WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Teachers from a New Jersey neighborhood have two choices on their plate right now: go back to work or go directly to jail. CNN's Brian Palmer is in Freehold, New Jersey for the latest on the teacher's strike that's perhaps breaking out over there -- Brian.</s>BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Wolf. It's a little misleading. There's a kind of a garden party atmosphere outside of the hall of records in Freehold, New Jersey. You can hear people applauding. There are -- people are eating cookies and sort of leisurely having their lunch. But, on the inside, it is quite a different reality. About 83 teachers have been sent to jail for defying a back to work order issued by a superior court judge. The teachers are striking over a number of issues. This is the fifth day of the strike. One of the major issues is how much they will contributing to their health care benefits. We are joined today by a 13-year veteran of the Middletown Township, New Jersey school system, Elizabeth Sims (ph). She teaches second grade. Welcome. Thank you. Elizabeth, the board of education says this strike is illegal. What's your response to that?</s>UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: My response to that is that this board of education can not be trusted. We have -- we won a fair and negotiated settlement. I have honored the past contract that the board has not even signed yet, the last time in 1998. We also purged my personal records. Their all good records. So we feel we can not trust them. And that's why we can not go back to work without a fair and negotiated settlement.</s>PALMER: And you are ready to go to jail?</s>UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: Yes, I am.</s>PALMER: And there are a number of other people out here, several hundred, Wolf, who are saying that they are in the same position -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Brian Palmer in New Jersey, thank you very much.
New Jersey Teachers Jailed For Not Returning to Work