CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago Teachers Union negotiators and Chicago Public Schools officials are still working to reach an agreement on reopening high schools for in-person instruction.
Students are scheduled to return to the classroom on April 19. Faculty and staff must return to school buildings on April 12.
But Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said the reopening should be delayed by a week while CTU leaders get for information about the surge of COVID cases in the city and the spread of more contagious variants of the virus.
"We need to answer those questions in order understand whether it's safe to open schools right now, especially high schools," Sharkey said during an early Wednesday morning virtual news conference.
Sharkey added that the biggest sticking point remains the schedule. The union would like to see two days of in-person instruction per week in order to maintain social distancing. He said the district is asking for four days of in-person instruction.
Sharkey said the union is asking to partner with the city to vaccinate CPS faculty, staff, high school students age 16 years and older, along with their families.
"Until we see some of those things in place, we do not yet think there's a reopening agreement we can endorse. Without a reopening agreement there's nothing else to say except we should delay the reopening of school until those things are in place," Sharkey said.
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