CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago Public Schools is set to cancel classes Wednesday if the teachers union votes to work remotely.
The Chicago Teachers Union is set to vote on whether or not they'll work remotely amid a surge in COVID- 19 cases. If the vote goes through, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said he'll have to cancel classes.
"It doesn’t mean that the schools will be closed," he said.
"The schools will be open, but I will have to cancel classes tomorrow because I have to be responsible and not knowing who's going to be showing up to the buildings".
Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady expressed concern over transitioning to long-term remote learning, explaining the virus isn't as severe in children.
"Especially if your child is vaccinated, this is behaving really like the flu and we don't close school districts, especially for extended periods of time for the flu," she said.
Arwady also said the spike in COVID cases in children has no correlation to the return to the classroom.
"Let me be very clear. That increased case diagnosis rate is not when children are in school," she explained. "It is because of holiday gatherings and the surge that we are in community."
The Teachers Union claims CPS isn’t doing enough to protect students and staff from the recent surge in coronavirus cases inside schools.
CPS sent its COVID safety proposal to the Chicago Teachers Union, which includes metrics on when to switch to remote learning and 200,000 K -95 masks for staff.
“I am still committed to coming up with an agreement with CTU,” said Martinez. “I think the approach we’re taking, we’re being responsive to the requests they’ve made, we’re trying to be practical for what makes the most sense for our district.”
In a tweet, the Chicago Teachers Union claims it received the proposal just minutes before Tuesday’s media briefing.
“We are meeting with the mayor's bargaining team today at 1:30. This counterproposal was shared with us eight minutes prior to this press conference. Before today, there had been silence from CPS bargaining since Dec. 30.”
The remote action vote is scheduled to take place between 6 - 9 p.m. Tuesday.
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