Patience Wearing Thin On Day 4 Of Teachers Strike In Park County

FAIRPLAY, Colo. (CBS4) - It's Day 4 of the Park County teacher strike in the small mountain town of Fairplay and patience is running thin. Kids haven't had school the entire week and negotiations continue to be at a stalemate, according to people who have been inside the room for the talks between the local school teacher association and the school board.

For parents, this hasn't been easy. Many are scrambling to find a place for their kids to go since they aren't in school.

Kirsten Kraus is a single mother with three kids and is also a first grade teacher on the picket lines. She says her kids are older but she feels horrible for the parents of younger children left stuck in the middle of this standoff.

The normally scheduled school board meeting Thursday may offer a change in the script. Two new board members are being sworn in and the striking teachers are planning on delivering a letter demanding that the current school board president resign.

"I was thinking maybe we would be out a day or two they would make some compromises and we'd be back in the classroom by the end of the week it doesn't seem like any compromising is really happening," Kraus said.

The strike started Monday leaving schools closed all week and parents scrambling.

"People work really hard work several jobs when they have to call in sick because their kids aren't going to school it's not a good situation," she added.

The teachers are asking for a $6,000 a year raise. So far the negotiations haven't gone far.

"It's going to be tough next month when the next paycheck is a quite a bit smaller than usual," Kraus said.

So the strike continues.

"I can't say that it's worth it at this point. We aren't taking any steps," she added.