Union says teachers to defy reopening plan

CHICAGO — The Chicago Teachers Union says its members will not return to school buildings on Monday, in defiance of Chicago Public Schools’ reopening plans.

The union said Sunday that it is “rejecting CPS’ effort to force thousands more back into unsafe buildings beginning this Monday” and that teachers intend to continue providing their lessons remotely “until buildings are safe” for them and for students.

Pre-kindergarten and some special education teachers are due to return to school building on Monday, with their students to follow on Jan. 11. It would be the first in-person classes in CPS since Gov. J.B. Pritzker closed schools statewide in March when the coronavirus began to circulate.

Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune Sharon Nelles, a literacy coordinator in Arlington Heights, Ill., gets a computer up and running in a classroom at Patton Elementary on Thursday. Nelles was serving as a substitute.