CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Mayor Lori Lightfoot is unmoved by requests from the Chicago Teachers Union to delay the planned opening of high schools in the city.
With new cases of COVID-19 on the rise, the Chicago Teachers Union is calling on the Mayor and CPS officials to delay the planned April 19 re-opening of the city’s high schools.
But, at an unrelated news conference the Mayor noted that the CTU negotiated a timetable for schools opening and the health conditions under which they would open or not.
"We are going to follow the plan. There is no basis for us to renegotiate that. The terms are ones that were agreed to by the CTU, just a matter of a few weeks ago. I see no basis for delay and it is my expectation that we are going to be opening up high schools as indicated by CPS," Lightfoot said.
"As part of that negotiation, in writing, we set forth a plan for when schools would reopen; but also if the conditions warranted, when we would close by classroom, by school, and by district."
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Despite some skepticism from the union, Mayor Lightfoot said she and CDPH officials see nothing in the numbers that would warrant a delay in getting high school students back into classrooms. So, she said, "we move forward."
Mayor Lightfoot has stressed that remote learning hasn’t worked well for many students, especially kids from low income families have fallen behind.