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On a rainy morning in north Minneapolis, teachers and education support professionals picket outside the Davis Center, the school district’s administrative building.

Across the street at Shiloh Temple International Ministries, parents, coaches and teachers fry up bacon and eggs for students.

“For me it was, we’re not going to be reactive, we’re going to be proactive in this,” said Kelly Jackson, president of North High’s parent teacher association. 

As soon as she heard there was going to be a strike, she started organizing parents, neighbors and coaches to give students rides, make breakfast and lunch. They planned dodgeball and trivia games at Shiloh and 

 to keep students safe, fed and part of the community while classes are canceled.

In addition to parenting duties, Jackson is working toward her associate’s degree. Though tiring, the work has helped Jackson feel closer to her community.

“I have a newfound respect for our teachers and our staff and our leadership,” Jackson said. “For me as a person, as a parent, as a mom, I’m like, ‘pay the people!’ It is a lot of work, and we’re not even doing the educational piece. But yes, we are exhausted, and we are ready for them to go back.”

As the Minneapolis teachers’ strike stretches on, students and families across the district are finding creative solutions for child care and they’re also finding ways to support their teachers and their neighbors.

Evelyn Wong, a communications professional with a kindergarten student who attends Burroughs Elementary has spent the past two weeks arranging a complicated patchwork of camps, play dates, mornings at a neighbor’s house and visits with grandparents and uncles so that she and her husband can continue to work full time. 

Citing that network of caregivers, and their financial situation, Wong said the family is “really fortunate. But also, like everyone else there’s a level of stress that comes with not knowing when this is going to end. Understanding also, there’s a really noble cause behind this.”

The Minneapolis district has closed its regular school-based child care programs, but has offered 

limited options to those families who need it

, as well as bagged meals for pickup at school sites. Recently, the district began offering additional services, like a food truck serving Philly cheesesteaks for kids under 18. And several school buildings are open for middle and high school students to gather and play games.

Molly Dengler, co-president of the Parent Teacher Association at Emerson Elementary, a Spanish Immersion school, has been able to keep her first grader in a YMCA day care program and recommend the spot to a few other parents as well. But she also helps organize child care on WhatsApp for dozens of other Spanish speaking families at her school.

They put together a temporary day care at a nearby church with the help of parents and some 

 volunteers. They referred people to district programming. They arranged for child care and a taxi to get a pregnant mom to a doctor’s appointment on the first day of canceled classes.

“Yes, it’s exhausting. But it’s definitely been so heartwarming and just like reigniting my faith in people,” Dengler said.

Nearly 200 families have joined her WhatsApp group. They’re trying to take care of educators by putting together breakfast and lunch for people out on the picket lines every day.

“We don’t want to put any more pressure on teachers,” Dengler said. “They have their own families and their own kids and they’re fighting for our students’ quality of education.”

Ramiyah Jackson, an 11th grade student from Minneapolis’ North High, feels supported by her family and her community during the strike. But she’s also ready for it to end.

“The only thing I would be freaking out about is the ACT, because it’s coming up and we haven’t been doing much right now,” Jackson said.

She wants her teachers to get what they need to keep doing their work in schools. She hopes the union and district can work out a contract soon so the strike can end. 

Parent resources during Minneapolis educators strike

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Elizabeth Shockman

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Striking educators and the district have not yet reached an agreement, as students have missed 11 days of school. While families in the district come together to form child care pods, create safe havens for teens, provide food for their neighbors and support teachers, they say they’re eager for the strike to end. 

Striking educators and the district have not yet reached an agreement, as students have missed 11 days of school. While families in the district come together to form childcare pods, create safe havens for teens, provide food for their neighbors and support teachers, they say they’re eager for the strike to end.

Minneapolis families come together to ease strike burden

A group of people stand together in a room.

Elizabeth Shockman | MPR News

Minneapolis teachers strike in front of the governor's residence.

Minneapolis families come together to ease strike burden

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