“The leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) continues to direct its members who support the pre-k and cluster programs to stay at home. Therefore, we must ask parents to continue to keep their children at home, as we cannot guarantee adequate levels staff to cover on – personal learning. The district will continue remote learning tomorrow, 01/28, “said CPS in an email to parents on Wednesday night.
CTU said its members want to be vaccinated and feel safe before returning to face-to-face learning.
With the CPS and the teachers’ union unable to agree on a return to face-to-face learning, K-8 teachers did not attend classrooms on Wednesday, as the district expected.
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Instead, all students will remain remote, including pre-school and group students.
“Education is absolutely the great equalizer, and we see the data, many of our children are falling behind,” said Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Mayor Lightfoot said the city and school district will remain at the negotiating table, but expressed concern about the level of discussions. She also said that she did not change her plans for face-to-face education to resume from kindergarten to 8th grade students on Monday.
“I think we have an obligation to parents and students to move aggressively,” said Mayor Lightfoot. “We have been at the table every week, but 40 minutes a day is not enough, so we have to act aggressively, we have to be at the table as long as it takes to close a deal.”
The CPS insisted that its plan to open schools for more face-to-face learning was examined by the city’s health department and is based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“According to the district plan, we will offer rapid COVID testing to employees twice a month,” said Dr. Janice Jackson, CPS CEO. “We will be offering free monthly COVID testing to students who live in the 10 most positive areas of COVID by zip code, and when the district starts receiving vaccines directly from the federal government, we will also prioritize employees who work in the most affected communities.”
Both sides agreed to the mediation, and the teachers’ union says a strike is the absolute last resort. Still, security remains the main problem. CTU wants much more specific safety limits to be reached before telling its members to return to schools. This includes test positivity rates dropping below 3% for all postal codes that schools are in, security protocols being applied and an intense focus on vaccinations for teachers and staff.
“Reopening is not the argument. The discussion, the debate is security. This is it,” said CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates. “When we implement a phase of a secure agreement on vaccines, a health measure, accommodations that meet the needs of clinically vulnerable families … these things are important.”
The CPS states that it went further to meet union needs.
“We believe that our latest proposal to the union can serve as the basis for an agreement,” said Jackson. “Frankly, there is no good reason why we don’t have an agreement at this point.”
On Wednesday morning, some CPS parents launched a petition and call campaign to convince Mayor Lori Lightfoot to withdraw from what they are calling a dangerous effort to return teachers to school buildings this week.
“For the past few days, I have been teaching away from home, and my students have given me hope. When they see me fighting for what is right for me,” said Professor Dwayne Reed of CPS.
The Chicago Association of Directors and Administrators shared their own proposal on Wednesday for a return to face-to-face learning, which would involve a gradual approach to reduce the division between the district and the teachers’ union. A recent survey released by the association said that two-thirds of school principals think CPS plans are inadequate.
“Open a small group of 50 to 100 face-to-face pilot schools and make vaccination COVID-19 a priority for the staff of this pilot group,” said Troy LaRaviere, president of the Chicago Directors and Administrators Association. “Second, focus the district’s human and material resources on ensuring the success of the pilot schools. Three, if successful, expand the pilot every few weeks as groups of schools demonstrate preparation and readiness for personal learning. “
Dr. Anna Volerman, mother and doctor at CPS, said she is concerned that the students are in the middle of the road.
“We understand the potential exposures, we understand the effects of COVID, and at the same time, we understand the effects of being at home and being at school for children and for teachers and staff,” she said.
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Special Education Assistants (SECA), among the first to return to the classroom, also voiced the issue.
“We would like to have the opportunity to be vaccinated before going back to school,” said SECA Anthony Gonzalez. “And children over the age of 16, 16 and over, should be vaccinated before going back to school.”
Less than 20% of CPS students have so far chosen to return to face-to-face learning. On Tuesday, a group of CPS parents who are also health professionals released an article in support of returning to the classroom, stating that there is no need to wait for vaccines to arrive.
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“If the reopening of the school is approached collaboratively, with all interested parties – including parents – at the table, schools can be opened safely. As a city, we must prioritize our young people and invest in their future. During this challenging time, bringing children back into the classroom is the number one way to show that commitment, “said the article in part.
The student district of some 355,000, which started offering full-time online classes last March because of the pandemic, is gradually getting students back. Thousands of pre-kindergarten and special education students resumed face-to-face learning earlier this month, and teachers who did not return to classes were punished.
CPS teachers were all eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine starting on Monday, but are not scheduled to start taking it until February.
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