Napolitano on Chicago Teachers Strike Op-Ed: Union Deserves Scarlet Letter, Not a "Gold Star"

Teachers' union leaders are giving a positive spin to the Chicago teachers strike, with a Wall Street Journal op-ed today by Karen Lewis and Randi Weingarten saying the strike deserved a "gold star."

In the op-ed, the pair wrote that the overall interest is in making schools better, and the union wants to focus on not only making the school day longer, but also better. However, some are criticizing the article's lack of details on how exactly to make it better.

"Here's my view ... obviously I oppose this

strike, and I think it's a terrible law that permits teachers to strike," Judge Andrew Napolitano said on the matter. "The teachers union and the Democrats supporting them have obviously intimidated the legislature of the state of Illinois."

"They don't deserve a gold star; they deserve a scarlet letter," he added. Napolitano cited law enforcement as an example of a group who can't strike due to the safety and welfare of the citizens. "Teachers striking can be just as dangerous to .. the children."

If there is a silver lining to the strike, Napolitano said it's the simple fact of exposure of the school district's shortcomings. "Here's the one good thing that comes out of a strike like this ... this is one of the worst public school systems in the country ... the statistics on graduation rates [are] truly reprehensible," he said. This, he added, is a fact that he himself didn't know ... nor did the media. The revelation of that is "about the only good" that came out of the strike.