reach an agreement on a new contract.
Negotiators for the teachers union and the school district met for nearly nine hours Monday but failed to reach an agreement, according to a statement posted by the school district.
About 40 teachers walked with picket signs outside Jacobs High School in Algonquin this morning.
"Of course we'd rather be in the classroom doing what we love to do, doing what we were hired to do," said Tom Domdenz, an art teacher at Jacobs. "Sometimes you have to make tough choices. You have to take a stand."
He said class sizes range between 20 and 40 kids in high school, more than 40 in many cases. "You can't teach equitably that way. Classes are all over the board. It's not fair to the kids. Parents are paying the same taxes and (students) are not getting the same attention."
Union officials have also argued that teachers are underpaid compared to other suburban districts, according to a statement on the teachers union website.
The district in the far northwest suburbs has more than 20,000 students in grades kindergarten through 12 and employs about 1,200 teachers.
Several suburban teachers unions have staged walkouts since Chicago Public Schools teachers went on strike this fall. Most of the strikes lasted between one day and about a week.
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More than 1,000 teachers on strike in District 300
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More than 1,000 teachers on strike in District 300
