Chicago school board to teachers: take it or leave it

Chicago Public Schools, the nation’s third largest, has been grappling like the rest of the U.S. in how, and when, to reopen schools, Facing the usual discussions of transmission and safety, the school board has been locked in a series of discussions with the Chicago Teachers Union, and the frustration in reaching an agreement to protect the safety of teachers, and their families has reached a stalemate with the school officials over how this can be done.

While Superintendent Dr. Janice Jackson has expressed her desire to reopen the schools from K through 12; after some pre-K and special education students recently returned to the classrooms, no more than 3,000 showed up on any given day, reported The Chicago Sun-Times; fearing faulty ventilation, and less than adequate sanitation, problems that have beset many schools before the Covid pandemic, and now continues, worsening a condition and creating a roadblock in negotiations.

Jan. 25 was the date that general K-8 students are expected to resume in person instruction, but as we've seen the possibility that teachers will be in their classrooms seems remote at best. and over the weekend, beginning on Friday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, "Chicago Teachers Union members narrowly voted to defy Chicago Public Schools’ reopening plans and continue working from home Monday because of health and safety concerns."

Dr. Janice Jackson

While there is scant evidence of child to child transmission, there is ample evidence of child to adult transmission; and, especially for those that have pre existing health conditions, there are also many parents not confident with school safety, and who are caring for the elderly, or the immunocompromised, and are growing increasingly anxious.

This group is joining many teachers who are managing their own pre-existing health conditions, or those caring for, or living with, elderly relatives, a group that is especially vulnerable to death from Covid 19.

In anticipation of the struggle Jackson has set a new day for the general return, now next Wednesday. In previous conversations and meetings, Jackson has said that she wants compromise, but there has been little of her efforts to clearly establish that goal, and her public speech is focused solely on in person learning.

CTU president Jesse Sharkey has said that conversations improved last week, but that alone seems to have not been enough, and he added that central to the union’s concerns are the 87 teachers who did not report to school; and, were subsequently locked out of remote teaching by the District, and have not been paid.

Mr. Sharkey

Jackson seems, her critics say, intent on punishing those teachers by corralling the rest into submission, without looking at their concerns; a move that can easily lead to another strike, which would be the second in the administration of Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Beginning last Thursday 25,000 teachers met to decide whether to strike. 

 

ABC Eyewitness News has reported that “The Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates passed a resolution Wednesday allowing all members to only work remotely”, and ”The measure will go to all members for an electronic vote on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.”

Somewhat dismissively, Jackson noted in a by now infamous roundtable meeting last Tuesday: “A lot has been made about resistance to coming to work this week”, but quickly added “that doesn’t mean that we ignore the concerns that people who have resisted coming in the buildings, we have to listen to those concerns.” 

Of course, listening does not mean acting, and many CTU members view this as disingenuous, her statement not withstanding.

Jackson then quickly added, “We can’t do this work without teachers ... so for that reason alone it’s in all of our interests to have an agreement,” and “People can’t make heads or tails of the back-and-forth,” which seem sironic since she has been part of that conversation.

This looks very bad for the Lightfoot administration coming on the heels of the publicized looting along Michigan Avenue, (in the aftermath of peaceful protests following the murder of George Floyd), the ever increasing crime rate, which also includes often deadly crime on the city’s Red Line elevated train, operated by the Chicago Transit Authority.

In a perfect storm, which this is becoming, Sharkey has said, “RIght now . . . people are being ordered to go into work and they’re saying,” I can’t go into work, I live with my 80-year-old mother who has an immune disorder and I’m worried that she’ll die.’ Tha is the 12th hour for them.”

United Working Families, an advocacy group, said in a statement last week, labelled the Board of Education's plan “botched and reckless”, adding that “Over 1,000 Pre-K and Special Education teachers and other school employees,. . . who are pregnant, suffer from chronic health conditions, or care for at-risk family members, have been denied accommodations by CPS.”

Many say some of this could have been prevented by vaccinating teachers before sending them back to the classroom, an effort that now supported, seems too little and too late, say other advocates.

If clairvoyance is an added talent from the superintendent, she emphasized, “I cannot promise a COVID free environment, nobody can. If anybody tells you that, run in a different direction; they’re lying.”

CPS has said that they “cannot mandate staff members to take the vaccine, and public health experts have said schools can reopen safely without waiting until vaccinations are administered,” said The Chicago Sun Times, in a summary of where the two sides stand, on how, and when to reopen.

Socio economics are also a factor, and many in communities of colors, such as the Latinx community of Little Village; and in that vein, Enlace, a voice of advocacy, issued a statement that the majority, “must recognize that our community is largely made up of essential workers many of whom do not have the option of working from home . . . and are in desperate need of safe, affordable childcare during school hours.”

They have offered suggestions ranging from “learning hubs” as a tool that has been in use, to be reevaluated, and also suggested, along with other ideas, offering “flexible options for older students who are taking on additional responsibilities such as caring for younger siblings or working to increase family income.”

Data from CPS seems circumspect, and they “have not provided student attendance numbers for that first week of in-person learning,” saying that there are difficulties to track the various students that are in person, learning remotely, or in a mix of both.

The Sun-Times reported that I"t’s also not clear, however, how many of those K-8 students will actually follow through with their intentions to return to classrooms. CPS officials on Friday released attendance data from the first week of school for pre-K and cluster students that revealed an average of only 3,189 of the 6,470 students who opted in — 49% — returned to classrooms each day."

Somewhat oddly, at that Tuesday meeting, Jackson also said, “there is no right answer and because more people choose one thing over the other doesn’t make it right.”

In what many observers see as a circular discussion, CPS spokesperson Emily Bolton said in part, after the Wednesday vote, through a written statement: "We have agreed to the CTU's safety demands every step of this process and we are ready to come to a resolution that provides our families the smooth transition to in-person learning they deserve. CTU leadership wants to close schools that are already safely open to students, and cancel in-person learning for the tens of thousands of students who are relying on their dedicated educators to provide in-person learning in the coming weeks.”

If the CTU votes to strike, as we have seen it is to not teach in person, but remotely, a departure from the traditional work stoppage. But Jackson, has said, “Limiting in person education to teacher preferences allows adult preferences to override a family’s educational choices, and will further inequity and disporporatiley harm vulnerable students.”

On Thursday, CPS sent a letter to all of its teachers saying that if they refuse in person work, and continue to teach remotely, then their actions would be an “illegal strike” something that the CTU denies.

The demand to work, regardless of their own health concerns, and that of their family members, in unsafe working conditions is a realistic, and necessary, option says union attorney Thad Goodchild.

Updated Jan 24, 2021 3:08 CST