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Chicago public schools scrapped a plan to have more teachers return to classrooms this week after their union threatened to strike over unsatisfactory COVID-19 safeguards, according to a report.
The nation’s third-largest district of roughly 350,000 kids was set to expand in-person learning beginning Feb. 1 — and wanted teachers in their buildings this week to prepare.
But the union voted to reject that scenario over the weekend.
“This is a great disappointment,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday night. “There is no question that students are persevering. But there is also no question that there is no substitute for in-person learning.”
Parental opinion on the reopening plan has been mixed, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Some have called for an extension of remote learning amid the labor battles while others have demanded a wider revival of classroom activity.
Like many large districts grappling with COVID-19 concerns, Chicago has been forced into haphazard reopening patterns this academic year.
Over union objections, pre-K and special education students resumed some classroom learning this month.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the scrapping of plans to expand in-person learning “a great disappointment.” Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty ImagesStudents in K-8 classes were due to transition back to their school buildings next week until union objections halted that effort.
The impasse compelled Chicago officials to suspend all classroom learning on Wednesday and transition 3,200 early education and special education kids back to remote learning.
Teachers have argued that the district has not gone far enough in ensuring coronavirus safety for educators.
The union has demanded more testing and vaccinations to better protect members from the virus.
The organization threatened to abandon all of their posts and form picket lines if city officials retaliated against teachers in any way.
Lightfoot said negotiations with the union will continue.
“We want to return to safe, welcoming and thriving schools — and that can’t happen until we put the health and safety precautions of our educators, our students and the larger community ahead of the unreasonable demand to return to school buildings that lack the necessary protocols to keep us safe,” said Chicago Teachers Union vice president Stacy Davis Gates in a statement.
