Chicago Schools Reopening News: Signs Point To Another No-Deal Day

Chicago IL

05 February, 2021

10:54 AM

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By Chalkbeat Staff, Chalkbeat Chicago: Welcome to our blog about Chicago's school reopening. We're tracking developments as the nation's third largest school district reopens campuses after 10 months of closures. In early January, about 6,000 prekindergarten and special education "cluster" students who need moderate to intensive support were expected to return to campuses; about 1 in 5 actually did. Another 70,000 K-8 students were supposed to return Feb. 1, but that number has been revised down and reopening has been delayed. There's no date yet for high schools to reopen. Here's the latest. Signs again point to another no-deal day Thursday, Feb. 4, 9:30 p.m. — The Chicago Teachers Union just sent a schedule for Friday and at the top it reads "As Black and Latinx communities continue to lag in vaccinations and core equity needs, CPS continues to reject sensible safety proposals in bargaining." We're taking it as a sign there's no deal coalescing tonight. There's no official word yet from City Hall, which earlier in the day sent two brief statements — one midday saying the city hadn't "heard from CTU leadership since yesterday" and an early evening one-liner that said it had received a counterproposal and was working on a response. Of course, there still could be a midnight deal. But the union indicated late Thursday that multiple issues of dispute remained: a districtwide metric for closing schools in case of a COVID-19 surge, the number of accommodations for educators with medically vulnerable household members, and remote learning improvements. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said she's willing to negotiate, but when it comes to remote learning, she is not willing to shorten instructional time. Earlier today, Lightfoot said she was losing patience with the constant delays and she wanted a deal done by tonight. Since Friday is a day off for students (teachers' grades are due), there's a little wiggle room, though not much, if the district wants to reopen schools next week. 'We've slid backward' Thursday, Feb. 4, 10:30 a.m. — Mayor Lori Lightfoot said negotiations with the union haven't just stalled — they've "slid backward." Within the same hour the union shared an open letter to parents that said it was prepared to "sacrifice even more" to get concessions on its safety demands, City Hall called a press conference in which the mayor said she was losing her patience with the delays. Lightfoot said the ongoing turmoil was causing "catastrophic disruption to the school system." "Enough is enough. Time's up, the runway is done, we need a deal today," she said. City Hall said on Wednesday night that it would extend a "cooling off" period in which no disciplinary action would be taken against teachers who continued to defy district orders and teach remotely. But, the mayor stressed Thursday morning, that grace period would be off the table if negotiations failed to net a deal by this evening. Officials offered a few new insights into what they had offered the union in the past 24 hours to help bridge the divide. On teacher vaccinations and accommodations for teachers who want to continue working remotely, the mayor described a weekly vaccine set-aside for teachers and a dedicated 2,000-vaccine supply for educators who live with high-risk individuals and have sought work-from-home accommodations. The expectation would be that educators who receive vaccines would return to work after the first dose. "We've offered a very specific plan — a dedicated vaccination plan for them. That proposal has been on the table for days. We're waiting for an answer," Lightfoot said. This morning our union shared this open letter with parents as negotiations with the mayor and CPS leadership continue. We continue to work towards an agreement that supports the safety, equity and trust every public school community needs and deserves. https://t.co/MlgZ9MRaew — ChicagoTeachersUnion (@CTULocal1) February 4, 2021 Parents of locked-out teachers join union event Thursday, Feb. 4, 7:00 a.m. — The day started with a Chicago Teachers Union press conference with several parents of students whose prekindergarten or special education teachers were blocked from their digital classrooms because they refused to report to work in person. The district said 31 teachers and 17 paraprofessional remain absent without leave and locked out. The union has said restoring virtual access for these members and granting them back pay is a condition for reaching a reopening agreement with the district. A virtual fundraiser for locked-out employees has raised about $80,000. The parents called on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to sign a bill that state lawmakers passed in January that would expand the union's bargaining powers or to press the district to reinstate the teachers. Ana Avila, the mother of a kindergarten student in a special education "cluster" classroom at Corkery Elementary, said her son's class has not had a teacher for two weeks, with special education classroom assistants overseeing virtual learning. She said remote learning has been hard work for teachers and parents, but her son has made a lot of progress. "This is punishing the children the most because they are regressing," she said. Most of the parents said they want the district to stick with all-virtual learning for the remainder of the school year. "What's the point of sending them back?" Cindy Meza ,a parent at Sandoval Elementary, where she said there are no locked-out teachers. "It's not going to be the same as before COVID." More time to 'cool off' Wednesday, Feb. 3. 9:40 p.m. — In a statement on social media, Chicago Public Schools said it planned to extend a "cooling off" period another 24 hours in hopes of reaching a deal with teachers. Again, the return to in-person schooling for an estimated 67,000 is delayed. The district told families Wednesday evening that it would delay reopening until at least Monday. Negotiations will continue, making Thursday a remote school day. Friday was already slated to be a non-attendance day. There were some signs of progress, according to a bargaining chart shared earlier in the evening by the Chicago Teachers Union. Chalkbeat Chicago's Yana Kunichoff reports here on what issues appear resolved — and what areas of disagreement still dog negotiations. We are disappointed to report that at this time, no deal has been reached between CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union leadership. We will extend the cooling off period for the final time through the end of the day on Thursday to allow for further negotiations tonight. — Chicago Public Schools (@ChiPubSchools) February 4, 2021 Thursday is a question mark Wednesday, Feb. 3. 7:00 p.m. — Negotiations over Chicago's school reopening will move into Wednesday evening, according to a brief statement from city and district officials. "Discussions continue between CPS and CTU. We will provide an update as quickly as possible later this evening," said the uncharacteristically brief statement shared at 7 p.m. by Chicago Public Schools. That update comes after a 48-hour "cooling off period" called by the district in the hopes of netting a deal. While Chicago has not yet released an update about in-person learning for students on Thursday, it is increasingly unlikely that school buildings will reopen this week. The union's representative House of Delegates met on Wednesday night but did not make any major movement toward setting a strike date. The union is expected to hold a meeting to give an update on bargaining for members on Friday. News on the vaccination front Wednesday, Feb. 3. 5:00 p.m. — One crucial issue at the heart of the talks is providing coronavirus vaccinations to teachers and support staff headed back to the classroom. The Chicago Teachers Union said on Twitter Wednesday that the city's public health department and an urgent care clinic in Lincoln Park had partnered to offer vaccines to the district's school clerks. The district required its clerks to begin reporting to work in-person last August, setting off a legal standoff with the union, which argued that they should be allowed to continue working from home. "If the mayor can do this for clerks, she can do it for everyone," the union tweeted. Meanwhile, the district shared on Twitter a Bloomberg News article that quoted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky saying that educators can return to schools safely without vaccines if districts take other safety measures. The district has said it plans to open four vaccination sites in mid-February where school nurses will administer COVID-19 shots. The Chicago Sun-Times reported this week that 3,700 district employees have been vaccinated so far. Lingering questions about high school Wednesday, Feb. 3. 2:30 p.m. — As Chicago waits to see if a 48-hour cooling-off period between the school district and union will pay peaceful dividends, Chalkbeat Chicago's Mila Koumpilova writes about a missing piece in the conversation: high schools. Chicago has made improving its high school experience a central goal, but for now, it has no high school reopening plan or target date. Officials have not broadly sought input from high school students and parents on how to make the most of what remains of this school year — and some families feel left out of the loop amid a contentious debate over reopening the district's elementary schools. Here's what they said. Questions for Cardona Tuesday, Feb. 2. 4:45 p.m. — On Wednesday, Miguel Cardona, a former teacher and principal who is President Joe Biden's pick for U.S. Education Secretary, faces a Senate education committee confirmation hearing. As our national desk colleague Matt Barnum reports, Cardona likely will face questions about reopening schools. As Connecticut's education commissioner, Cardona advocated for in-person instruction but managed to maintain strong relationships with unions. "We have to maintain the social and emotional well-being of our learners," he said last year. But with reopening progress stalled in cities like Chicago, expect questions about what specific actions the federal government can take to get schools open. What could possibly come next? Tuesday, Feb. 2, 3:54 p.m. — Officials have paused Chicago's acrimonious reopening debate to take a 48-hour "cooling off" period and try to come to an agreement with the city's teachers union. An official from Chicago Public Schools said negotiations would continue Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday will bring a planned House of Delegates meeting on the union side. That's just a coincidence — the union's representative body meets the first Wednesday of every month — but what happens at the meeting could be a sign of where the ongoing labor dispute over school reopening in Chicago goes next. If there's a tentative agreement, it would likely go to delegates to review. If there's no deal in sight, the delegates would be the ones to vote on a strike date. And if the delegates just discuss other procedural matters — well, then we're looking at more negotiations ahead. Time for a "cooling off" Monday, Feb. 1, 5:45 p.m. — Chicago school officials said Monday evening they will hit pause on their hotly debated reopening plan and take a 48 hour "cooling off period." No additional disciplinary action will be taken against teachers — but students who chose in-person learning will face delays. Remote learning will continue Tuesday and Wednesday. Read more here. An emotional call with community group leaders Monday, Feb. 1, noon — Mayor Lori Lightfoot told a group of community leaders Monday morning that City Hall has floated a proposal that would prioritize vaccinating teachers at schools in the 15 neighborhoods hit hardest by COVID-19. The areas would be determined by caseloads, hospitalizations, and other data points. "If you (live or teach) at a school in one of those neighborhoods, you will be prioritized," she said in the virtual meeting. Previously, Chicago Public Schools said that it was working on a plan that would include distribution sites, but vaccine shortages mean it wouldn't be put into place until later in February. Teachers are part of the state's 1B, or second, priority group and began qualifying for vaccines Jan. 25, but the city has said it could take months; the teachers union is pressuring the school district to allow educators to work remotely until they've had an opportunity to be vaccinated. Lightfoot said today that if all teachers moved to the front of the line, everyone else — including seniors aged 65 and over — "would have to stand down six to eight weeks. That's not doable." In the sometimes emotional call, the mayor said the city is still negotiating with teachers on several issues, including staff and student testing, teacher accommodations for working at home, data thresholds that would dictate when schools open or close, and vaccination schedules. She said the city isn't willing to negotiate on three additional issues brought by the union: a reduction of instruction time, defunding the school police program, and an affordable housing plan. (The union did not have an immediate response.) At the end of the call, community leaders spoke on behalf of confused and distressed parents. "This is too much for us," said one father of five, who suggested the idea of microgrants for families that have to suspend returning to their own jobs to supervise remote learning. "Parents have to have a real voice at the table." An anxious morning in Chicago Monday, Feb. 1, 10:30 a.m. — It's a Monday steeped in uncertainty and high anxiety in Chicago Public Schools: Reopening negotiations between the district and its teacher union still have not yielded an agreement. Unless the two sides strike a deal today, city leaders could make good on their pledge to lock elementary teachers who do not report to campuses out of their virtual classrooms and stop paying them. The Chicago Teachers Union has directed those educators to work from home; its members backed a resolution to go on strike if teachers are locked out for working remotely. At least a couple of parent petitions circulated Monday morning urging the district not to cut off digital access for teachers. One of them, started by parents opposed to the district's reopening plan, had amassed more than 1,800 signatures by mid-morning. Some families also took part in a Monday "sick-out" to, as one parent put it, "demonstrate that parents are important stakeholders and deserve a voice in this conversation." It's not clear how widespread this protest was. Meanwhile, some high school students wondered how the stalemate between the district and union might disrupt their finals this week. If a strike goes into effect, classes will halt for students at all grade levels. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization covering public education. Sign up for their newsletters here.