CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The head of the Chicago Teachers Union said the union will be at the bargaining table later Wednesday with Chicago Public Schools, but that it’s possible teachers might not return for in-person learning until the middle of the month.
CTU President Jesse Sharkey said his members have made it clear: teachers do not want to put themselves, their families, or their students at risk of contracting COVID during the current surge of cases.
“This action will be through the sooner of three things, either Jan. 18, the current surge subsides - that is that the rates go back down, or we get an agreement," Sharkey said.
Sharkey said CTU and CPS officials are scheduled to meet at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said the COVID surge has so badly hit the school system some classes are being forced to double and triple up, and that administrators, and even security guards, are being assigned to classrooms.
“Instruction isn’t happening. We are warehousing children in large spaces with warm bodies," she said.
The teachers union wants more testing to keep COVID out of school buildings as much as possible.
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The union staged a news conference Wednesday morning via Zoom.
Briana Hambright-Hall teaches as Park Manor Elementary School in Englewood. Before winter break, most of the school’s students were home on quarantine, because there had been so many cases of COVID at the school. Hambright-Hall said all teachers want to do is teach remotely until the current surge dies down.
“We’re not part of a union that’s trying to stop kids from going to school. All we’re asking is that we work in safe and fair conditions," she said.
Park Manor School parent Sonja Hammond said she believes teachers are trying to keep her children safe and her message to school officials is, “As long as they do not test our kids to keep them safe, I plan on keeping my kids home until it’s safe for them to return to school.”
On Tuesday night, 88 percent of the CTU's House of Delegates voted not to report to school buildings Wednesday. That was followed by a 73 percent vote by rank and file union members not to show up for in-person learning Wednesday.
As a result of the CTU vote, the Chicago Public School system canceled classes for the day.
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