Several City Colleges of Chicago teachers and employees Tuesday demanded stricter COVID-19 policies and called on the school system to expand its on-campus coronavirus testing programs.
The Cook County College Teachers Union and The Federation of College Clerical & Technical Personnel also asked that officials not cut back its vaccination clinics.
“This is not the time to scale back on vaccination sites at city colleges,” Cook County College Teachers Union President Tony Johnston said at the City Colleges board meeting at Harold Washington College.
Five of the seven city college schools — Kennedy-King, Olive-Harvey, Malcolm X, Daley, and Wright — are in zip codes with less than a 50% vaccination rate, Johnston pointed.
Vaccination has been available at all seven schools. However, coronavirus testing is only available in five of of the system’s schools and should be available at all seven, Johnston said. Johnston did not say which two schools lacked testing and officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
City Colleges should have a goal of reaching 80% vaccination rates by Oct. 1, which means vaccines should be offered an even greater rate than before, Johnston said.
The unions demanded that all staff and students, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks while indoors until the campuses have reached that vaccination goal.
Currently, masks are optional for those who are vaccinated, but vaccinated individuals can spread the virus without symptoms, according to Dr. Howard Erhman, a clinical assistant professor of public health at the University of Illinois Chicago.
“Masks everywhere is the only policy that CCC should adopt. You cannot know whenever somebody comes to the building who has the vaccine or not,” said Erhman, who was at Tuesday’s meeting.
The unions also asked the administration to hire experts to test ventilation systems at the City Colleges’ schools and make sure that six fresh air changes per hour occur.
Union members also asked for more sanitary conditions, as many noted there have been ceiling leaks and evidence of mice throughout the campuses, according to Audrey Butler, executive vice president of the Federation of College Clerical and Technical Personal Local 1708.
In addition to mice droppings, rodents have bit through union t-shirts and a dead mouse was found in front of a staff refrigerator, Butler said.
College Bursar Assistant III Melanie Allison said, “It’s not that we don’t want to work, it’s that we want to be at work safely.”
While the board did not respond directly to the unions’ concerns, City Colleges of Chicago Chancellor Juan Salgado said officials will continue to offer vaccines throughout the fall and will spend the next year making sure everyone feels safe.
“We are going to make city college stronger and more responsive to our communities needs,” Salgado said at the meeting.
