Name: Teachers union wants to delay high school reopening, but Mayor Lori Lightfoot counters there’s ‘no basis’ for waiting despite rise in city COVID-19 cases
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Teachers union wants to delay high school reopening, but Mayor Lori Lightfoot counters there’s ‘no basis’ for waiting despite rise in city COVID-19 cases

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AdvertisementBy Chicago TribuneApr 07, 2021 at 12:28 pmThe Chicago Teachers Union is asking Chicago Public Schools to delay reopening high schools and provide vaccines to eligible students and families, even as the two sides attempt to negotiate an agreement to bring high school students back this month.CPS has set a target return date of April 19 for high school students, who have been learning remotely for more than a year. That date marks the beginning of the district’s fourth academic quarter and is also when more elementary students will be able to resume in-person classes.AdvertisementSince preschool, elementary and special education students started returning under an agreement with the CTU in February, fewer than a quarter of eligible students have attended class in person at least once, according to data CPS released last month. Yet roughly 46% of younger students and 36% of high school students .Referencing newer COVID-19 variants and increasing case counts in cities including Chicago, CTU President Jesse Sharkey said that the union is concerned about the virus’ spread and wants CPS to hold off on bringing more students in.Advertisement“We have asked the district to delay reopening school for students by a week in order to bargain with us about a safe return, in order to make sure we are not in fact at the very opening stages of a dangerous surge,” he said.Wednesday morning, CPS and city officials expressed frustration with the union and reinforced their return date.“CPS and CTU leadership agreed weeks ago that high school students should have the opportunity to return to their classrooms on April 19, and that remains our plan,” said district spokesman James Gherardi. “While our discussions with CTU have been productive, it is disheartening to see yet again that CTU is choosing to create uncertainty for families and their own members when they know and privately agree that our high schools are safe and prepared to open.”At an unrelated news conference, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she sees “no basis” to delay reopening.“As you know, we went through a very protracted but ultimately successful negotiation with the CTU to reopen schools pre-K through 8. As part of that negotiation, in writing, we set forth a plan for when schools would open but also, if the conditions warranted, when we would close by classroom, by school, and by district,” Lightfoot said. “That’s already baked into the plan so we’re going to follow the plan. There’s no basis for us to renegotiate that. The terms are ones that were agreed to by the CTU (a few weeks ago). I see no basis for delay and it’s my expectation we will open high schools as indicated by CPS.”Under the agreement for elementary schools, the district would revert to remote learning for 14 days if the city’s seven-day average test positivity rate increases for seven consecutive days, the rate for all seven consecutive days is at least 15% higher than the prior week, and the current day’s positivity rate is at least 10%. The district would remain closed longer than 14 days if those three criteria remained true.The elementary framework also requires CPS and CTU to work out a plan for high schools, but educators say the existing framework is proving difficult to enforce, describing broken health screeners and staffing issues. The potential for another agreement does not mean an end is in sight, and Sharkey said he foresaw more points of tension around the start of next school year and a significant number of students continuing to stay home.“We’re in a different bargaining situation than one we’ve ever been in. ... It’s continuous bargaining,” Sharkey said during a negotiations update late Tuesday, noting the union and CPS reached an agreement through bargaining for the resumption of in-person classes for prekindergarten through eighth grade, “and now we’re bargaining reopening the high schools.”Advertisement“But,” he added, “this is only the latest crisis point ... in what’s going to be a whole series of these issues.”The union’s latest push implores the district to provide vaccines for high school students and their relatives, using schools as vaccination sites. Four schools have been used for the district’s staff vaccination program, through which at least 7,800 employees had received first doses as of Wednesday. District officials have said they are working with the city health department on a plan to offer vaccines to students 16 and older.“They need to start doing it right away, now, yesterday, last week,” Sharkey said Wednesday morning.“I do think the people in the city who are the most vulnerable were put in a situation where they had to vote with their feet and not opt in,” Sharkey said. “If we’re going to say we want people back in our buildings, and we want them safe, it’s a duty for us to make sure we have programs available that allow people to do that.”Union representatives also detailed some of their outstanding demands, including improvements to remote learning, modified high school schedules, allowing educators to work remotely if they don’t have students in person, and remote work accommodations for members with medical conditions or medically vulnerable family members.CTU lawyer Thad Goodchild said the district confirmed this week that all pregnant and nursing members would have their telework requests approved for the fourth quarter, but that eligibility would likely narrow from the third quarter because so many educators have been getting vaccines.AdvertisementThe union framed its concerns with a statement issued Tuesday: “COVID cases are again going up in Chicago and across the nation. Yet Mayor Lightfoot has held off on vaccinating residents aged 16 and up, even as the state has opened up vaccinations for young people, the age group currently most impacting COVID spread and infection. At the same time, national health experts are about the push to reopen schools, bars and other businesses as new variants drive a spike in cases.”Lightfoot said Tuesday that , but called for more vaccines to be provided to the city. Vaccines are now available to everyone 16 and older in more than .Also Tuesday, Illinois officials of COVID-19 and 13 deaths. Based on a seven-day rolling average, Chicago’s daily case count was 606 and the city’s positivity rate was 5.2%, up from 4.4% a week ago.Sharkey also noted the more complicated scheduling challenges that come with reopening high schools.“I think that one of the biggest issues that we’ve been bargaining about is the question of high school schedules,” Sharkey said. “It’s very difficult to put high school students in pods. The way to keep people safe is to ensure social distancing, and the best way to do that is to make sure there aren’t many students coming back to school on a given day.”Sharkey said he anticipates most high schools will begin with a hybrid schedule, where students two days per week are in school, similar to the model in use at most elementary schools.AdvertisementAt , Deputy Chief of High Schools Erick Pruitt presented three primary models for high schools to follow, depending on enrollment, the percentage of students opting in and the building’s capacity for social distancing. He said that each school’s model should keep its current schedule and allow students to stick with their teachers.One model would have each student in person four days a week; the second would be two days a week, with two shifts of students; and the third would have each group of students in person only one day a week.Sharkey said the district had informed the union that no schools would be following the one-day model, and questioned whether that was right.Ashley Kiddle, a teacher at Roberto Clemente Community Academy, said members are still trying to bargain over allowing staff to work remotely on days they don’t have students in person.“We’ve been talking about the need to limit exposure for adults and children. ... There’s no need to have all of the staff in the building,” Kiddle said.Taft High School teacher Eden McCauslin likened the district’s plan for in-person instruction to “babysitting” and predicted that by June, many teachers would face empty classrooms because “students are not going to be interested in any of these models. They are not conducive to learning.”Advertisement“We all recognize this is the next logical step. We need to be opening up the high schools,” McCauslin said. “We need to do this in a smart way and not waste anybody’s time.”The district’s reliance on miscellaneous workers to fill staffing holes is a problem, said CTU recording secretary Christel Williams-Hayes.Williams-Hayes said the union is interested in helping and organizing these employees, who are typically paid $15 an hour and are not eligible for benefits.“Miscellaneous workers should not be a replacement for school clerks. Miscellaneous workers should not be a replacement for teacher assistants or student advocacy — any position that is in a job category in our contract,” Williams-Hayes.Sharkey said the union is committed to getting ideas from members about what supports they need, bringing those to the bargaining table. Absent an agreement, he said, the union is prepared “to be escalating actions” and applying pressure to CPS and the Chicago Board of Education.As for whether the district could proceed with high school reopening without the union on board, Sharkey said, “They can do it. ... They’ve done it in the past. But in order for it to go well, there needs to be an agreement.”AdvertisementHe added: “We hope there’s an agreement that addresses the things that we’re raising, and if there’s not, we’re going to talk to members. ... If it comes to people not being wiling to go in, that’s not something I can predict in advance, but I will say that I was hoping to not be back here, since we were just here a couple months ago.”Key developments since the parties agreed on the framework for elementary schools include expanding vaccine eligibility and the restoration of CTU’s collective bargaining rights. Last month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law that repealed a section of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act .The union still has pending unfair labor practice charges stemming from the district’s unilateral decisions over the past year, Goodchild said.“CPS’ defense in those cases was, we don’t need to bargain with CTU about that,” Goodchild said. “That was a tenuous claim from the outset and the response that you saw from the state legislature and governor was to change the law.”Now, bargaining rights restored, Goodchild said the union is looking for “collaboration and cooperation that will stem the sort of acrimony that we’ve had.”Once again, negotiations are expected to continue over the weekend.Advertisementhleone@chicagotribune.comgpratt@chicagotribune.com Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Chicago TribuneApr 07, 2021 at 12:28 pmThe Chicago Teachers Union is asking Chicago Public Schools to delay reopening high schools and provide vaccines to eligible students and families, even as the two sides attempt to negotiate an agreement to bring high school students back this month.CPS has set a target return date of April 19 for high school students, who have been learning remotely for more than a year. That date marks the beginning of the district’s fourth academic quarter and is also when more elementary students will be able to resume in-person...

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Teachers union wants to delay high school reopening, but Mayor Lori Lightfoot counters there’s ‘no basis’ for waiting despite rise in city COVID-19 cases

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