CHICAGO _ Officials on both sides of Chicago's longest teachers strike in decades were on hand Friday to greet students and staff back to school, two weeks after the walkout began.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot appeared at Mason Elementary School on the West Side around 8:15 a.m. while Jesse Sharkey, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, was at Yates Elementary School about six miles away.
As Sharkey led a contingent of teachers and staff members back into Yates Elementary in Logan Square, cook Elaine Tabron leaned out of the main door and waved excitedly.
"Welcome back teachers!" she yelled.
Sarah Shlemon, a second year restorative justice coordinator at Yates, said that teachers were greeted with a giant "welcome back" sign hung in the hallway by students who came to the school during the strike.
"I've been trying not to cry all morning," Shlemon said. "I'm really, really happy to be back. I can't wait to see the kids."
The strike ended Thursday after one final standoff between Lightfoot and Sharkey over makeup days. The mayor agreed to make up five days lost to the strike, a last sticking point for the union.
The strike outlasted the latest major CTU work stoppage in 2012 by several days. It began Oct. 17 and took 25,000 CTU members off the job and about 300,000 students out of school. It was the longest against the Chicago Board of Education since a 19-day walkout in 1987.
Sharkey stood in front of the main doors of Yates with a group of fellow union members Friday morning. "We're proud of what we accomplished during the 11-day strike," he said.
"This is an unprecedented thing that happened," said Maria Moreno, citing language in the contract regarding class size caps and money for staffing as major victories for CPS students.
Amalia Lopez has two CPS students, one at Lane Tech College Prep High School and one at Yates.
"We are so happy it's over," she said, chatting with another mother after dropping off their children. "We're happy for the teachers but we're happier for the students."
Veronica Lopez walked her sons, Aiden and Luis Perez, to school. The strike was difficult for Lopez because she works the overnight shift at Target and cared for her sons when she came home.
The strike ending is "for the best," she said, adding that her kids only want to watch TV while they're at home. "They don't learn."
A group of teachers in red jackets lined the snowy steps of Sullivan High School in Rogers Park Friday morning.
High schoolers with hands in their pockets were greeted by cheers of "good morning" and "welcome back!"
Jefri Pinacho, a senior, said he was relieved to come back because they're getting ready for college, and he was looking forward to seeing his friends again.
"It feels like a family reunion here," said Pinacho, 17.
He agreed with the strike and noted that one of the union's biggest concerns of class sizes was present at Sullivan. Some freshman classes have more than 35 students, he said.
"If it got things done, then I'm glad it went on," he said.
Sisters Nazia and Yaseena Azizi walked toward Sullivan together.
Yaseena Azizi, an 18-year-old senior, said she was concerned about her college application process but will talk to a counselor Friday about what she needs to do to catch up. She plans to apply to University of Illinois at Chicago.
"I am so happy today," she said. "I was so worried about it."
The sisters said their teachers had explained to them why they were going on strike beforehand.
"They deserve everything. They work so hard," said Nazia Azizi, a 17-year-old junior. "They are like, 'We want the best things for you guys.'"
Both girls agreed they wished classes started back up on a Monday instead of a Friday, though, and that it wasn't so cold.
