The Chicago Teachers Union said Sunday that many of its members expected to attend school on Monday will defy the plans of Chicago Public Schools and teach only remotely, as a majority of Chicago mayors said in a letter to the mayor said they were “deeply concerned” about the reopening of the city. plans.
The moves are an increase in the CTU’s months-long campaign for a safe reopening and complicate the plans of Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Janice Jackson, principal, to bring back thousands of teachers and students.
Thirty-three mayors wrote a letter to Lightfoot and Jackson saying they were “deeply concerned” about CPS’s scheduled reopening this month, and questioned the racial fairness and health and safety aspects of the city’s plan. They outlined nine steps the city needed to take because it wanted to reopen classrooms, and encouraged the mayor and the school district to work with the teachers’ union on its concerns.
At least 5,800 employees will return to their schools on Monday for the first time since the start of the pandemic, with another 861 medical leave and, according to CPS, about 300 more requests. The educators work in preschool and special education grouping programs. Their pupils will return on January 11th. Thousands of educators will return on January 25 before a school reopens on February 1 for students in kindergarten up to the eighth grade.
A CTU spokesman said the union did not know how many members were refusing to return and whether it could derail the plans of the school system. Every worker who told their principal that he would not return was threatened by CPS with discipline, but the union will support all members who decide to stay home and expect a number of grievances to be lodged. the leaders of the CTU said.
The union claims members have contractual and legal rights to refuse to work in a workplace they say is unsafe. A decision on a collective labor action, such as a strike, has not yet been taken.
Jackson, chief executive of CPS, told the Sun-Times last month that teachers who “did not show up” could be fired. City Hall and CPS spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mayors Ed Burke (14th) and Brian Hopkins (2nd) were among a handful of moderate mayors who signed the letter, joining the progressives who usually join CTU affairs.
Councilors acknowledge the tensions of families and educators from distance education, but said they were “deeply concerned about the current Chicago Public Schools plan… Do not meet the district goal of increasing student equity and failing to succeed.” address a number of safety issues identified by parents, students and staff adequately in light of the ongoing pandemic.
The shares concern the fact that white and middle class families have chosen to return to their schools at the double rate of families in black, Latino and low income. This is despite the mayor and school officials selling the planned reopening as a fair solution for students of color who had less access to distance education.
With the expectation that educators will now divide their efforts between the classroom and the screen, black and Latino students – the vast majority of whom have decided to stay remote – may receive even less attention than before.
The letter encourages CPS to set clear public health criteria for reopening; compile a detailed test and contact tracing plan; improve internet access and reduce screen time for remote learners; social workers, speech therapists and other clinicians give prior notice of which students return in person; make timely and transparent decisions to those seeking medical leave; provides clearer guidelines on paid leave and provides regular public updates on the appointment of 2,000 new employees who will assume responsibility for pandemics.
“A successful reopening plan should inspire public confidence through transparency, communication and cooperation,” the mayor wrote. “To that end, CPS needs real purchases of and cooperation with parents, communities and organized labor. We believe that CPS can achieve this, and are ready to help in any way we can. ”
Read the letter from Chicago’s mayors to Mayor Lightfoot and CPS.