CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The Chicago Teachers Union president on Wednesday expressed his continued frustration with a lack of COVID-19 safety measures in schools but he didn’t sound interested in a strike over the issue.
That, however, doesn’t mean the union is afraid to strike, CTU president Jesse Sharkey said during a press conference at Englewood Stem Academy.
"This is the thing that we're grappling with. We're trying to keep school safe. We want kids in school. We do," Sharkey said.
He then listed what he sees as failures within the Chicago Public Schools and problems with its leadership.
"Put kids in school under safe conditions. That's what's gonna allow people to stay safe. And you see the response: No safety agreement, rollback on safety procedures, a testing plan that was bungled, a contact tracing plan that was nonexistent, can't copy best practices on vaccination, can't copy best practices on student testing,” Sharkey said. “That's pitiful. They should be disappointed in that, disappointed in their own plan. We want to get a safety agreement. We want to add pressure to what it seems like the only language that they respond to is the language of force.”
Related
When someone from the crowd asked about striking, Sharkey responded, "Yeah, that's what I'm saying."
But Sharkey said the "s" word they're interested in now is safety.
In an effort to drive home the importance of safety, the president of the American Federal of Teachers joined him and other CTU leaders at Englewood Stem Academy for what was supposed to be a visit with students that didn’t happen.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the planned visit was blocked by the mayor and new Chicago Public Schools Supt. José Torres.
Weingarten questioned what they were hiding and said they need to be working together on safety.
"It's about vaccines. It's about wearing these damn masks. It's about making sure we have the layer of mitigation, including the testing. And it's about making sure these streets are safe and that when we get into schools, we have the nurses, the guidance counselors, the curriculum that we need to recover and for kids to thrive. The money is there. What's not there is an administration that wants to work with the teachers and the students to get this done. That is why we're standing outside instead of inside the school,” she said.
The CTU said they will continue fighting for better COVID-19 safety measures.
Related
