The Chicago Teachers Union says Mayor Lori Lightfoot and school district officials have walked away from negotiations about COVID-19 safety protocols
The announcement came hours after Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson issued a statement saying they had made their “last, best and final offer,” strongly suggesting they were through negotiating with the union.
In the news release, the union said Lightfoot’s offer was woefully inadequate.
“The mayor’s office would pause in-person learning district-wide only if there are COVID-19 outbreaks in 50% of Chicago Public Schools at the same time,” the union said. That means that infections found in more than 200 schools “would not be cause to consider the reinstitution of remote learning in the view of the mayor or CPS leadership,” it said.
Lightfoot’s office did not immediately respond to the union’s statement. CTU spokeswoman Chris Geovanis said the union would resume negotiations “at the drop of a hat” if Lightfoot and the city offered.
Classes were set to resume Monday. What this latest impasse means for students was not immediately clear.
After issuing a deadline for teachers to return to the classroom earlier this week, Lightfoot backed off to allow what the district called a “cooling off” period and further negotiations. And Lightfoot’s demand that the union reach an agreement with the city by the end of Thursday did not have any immediate consequences because students were not in session on Friday.
One sticking point has been teacher vaccinations.
The union said Friday that the city has agreed to provide about 1,500 vaccinations a week for members but has refused to commit to an expansion of teacher vaccinations if Chicago receives a larger share of the state’s doses.
The union also said the city has refused to improve remote learning even though the majority of students continue to stay at home and attend class remotely.
Its just the latest chapter in a bitter monthslong struggle between the nation’s third-largest school district and the union over the reopening of schools, which went fully remote last March. The district has rolled out a gradual return for pre-K to 8th grade students with no definitive plan for high school.
Thousands of K-8 students had been expected to return this week. Lightfoot said teachers who didn’t report for duty would be locked out of online teaching systems, as was the case for pre-K and special education teachers who defied district orders last month. The 25,000-member union countered by saying it would picket if teachers were booted out.
“We’re deeply disappointed that the mayor has chosen to stop negotiating and instead move to lock out educators and shut down schools rather than work out our differences,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey said.