Chicago Public Schools teachers return to classrooms as CTU calls for more COVID protections
By Diane Pathieu
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CHICAGO (WLS) — Chicago Public Schools teachers returned to the classroom Monday to prepare for the coming school year as their union calls for more COVID protections.
Students will join teachers back in classrooms next week.
In a morning news conference, Chicago Teachers Union members said it’s still not safe to go back to the classroom with students and staff as the delta variant continues to spread.
“We’re excited to be returning to our schools,” said Erica Johnson, teacher at Fulton Middle School. “At the same time, we’ve landed only about 25% of the safety agreement we had in place last spring when we reopened, including keeping our critically important safety committees. But we have a long way to go.”
Some CTU members said with the variant effecting so many young children that cannot be vaccinated yet, bringing everyone back inside buildings creates an unsafe working and learning environment.
“We had a commitment that if transmission got to dangerous levels, the schools would be put on pause,” said CTU President Jesse Sharkey. “The state mandate allows that to happen, but we have no commitment on the part of the mayor.”
The CTU is calling on the mayor to create what they consider a safe and stable plan for schoolchildren and in-person learning.
“I need CPS to tell me the protocol and their plans they have in place for students who get exposed to COVID-19 or the delta variant,” said CPS parent and teacher Kimberly Walls-Kirk. “For students who get sick, what will my child do in her class has to quarantine? What will her learning look like? As a mother, I am concerned that CPS at the moment does not have a plan to improve remote instruction in cases where the entire class needs to quarantine.”
CTU members said a group of local aldermen and state legislators wrote to Mayor Lori Lightfoot urging her to create a safety agreement before school officially starts next week.
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