CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Chicago Teachers Union said CPS is dragging its feet on implementing an agreement to get students and their families vaccinated.
Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said an agreement was reached with the Board of Education more than a month ago to get high school students and their families vaccinated.
"If the district doesn't do a better job getting vaccine out into the communities that we serve, we risk damaging the relationship between the working class communities, they are the bedrock constituencies of the public schools and our public school system," Sharkey said.
Mike Smith, a teacher at Englewood, joined Sharkey for a Zoom news conference. He said he was on his way to class and said he’d be surprised if 10 kids showed up.
"The rhetoric is that schools are open. Well, they are open, but no one is coming. Families are not ready to return to school," Smith said.
Mueze Bawany, a teacher at Roberto Clemente Community Academy, said he has been talking with those students, who have decided to return to classrooms.
"There's this definitive worry in our students who have come back and they said I've spoken with friends, I've spoken with family members and the issue for us is that it's not safe," he said.
The Chicago Teachers Union is pushing for a goal of vaccinating 80 percent of high school students and their families by August.
Related
