The Crosby-Ironton, Minn., school district opened classes for 1st and 2nd graders last week, as a teachers’ strike that has shut schools headed into its fourth week.
Teachers in the 1,300-student district about 125 miles north of Minneapolis have been working without a new contract for 18 months. The sticking points are the size of pay raises and the amount of the district’s contributions to health insurance for current and retired teachers.
Education Minnesota Crosby-Ironton, a local affiliated with both the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, has rejected the district’s offers.
The strike is the first by Minnesota teachers in two years and one of only three over the past decade.