By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

DIXON, Ill. – When people talk about students suffering due to teacher strikes, they usually talk about lost opportunities in the classroom.

But high school athletes who work year-round to prepare for their sports seasons are also affected.

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That’s certainly the case with all the spring sports teams at Dixon High School in Illinois’ Dixon school district, where teachers have been on strike since the end of February.

The problem is more imminent for the school’s indoor track team, which is scheduled to have its last opportunity to quality for the state finals on Saturday. If the strike is not settled by then, the athletes won’t compete in Saturday’s meet and won’t be able to advance to the next level of competition.

For some team members, missing the state meet could mean losing a chance at an athletic scholarship or to be spotted by college recruiters, the news report said. And it’s all because the teachers don’t have a new collective bargaining agreement yet.

“All of them (on the indoor track team) were really excited for the track season because all of them thought  they could really do something big, but I guess they just have to deal with it,” said Cal Jarrett, a member of the high school baseball team.

The rest of the spring sports teams have yet to begin their seasons. They have been allowed to practice with substitute coaches, but their regular coaches have indicated they will not cross the picket line, so their seasons could potentially be shortened or cancelled by the strike.

There was a proposal on the table for the teachers union and school board to take a three-week “cooling off period,” which would have also allowed teachers and students to temporarily return to school for state standardized testing. But the union blocked that idea, according to the news report.

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A five-hour negotiation session ended Sunday when the teachers walked out, according to the news report. As the news report said of Dixon students, “it doesn’t look like they will be hitting the books anytime soon.”

Or the athletic fields, for that matter.

Schools are for students, and their academic lives should never be interrupted by financial disagreements between adults.