What Can We Learn About Moving On After Bitter Teachers Strike?

CHICAGO — While the Chicago Teacher’s Union strike raged on, divided Chicagoans engaged in a venomous war of words on social media. The “thugs” chastised the “idiots” over a union contract dispute that pitted heroes against liars, if you're supposed to believe such vicious hyperbole.

Anyone who dared to offer up an opinion risked suffering personal attacks from gangs of anonymous Twitter trolls rallying to eviscerate rivals — tagging foes as greedy socialists, teacher-hating, Trump-supporting right-wingers or worse — disciples of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Even after city leaders and the CTU on Thursday settled their contract dispute with five-year deal with a 16 percent pay hike and contract terms that aim to reduce class size and put a nurse and social worker in every school, the brutal bickering continued.

All the while, so many Chicago kids caught in the middle watched on their smart phones as neighbors engaged in an often vile us-against-them battle over conflicting perspectives, opinions and ideas that bordered on bullying.

A lot of those kids know a thing or two about how online attacks can cause devastating emotional pain. School-age bullying on social media has become a nationwide epidemic linked to anxiety, depression and suicide. Some Chicago teenagers, if you ask them, might even warn social media-warring adults that talking too much smack on Facebook can get you shot because it’s happened to people they love.

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Some of my own cynicism about the CTU leadership’s political motivation and phony rhetoric angered people who didn’t agree with me. Twitter trolls unleashed plenty of venom. A few teachers sent thoughtful notes expressing how the ongoing war of words had taken a toll on them.

Taft High School physics teacher Vishal Mody emailed to say it’s “truly hurtful” when the media makes teachers out to be greedy.

I wrote him back to explain that I stand behind my take on CTU leadership’s bargaining tactics, but have never questioned the dedication of rank-and-file teachers or that they deserve fair pay and additional support. Mody said he appreciated the personal clarification and understood.

When the CTU contract was finally settled, I asked some teachers if this historic moment in Chicago history might be a teachable moment for kids about getting over the hurt that lingers after a bitter conflict is resolved.

Ingrid Johnson Michel, a high school acquaintance of mine who teaches 6th grade, said that kind of lesson might better serve grown-ups.

"The truth is our students are well prepared to have intelligent and respectful conversations about their opinions and things we feel strongly about. I think it’s the adults who are over the age of 30 we need to educate," she wrote in text message punctuated with a smiley-face emoji.

Johnson Michel said controversial current events come in handy when teaching argumentative writing. Assigning students to write their own thoughtful opinions about the teachers strike could be an effective exercise on effectively and respectively communicating their own viewpoints. Plus, many Illinois schools practice restorative justice, a method for resolving conflicts that includes peace circles and calm one-on-one conversations that help people better understand each other and move on after disputes.

"So I guess there is hope for our future? Assuming that what we're doing follows [students] long term," she said.

Mody, who focuses his lesson plans on science, said he will carve out a few minutes of class time to talk to kids about an important takeaway from the strike.

“The huge thing in conflict resolution is good faith,” Mody said. “If you get in fight with your buddy, we know that things can get heated. We disagree about things. But at the end of the day we’re still friends. We’re looking out for a greater good. We trust the intentions of our friendship.”

CTU leaders and Mayor Lori Lightfoot were never buddies, and probably may never share a meal. CTU boss Jesse Sharkey likely won’t offer me a ride in his non-union-made Tesla. And the most prolific Twitter trolls shouldn't expect a round of beers on their victims, especially me.

But now that there is labor peace, it’s a little easier to see that buried under political and personality conflicts, dueling egos and all the damning things that were said, texted and tweeted, making Chicago’s school system a better place for kids to learn always was, as the Taft High physics teacher calls it, a shared intention.

Mody says he hopes CTU bosses and Lightfoot, his students and the rest of us, see things that way.

“Let’s look at how we think collectively about the children without having to go through this treachery — that’s a harsh word but this has been tough on families, it’s tough on teachers and it’s tough on the kids,” he said.

“I think that is the biggest lesson that needs to be learned, so over the next five years we can take steps as team rather than one organization against another. If there was an article out there about how the city and CTU can get over the conflict and move forward in good faith, I would appreciate that. ”

This one’s for you, Mr. Mody.

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting and Emmy-nominated producer, was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docu-series on CNN. He was a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary, "16 Shots."
More Chicago Stories from Mark Konkol:

• Trump Accidentally Got It Right: Chicago Top Cop Has Failed City
• CTU Strike Is A Political Circus With No Road To A Contract Deal
• 'Anti-AOC' Candidate Catalina Lauf's Rise To Republican Stardom
• CTU Boss Talks Like Working Man, Lives Like Wealthiest 1 Percent
• Massive Political Corruption Across Illinois Has A Namesake Beer
• Did Police Board Ruling Include A Secret Message To Chicago Cops?
• Lightfoot Must End 'Mayoral Prerogative' To Neglect Neighborhoods
• Meet The Guy Who Fixed Billy Corgan's Stolen Guitar