CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The dispute over the return to in-person learning scheduled next month in Chicago Public Schools could come to a head this week.
The Chicago Teachers Union has gone to court over the CPS plan to return to in-person education as early as Jan. 11.
A court hearing to halt the district’s reopening plan is scheduled for Thursday, the day before CPS plans to send parents classroom assignments if they’ve opted for in-person learning for their children.
Last week, the Chicago Teachers Union filed a motion for an injunction with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board over the reopening plan that would have students in pre-kindergarten and moderate to severe special education clusters programs return Jan. 11. Other students in kindergarten through sixth grade, and most seventh and eighth graders, would start a hybrid model on Feb. 1.
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The CTU said it’s not safe enough to return to in-person learning. The union is proposing the district only reopen buildings when the citywide positivity rate is below 3 percent. The CTU also wants neighborhood schools to be shut down if the positivity rate in their zip code surpasses 3 percent. As of Tuesday, the city’s positivity rate was 12.3 percent.
The Chicago Board of Education is also set to vote on a plan that would extend its emergency COVID-19 spending authorization until March, allowing the district to take on costs tied to the pandemic without the usual approval process.