My daughter is laying next to me asking questions about the potential teacher strike in St. Paul. “So why are they going to maybe go on strike?”

“There are lots of reasons honey. The teachers want to make sure that you and all the other students have an opportunity to get the education you need. They want you to have small class sizes. They want the students who need it to get help learning English. They want to make sure they have safe classrooms and workloads.”

“Ok, but what will happen?”

“Well, on Tuesday, you will probably go to Grandpa’s house for the day, and we’ll see how long it goes.”

“Will I come to your work with you?” She’s hopeful that she might get to do this.

“I don’t know honey. We have to wait and see what’s going on. We don’t even know if there will be a strike.” At this point, I wish I knew more and had better answers for her.

“I want to learn though,” she says. I wish every kid felt this way. “I want to learn about the platypus.”

“The platypus?” I have no idea where this comes from.

“Yeah. That’s what we are learning about right now.”

“Well, I bet you will learn about that tomorrow at school and then, if there is a strike, we’ll make sure you keep learning things.” I’m not worried about this part. She is at a stage where she is naturally curious about things, so learning isn’t an issue.

“But I want to learn at school.” Again, I wish this is how every kid I taught felt.

I try to assuage her worries. She doesn’t want her teachers to have to walk in circles, she tells me. I tell her we could go join them and walk in circles too. She asks me what would happen if she was in school when they go on strike – what would happen to her? I explain that wouldn’t happen, that we would know before hand.

I’m not sure, really, about what will happen, though. Will we get a call in the morning on Tuesday? Will we know tomorrow night? I don’t trust the district’s communications after the snow snafu a few weeks ago, so I don’t know what to think.

Mostly I’m thinking about the teachers and the paraprofessionals who must be struggling to sleep tonight, wondering if the negotiations will come through before tomorrow night. I know they don’t want to strike, but they will if they must. Every St. Paul teacher I know is dedicated to their students and their craft. This must be a terrible time of uncertainty. I am with them in heart and, if the need comes, in person at least some of the time.

Solidarity.