The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) leadership guides its members who support the pre-k and cluster programs to stay home, so we need to ask parents to continue to keep your children at home, as we do not have adequate staffing levels. “can guarantee in-personal learning. The district will continue distance learning tomorrow, 1/28,” CPS said in an email to parents Wednesday night.
The CTU said its members want to be vaccinated and feel safe before going to personal pupils again.
As CPS and the teachers’ union could not reach an agreement on the return to personal learning, K-8 teachers did not report to the classrooms on Wednesday as the district had hoped.
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Instead, all students will remain remote, including pre-K and cluster students.
“Education is absolutely the best equalizer, and we see the data, too many of our children are sadly falling behind,” said Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Mayor Lightfoot said the city and the school district will remain at the negotiating table, but expressed concern over the level of discussions. She also said they will not change their plans for pupils to resume for kindergartens on Monday.
“I think we have an obligation to parents and students to move aggressively,” Mayor Lightfoot said. ‘We were at the table every week, but 40 minutes a day is not enough, so we have to move aggressively, we have to be at the table for as long as it takes to reach an agreement. “
CPS insisted that their plan to open schools for more personal learning has been reviewed by the city’s health department and is based at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“In the district’s plan, we will offer rapid COVID testing to employees twice a month,” said Dr. Janice Jackson, CEO of CPS, said. “We offer free COVID tests monthly to students living in the top ten COVID positivity areas by zip code, and when the district starts receiving vaccines directly from the federal government, we will also give priority to staff in the communities the one hardest hit works. “
Both sides have agreed to mediation, and the teachers’ union says a strike is a last resort. Safety remains the most important issue. The CTU wants much more specific safety thresholds to be reached before instructing their members to return to schools. This includes that the positive percentage of the test falls below 3% for the entire postal codes in which schools are in, safety protocols are applied and the intensive focus on vaccinations for teachers and staff.
“Reopening is not the argument. The discussion, the debate is security. That’s it,” said Stacy Davis Gates, vice president of CTU. “When we implement a secure agreement phase in vaccines, a health standard, accommodation that meets the needs of medically vulnerable households … those things are important.”
CPS maintains that it is much better than addressing union needs.
“We believe our latest proposal to the union can serve as a basis for an agreement,” Jackson said. “Honestly, there’s no good reason why we should not have an agreement at the moment.”
On Wednesday morning, some CPS parents launched a petition and call-in campaign to persuade Mayor Lori Lightfoot to give up what they call a dangerous pressure to return teachers to school buildings this week.
“The last few days I have been giving outside education, and my scholars have given me hope. When they see me fighting for what is right for myself,” CPS teacher Dwayne Reed said.
The Chicago Principals & Administrators Association on Wednesday shared its own proposal for a return to personal learning, which would involve a phased approach to bridging the gap between the district and the teachers union. According to a recent survey by the association, two thirds of school principals believe that CPS’s plans are inadequate.
“Open a small group of 50 to 100 pilot schools and make COVID-19 vaccinations a priority for staff in the pilot group,” said Troy LaRaviere, president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. “Second, the district’s human and material resources focus on ensuring the success of the pilot schools. Three, if successful, expand the pilot every few weeks while groups of schools show willingness and readiness for personal learning.”
Dr Anna Volerman, a CPS parent and doctor, said she puts students in the middle about this and again.
“We understand the potential exposure, we understand the consequences of COVID and at the same time we understand the consequences of being at home and schooling for children, teachers and staff,” she said.
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Special Education Classroom Assistants (SECA), one of the first to return to the classroom, also added their voice to the case.
“We would like to have the chance to be vaccinated before we return to school,” said SECA Anthony Gonzalez. “And children older than 16, 16 and older, they need to be vaccinated before they go back to school.”
Less than 20% of CPS students have so far chosen to go back to personal learning. A group of CPS parents, who are also health workers, announced an opening on Tuesday in support of returning to the classroom, saying there is no need to wait until the vaccines arrive.
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“If the reopening of schools is approached together, with all stakeholders – including parents – at the table, schools can be safely opened. As a city, we must prioritize our youth and invest in their future. During this challenging time to get children back in the classroom, the number one way is to show this commitment, ‘the opener said in part.
The approximately 355,000 student district, which provided full-time online education last March due to the pandemic, gradually welcomed back students. Thousands of kindergarten and special education students resumed learning earlier this month, and teachers who did not return to their classrooms were punished.
CPS teachers were able to get the COVID-19 vaccine from Monday, but it will only start in February.
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