The Chicago Teachers Union said on Sunday that many of its members, who are due to return to school on Monday, will challenge the plans of the Chicago Public Schools and teach only remotely, as most Chicago city councilors said in a letter to the mayor who are “deeply concerned” about the city’s reopening plans.
The measures mark an escalation of CTU’s month-long campaign for a safe reopening and further complicate plans by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and school principal Janice Jackson to start bringing back thousands of teachers and students.
Thirty-three city councilors wrote a letter to Lightfoot and Jackson to say that they are “deeply concerned” about the CPS’s scheduled reopening this month, expressing doubts about racial equity and the health and safety aspects of the city plan. They established nine steps the city must take to reopen classrooms and asked the mayor and the school district to collaborate with the teachers’ union on their concerns.
At least 5,800 employees are scheduled to return to their schools on Monday for the first time since the pandemic began, with another 861 medical licenses granted and about 300 orders still pending, according to the CPS. Educators work in pre-school and special education cluster programs. Your students are due to return on January 11th. Thousands of other educators are due to return on January 25, before schools reopen on February 1 for students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
A spokeswoman for CTU said the union did not know how many members were refusing to return or whether it could disrupt the school system’s plans. Every worker who told his director that he would not return was met with threats of discipline by the CPS, but the union will support any member who decides to stay home and hopes that “a ton” of complaints will be filed, CTU leaders said.
The union is arguing that members have contractual and legal rights to refuse to work in a workplace that they consider unsafe. The decision for a collective labor action, such as work stoppage, has not yet been taken.
CPS CEO Jackson told the Sun-Times last month that teachers who “do not show up” at work can be fired. City and CPS spokespersons did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Councilors Ed Burke (14th) and Brian Hopkins (2nd) were among a handful of moderate councilors who signed the letter, joining the progressives who normally align themselves with the causes of CTU.
Councilors recognized the stressors of distance learning in both families and educators, but said they were “deeply concerned about the current plan for the Chicago Public Schools. . . it does not meet the district’s goal of increasing equity for students and does not adequately address a number of safety issues identified by parents, students and staff in light of the current pandemic. “
Concerns about equity center on the fact that white and middle-class families have chosen to return to their schools at twice the rate of black, Latino and low-income families. This is despite the fact that the mayor and school officials sell the planned reopening as an equitable solution for students of color who have had less access to remote education.
With educators now hoping to divide their efforts between the classroom and the screen, black and Latino students – the vast majority of whom have decided to remain aloof – could receive even less attention than before.
The letter urged the CPS to establish clear public health criteria for reopening; establish a detailed test and contact tracking plan; improve Internet access and reduce screen time for remote students; inform social workers, speech therapists and other doctors in advance about students who will return in person; giving timely and transparent decisions to those applying for sick leave; provide clearer guidelines on paid leave and provide regular public updates on hiring 2,000 new employees who will assume responsibilities related to the pandemic.
“A successful reopening plan should inspire public confidence through transparency, communication and collaboration,” wrote the councilors. “To this end, the CPS needs real support and collaboration from parents, communities and organized labor. We believe that CPS can achieve this and are ready to help in any way possible. “
Read the letter from the Chicago councilors to Mayor Lightfoot and the CPS.