With an hour left to go, there was still talk of the possibility of a deal being reached, but to no avail. Instead the CTU announced last night that it would go on strike. Courtesy of the Sun-Times: "'The issues that remain are minor,' [Mayor] Emanuel said. 'This is totally unnecessary. It's avoidable and our kids don't deserve this . . . This is a strike of choice.'"

The website boldprogressives.org has a quick rundown of what the CTU is still asking for. I found the link via a local public schoolteacher.

Last week, the Reader's own Ben Joravsky wrote about attending the CTU's Labor Day rally, which you can read about here. Keep checking back here for more writing about the teachers' strike.