CHICAGO — Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez said Friday that classes are canceled Monday “until we get to some breakthrough in the negotiations” with the Chicago Teachers Union over COVID-19 safety protocols, though some individual schools may offer services and programs.
Martinez also said the district explored temporarily transitioning to remote learning amid the standoff with the union, but he worried the programs would not be of high quality.
“This is already so incredibly difficult for our families,” Martinez said Friday in an online discussion with community leaders. “For me to just increase the pressure on both the staff and our families to try to put up a program that we know the quality won’t be what we our children deserve, I just couldn’t do it.”
Martinez said Friday he is “cautiously optimistic that we’re making ground on the big issues” with the union and promised to negotiate through the weekend if necessary. Classes were canceled Friday across the district, but CPS officials said individual schools could reopen for in-person activities if enough staff was present. Many principals said that was not the case.
Administrators of some schools — including William H. Brown STEM Magnet School in the Near West Side neighborhood and Rufus M. Hitch Elementary School in Norwood Park — told parents to expect to hear from them Friday afternoon about Monday plans.
The principal of Kate Starr Kellogg Elementary School alerted families early Friday afternoon the Beverly school would not offer in-person or remote instruction Monday. Parents should not plan to send their children to school.
“I do not anticipate that we will have sufficient staffing for in person instruction until an agreement is made between CPS and CTU. I will send notification should anything change,” Principal Cory Overstreet wrote in a note to parents.
“All after-school programs, athletic practices, and other school events are also canceled. We hope to be able to welcome our students back to our school as soon as possible and will provide an update on our school’s plan for next week shortly.”
South Loop Elementary School and Whitney M. Young Magnet High School said Friday they will not be open for instruction or activities Monday, with Whitney Young Principal Joyce Kenner encouraging parents not to contact faculty or staff because they do not have access to their emails or virtual classrooms.
Steinmetz College Prep in the Belmont Central neighborhood canceled Monday classes as well “based on the expected staffing levels.” Lane Tech College Prep told parents it is planning to welcome students Monday, Wednesday and Friday for in-person “winter enrichment” activities such as basketball and college admission planning, if the district does not reach a deal with the union.
More than 100 school administrators, meanwhile, signed a letter Thursday saying they do not want to take on the “demoralizing task” of determining if their school has enough staff to teach students in person amid the ongoing omicron surge.
“This is a districtwide crisis and we need a districtwide strategy. It should not be an ad hoc reactionary response that creates inequities that are predictable among social and economic lines,” read a statement issued Thursday by the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, which said it had been signed by more than 100 principals and assistant principals as the in-person learning dispute continued.
CTU President Jesse Sharkey said in a statement that the union saw movement in negotiations Thursday, “more than we’ve seen in the last few months.”
But Sharkey said the union is sticking to its demands of a negative COVID-19 test result to return to buildings; a “massive increase” in the district’s in-school weekly testing program; and a shift to remote learning at any school where 20% or more of the staff is in isolation or quarantine, or when the school’s safety committee decides a transition is necessary.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office said Friday he has asked President Joe Biden’s administration for more COVID-19 testing kits for CPS. A district at-home testing program over winter break was a bust.
In a statement Thursday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said bargaining with the union started at noon Thursday and lasted into the evening. She and CPS CEO Pedro Martinez “found the sessions productive from our perspective.” Negotiations are expected to continue Friday afternoon.
The Chicago Principals and Administrators Association said principals were informed Wednesday morning that schools would be closed Thursday and Friday, and that remote learning or a hybrid mix of in-person and virtual learning could start Monday based on capacity. Students would return to buildings for full-time, in-person learning starting Jan. 18, which aligns with the measure the teachers union approved this week.
The principals group said administrators were “blindsided” Wednesday night when CPS said that some schools could open Friday if the principals decided to do so.
“As school principals, we have been doing what seems like impossible work and holding it together for our students, parents, and staff members who are already exhausted. We opened schools on Monday and Tuesday of this week with the staff we had and taught classes ourselves to ensure that instruction would continue for our students,” the statement read.
“To tell principals schools would be closed this week, and then blindside us just a few hours later with a public statement that principals will decide to either open or close our schools on Friday is offensive and unsafe. It removes district management from the responsibility of making and explaining difficult decisions on school reopening and puts principals right in the line of fire.”
Students attended school Monday and Tuesday before the union voted to refuse in-person work from Wednesday until Jan. 18 unless CPS stepped up its approach to COVID-19. CPS and city health officials have repeatedly said the protocols in place, such as indoor masking, weekly testing and prompt contact tracing, are good enough.
The district reported 840 new student COVID-19 cases and 647 new adult infections from Monday through Wednesday. The district reported nearly 1,000 new cases — its largest weekly total of 2021 — as students and staff members headed into their two-week winter break last month and the highly transmissible omicron variant made its presence known in Chicago.
On Thursday, the district did not follow its standard practice of reporting the number of students and staff members in quarantine or isolation on its online, public dashboard. There were 9,000 students and a record 2,300 staff members in quarantine or isolation Wednesday evening, according to district data.
The district said about 13% of CTU teachers and around 16% of substitute teachers showed up for work Thursday. Staff members who don’t come to buildings don’t get paid, the district said. Some teachers reported being locked out of their virtual classrooms after Tuesday’s union vote.
English teacher Fannetta Jones said she tried to log into the district system early Wednesday but was unsuccessful. The lack of access creates a barrier between her and her students, she said.
“When we voted, we voted to teach remotely, not to stop working completely,” Jones said. “We want to teach and not lose any more time than we’ve lost within the space of this pandemic.”
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(The Chicago Tribune’s Jeremy Gorner contributed to this story.)
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