The U.S.’s third largest school district, Chicago School District, has been on an on-going strike involving all school grade teachers. The walkout began on April 1 and has followed through every Friday since then. The incursion broadened after the school district faced a $1.1 billion deficit, due to growing pension payments.

Chicago’s last walkout was on September 18, 2012 where nearly 26,000 Chicago Public School teachers walked out due to claims of continuous assaults, which led to a closure of nearly 50 schools. The strike of April 2016 has since been named the largest teacher strike since 2012.

Mr. Jones, an American Government teacher for nearly 30 years, contemplates the idea of a district-wide strike.

“For high school and junior high, I don’t think the strike affects them at all. The elementary school teachers should have made a deal with the union and let the junior high and high school teachers go on incursion,” Jones says. “As a teacher myself, I know that we’re not doing it for free but we are here to teach. We shouldn’t do anything that will compromise the youth’s knowledge.”

The act of a foray may seem questionable, with frequent questions asked like: “What about the children and their education?”

Senior, Briana Valdovinos, has little to say for the students and more to say for the teachers, as she herself plans to be a teacher as well.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea to strike at all,” Valdovinos says, “If your not getting compensated for your hard work, then you should totally incursion. Let your voice be heard, even if it gets the wrong publicity, all publicity is good publicity.”

The Chicago School Board is currently negotiating over the major issues of: school day lengths, their compensation, as well as their overall evaluations as teachers and whether that will affect their position to continue teaching or being laid off.

As an aspiring art educator, senior, Mariana Lopez, believes that a student’s education should come first.

“I think a kid deserves an education and shouldn’t have to worry whether they’re going to learn that day or not,” Lopez says. “I think the teachers are being kind of selfish; they should care less about the money.”

The Chicago School District strike is still taking place. The state of Illinois is in the process of creating a regulation that will place all teachers at ease, along with the hope of diminishing future forays.