Chicago Teachers Union Finally Folds After Months of Refusing to Return to Classrooms
The Chicago Teachers Union has approved a deal with the nation’s third-largest school district to get students back in classrooms, union officials announced early Wednesday.
The vote by the union’s roughly 25,000 members ends the possibility of an immediate teacher lockout or strike.
The agreement follows months of negotiations — which had intensified in recent weeks — with plans that included more teacher vaccinations and metrics to allow school closures if COVID-19 infections spike.
The union said 13,681 members voted to approve the agreement and 6,585 voted against it.
In a statement, the union described the agreement as the “absolute limit to which [Chicago Public Schools] was willing to go at the bargaining table to guarantee a minimum number of guardrails for any semblance of safety in schools.”
Union president Jesse Sharkey criticized the agreement in an email to members.
“This plan is not what any of us deserve. Not us. Not our students. Not their families,” the email said. “The fact that CPS could not delay reopening a few short weeks to ramp up vaccinations and preparations in schools is a disgrace.”
In a statement, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS CEO Janice Jackson defended the agreement, saying it “ensures families have options to choose in-person learning and make a plan that is best for them.”
After weeks of pointing to the $100 million that has been spent to make schools safe, Lightfoot and Jackson said that the vote by the union “reaffirms the strength and fairness of our plan, which provides families and employees certainty about returning to schools and guarantees the best possible health and safety protocols.”
Negotiations since going fully remote last March have been heated amid worldwide debates over reopening schools.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that the risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools is low and that teachers do not need to be vaccinated in order for schools to reopen safely.
The first wave of students and staff in pre-K and special education is due back Thursday, with parents still having the option of remote learning.
Those students briefly returned last month, but were then sent home amid the escalating fight with the union, which voted to reject the district’s plans.
Students in K-5 will return March 1, with staff returning Feb. 22. Students in grades 6-8 will return March 8, with teachers returning March 1. No plans have been set for high school students, who will continue with online learning.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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