Video: Amanda Vinicky talks about the standoff between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union on “Chicago Tonight,” moments before CPS announced plans for Thursday.
For the second day in a row, Chicago Public Schools is telling the parents of pre-kindergarten and special education cluster program students to keep their kids at home Thursday as the district and Chicago Teachers Union have not yet reached agreement on a safe school reopening plan.
“Chicago Teachers Union leadership continues to direct their members who support pre-k and cluster programs to remain at home,” CPS said in a statement Wednesday night. “Therefore, we must ask parents to continue keeping your children home as we are unable to guarantee adequate staffing levels to cover in-person learning.”
CPS and union leaders remain at an impasse over a plan to safely reopen schools. Both sides have said progress has been made — on issues of mask wearing, ventilation and school cleanings — but larger demands from the CTU remain unresolved.
CTU leadership has directed staff to remain home tomorrow. Due to the union’s directive, we are unable to guarantee sufficient staffing to safely cover in-person learning, and parents should not send their children to school. Remote learning will continue tomorrow, Thurs., 1/28. pic.twitter.com/tOFqKD5O0Z
— Chicago Public Schools (@ChiPubSchools) January 28, 2021
Those include: access to vaccinations for educators, enforceable safety standards in schools and a more reliable health metric for deciding when to suspend in-person learning.
CPS has said its latest proposal addresses the bulk of these concerns. But a deal has still not yet been reached.
Beyond the pre-K and cluster students who returned to schools earlier this month, tens of thousands of elementary school kids are slated to resume in-person learning Monday. Despite the ongoing uncertainty with CTU, the district still fully intends to bring those students back on time.
Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431
