Chicago schoolchildren are expected to return to classrooms later this week, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Sunday after Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools reached a “preliminary agreement.”
“We are here to announce the very good news that our children will be learning to learn in person again this week,” Lightfoot told a news conference. “The last 11 months have been a whirlwind for our entire city, pushing us countless times to limits. We have lost jobs, we have lost loved ones … We have all been on an uninterrupted emotional rollercoaster that we try individually and collectively. has to navigate. “
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Under the provisional agreement, the beginning of personal classes, which were phased in according to degree, was suppressed from the initial plans of the district. Classes for some students will begin later in the week.
However, the agreement is still based on broader union approval, and it remains unclear when or for about 25,000 members will vote, the Chicago Tribune reported.
“We do not yet have an agreement with Chicago Public Schools,” the Chicago Teachers Union tweeted Sunday while the press conference was still taking place. “The mayor and her team made an offer to our members late last night, which deserves further review. We will continue with our democratic process of ranking throughout the day, before any agreement is reached.”
The union and district have been battling for months over a plan to gradually reopen the roughly 340,000 student territory, with talks broken down over the past few days. The most important issues were the widespread vaccinations for teachers, measures to measure school infections and accommodation for teachers who have a person in their household who is more susceptible to coronavirus.
“This agreement was to make sure that everyone in our school communities is not only safe, but also that they feel safe,” Lightfoot said.
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CPS officials said the opening of schools is safe and that distance education does not work for all students, including many black and Latino students who make up the bulk of the district. Union officials have argued that the district’s plan, which includes air filters in classrooms and voluntary COVID-19 tests for teachers, does not go far enough.
Pre-K and special education students briefly returned last month, but stopped amid an escalating struggle with the union, which voted to continue distance education and rejected the district’s plans. Teachers and students in K-8 were supposed to return on February 1 for the first time since they were completely remote last March. The district offered K-8 students two days of personal instruction. No return date has been set for high school students.
The union said that if the district excluded teachers, as it had done before, the teachers would have a picket. Such a move would have cut off virtual learning for all students. The union last went on strike in 2019.
About 77,000 students from pre-K to 8 showed interest in returning to class in a December survey. While pre-K and some special education students were offered personal classes five days a week, students in K-8 were offered personal tuition with remote class two days a week on other days. Attendance was lower than expected.
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About 6,500 of the nearly 17,000 eligible preschool and special education students said they would like to return, but only about 3,200, or 19% of those eligible, attended after the January reopening, CPS said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.