CHICAGO — After days of voting on whether to launch a collective action to remain remote, the Chicago Teachers Union announced Sunday its members “overwhelmingly” chose to conduct only remote work beginning Monday.
That’s when teachers and school staff who are in the second wave of the Chicago Public Schools reopening plan were to begin reporting to school to prepare for Feb. 1, when some of the district’s 70,000 elementary school students are to return for their first in-person classes since schools closed in March.
After word about the vote results began circulating on social media Sunday, district officials put out a statement saying the negotiations aren’t over yet.
“To ensure we have the time needed to resolve our discussions without risking disruption to student learning, we have agreed to a request from CTU leadership to push back the return of K-8 teachers and staff to Wednesday, Jan. 27,” it said.
And although more than 70% of the rank-and-file members voted to continue teaching remotely, the two sides remain at the bargaining table in hopes of reaching an agreement that will allow the families who opted for in-person learning to send their children back to elementary schools Feb. 1.
“The scheduled return date for students in grades K-8 remains Monday, Feb. 1, and it is our goal to reach an agreement with CTU as soon as possible to ensure tens of thousands of additional students have the opportunity to safely return to our classrooms,” the school district statement said.
Sources with the union said they anticipated the district announcement suggesting class will happen on Feb. 1 no matter what. They reiterated union members did not vote for a work stoppage and will not stop working, but they voted to work remotely.
They will not go back to schools until they feel it is safe, and urge CPS to come up with health metrics for when a school should be closed and to take the idea of synchronous teaching — a teacher having to teach both in-person and remote students simultaneously — off the table. As of Sunday afternoon, the district hadn’t budged on those two items, sources said.
