Mayor Lori Lightfoot criticized the Chicago Teachers’ Union on Sunday after a tense battle over reopening city classrooms for personal learning during the pandemic, according to a report.
Lightfoot, a Democrat, said her office maintained peace with almost all [organized labor] , except for the Fraternal Police Order and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), which she said had “political party-like” aspirations.
“When you have unions that have aspirations other than being a union, and maybe something like a political party, there will always be conflict,” she said during an interview with the New York Times published on Sunday.
“I think, ultimately, they would like to take over not only the Chicago Public Schools, but also the city government administration,” added Lightfoot. “This will run out over time. I really don’t waste time, and certainly not in the middle of a pandemic, worrying about politics. But politics always gets in the way.”
CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION AGREES TO REOPEN THE INTERNAL LEARNING BUSINESS
Pre-kindergarten students listen to their teacher read a story at Dawes Elementary in Chicago on January 11. (AP / Chicago Sun-Times)
His comments came after the Chicago Teachers Union last week approved a proposal from the city’s public school district to reopen primary and secondary schools. This ended a bitter stalemate and the mayor avoided a second CTU strike in two years.
In the midst of the battle, educators expressed concern about safety at school, as parents and families dealt with the stress and uncertainty about the future of their children’s education.
“Many of our residents are still very scared. They have great concerns about the virus. Therefore, meeting the needs of parents is really an integral part of meeting the needs of our resident population through education and outreach,” Lightfoot told the newspaper. .
“In this pandemic, social life has been completely uprooted from many of our young people. Their socio-emotional learning is absolutely central to their growth, but we still see them learning on the screen. We know that this is not the best way for them to learn,” she continued. .
According to the proposal, students and employees of pre-K and special education will be the only ones to present themselves in classrooms this month. They will be accompanied by students from kindergarten to 5th grade on March 1st and students from 6th to 8th grade on March 8th.
CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION TAKES CRUCIAL VOTE IN SCHOOL REOPENING, STOP ESTABLISHED FOR THE TIME OF ACHIEVEMENT
The Chicago Public Schools originally planned to bring their elementary and high school students back to face-to-face learning on February 1, but the dispute paralyzed their return as the union told members to work remotely during the negotiations.
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Despite ongoing tensions, Lightfoot and the union are likely to meet in the near future to discuss the reopening of the city’s public high schools. The mayor added that she is focused on reopening high schools and wants senior students to have a normal experience during the last year.
President Biden called for the reopening of most schools in his first 100 days in office.
Greg Norman and Edmund DeMarche of Fox News contributed to this report