On the first day that a teachers strike closed Catholic high schools in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, some frustrated parents threatened to stop paying tuition.
"If I'm this frustrated, I know other parents have to be as frustrated. These kids have to be in school," said Theresa Keel. She's the parent of two Lansdale Catholic HS students.
Keel launched the Facebook page -- Catholic Parents Respond -- urging other parents to send a strong message to the Archdiocese by withholding their tuition payments until the strike is over.
"All the parents of these high school students need to stand up and say, 'You need to listen to what we want. We're paying these bills, you need to listen to us. We want our kids in school," Keel said.
Roughly 700 educators with The Association of Catholic Teachers union have been on the picket line for eight days. Their big-ticket issues are money -- a 14.5 percent salary, and job protection. They don't want the Archdiocese to replace fully employed teachers with part-timers and they're worried about more schools closing.
The union has said teachers will go back to work if the Archdiocese will agree to mediate their differences. So far, the Archdiocese is not willing to move in that direction.
"The bottom line is, we want our kids back in school," said Diane Babbe, an Archbishop Wood parent. "This is not doing them any good."
