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Chicago schools reopening after agreement reached

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A proposal for Chicago Public Schools to resume in-person classes Wednesday has been approved by the Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates following a contentious weeklong standoff.

The delegates also voted Monday night to suspend the union’s work action that saw teachers refuse to give their lessons in person, prompting the cancellation of the last four school days. There will be no Tuesday classes though teachers will report to schools for planning.

In addition to a return to in-person teaching Wednesday, the plan the House of Delegates approved will set conditions by which an individual school would return to remote learning, determined by the rate of staff absences and students in quarantine or isolation, as well as whether it’s during a period of high community COVID-19 transmission, where a lower threshold would apply.

* Sun-Times…

CPS didn’t offer to reinstate a threshold for district-wide school closures and didn’t agree to an opt-out testing program, two of the union’s most prominent demands. The district also didn’t agree to return to classrooms Jan. 18 as the union had planned.

But officials did offer to increase testing at all schools to at least 10% of their student population. Students registered for testing would be randomly selected each week. All staff would be offered testing this week.

Though the district stuck with an opt-in testing program, it committed to working with the CTU to increase student testing and vaccination to 100% by Feb. 1. CPS would establish phone banks where staff would help call parents. About 20% of students are signed up for testing.

When it came to individual school closures, CPS compromised with the CTU and agreed to shut down a building for at least five days if 30% or more of its teachers are absent for two consecutive days because of positive cases or quarantines, and if substitutes can’t get the absences under 25%. A school would also close if 40% of its students were quarantining.

* WBEZ…

The two sides have been meeting regularly since the last safety agreement expired this summer. Lightfoot said this week that those meetings show her team was intent on reaching an agreement, but that the union was not being responsive.

However, even CPS CEO Pedro Martinez admitted that it only became clear a safety agreement was needed as COVID-19 cases surged.

* The outside pressure was also increasing, including from the national union leader…

President Joe Biden’s administration urged Chicago’s mayor and teachers union to strike a deal to return children to classrooms as the high-profile dispute undercuts his push to keep schools open across the nation.

“The president’s been very clear, as we have been clear: We are on the side of schools being open,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday, asked about the standoff in Chicago. “We will continue to be in touch with local leaders in Chicago to work to get their schools open.” […]

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the umbrella union for Chicago teachers, has been urging schools to safely reopen and said this weekend she was “frustrated” by the situation in Chicago.

Referring to Lightfoot, Weingarten said on MSNBC Sunday: “You know how to run this city, get us the testing, the governor has given us that testing, get it into schools on Monday and I bet if you get that into schools on Monday, we’re going to have schools open this week.”

…Adding… More from Weingarten…

“Last year at this time, you had 40 percent of the schools opened during that surge,” Weingarten told me on Sunday. “This year at this time you have 96 percent.”

Chicago, Weingarten insists, is an anomaly. The city “looms very large, as it always does, but it is one district in which there was a teacher-union-called job action,” she said. “There are plenty of places where teachers are concerned and where there’s groups within school districts that are calling for sickouts. But in terms of my union, there’s no organized effort to do that. In fact it’s quite the opposite.”

* Related…

* Schools shutdown revives questions about where Chicago is spending its COVID-19 relief money

* IL GOP condemn Pritzker, Democratic party amid CPS battle with CTU: Gary Rabine, an entrepreneur, says if he were governor, he would take on the CTU. “I believe JB is afraid of the consequences of maybe upsetting these unions for political reasons,” Rabine said. “For the sake of our kids, for the sake of the mental and emotional health of our kids, you’ve got to step up as a leader.”

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 9:26 am

Comments

Gary Rabine sounds like a typical bully/coward.

I really wish all the actual grownups would just admit they do not know what they are doing, but they’re trying to do what’s best for the students/teachers/school staff.

Comment by Cheryl44 Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 9:32 am
Look, we all dislike Bailey, but we gotta admit that his ad got results.

Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 9:33 am
ILGOP gonna blunder into a new Rauner-esque anti-union platform and I’m gonna laugh.

Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 9:38 am
I’m pretty skeptical of CTU - meaning, I’m not convinced that CTU leadership is trying to do what is best for students/teachers/school staff. I follow this reasonably closely as my kid is a CPS teacher…and I lean towards the view that “almost” everything CTU does is driven by a political agenda that is anti-Lightfoot and pro-Preckwinkle - and/or simply as a vehicle to advance the political career of Davis-Gates.

To be clear, not defending LL in these sagas. She has played into their hands everytime, making things worse with her rhetoric.

Comment by WestBurbs Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 9:40 am
Lightfoot gives props to the role of parents in getting the union to deal.

“We’ve got an enormous amount of parent activism. They are writing letters, emails, they are protesting, they are holding press conferences,” Lightfoot said. “This walkout by the teacher’s union, which is illegal, has had cascading ripple effects not only on the students in their learning and their social and emotional welfare but also on the families”

Comment by Donnie Elgin Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 9:46 am
LL is a one term mayor. That’s all I’ve learned from this latest dust up.

Comment by MaddyMoon Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 9:56 am
The criticism of CTU having a political agenda is pretty laughable when you consider all the good it would do both CPS staff and students to have a new mayor as soon as possible.

Comment by DrurysMissingClock Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 10:14 am
The typical bullies are Jessie Sharkey and the radicals who run CTU. Even The NY Times calls them an outlier.

They place their political agenda above their obligations to Chicago families and their children.

The testing results, increased crime among teenagers and declines in enrollment speak for themselves

Comment by Lucky Pierre Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 10:34 am
Bottom line here is that I really hope there’s a vaccine mandate and proof of that vaccination firmly in place for students by the Fall, and, yes, lightfoot needs to go. But we don’t need Stacey either.

Comment by PublicServant Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 10:34 am
== The outside pressure was also increasing ==

I think that is the best explanation of what appears to be an uncharacteristic backdown by CTU. Sharkey and Davis-Gates were trashing their own agreement in their presser last night.

You can connect the dots…Biden calls Weingarten and expresses concern about the potential political damage to Dems from school closures…Weingarten calls Sharkey. Seems the Biden team shares the concerns pollster Brian Stryker expressed about this being a political problem beyond Chicago’s city lines.

Comment by Roman Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 10:46 am
They (CTU and MLL) put parents and kids through the wringer for a little more testing and what? Both sides in this are pathetic

Annotated quote:

“We’ve got an enormous amount of parent activism. They are writing [me] letters, emails, they are protesting [me], they are holding press conferences [slamming me],” Lightfoot said.

Comment by Joe Bidenopolous Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 11:02 am
===You can connect the dots

Just as easily connect the dots to the work stoppage being legally dubious seems more likely.

What I’m baffled at is the criticism of the union in this particular case. Everything they asked for in this case should have been done by CPS previously with the exception of the asynchronous/no simultaneous instruction demand.

1) Masks
2) Ventilation improvements
3) Opt-out testing which is only controversial to LL
4) standard for transition to remote and back

How is CPS not doing these things already?

Comment by ArchPundit Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 11:02 am
One day maybe the Parents and the funders of this group will get to make the demands. Until that day, they’ll just have to stand for a horribly substandard school system with leadership that doesn’t understand the concept of leadership. Kids continue to suffer at $27K/per. Simply amazing.

Comment by A Guy Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 11:07 am
CTU asked for things no other teachers Union in the country asked for.

Why should all schools be forced into virtual learning for an outbreak in a few areas?

Comment by Lucky Pierre Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 11:10 am
We actually asked for things practically every large school district has. For example NYC, LA and other similar sized districts required a negative Covid test before returning from break. NYC has been flipping schools to remote all year as needed. In CPS we had schools with no students present due to Covid but still open. Contact tracing has been abysmal. Hate that I had to give up four days of pay and take so much abuse but would do it again in a heartbeat.

Comment by Common Sense Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 11:34 am
== Just as easily connect the dots to the work stoppage being legally dubious seems more likely. ==

Certainly possible. There is a state labor law that protects workers who refuse to show up at an “unsafe” workplace, but if their attorneys thought they were going to lose in court that would explain CTU’s backdown as well. Something changed their posture.

Comment by Roman Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 11:41 am
==CTU asked for things no other teachers Union in the country asked for.

What specific demand is different from other unions? Perhaps the asynchronous learning, but anything else?

Testing—many other school systems have an effective testing regime. Opt out is standard in many districts.

Clear metrics for remote vs in person learning–plenty of places have this.

Ventilation improvements have been done in many districts more than the CPS’ effort at providing small air purifiers.

Contact tracing–not unique.

So again LP, what was unique about the demands?

Comment by ArchPundit Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 11:51 am
I think the outside pressure was a huge factor in CTU conceding on points that were seen as bottom line. From a deal standpoint, Lightfoot “won.”

The problem for Lightfoot politically is that voters can’t show their frustration with dysfunctional schools by voting against Sharkey, but they certainly can vote against Lightfoot. Mayor Lightfoot = Instability is the message voters are getting over and over.

Comment by Montrose Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 11:53 am
==Something changed their posture. ==

Anecdotally, I heard a lot more “pox on both their houses” than I did during CTU’s last two labor actions. Parents (*waves*) *hate* remote learning.

Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 12:17 pm
If Stacey Gates is thinking of running for local office, the only way she gets my vote if the opponent is Catanzara.

Comment by Original Rambler Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 1:03 pm
=Mayor Lightfoot = Instability is the message voters are getting over and over.=

A recurring theme it seems. Whether you agree or disagree with Lightfoot on any particular issue her confrontational approach could be wearing thin.

Comment by Pundent Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 1:14 pm
What was different about CTU?

They were the only district in the country that walked off the job.

Why are they the only outliers who disregard public health experts and White House guidance from a supportive administration?

Comment by Lucky Pierre Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 1:26 pm
@Montrose is right. Lightfoot won the battle but is losing the war. Successful big city mayors are problem solvers. She tends to make problems worse. She actually said yesterday no one saw this action by CTU coming. It was as predictable as snow in January. If you can’t anticipate a problem as big as a school shutdown when it’s developing in plane sight, you’ve failed as mayor.

Comment by Mischievous Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 1:32 pm
Commonsense — the point you bury/ignore is the district wide shift to remote - not the NY model of “NYC has been flipping schools to remote all year as needed.” I’m not saying LL would have agreed to that or what metric would be required. But demanding the entire district go remote was the primary rallying cry of CTU - and the least likely to succeed. A targeted approach - based, perhaps, on vax rates - might have worked. But too much nuance for JS and SDG.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 1:52 pm
Is Tom DeVore still running for judge? He has a FB post on the Chicago schools situation today saying he hopes to live to see the day that all public education is dismantled and replaced by a private system.

Even in ruby-red Southern Illinois, does abolishing all public schools poll well?

Comment by hisgirlfriday Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 3:29 pm
===They were the only district in the country that walked off the job

So none of the things they asked for were different from others around the country? Thanks for clarifying.

====Why are they the only outliers who disregard public health experts and White House guidance from a supportive administration?

Except the specific items of concern that all match CDC recommendations. Claiming that everything is okay because of the CDC guidelines when you aren’t even meeting those guidelines is kind of pointless.

Comment by ArchPundit Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 7:16 pm
===. A targeted approach - based, perhaps, on vax rates - might have worked. But too much nuance for JS and SDG.

The immediate ask was for the current spike-which is very high and would meet the criteria they proposed by zip code in all zip codes. The union was okay with targeted flip to remote, but every school would meet the remote standards right now. So while you can quibble over the best unit for the criteria–school/zip etc–the union was fine with targeted flip to remote decisions.

Comment by ArchPundit Tuesday, Jan 11, 22 @ 7:22 pm