She is six. She will understand a great deal.
The teachers want (choose from these and add in the reason they are giving): more money, more preparation time, more supplies, smaller class sizes, better facilities, bigger budgets, less interference from people who are not teachers.
The school board wants: to pay less and to get more. They want more accountability and larger class sizes with less budget. They can't afford to fix the buildings. They are under pressure to make it look like all the students are being looked after while in reality, they cannot be. This is not the school board's fault -- they have less money, more students and fewer teachers.
So the two sides fight. In the end, the pupils and parents have suffered from the lack of school. The teachers have hung on to a few things they felt were most important and lost others. The teachers lost pay, as did some of the parents who had to stay home with the kids. The school board also hung on and did not give up too much -- they had no choice. They cannot give what they do not have to give. The only winners are the union reps.