Waukegan school board meeting boils over
Chaos and yelling ended a school board meeting Tuesday night in Waukegan, where teachers have been on strike since Oct. 2.
Waukegan Unit District 60 parents, students and teachers packed the Brookside Campus auditorium for a meeting that lasted just 30 minutes, ABC 7 reported.
The brief but heated meeting escalated when school board member Victoria Torres left her board seat, charged up to a microphone and told the audience: "Alright, let's go. I'm a parent, too. Yeah, sit down, shut up! Shut up!"
A video on ABC 7's website showed the crowd responded with a roar, and soon after, board members were forced to end the meeting.
Mayor Wayne Motley later called the meeting was "an embarrassment to the city of Waukegan."
After the meeting, the district posted this statement: "The Waukegan School Board was forced to abruptly adjourn tonight's scheduled public meeting due to lack of civility. Despite repeated attempts, the audience would not come to order, and comments could not be heard from the Board or the attendees, making an open discussion of public issues impossible."
About 17,000 students have been idled since the strike started.
District 60 and Lake County Federation of Teachers union representatives said negotiators met until about noon Tuesday before ending for the day. District 60 said in a statement that both sides exchanged revised proposals. Union and school negotiators are scheduled to resume talks at 10 a.m. Wednesday.