Posted on 01/10/22
| News Source: WTOP
Chicago schools are poised to resume classes this week after leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union approved a plan with the district late Monday over remote learning and other COVID-19 safety protocols.
Both sides had been locked in an increasingly nasty standoff that canceled classes for four days in the nation’s third-largest school district. The deal, which would have students in class Wednesday and teachers a day earlier, still requires approval by the union’s full 25,000 members, according to the union.
Neither side immediately disclosed further details Monday evening. Issues on the table have been metrics to close schools amid outbreaks and expanded COVID-19 testing.
“We know this has been very difficult for students and families,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at an evening news conference. “No one wins when students are out.”
The Chicago Teachers Union voted Monday evening to suspend their work action from last week calling for online learning until a safety plan had been negotiated or the latest COVID-19 surge subsided. The district, which has rejected districtwide remote learning, responded by locking teachers out of remote teaching systems and docked pay.
Negotiations over the weekend failed to produce a deal and rhetoric about negotiations became increasingly sharp. Some principals canceled class Tuesday preemptively and warned of further closures.
Earlier Monday, Union President Jesse Sharkey said the union and district remained “apart on a number of key features” that teachers want before returning to classrooms. He also accused Lightfoot of refusing to compromise on teachers’ main priorities.
“The mayor is being relentless, but she’s being relentlessly stupid, she’s being relentlessly stubborn,” Sharkey said, playing on a reference the former prosecutor mayor made about refusing to “relent” in negotiations. “She’s relentlessly refusing to seek accommodation and we’re trying to find a way to get people back in school.”