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CTU members ratify agreement

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Illinois

Chicago Teachers Union members have voted two-to-one in favor of a reopening deal with Chicago Public Schools, signaling that in-person classes can resume Thursday as planned.

The union’s 25,000 members had through 11:59 p.m. Tuesday to vote on the proposed framework after its 600-member House of Delegates on Monday decided to put the decision in members’ hands. Now ratified, it is a binding agreement between CTU and CPS.

The union swiftly certified the results, with more than 20,000 members voting. More than two-thirds voted yes, while nearly a third voted no, and only a simple majority was needed to pass. The number of yes votes accounts for close to 55% of total membership.

In a letter to members, CTU President Jesse Sharkey said the plan represents where the parties should have started months ago.

* The Sun-Times notes that hard feelings remain…

The union’s rank-and-file teachers and support staff approved the agreement in a one-day vote held Tuesday, with 68% of voting members — 13,681 of 20,275 — favoring the deal, surpassing the simple majority needed, the CTU announced after voting ended at midnight. But the tally was even closer than it appeared, with more than 5,000 members not voting, a sign of the split views on reopening schools during the pandemic.

Union President Jesse Sharkey didn’t mince words in a letter to members early Wednesday. He rebuked Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s handling of negotiations and even the final agreement, though he acknowledged it was an improvement over the district’s original plan.

“Let me be clear. This plan is not what any of us deserve. Not us. Not our students. Not their families. The fact that CPS could not delay reopening a few short weeks to ramp up vaccinations and preparations in schools is a disgrace,” Sharkey wrote. “This agreement represents where we should have started months ago, not where this has landed. That is a stain on the record of their administration.

“This agreement also puts us in a vastly better position than we were in November, when even after months of struggle, CPS’ ‘planning’ and ‘preparation’ would have been laughable were it not also so dangerous.”

* ABC 7…

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS CEO Janice Jackson issued a statement saying, “The vast majority of CPS families have been separated from their schools for nearly a year, and the ratification of our agreement ensures families have options to choose in-person learning and make a plan that is best for them. We look forward to welcoming students as they return to their classrooms in the days ahead. This vote 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. Our schools are fully prepared to safely welcome back students beginning tomorrow, and we are eager to provide additional support for the families who need more than remote learning can provide.”

* NBC 5…

CPS said about 20% of students have opted for a return to in-person learning, with 80% continuing with remote learning for the time being. The district said Sunday that families who chose to continue remote learning will have another opportunity to return to schools before the start of the fourth quarter that begins in April.

* Chalkbeat…

“This is the most comprehensive agreement for reopening schools that we have seen around the country,” said Brad Marianno, a professor of education policy and leadership at the University of Las Vegas, who has been tracking district reopening agreements since spring with a team of researchers. “It’s really setting a new standard for other districts.”

Chicago ceded significant ground to the union on a number of issues, perhaps most notably by delaying the reopening for most elementary students by a month or longer to allow more teachers and staff to get vaccinated. It also committed to weekly vaccine dose shipments, beefed up its school testing plan and gave schools more flexibility to accommodate employees who are not ready to return to school buildings.

The union made some concessions as well, backing off from a stance that all school staff are fully vaccinated before campuses reopen — a hard line some unions in California and elsewhere have continued to embrace. […]

But as a slew of urban districts and their teachers unions, including in Philadelphia and Baltimore, try to come to a consensus about school reopening, here’s how Chicago resolved a few key disagreements — and what that could mean for unions elsewhere.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 9:22 am

Comments

classy move, sharkey. why not use this as an opportunity to promote collective bargaining as a means to reach agreed goals, rather than sticking your finger in CPS’s eye by saying that the final deal is where the negotiating should have started?

Comment by blue line Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 9:28 am
== why not use this as an opportunity to promote…=

“CPS said about 20% of students have opted for a return to in-person learning, with 80% continuing with remote learning for the time being.”

Comment by SWIL_Voter Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 9:30 am
“This plan is not what any of us deserve…is a disgrace”

And yet you signed it.

Comment by City Zen Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 9:35 am
Both CTU and the mayor are only comfortable when they’re on their war footing.

Comment by Roman Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 9:41 am
The amount of ire directed by some at a union trying to protect workers during a pandemic is…. telling.

Comment by SLoop Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 9:43 am
In-person classes begin for most kids the first & second week of March. Surprised, CTU couldn’t get that pushed out until June. /s

Comment by Anon y mouse Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 9:47 am
I wish it had been someone other than Sharkey and Lightfoot doing the press. They are both sorely lacking in the public relations department.

Comment by Responsa Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 9:48 am
===The amount of ire directed by some at a union trying to protect workers during a pandemic is…. telling.===

Tell that to the Unions that support nurses, postal workers, commercial food workers, electricians, plumbers, public safety, and others that have shown up for work as an essential worker day in and day out this entire pandemic.

Comment by Nagidam Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 9:49 am
Lessons still lost on many locally as well as nationally. Follow firebrands, get burned. Mad at the world types make poor leaders.v

Comment by Louis G Atsaves Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 9:53 am
Teachers have shown up to work everyday too. The fact that you think otherwise is, once again, telling

Comment by SLoop Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 9:54 am
Pearl clutching aside in regards to Sharkey’s statements, it’s great to come to terms and agree to a deal, and not be a Raunerite.

This is another great example of the benefits of a union. Individual workers would be forced to accept management’s terms and get few or no concessions.

“The amount of ire directed by some at a union trying to protect workers during a pandemic is…. telling.”

If the Trib editorial board, IPI and others like that are your opponents, you’re on the right side.

Comment by Grandson of Man Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 9:56 am
=== Mad at the world types make poor leaders===

Oh - Louis G Atsaves -… lol…

Are you trolling yourself here?

To the post,

I dunno, you have a vote of “no confidence” in Lightfoot or whatever, but it still is ratified.

I’m probably more interested going forward if there are sticking points when a grievance might be in play.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 9:57 am
I’ll start by saying that my kids do not attend an urban school district, their district is only a tiny fraction of the size of CPS, but they have been in person learning for the entire school year thus far. I was skeptical, as was most of the community, that we’d be able to keep kids in classrooms in the middle of a pandemic, but it is happening and it’s happening safely with the cooperation of the health department’s guidance, school administrators, teachers, staff, and students all working together to follow new health safety guidelines. I’ve remained highly impressed with our school district this academic year and just how well they’ve been able to adapt while keeping our kids and teachers safe. I hope that CPS can do the same for its students, teachers and staff.

Comment by EssentialWorkingMom Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 10:02 am
===Teachers have shown up to work everyday too. The fact that you think otherwise is, once again, telling===

Tell that to the lost generation of kids. There will be studies done when this all gets behind us of the devastating effects on kids because adults refused to to treat kids as essential. Across Illinois kids have been pawns in the games adults play. The vitriol between the Mayor and CTU is what caused all these delays.

Comment by Nagidam Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 10:04 am
== The amount of ire directed by some at a union trying to protect workers during a pandemic is…. telling. ==

I don’t know…I am as pro-union as anyone. I think CTU is right to have held out for this deal. They schooled the mayor, moving her miles away from the lines she drew in the sand. It’s annoying that instead of declaring victory they’re complaining about a deal they just signed. It would be like Bruce Arians spending his post Super Bowl press conference complaining about the field goals his defense gave up.

Comment by Roman Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 10:07 am
== Tell that to the Unions that support nurses, postal workers, commercial food workers, electricians, plumbers, public safety, and others that have shown up for work as an essential worker day in and day out this entire pandemic.==

Nurses, food workers, and public safety workers have also gone on strike over the last year…and teachers have been showing up to work too

Comment by SWIL_Voter Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 10:07 am
== Tell that to the lost generation of kids.==

Everybody lost 2020. Losing a year of education en masse is better than dying. We’re all picking up in 2021 as we can do it safely. The teachers fought to ensure safety

Comment by SWIL_Voter Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 10:10 am
“Tell that to the lost generation of kids.”

Hyperbole much? What’s ironic about this statement is that there actually is a lost generation - many generations - that have been grossly underserved by our school systems. The pandemic has created hardship for some that had not experienced it in the past and deepened the hardship that many see year after year.

Comment by Montrose Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 10:10 am
@ Nagidam

I think the inability of many adults to wear a mask and stay home in the middle of a global pandemic has objectively hurt the kids more than a Union trying to protect the safety of its members.

Comment by LP Skeptic Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 10:14 am
=The teachers fought to ensure safety=

Not accurate. Masking, social distancing, and sanitation practices were part of the return plan that CPS developed. They also invested in additional air filtration.

Vaccination is not essential to the safe return to work, iot certainbly makes it safer, but it isn’t part of the CDC requirement.

The overwhelming evidence (an understatement rather than hyperbole) is that when following masking, social distancing, and good sanitation schools have not been a source of COVID spread even as the virus raged through the communities.

Our experience mirrors what the CDC has found. We also found that staff were not following those same guidelines outside of work with fidelity.

Thats said, CPS’ inability to collaborate with CTU (regardless of who is at fault) is what led to this embarrassing chapter. Lightfoot should have stayed out of it given her total lack of expertise or experience in education. She has proven to be a poor leader.

Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 10:22 am
=== The teachers fought to ensure safety===

The teachers, with Gov. Pritzker blocking, used science to keep kids out of school. Back in March of 2020 that was a good thing as the world had no idea what this virus was about. A year later they are ignoring science and recommendation from the experts that know. I’m glad the kids are going back at some level but this is a failure all around.

Comment by Nagidam Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 10:26 am
If people didn’t think going out to eat, drinking in bars, partying, going out of state to play a sport, ect was a right we would be much better off. A lot of people want to have it both ways and complain about staying safe and healthy.

Comment by Publius Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 10:27 am
It was a solid agreement and will rightfully become a model for other teachers’ unions bargaining over school re-openings across the country.

The Mayor’s pre-bargaining position is best characterized as “no position” (well, masks and hand sanitizer and qualified social distancing are, I suppose, a “position”).

Lightfoot just didn’t seem to comprehend the nature of bargaining over safely re-opening schools at all. In consequence, she and the CPS negotiators made concessions which should have appeared on offer from the outset.

Sharkey isn’t charismatic but his job was to wrangle the best offer he could for the safety of all - teachers, staff, students and their families.

CTU has been characterized as a hyper-democratic union - not sure what that means, but the membership voted to go back, and that’s significant (although 80% of CPS students will continue remotely).

What was surprising was that the agreement only passed by 68% - this is an indication that there were issues which may not be obvious to those outside the system.

Comment by dbk Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 10:30 am
Adults prioritized opening bars and restaurants over schools.

Adults prioritized making a political statement by not wearing a mask over opening schools.

Adults prioritized holding large, maskless rallies over opening schools.

I don’t know what future studies will reveal.

But I know that there are a lot of people focused on a partisan argument originating from the Trump White House that seems designed to pit teachers as the enemy of our country.

Teachers teaching remotely is not ideal. But teachers never teaching again because they are dead is worse.

Meanwhile, millions of kids will never hug their grandparents because of this virus. Millions more will never know their grandparents because of this virus.

How many tens of thousands of children have lost a parent to this virus, and how many more to go?

Where is the right wing outpour of concern for all of the kids that have lost loved one to the pandemic, the worry for the impact that mass deaths have in our children?

Please, tell me again how important basketball and in-person PE classes are.

Comment by Thomas Paine Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 10:36 am
It will be interesting to watch Chicago numbers, especially in light of the recent Princeton study that showed children were key in spreading COVID-19. I hope Chicago got the timing right.

Comment by Stuff Happens Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 10:38 am
@JS Mill -

You are wrong.

First, the statements by the CDC were conditional on things like low levels of community spread, and other restrictions being in place on restaurants and bars.

Secondly, that science was based on an old strain of the virus. Indications now are that the new, highly transmissible mutants might require a different approach, placing us in the same boat we were a year ago.

Third, the White House Task Force is reviewing the CDC guidelines right now. Evidence suggests that there was pressure brought to bear by Trump and DeVos to force schools open. The old guidelines are no longer operational.

Fourth, how school reopening has gone in your particular school district is not relevant, unless your school district and the community it serves are just like the predominate schools in Chicago and the schools they serve.

Comment by Thomas Paine Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 10:46 am
== Not accurate.==

It’s accurate. The teachers that did return reported classrooms hadn’t been cleaned since they left. Inadequate PPE, lack of ventilation, no cleaning supplies. And 80% of parents continue to say it’s too soon to return. Everybody wants to quote the first 5 words of the CDC guidance while ignoring the preconditions for safe return which CPS wasnt meeting. No idea why people continue to lie about this

Comment by SWIL_Voter Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 10:47 am
=You are wrong.=

I beg to differ, and as a practitioner I n=know that my depth of knowledge and experience trumps “opinion”. Community spread was specifically mentioned in the statements that I read and have nothing to do with school spread if the proper protocols are followed as we have.

= The old guidelines are no longer operational.=

The guidance I speak of was issued in the past two weeks and based on data from the entire period.

You are correct that their are new strains of COVID, this is common when dealing with a virus, but there is no indication that although more transmissible, masks are any less effective. The mode of transmission has not changed.

=Fourth, how school reopening has gone in your particular school district is not relevant, unless your school district and the community it serves are just like the predominate schools in Chicago and the schools they serve.=

I am sorry, I usually enjoy your posts but this last bit is simply nonsensical.

We are a school district and enrollment is not relevant. Following social distancing, masking, and sanitation guidelines are relevant. Regardless of community. There is no science to support your assertion.

To an earlier point, DeVos and Trump had absolutely zero to do with our approach. We followed IDPH, County guidelines primarily. Honestly, if trump or DeVos stated the sky was blue I would assume it was not.

=The old guidelines are no longer operational.=

That is simply a false statement. While they are reviewing, guidelines from the state have evolved throughout the year (see return to sports). The CDC does influence the IDPH, but Illinois has gone its’ own way for better or worse.

With respect.

Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 11:11 am
This was a solid agreement that will rightfully be employed as guide/model for other large urban districts as they prepare to re-open.

Sharkey isn’t charismatic - he’s a wonk, not a people person - but he negotiated doggedly and the final agreement will make schools much safer than they would have been with “three masks and hand sanitizer,” which was basically what CPS came to the negotiating table offering.

Only 68% of the membership voted in favor, though, which suggests to me there are outstanding issues we may not fully appreciate.

Lightfoot’s negotiating team was unprepared, which was embarrassing for her administration.

Keeping in mind that only around 20% of CPS’ students plan to return to in-school classes over the next month, social distancing shouldn’t be too much of a problem (altho they’re going to have to combine classes; it’s a logistics nightmare).

Of course, the fact that restaurants are re-opening for limited indoor dining, and the B.1.1.7 variant, which is 40-70% more contagious, is lying in wait, it’s possible all this may have been in vain.

P.S. apologies if my previous post also manages to appear via cyberspace magic.

Comment by dbk Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 11:17 am
Again, returning teachers reported classrooms that hadn’t been cleaned, inadequate PPE, no cleaning supplies. 80% of parents continue to say it’s too early to return to in person. These are all conditions CDC say should be met before returning to in person instruction

Comment by SWIL_Voter Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 11:19 am
Just copy/paste the JS Mill @ 10:22 comment for any future discussions on the matter because it’s about as accurate and level-headed response you’re ever going to get on this.

Comment by City Zen Wednesday, Feb 10, 21 @ 11:22 am