Chicago cancels classes after teachers back remote learning

Head of Chicago public schools Pedro Martinez

By SOPHIA TAREEN

Associated Press

Jan. 5, 2022 Updated 6:19 PM PT

CHICAGO — Chicago school leaders canceled classes Thursday for a second consecutive day after failing to reach agreement with the teachers union over COVID-19 safety protocols in the nation’s third-largest school district.

The Chicago Teachers Union sought to revert to remote instruction during the latest surge of infections and while both sides hammer out a deal. But Chicago Public Schools leaders have said remote learning didn’t work and schools can safely remain open with protocols in place.

The move to cancel classes and activities Thursday affects roughly 350,000 students and came after closed-door negotiations Wednesday failed to produce a deal. The issues include metrics for closing schools.

“We have no choice but to cancel classes tomorrow,” district CEO Pedro Martinez said at a Wednesday evening news conference.

Students returned to class Monday after a two-week winter break with COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations fueled by the Omicron variant at record levels.

School districts nationwide have grappled with the same issue, with most opting to stay open while ramping up virus testing, tweaking protocols and making other adjustments in response to the shifting pandemic. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, echoing President Biden a day earlier, said Wednesday that the country is better equipped now to make sure schools can safely open, “including in Chicago.”

Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said teachers don’t want to return to schools until the current coronavirus surge subsides.

“We’d rather be in our classes teaching, we’d rather have the schools open. What we are saying, though, is that right now we’re in the middle of a major surge, it is breaking all the records and hospitals are full,” he said during a Wednesday morning news conference with other union officials, teachers and parents.

The union’s action, approved by 73% of its members, called for remote instruction until “cases substantially subside” or union leaders approve an agreement for safety protocols with the district.

The district said early Tuesday that classes would be canceled Wednesday if the union voted not to return to in-person instruction. Devices were not distributed to students ahead of the union vote, which was announced just before 11 p.m. Tuesday. Union members who tried to log into teaching systems Wednesday said they were locked out.

District officials blamed the union for the late cancellation, saying that despite safety measures including a high teacher vaccination rate, “our teachers are not willing to report to work.”

“We are deeply concerned about this decision but even more concerned about its impact on the health, safety, and well-being of our students and families,” the district said in a statement.

Chicago Public Schools leaders said a plan would come later Wednesday to “continue student learning” in the district, where students are largely low-income and Black and Latino. School officials labeled the union action an “illegal work stoppage” and said those who did not report to schools Wednesday would not be compensated. Last year during a similar debate, the district punished teachers who did not come to school.

Keyonna Payton, a teacher at Park Manor Elementary School who also chairs its safety committee, said she taught remotely Monday and Tuesday because most of her students were at home under quarantine.

Payton said she is vaccinated and boosted, and she has a child who attends classes in the district who is also vaccinated, but she’s fearful of the Omicron variant spreading to her family, including her 91-year-old grandmother.

“I’m doing my part to try to protect my children. However, I am afraid of this virus and variant because of how fast it is moving and spreading,” she said during the Wednesday news conference.

Parent Danelda Craig, who spoke at the union’s news conference, said she was “taken aback” by the city public health commissioner’s suggestion that people could wear two masks to improve protection. Craig said most children struggle with one.

“We want them to go to school,” she said. “What we don’t want is COVID with it.”

In Illinois, masks are required in indoor settings, including schools. While some significantly smaller, neighboring school districts have returned or plan to return to class this week, others have temporarily returned to remote learning. Niles Township High School District 219 in Skokie, just north of Chicago, switched to remote learning for the first two weeks of January due to staffing shortages, while the Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 southwest of Chicago did so for one week, also due to staffing.

In Chicago, the district proposed guidelines for individual school closures, saying safety measures such as required masks, availability of vaccines and improved ventilation make schools among the safest places for kids to be. Roughly 100,000 students and 91% of the district’s more than 47,000 staffers are vaccinated, district officials say.

But the union, with roughly 25,000 members, has proposed metrics for districtwide closure, citing risks to students and teachers. A fierce battle took place last January over similar issues.

The district said it has provided 200,000 KN95 masks to teachers, would allow schools to resume daily health screening questions for students and building visitors, and would spell out metrics for closing individual schools.

Martinez, the district CEO, said buildings would remain open for “essential services” but not instruction. The district said food service and coronavirus testing would be available at schools but after-school activities would be canceled.

Associated Press writers Sara Burnett in Chicago and Rick Callahan in Indianapolis contributed to this report.