CHICAGO (AP) — Officials in Chicago are trying to decide what to do with 400,000 students if teachers go on strike next week -- including students who live in areas where there's a lot of gang activity, and where there's been a spike in shootings and homicides.
District officials say they will look after students during the morning in 145 schools -- and they're inviting bids from community organizations to provide "positive activities" the rest of the day.
A standoff in contract talks could bring a strike on Monday of next week.
The head of the teachers' union says the more-than 26,000 teachers and support staff in the nation's third-largest school district are prepared to strike for the first time in 25 years.
It would be the first big-city school strike in the U.S. since Detroit teachers walked off the job for 16 days in 2006.
One mother who's among the immigrant parents in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood says she isn't taking sides -- but that her children need to "stay in school" so they can "be prepared to be someone in life."
She and others say they would have to find a family member or someone else to watch their children while they work -- but that they're also afraid the children would lose ground on attaining the better life the parents sought for them.
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APPHOTO CX801: In this Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012 photo, Emily Ponce, 8, a second-grader at Manuel Perez Jr. Elementary School, in Chicago's predominantly Hispanic Pilsen neighborhood, watches her brother Jose Ponce, 13, a Perez eighth-grader, as he talks about the chance of a teachers strike. Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said more than 26,000 teachers and support staff in the nation's third-largest school district don't want to strike, but are prepared to do so for the first time in 25 years. It would be the first big-city strike since Detroit teachers walked off the job for 16 days in 2006. The last Chicago teacher strike was in 1987 and lasted 19 days. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) (30 Aug 2012)
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APPHOTO CX802: In this Friday, Aug. 31, 2012 photo, Vicky Kleros, principal of the Manuel Perez Jr. Elementary School in Chicago's predominantly Hispanic Pilsen neighborhood, just southwest of downtown, poses outside her school. Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said more than 26,000 teachers and support staff in the nation's third-largest school district don't want to strike, but are prepared to do so for the first time in 25 years. If there is a strike, Kleros said the school would be open from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every school day so that children still could get breakfast and lunch and participate in activities that would keep them off the streets. Later in the afternoon, the local library and park district buildings will be open - all part of a $25 million school district strike contingency plan. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) (31 Aug 2012)
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APPHOTO CX804: In this Aug. 22, 2012 photo, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis speaks at a Chicago Board of Education meeting in Chicago. Lewis said more than 26,000 teachers and support staff in the nation's third-largest school district don't want to strike, but are prepared to do so for the first time in 25 years. It would be the first big-city strike since Detroit teachers walked off the job for 16 days in 2006. The last Chicago teacher's strike was in 1987 and lasted 19 days. (AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong) (22 Aug 2012)
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