CHICAGO (AP) 鈥� Leaders of the nation鈥檚 third-largest school district canceled classes for a third consecutive day as heated negotiations continued with the Chicago Teachers Union over remote learning and other COVID-19 safety measures.
The union, , told teachers not to show up to schools starting Wednesday during the latest COVID-19 surge while both sides negotiate. The move from winter break prompted district officials to cancel classes each day for students in the roughly 350,000-student district during negotiations, saying there's no plan to return to districtwide remote instruction.
School districts nationwide the same pandemic issues, while ramping up virus testing, tweaking protocols and other adjustments in response to the shifting pandemic.
In a Thursday message to parents, Chicago leaders said classes would be canceled Friday but 鈥渋n-person learning and activities may be available at a small number of schools鈥� based on how many employees report to work. A small percentage of teachers, along with substitutes, have continued to come to schools during what the district has labeled an 鈥渋llegal work stoppage.鈥�
Some schools preemptively alerted parents earlier Thursday that they didn't have enough staff and wouldn't accept students aside from offering meal pickup in the largely low-income and Black and Latino district. The district said roughly 10% of about 21,620 teachers came to work Wednesday and by Thursday it was nearly 13%.
鈥淥ur schools are the best, safest place for students to be during this pandemic, and we are working tirelessly to get everyone back in class every day,鈥� Schools CEO Pedro Martinez said in a statement Thursday evening. 鈥淲e will continue working with CTU to resolve this situation and will provide you with ongoing updates as the week continues.鈥�
Chicago's school leaders have rejected a return to remote learning, saying it worsens racial inequities and is detrimental to academic performance, mental health and attendance. District officials have spent about $100 million on a safety plan, including air purifiers in classrooms.
There was little sign Thursday that either side was softening 鈥� the district and union both filed labor complaints with the state this week as negotiations continued. Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who has said the city is considering legal options to get teachers back in classrooms, issued a statement late Thursday saying negotiations went on most of the day and were 鈥減roductive from our perspective.鈥� The city has said that teachers who don't come to schools won't get paid. Issues on the table include more testing and metrics to trigger school closures.
The union has blasted the district for not doing enough, like botching a testing program and maintaining . They鈥檝e sought demands similar to a safety agreement put in place last year after a . However, the district says the pandemic is different now than a year ago and requires a different response, particularly since 91% of school staff is vaccinated.
Lightfoot accused the union of politicizing a pandemic, while the union's president, Jesse Sharkey, dubbed her 鈥淟ockout Lori," because teachers haven't been able to log into remote-learning systems since early Wednesday.
鈥淓nough is enough,鈥� Lightfoot said Thursday morning on MSNBC. 鈥淚鈥檓 tired of the Groundhog Day appearance of everything that goes on with the Chicago Teachers Union leadership. We need partnership, we don鈥檛 need conflict. 鈥�
Sharkey said Lightfoot is wrong to blame teachers.
鈥淲e have rights to safety and we鈥檝e been at the bargaining table for 20 months to secure those rights,鈥� he wrote in an email to the union's roughly 25,000 members. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 shifted the goal posts one bit; in fact, we鈥檝e been saying the same thing for months: Please, work WITH us to set up comprehensive testing, work with us to vaccinate students, and work with us to establish basic guard rails.鈥�
The district argued in a complaint to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board that the union鈥檚 actions are an illegal work stoppage, and sought a cease and desist order and a ban on future illegal strikes.
The union鈥檚 complaint argued members have a right to refuse 鈥渉azardous work assignments鈥� and accused the district of an illegal lockout by canceling classes and barring access to remote-teaching tools. It asked the board to order Chicago schools to allow remote instruction until a new safety agreement is reached.
It was unclear Thursday when the board may act, but the process could take weeks to play out. In December 2020, the board rejected the union鈥檚 request to block the district from resuming in-person instruction in January 2021.
The pattern was familiar for Chicago parents.
The teachers union has threatened to strike during contentious bargaining over school conditions for decades, and last walked off the job and . There was also a one-day work stoppage over unfair labor practices.
Attendance was low in schools earlier this week with thousands of students in quarantine related to COVID-19 cases and others opting to stay home to avoid exposure. The World Health Organization likened the explosion of COVID-19 CPS reported 433 student infections on Tuesday, its highest daily total, according to district data.
Still, many families were frustrated by having to again make last-minute arrangements and wondered whether being out of school longer might contribute to the spread.
鈥淚t鈥檚 almost contradictory because like now these kids and their parents have to find some activities for the children when they鈥檙e not in school and they鈥檙e with other kids en masse now," said parent Mary Bluma, who has two children in Chicago schools. "So it鈥檚 almost like, oh, there鈥檚 probably a better chance they鈥檙e going to spread COVID or, you know, get sick from other kids because now we鈥檙e not in a structured environment like a classroom where there are rules in place.鈥�
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This story has been corrected to show that Mary Bluma has two children.
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Associated Press writers Sara Burnett, Kathleen Foody and Don Babwin, and AP videographer Teresa Crawford contributed to this report.
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Sophia Tareen, The Associated Press
