NO DEAL: CHICAGO CANCELS CLASSES FOR SECOND DAY
Teachers union, district divided on safety protocols
Chicago school leaders canceled classes for a second consecutive day after failing to reach agreement Wednesday with the teachers union over COVID-19 safety protocols in the nation’s third-largest school district.
The Chicago Teachers Union sought to revert to remote instruction during the latest surge of infections and while both sides hammer out a deal. But Chicago Public Schools leaders have said remote learning didn’t work and schools can safely remain open with protocols in place.
The move to cancel classes and activities today affects roughly 350,000 students and came after closeddoor negotiations Wednesday failed to produce a deal. The issues include metrics for closing schools.
“We have no choice but to cancel classes tomorrow,” Schools CEO Pedro Martinez said at a news conference Wednesday evening.
Students returned to class Monday after a twoweek winter break with COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations fueled by the Omicron variant at record levels.
School districts nationwide have grappled with the same issue, with most opting to stay open while ramping up virus testing, tweaking protocols and other adjustments in response to the shifting pandemic. White House press secretary Jen Psaki, echoing President Joe Biden a day earlier, said Wednesday that the country is better equipped now to make sure schools can safely open “including in Chicago,” while former President Donald Trump called the closures “devastating.”
Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said teachers don’t want to return to in-person instruction until the current surge has subsided.
“We’d rather be in our classes teaching, we’d rather have the schools open. What we are saying, though, is that right now we’re in the middle of a major surge, it is breaking all the records and hospitals are full,” he said during a news conference Wednesday morning with other union officials, teachers and parents.
The union’s action, approved by 73 percent of members, called for remote instruction until “cases substantially subside” or union leaders approve an agreement for safety protocols with the district.
The district said early Tuesday that classes would be canceled Wednesday if the union voted not to return to in-person instruction. Devices were not distributed to students ahead of the union vote, which was announced just before 11 p.m. Tuesday. Union members who tried to log into teaching systems Wednesday said they were locked out.
District officials blamed the union for the late cancellation, saying despite safety measures including a high teacher vaccination rate, “our teachers are not willing to report to work.”
CPS leaders said they were drafting a plan to “continue student learning” in the district, where students are largely low income and Black and Latino. School officials labeled the union action an “illegal work stoppage” and said those who did not report to schools Wednesday would not be compensated.
The district proposed guidelines for individual school closures, saying safety measures like required masks, availability of vaccines and improved ventilation make schools among the safest places for kids to be. Roughly 100,000 students and 91 percent of CPS’s more than 47,000 staff in the district are vaccinated, according to the district. But the union, with roughly 25,000 members, has proposed metrics for districtwide closure, citing risks to students and teachers.