CPS Teachers Who Don't Show Up To Work Monday Will Be Locked Out

CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot and public schools CEO Janice Jackson made their "last, best and final offer" to the Chicago Teachers Union for a deal to allow the return of in-person learning.

Chicago Teachers Union leaders rejected it. Late Friday, Lightfoot and Jackson announced a slow return of in-person classes starting with prekindergarten and clusters of special education students on Monday.

"Teachers and staff who fail to report will be deemed absent without leave and access to CPS systems will be terminated at the close of business Monday," CPS officials said in a letter to staff. "We have the power to make sure this virus does not further disrupt the growth and progress of all our students. We hope a resolution is near, and we thank you for your patience and support."

School officials outlined its final plan for reopening that includes:

• Vaccinating 1,500 teachers and staff each week, and offering vaccinations to staff that work in 15 community areas most impacted by COVID-19.
• Employees with medically vulnerable family members will be able to get vaccinated starting Monday. If they choose to be vaccinated in the next two weeks, they can work remotely for up to 14 days after the first dose. CTU members who decline to take the vaccine and want to remain home can take an unpaid leave of absence with full benefits. This new arrangement is in addition to the 5,000 accommodations CPS has already granted for staff who are either medically vulnerable or a primary caretaker of a vulnerable family member.
• In-person learning in pods and schools would be paused for 14 days if the positivity rate within CPS’ surveillance testing program reaches 2.5%, or 50% of schools are on a 14-day operational pause.

CPS officials said their final proposal included a compromise plan for a gradual return to in-person learning. The timeline calls for:

• Pre-K and cluster program teachers and staff to return to buildings Monday with students returning Tuesday.
• Kindergarten to 5th grade teachers and staff to return Feb. 16, with students returning to classrooms on Feb. 22.
• Sixth to 8th grad teachers and staff to return Feb. 22, with students returning March 1.

CTU leaders had not agreed to the proposal Friday, which started with an ultimatum from City Hall.

Lightfoot and Jackson issued a statement Friday morning saying they had "responded with our last, best, and final offer."

Hours later, CTU officials said they wouldn't accept the terms of the proposed deal, hinting that the union could go on strike for the second time in two years.

"Unfortunately, this latest offer is instead a threat to cut all students off from schooling unless educators drop all remaining demands. The mayor outrageously asks teachers and support staff to choose between protecting their families and protecting their livelihoods, even as CPS leadership demands that educators and students return to classrooms before reaching an agreement that maximizes safety for every person who enters district buildings," CTU President Jesse Sharkey said in an open letter Friday afternoon. "CPS could do so much better, but refuses."

Lightfoot and Jackson responded by saying: The CTU has "yet to receive a formal response in writing today from CTU leadership. The ball is in their court.”

Earlier this week, it appeared the two sides were inching closer to a deal.

On Monday, Lightfoot backed off her threat to lock teachers out of remote-learning access in the absence of a deal with CTU, instead calling for a 48-hour "cooling-off period" that she hoped would lead to resolution on bringing kids back to class.

That didn't happen. Instead, CTU officials have been slow to respond to negotiation efforts, the mayor said, while organizing press conferences and sending letters. Lightfoot described CTU negotiators as taking "a series of steps backward that were simply not productive.”

Hours after Lightfoot announced the cooling-off period, a political action committee controlled by CTU Vice President Stacey Davis Gates sent robotexts lobbying Gov. J.B. Pritzker to intervene by signing a bill that would clear legal hurdles that standing in the way of a teachers strike.

Since then, CTU leaders have intensified their public lobbying efforts pushing for Pritzker to sign the bill that was sent to his desk on Thursday.

A collection of lawmakers on Friday held a livestream news conference led by Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, who moonlights as a CTU lobbyist for a six-figure salary, calling for Pritzker to intervene with his pen and public school officials to resume negotiations

"What they are attempting to do is say that they’re done, and they’re not attempting to really negotiate with us on the key critical issues that are really outstanding. ... The mayor and Chicago Public Schools are determined to punish those teachers who have been locked out," Johnson said.

On Thursday, Lightfoot said she had lost her patience with CTU leadership over delays in negotiations that would give CPS parents the option of allowing their kids to return to school buildings. Later that day the CTU sent a counterproposal on outstanding issues the two sides have yet to agree on.

While CTU and CPS have agreed on many safety protocol issues, the negotiations remain stalled over teacher vaccinations, allowing teachers living with people who have pre-existing conditions to teach remotely and establishing coronavirus metrics that determine when in-person learning would be permitted.

Lightfoot, Chicago Public Schools chief executive Janice Jackson and city public health commissioner Dr. Alison Arwady said coronavirus safety protocols already in place, compounded by the lowest COVID-19 positivity rates since October is evidence that it's safe for students to return to school buildings.

"This decision, being supportive of school reopening, based on the science, with the appropriate mitigation plans in place, is not a hard decision and has not been a hard decision for months," Arwady said Thursday.

Jackson put it another way during a Thursday news conference: "At this point finding a public health expert who opposes in-person learning would be like finding a scientist that doesn’t believe in climate change."

Sharkey disputed those claims in a Friday Twitter post that read, "The science says it’s safe to reopen? Really? There’s not a thing called “The science.” Scientific studies look at very specific questions. Ignoring certain questions and certain studies, while endlessly repeating others, does not prove your proposition or convince us."

On Thursday, the mayor said the "ball is in the CTU's court" and "time is running out."

"Today is the day. My patience is up. I understand what the concerns are. We have been bending over backwards. I have been personally involved in trying to craft solutions, and partly why we've had the movement that we've had this week. But we can't keep taking steps back. We can't wait hours and hours and hours and have no response other than we're working on it. It's not good enough anymore," Lightfoot said Thursday. "No more excuses. Let's get it done and get it done today."

Thursday morning, CTU leaders published an open letter to parents pointing a finger back at Lightfoot for the lack of a deal.

"Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS leadership have unilaterally tried to impose a plan to return educators and students to in-person learning without involving our members, principals, students or parents. Unlike school districts across the country, and unionized charter schools in Chicago, CPS for a long time refused to bargain regarding its reopening plan. Yes, we have had 70 meetings, but for 10 months, we never had a willing partner on the other side of the table," the letter states.

On Friday, Sharkey mocked Lightfoot's tough talking negotiations in an open letter to members instructing them not to return to in-person learning until a deal is struck.

"Three times in the past week, the mayor has drawn a line in the sand, and three times, our solidarity and our commitment has forced her and CPS leadership to step over that line. Stay strong. Stay united. Raise your fighting voices even louder. Watch for updates for weekend actions on Saturday and Sunday and stay the course," Sharkey wrote.

"We remain remote until we land an agreement, because what we’re fighting for is right and necessary. And when we fight, we win."

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.