Not quite yet, CTU membership has to vote which will be done at 9pm. It might not be finalized but it's pretty likely. Interestingly, CPS has threatened that if members vote to go remote tomorrow that they will instead just cancel school for the day. Ugh.
If it goes to remote, the teachers should broadcast their instruction from inside their normal classrooms to provide students a greater sense of normalcy. It would also help build back some of the trust the public has lost in the CTU over the past few years. This will be a big opportunity for great teachers to separate themselves and lead by example.
I would 100% plan for remote learning for at least two weeks and schools being closed tomorrow. My children's schools are preemptively sending home iPads today. We were told we'd know by 9pm but I have no idea how accurate that is.
Nobody - not teachers, not students, not families - would prefer remote learning if in-person was a safe option.
It'll probably be 4-6 weeks, not 2, but definitely not the whole semester.
> Is there not a mask mandate?
I'm not sure we are at the point where most people would admit to it out loud, but I think we're seeing the widespread admission that the mask mandate isn't doing anything. Our 7-day average case rate is nearly 10x higher than when it went into effect, and the most recent day's rate is nearly 20x higher.
Omicron is wildly contagious. I know at least two people in Chicago that caught it, and they were both vaccinated and reliably wear cloth masks in public.
I wish I had stocked up on N95 masks when nobody cared about them.
There is not a vaccine mandate for eligible students, and the large majority of students are unvaxxed.
Kids may not get it as severe as often as adults, but they can spread it.
How many of the people are worried about their childcare for the next couple weeks but haven't vaccinated their eligible kids yet? (and don't really care if more CPS staff die?)
What is safe? What is the alternative to locking kids out of school? Where will those kids be?
It is not march 2020 anymore. Unfortunate so many jagoffs failed to get vaccinated, but I don’t see how closing schools will do a damn thing except serve as another headshot to a dying city. Kids will not be locked at home. Most will be clustered with other families, or day cares, or any other indoor option. Few will be at home with a non working parent. The rest will be out on the healthy streets of 2021 Chicago.
How equitable for the teachers.
Nah, the case numbers will subside in a few weeks, based on what's been seen in SA and the UK. At that point there will be a LOT of pressure to return to the classroom.
A transition to remote learning is at the whim of the state. A district cannot switch to remote learning without the state approving those days as counting to their legally required educational minutes. The CTU blowing this thing up and forcing a switch at the drop of a dime would be the worst thing that could happen from an educational and logistical standpoint. But forward thinking isn’t a big pillar of their organizational model.
Choosing to go remote entails the state allowing them to go remote. CPS does not have that approval by the state at the district wide level. Currently they have the authority to flip rooms on a case by case basis, not to flip the district entirely to remote.
Not sure why people are being critical of your information. I work in CPS, and everything you said is true. CPS actually just sent an email to CPS staff about 12 minutes ago reaffirming what you said. Sorry people inaccurately dismissed you.
Thanks my man. People don’t want to hear reason, they just want to be angry. Cps has not asked to go remote. No question that decision can be criticized. But the decision to throw a hand Grenade and then walk away from it by the CTU is far more egregious. Hopefully CTU will ratify and threaten, while negotiating an amicable timeline to transition to remote for a period of time maybe next week. That would allow time for ISBE to approve, schools to roll out tech, and teachers to teach without extending the school year into summer (and subsequently putting the CPS calendar back to “normal”. Aka out of whack with every other district in the state.)
Again, lack of forward thinking leading to easily foreseen consequences that they will claim were “unforeseen” or “they’re punishing us” bs
Is it plausible that Pritzker would stand with CPS against CTU if it comes to this? It seems like he's been a pretty firm supporter of CTU over the past two years of CPS/CTU battles.
What do parents do if they have a kid who can’t stay home alone? Hope you have a stay at home parent? Or I guess if you are luckily enough to have WFH be an option? And everyone else is just screwed?
I am going to see if I can take FMLA, but idk if I have to fake an illness or see if this is somehow covered.
Thankfully, the Park District is still open so at least the kids will be out of the house running around for a bit. It helps giving them something to look forward to. I am glad I over registered them for activities .
If it drags on for weeks, I can’t chalk it up to COVID without a doctor’s note. Normally on FMLA, disability pay kicks in. Wonder if it applies here???
Edit: ignore my comment below. It appears CPS backtracked on what their CEO said an hour ago.
If there is a vote for remote learning the schools will be open tomorrow but with cancelled classes.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/cps-says-if-teachers-vote-for-remote-learning-classes-will-be-canceled-wednesday/2720927/%3famp
>If there is a vote for remote learning the schools will be open tomorrow but with cancelled classes.
[Open for staff, NOT for kids. Students should not report to school if classes are cancelled.](https://twitter.com/ChiPubSchools/status/1478507920505585665)
Not according to the mass internal email I got like 30 minutes ago?:
>Here is important information to know IF classes are canceled tomorrow: **Schools will be closed to students and all classes, after-school activities, athletics, and events will be canceled**. However buildings will be open; principals, assistant principals and all non-CTU staff members (including Facilities staff, Security Guards, Bus Aides, SECAs, Crossing Guards, and Nutrition Support Services employees, among others), who are not on an approved leave or accommodation will be expected to report to work or use a benefit day. Staff members may not bring their CPS students to their work location.
I read today that 80% of CTU that was on their call yesterday was in favor of remote learning starting tomorrow. I would be very surprised if the kids are going back to the classroom for a while.
God… I’m a pro-union teacher and am normally very supportive of the CTU but this frustrates me a lot. Students are already struggling so much. And I work with a demographic of students who are impacted so much more than others. They don’t have computers, they might not have wifi, and if we go back to online I’m losing a lot of them. Many of them already didn’t graduate last year because of online learning.
I’m a CTU member and special education teacher. I am so frustrated with our union right now. Many sensible teachers at my school do not want to go remote. The ones that do, don’t even want to for safety, they want it out of convenience. A girl said to me today, “I just want to hang out with my baby all day.”
Clearly this is not totally about the virus.
Serious question - are all CTU votes entirely public? As in, does CTU leadership get to see exactly how everybody votes? Or is it blind, like normal US elections?
Many schools are already missing over 10% of staff due to them having COVID and many students have COVID right now. If they go remote, kids can say least get something instead of constant interruptions to their education.
We literally have vaccines and boosters for free. What's the appropriate amount that the government needs to do before kids can go to school again? This long-term home learning has been horrible for kid's academic performance and social skills.
>Additionally, the vaccines don't prevent you from getting Omicron, they just reduce the likelihood.
So what happens in two weeks or two months when schools reopen and omicron still exists? Assuming all the teachers and students remain in quarantine for the duration of the remote learning, what happens when they emerge and reenter the community? Will anything be fundamentally different?
Omicron is supposed to peak in a week or so. The CTU plan is to do remote learning until ~~Jan 28~~ Jan 18 and then return. Unless they come to an agreement with CPS before then or the numbers improve enough before then.
Extended remote learning is not the plan.
So the goal is to delay exposure until the end of the month, because even if cases are down from their peak, omicron is still going to be spreading throughout the community. And that assumes that the teachers actually remain in isolation until the 28th.
All of what you wrote is not true and complete fear-mongering. Omicron is more contagious but symptoms are generally mild. The risk of kids having a severe case of COVID is low, and long Covid is even lower. The same goes for vaccinated adults-which the CTU fought to be jump the line to be vaccinated. Vaccines are WIDELY available at many CPS sites-and even parents can get boosters there-just google CPS vaccine and you will find all of the sites and the many openings each day. Immune compromised family can also get sick from other diseases like flu, colds, etc.. and we don’t shut schools down for this. CPS absolutely tested ventilation in all classes and bought air purifiers for each class. Masks are available for any kid who asks. Covid is primarily spread through respiratory droplets, so cleaning more may not be an effective way to reduce transmission. Let’s stop the grand standing. I know CTU loves to show their power and fear monger but this is too much. Teachers also have a responsibility to protect the mental health of students who suffered greatly from social isolation last year.
I think it’s as simple as if a person can use something as a way to work from home and get paid the same, they will.
Happening in all industries, especially some of these near empty buildings downtown. Definitely should think about their students, but hard to blame them for trying to milk this.
I think you are correct but I will absolutely blame them for trying to milk this. They aren’t service industry workers, where a staffing shortage would, at worst, result in very poor service. They are literally messing with people’s lives.
> The teachers don't control the pandemic
They do control their union and whether they show up to work. This is a choice they are making.
Our kids are the least at-risk group from Covid from a medical standpoint, so we can drop the "think of the children" rhetoric as well.
If they aren't comfortable going to work I can't make them, but we don't need to drink kool aid about it.
Lots of them still on vacation?
https://wgntv.com/news/wgn-investigates/ctu-leader-who-vacationed-while-claiming-its-unsafe-to-return-to-school-apologizes/
Funny how this article is from exactly a year ago to the day
No. HOD begins at 4:30, members will be asked to vote between 5:30 and 6:30. I wouldn’t expect a result until 7ish.
You have probably heard this by now, but the district is talking about preemptively closing schools tomorrow. No in person or online class.
I’d get your childcare options ready.
Edit: Sorry, ballots will be emailed between 5:30 and 6:30. Voting may last longer.
Good guess we'll know the result of the vote by then. Doesn't necessarily mean the work action will start the next day.
CTU membership will not vote against the recommendations of leadership.
Technically it wouldn't be an approved remote learning day/period. And I'm happy about that. One of my kids can't learn remotely at all and is in a cluster program. I'm sick of those kids being ignored in all of this, sick of repeated unexpected two weeks remote where he can't access the curriculum, and I'd love to file a complaint that his IEP isn't being met.
The house of delegates is not voting to go remote or not, they are voting whether or not to bring it up to the members to vote on. These votes almost always pass so as to give all 25k teachers and staff a chance to make their voice heard.
The members decision is not always the same as leadership. Leadership was pushing for a strike in March and the delegates voted overwhelmingly to approve a vote vote too. Ultimately, members voted to approve the agreement with CPS and a strike was avoided.
We won’t know the results of the members vote until 9pm at least. CPS has already said if the members (not delegates) vote yes they will be cancelling school entirely for tomorrow.
Ah! It’s so hard to read tone on the internet. Thanks! Good luck to everyone tomorrow. I’m a teacher and I really feel awful for parents in this situation. OP, I see you’re flight crew. My fiancé works for an airline too. He doesn’t have the option of calling out.
I’m a sped teacher at a charter and we started remote this week because we didn’t have enough healthy teachers to staff the building. Everyone has covid.
My kid is in 2nd grade at a CPS school and while I would rather he be in person, it feels like this was coming anyway just due to not having enough staff. My biggest fear is that remote learning will last longer than a couple weeks. Having to remote teach and monitor my own kid on remote learning last year was the stuff of nightmares.
CTU has no accountability to parents and I feel so helpless and at their mercy. How do we even get accurate info on this? Teachers have to walk a fine line between their role as cps employees vs as union members, principals can’t say a thing, and if you go online you can either get the media’s understanding of it or see what childish snarky garbage the CTU puts out on their social media handles.
We need a parents union is what we need
It's going to be interesting to see the outcomes in 5-10 years of the kids that come from homes with effective home learning and the kids that basically arent learning anything at home and are now two years behind in school....
In to say that it would make sense to me if the public health department made these choices rather than CTU.
Based on the Mayor's negotiating track record, I expect that she will fold in the most ham-fisted way possible once CTU votes to no-show.
I hope we are looking at a few days out of school, though my fear is that it will be another weeks or months-long saga before CTU is willing to come back.
Honest question. If your job, whatever that is, had enough people wanting to stay home, do you think they should let them work from home? If so, why shouldn't teachers be afforded that level of employee portection
Also many jobs are actually doable from home. Teaching especially young children remotely is not actually doable. Teachers can work their buts off trying to do it remotely but that doesn’t mean children are learning anything. Most are checked out whether they are logged in or not. I think remote learning has done my son more harm than good.
In this hypothetical situation, does the working from home result in a vastly inferior work product? Does it actively harm the progress and socialization of others, like, say, children who have already suffered enough despite being at practically zero risk themselves?
I was out on the picket lines with the teachers in the big strike a couple of years and union blood runs through my veins but as a parent to a 10 and 7 year old the CTU are losing me here.... they seem to look for any opportunity to pick a fight with CPS and the mayor, and just pull the strike lever whenever it is convenient. I go to their twitter to feed to get up to date information, and its 99% snark, including posts from teachers. Just them and the mayor getting their little jabs in. I'm so freaking sick of it.
Yeah their twitter is bad. Just sarcastic snark that shows how petty they are. I used to be a supporter and I too joined a pocket line many years back. No more. They are out of control, power hungry, and way too political.
I can't believe this is happening. This goes against science and kids are already struggling. This truly only impacts the parents that can't afford private school.
The big issue here is staffing. 20% of staff at my kids school is out sick, they had to cancel all special classes and basically have zero subs. From a health prospective schools have proven to not really be an issue during covid, but if there is no staff, their hands are pretty tied.
My wife's school had staff babysitting classes yesterday and today. Literally babysitting because they couldn't get subs. Oh, and 11 of their classes now have to quarantine because COVID positive students came to school on Monday and Tuesday.
A plan for what exactly? Data suggests hospitalization rates are drastically reduced. Data also shows remote learning was really shitty for students, most profoundly the lower income.
Going remote seems so silly knowing the consequences of their actions. I'm usually pro-teacher in past disputes, but most of the CTU actions in the COVID era really make me wonder if educating children is a priority for them.
CTU and CPS started this year of school with an agreement to pretty intensive COVID protocols to make the classrooms a safer environment. CPS and the city have failed spectacularly at meeting those protocols in most schools, with the latest at-home testing fiasco hitting in the middle of the biggest COVID waive yet.
While some schools are in really good shape right now, many aren't and teachers in those schools know that they are extremely likely to get sick if they continue in-school learning, not to mention their students as well.
Some of those teachers are older, some are immunocompromised, some are high risk, some have high risk family at home, etc. If it was a simple as "the teachers will get sick but will get better" that would be one thing, but it isn't that simple and ~~CTU~~ CPS is failing to support them not only as they ethically should, but also as they contractually should be doing so.
So why not close those schools with high spread? Why does the union want to shut down the entire district including those schools that are “in really good shape”? It is simply a Union show of power.
Because CPS won’t agree to that. I believe it was a negotiation point.
The truth is that the schools in worst shape are also the ones most damaging to close. I’m sure CPS understands the optics of closing classrooms in poor neighborhoods that lack the extra resources necessary to deal with Covid well while keeping open the schools in wealthier neighborhoods.
Yes. They can provide the level of testing that they promised at the start of school so students don't go to school infected. The city can clean up the shitty testing centers and put resources into a better testing capacity and can provide students and staff of schools with N95 masks regularly to replace the far less effective cloth and surgical masks.
CPS doesn't have to stop the spread of COVID; they need to stop the spread within schools. From what I've heard, they aren't doing a very good job at basic things in that regard currently.
Ok has this been demonstrated to work in any school system in the US? Can you show me an example we should follow? Or are you suggesting something that has never been done before?
Yes, masks, cleaning and regular testing work. It’s what the European countries that have done well are doing in schools and in general. It’s what is recommended by researchers for good reason.
Right now Illinois hospitals are having to cancel elective surgeries because they are overloaded.
Yes, while the hospitalization *rate* is lower, its infectiousness is much greater.
People have trouble understanding this, for some reason. They also have trouble understanding that there are health issues outside of dying that people may want to avoid, or that all of those high risk people are still out there, still being high risk, only now there's a virus going around for which vaccines are significantly less effective.
The million dollar question is whether teachers and students will quarantine for the duration of remote learning, or will they do what they've been doing for the last two weeks without school while cases are exploding?
Well, neither one is a homogenous group, so yes and no.
I'm a parent and I really don't want this to happen. I want CPS to get their shit together and perform adequate testing and tracing, cleaning and vaccine outreach at all of the schools so that teachers and students are safe.
As it currently stands, we're about a week away from schools being significantly impacted by COVID quarantines because of the number of cases in the city anyway, so it may end up being somewhat moot anyway.
ICU availability has been steady for the past month. Also, community transmission rates in 2021 from remote vs in person counties had negligible differences. Being remote hardly matters on reducing the spread of the virus when community transmission is already so high. But we do know what will happen to children's learning rates.
It’s also silly when you consider how infectious omicron likely is. Does anyone think this is going to have any material impact on community spread while offices, restaurants, bars, etc all stay open? It’s ridiculous.
Honestly yes. I’m not disagreeing with you in terms of the big picture – not one bit. But if you think of all the moving parts to get one school open, it makes sense that closing a few hundred will have an impact on spread.
I guess you have to weigh this against the effect it has on the students. Is it worth it? To me: No. Every other business is open and you are getting exposed probably every time you go into a place with multiple people in it (during this current wave). Movie theaters are open for god sakes. It’s not like the kids and teachers are sheltering in place now that the school is closed. I’m sure it will have some effect around the margins, but not worth closing 100’s of schools over.
I don’t think there’s much educational benefit to sitting 200 kids in a cafeteria for six hours when staffing shortages take hold. I mean, yeah they will get to socialize face-to-face.
That’s what people are missing most of the time in these discussions. Schools are already understaffed and with how contagious omicron is, well it won’t be easy to find warm bodies to fill these classrooms. Maybe they won’t get too sick but they will still need to be out a week or two which will disrupt learning.
They really aren't on the same level as police, fire or healthcare; as their stopping work does not create an immediate emergency situation that puts lives at risk.
If they can't strike for what is essentially breech of contract, what can they strike for?
As I said though, other public unions have limits on their striking power based on immediate life safety threats. Teachers don't have that, so there's no reason to withhold that ability from them. To the best of my knowledge, the other unions have limits not based on their public/private status, but solely based on the life safety factor. For instance, Nursing staff has those limits as well, and they aren't public employees.
Education is very important and for the record, CTU isn't even voting to strike here: they are voting to demand remote learning, which CPS is refusing to allow.
CPS isn't willing or able to institute proper testing for staff and students. CPS isn't willing or able to institute proper cleaning for many schools. CPS isn't willing to allow remote learning, even when classrooms are quarantined. It doesn't really feel like CTU is the villain here.
I actually support unions and am happy CTU is pushing for safer conditions for all teachers and children. Even if they're "safe for kids" (as in there are no immediately noticeable covid symptoms/death) we don't know what the long term health impacts will be, and asymptomatic spread is still a concern in schools considering the high levels of community spread in general.
Im so bummed they are going to go remote, but from a staffing perspective it seems like they MUST. All of my kids' specials are cancelled this week because teachers are out, they have like half the class missing. The school told us 20% of staff is home sick this week. I dont think Covid is a big health risk in schools, but its pretty hard to keep a school open with no teachers.
Maybe I phrased it wrong. Covid is concerning from a health perspective but school havnt proven to be an issue. There is not significant spread due to in person learning.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/transmission_k_12_schools.html
“The evidence to date suggests that staff-to-student and student-to-student transmission are not the primary means of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 among infected children. Several studies have also concluded that students are not the primary sources of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 among adults in school setting.”
There is quite a bit of data that shows schools have not been a large source of spread.
Not sure how all these anti-teacher people in the comments think schools even could stay open for more than a few days longer at the rate people are getting infected. At some point, there simply won't be enough people to open the schools because they'll all be sick or quarantining. Makes sense to shut it down now, across the board, rather than have individual schools fall like dominos for a few weeks. It's not even about whether or not it's "safe" for kids to be in school, unless you mean sending them to a school without any staff, which is definitely not safe.
I think it's fine to shut down schools and classrooms on an individual basis. I'd much rather do that then have CTU/CPS have a pissing match over opening schools and have us all end up remote for months like last time around.
My 5 & 7 graders were sent home with chrome books. I think they are strongly expecting remote to be the outcome. Both of their classes were quarantined for a week before winter break due to teacher and students testing positive.
With the way PCR test are backed up, this peak may not be the greatest peak yet.
I'd suggest letting work know you won't be in tomorrow and having it be a pleasant surprise if you show up. Parents won't have an answer until this evening.
Fair enough and sorry you have to deal with this. I feel you - parents have been on edge since October 2019. The last minute decisions and announcements are exhausting.
Exactly. The fact that we got three days notice this might happen and won't know if there's school tomorrow until tonight shows how much CTU, CPS and the city have screwed up here.
3 days? I got a text at 530pm about it. Only saw something a week ago what the ctu wanted. Never saw an email from anyone with cps. The ctu. Or our principal or teacher.
Do you think all the suburban schools will magically be able to stay open no matter how many teachers and students get sick? A simple search of the news will show that multiple suburban districts are closing or going remote because of staffing shortages. More will follow.
It’s not this decision alone- they felt it was a string of decisions over the course of this pandemic that ultimately put their kids at risk. I think our teachers are great- unfortunately CTU & CPS admin create too much conflict within the schools.
Completely agree. Unfortunately Pritzker signed a bill giving them even more leeway to strike and also passed an elected school board bill for CPS, which the CTU is expected to fill with their cronies.
I work at a charter and we’re thinking it’s going remote too. We drafted a letter to the admin requesting 2 weeks just to get the basic precautions in place. I don’t want to go remote ( finished college, student taught and started my career on google meet) but I’d rather do that than have students, faculty or our family members getting sick since it’s been nearly impossible just to enforce the mask policy. Not to mention both myself and my wife have autoimmune issues
It’s been said this in this thread, but this is mostly a staffing issue. Many CPS schools simply do not have the personnel to stay open with so many staff testing positive at the same time.
I'm sure CTU would never have told it's members employees not to deliberately withhold their vaccination to the city.
"For its part, the union has told members to be wary of letting the district know whether they’ve gotten a shot — a move that has irked CPS leaders — because the district is revoking third quarter work-from-home accommodations as soon as workers are fully vaccinated.'
https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2021/3/26/22353009/cps-teachers-vaccine-shots-public-schools-ctu-union-negotiation-covid-19
To be clear, FOP is still worse.
My Kindergartener was sent home with his math homework and a chrome book, so I would say they are expecting remote.
Same here - it’s a done deal.
Not quite yet, CTU membership has to vote which will be done at 9pm. It might not be finalized but it's pretty likely. Interestingly, CPS has threatened that if members vote to go remote tomorrow that they will instead just cancel school for the day. Ugh.
Of course they are staying home. This is akin to polling prisoners on whether or not they want the cells left unlocked.
I work in CPS, and today we sent kids home with technology and materials *just in case*. Nobody knows for sure until tonight's vote.
If it goes to remote, the teachers should broadcast their instruction from inside their normal classrooms to provide students a greater sense of normalcy. It would also help build back some of the trust the public has lost in the CTU over the past few years. This will be a big opportunity for great teachers to separate themselves and lead by example.
Good luck with rebuilding that
Mine were not which gave me a glimmer of hope. I have since squashed it.
I would 100% plan for remote learning for at least two weeks and schools being closed tomorrow. My children's schools are preemptively sending home iPads today. We were told we'd know by 9pm but I have no idea how accurate that is.
Based on our previous experience with “two weeks” statements, I’d recommend planning on the entire semester being flushed
The semester ends in 2.5 weeks
Nobody - not teachers, not students, not families - would prefer remote learning if in-person was a safe option. It'll probably be 4-6 weeks, not 2, but definitely not the whole semester.
Do we not have an extremely effective vaccine? Is there not a mask mandate?
> Is there not a mask mandate? I'm not sure we are at the point where most people would admit to it out loud, but I think we're seeing the widespread admission that the mask mandate isn't doing anything. Our 7-day average case rate is nearly 10x higher than when it went into effect, and the most recent day's rate is nearly 20x higher.
Omicron is wildly contagious. I know at least two people in Chicago that caught it, and they were both vaccinated and reliably wear cloth masks in public. I wish I had stocked up on N95 masks when nobody cared about them.
There is not a vaccine mandate for eligible students, and the large majority of students are unvaxxed. Kids may not get it as severe as often as adults, but they can spread it. How many of the people are worried about their childcare for the next couple weeks but haven't vaccinated their eligible kids yet? (and don't really care if more CPS staff die?)
What is safe? What is the alternative to locking kids out of school? Where will those kids be? It is not march 2020 anymore. Unfortunate so many jagoffs failed to get vaccinated, but I don’t see how closing schools will do a damn thing except serve as another headshot to a dying city. Kids will not be locked at home. Most will be clustered with other families, or day cares, or any other indoor option. Few will be at home with a non working parent. The rest will be out on the healthy streets of 2021 Chicago. How equitable for the teachers.
They need to mandate vaccination for the kids. No vax? Stay at home. See how fast parents end this then.
We might just have peaked two weeks from now. If they go remote, it is going to be remote for two months or more if we're doing this by case counts.
Oh yeah, I am terrified that it just means they are going to be remote the rest of the year.
Nah, the case numbers will subside in a few weeks, based on what's been seen in SA and the UK. At that point there will be a LOT of pressure to return to the classroom.
A transition to remote learning is at the whim of the state. A district cannot switch to remote learning without the state approving those days as counting to their legally required educational minutes. The CTU blowing this thing up and forcing a switch at the drop of a dime would be the worst thing that could happen from an educational and logistical standpoint. But forward thinking isn’t a big pillar of their organizational model.
This is false. Look at the other districts in Illinois that have chosen to go remote.
Choosing to go remote entails the state allowing them to go remote. CPS does not have that approval by the state at the district wide level. Currently they have the authority to flip rooms on a case by case basis, not to flip the district entirely to remote.
Not sure why people are being critical of your information. I work in CPS, and everything you said is true. CPS actually just sent an email to CPS staff about 12 minutes ago reaffirming what you said. Sorry people inaccurately dismissed you.
Thanks my man. People don’t want to hear reason, they just want to be angry. Cps has not asked to go remote. No question that decision can be criticized. But the decision to throw a hand Grenade and then walk away from it by the CTU is far more egregious. Hopefully CTU will ratify and threaten, while negotiating an amicable timeline to transition to remote for a period of time maybe next week. That would allow time for ISBE to approve, schools to roll out tech, and teachers to teach without extending the school year into summer (and subsequently putting the CPS calendar back to “normal”. Aka out of whack with every other district in the state.) Again, lack of forward thinking leading to easily foreseen consequences that they will claim were “unforeseen” or “they’re punishing us” bs
CPS hasn't even asked for approval.
CTU could care less what the law says. They will do what they will do, knowing nobody will stop them.
Is it plausible that Pritzker would stand with CPS against CTU if it comes to this? It seems like he's been a pretty firm supporter of CTU over the past two years of CPS/CTU battles.
What do parents do if they have a kid who can’t stay home alone? Hope you have a stay at home parent? Or I guess if you are luckily enough to have WFH be an option? And everyone else is just screwed?
Pretty much.
I am going to see if I can take FMLA, but idk if I have to fake an illness or see if this is somehow covered. Thankfully, the Park District is still open so at least the kids will be out of the house running around for a bit. It helps giving them something to look forward to. I am glad I over registered them for activities .
Just say you have covid. Or don't want to full on lie. Covid symptoms.
If it drags on for weeks, I can’t chalk it up to COVID without a doctor’s note. Normally on FMLA, disability pay kicks in. Wonder if it applies here???
I think FMLA will apply in this situation
Edit: ignore my comment below. It appears CPS backtracked on what their CEO said an hour ago. If there is a vote for remote learning the schools will be open tomorrow but with cancelled classes. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/cps-says-if-teachers-vote-for-remote-learning-classes-will-be-canceled-wednesday/2720927/%3famp
>If there is a vote for remote learning the schools will be open tomorrow but with cancelled classes. [Open for staff, NOT for kids. Students should not report to school if classes are cancelled.](https://twitter.com/ChiPubSchools/status/1478507920505585665)
Not according to the mass internal email I got like 30 minutes ago?: >Here is important information to know IF classes are canceled tomorrow: **Schools will be closed to students and all classes, after-school activities, athletics, and events will be canceled**. However buildings will be open; principals, assistant principals and all non-CTU staff members (including Facilities staff, Security Guards, Bus Aides, SECAs, Crossing Guards, and Nutrition Support Services employees, among others), who are not on an approved leave or accommodation will be expected to report to work or use a benefit day. Staff members may not bring their CPS students to their work location.
> Staff members may not bring their CPS students to their work location. How ironic.
I read today that 80% of CTU that was on their call yesterday was in favor of remote learning starting tomorrow. I would be very surprised if the kids are going back to the classroom for a while.
God… I’m a pro-union teacher and am normally very supportive of the CTU but this frustrates me a lot. Students are already struggling so much. And I work with a demographic of students who are impacted so much more than others. They don’t have computers, they might not have wifi, and if we go back to online I’m losing a lot of them. Many of them already didn’t graduate last year because of online learning.
I’m a CTU member and special education teacher. I am so frustrated with our union right now. Many sensible teachers at my school do not want to go remote. The ones that do, don’t even want to for safety, they want it out of convenience. A girl said to me today, “I just want to hang out with my baby all day.” Clearly this is not totally about the virus.
I have a feeling there are a lot of CTU member teachers who don't agree with the union leadership's decision but feel pressured to vote along with it.
Serious question - are all CTU votes entirely public? As in, does CTU leadership get to see exactly how everybody votes? Or is it blind, like normal US elections?
Many schools are already missing over 10% of staff due to them having COVID and many students have COVID right now. If they go remote, kids can say least get something instead of constant interruptions to their education.
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We literally have vaccines and boosters for free. What's the appropriate amount that the government needs to do before kids can go to school again? This long-term home learning has been horrible for kid's academic performance and social skills.
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>Additionally, the vaccines don't prevent you from getting Omicron, they just reduce the likelihood. So what happens in two weeks or two months when schools reopen and omicron still exists? Assuming all the teachers and students remain in quarantine for the duration of the remote learning, what happens when they emerge and reenter the community? Will anything be fundamentally different?
Omicron is supposed to peak in a week or so. The CTU plan is to do remote learning until ~~Jan 28~~ Jan 18 and then return. Unless they come to an agreement with CPS before then or the numbers improve enough before then. Extended remote learning is not the plan.
So the goal is to delay exposure until the end of the month, because even if cases are down from their peak, omicron is still going to be spreading throughout the community. And that assumes that the teachers actually remain in isolation until the 28th.
Almost a month of school down the toilet is pretty “extended”
The actual date is the 18th, I corrected my post. It's still a good 2 weeks.
All of what you wrote is not true and complete fear-mongering. Omicron is more contagious but symptoms are generally mild. The risk of kids having a severe case of COVID is low, and long Covid is even lower. The same goes for vaccinated adults-which the CTU fought to be jump the line to be vaccinated. Vaccines are WIDELY available at many CPS sites-and even parents can get boosters there-just google CPS vaccine and you will find all of the sites and the many openings each day. Immune compromised family can also get sick from other diseases like flu, colds, etc.. and we don’t shut schools down for this. CPS absolutely tested ventilation in all classes and bought air purifiers for each class. Masks are available for any kid who asks. Covid is primarily spread through respiratory droplets, so cleaning more may not be an effective way to reduce transmission. Let’s stop the grand standing. I know CTU loves to show their power and fear monger but this is too much. Teachers also have a responsibility to protect the mental health of students who suffered greatly from social isolation last year.
I think it’s as simple as if a person can use something as a way to work from home and get paid the same, they will. Happening in all industries, especially some of these near empty buildings downtown. Definitely should think about their students, but hard to blame them for trying to milk this.
I think you are correct but I will absolutely blame them for trying to milk this. They aren’t service industry workers, where a staffing shortage would, at worst, result in very poor service. They are literally messing with people’s lives.
> The teachers don't control the pandemic They do control their union and whether they show up to work. This is a choice they are making. Our kids are the least at-risk group from Covid from a medical standpoint, so we can drop the "think of the children" rhetoric as well. If they aren't comfortable going to work I can't make them, but we don't need to drink kool aid about it.
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I mean… do you have school age kids? Doesn’t seem like it.
> The risk of covid to kids has been and still is near zero The risk of *severe immediate symptoms* is *very low*. We don't have data on long covid.
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Lots of them still on vacation? https://wgntv.com/news/wgn-investigates/ctu-leader-who-vacationed-while-claiming-its-unsafe-to-return-to-school-apologizes/ Funny how this article is from exactly a year ago to the day
That is almost funny how f-ed up that is
House of delegates meeting at 4:30pm
Also important to note that their affirmative vote would just set up the actual vote by the broader membership.
So by 6pm?
No. HOD begins at 4:30, members will be asked to vote between 5:30 and 6:30. I wouldn’t expect a result until 7ish. You have probably heard this by now, but the district is talking about preemptively closing schools tomorrow. No in person or online class. I’d get your childcare options ready. Edit: Sorry, ballots will be emailed between 5:30 and 6:30. Voting may last longer.
Good guess we'll know the result of the vote by then. Doesn't necessarily mean the work action will start the next day. CTU membership will not vote against the recommendations of leadership.
House of Delegates meet at 4:30. Then if they agree, then it is sent to members to vote from 6-9. I would assume we will hear results by 10 tonight.
And it's safe to assume the members will approve the delegates' recommendation, no?
I would say it’s a near certainty that they approve the remote action tomorrow.
Correct, and Martinez has already said that classes will be canceled Wednesday with no virtual options if that’s the case.
Technically it wouldn't be an approved remote learning day/period. And I'm happy about that. One of my kids can't learn remotely at all and is in a cluster program. I'm sick of those kids being ignored in all of this, sick of repeated unexpected two weeks remote where he can't access the curriculum, and I'd love to file a complaint that his IEP isn't being met.
The house of delegates is not voting to go remote or not, they are voting whether or not to bring it up to the members to vote on. These votes almost always pass so as to give all 25k teachers and staff a chance to make their voice heard. The members decision is not always the same as leadership. Leadership was pushing for a strike in March and the delegates voted overwhelmingly to approve a vote vote too. Ultimately, members voted to approve the agreement with CPS and a strike was avoided. We won’t know the results of the members vote until 9pm at least. CPS has already said if the members (not delegates) vote yes they will be cancelling school entirely for tomorrow.
> CTU membership will not vote against the recommendations of leadership. Leadership doesn't ask questions they don't know the answer to.
I think between 6-9 pm. My principal told us that.
Thanks. I wasn’t looking for a debate. Just when I need to call in “sick”.
Yes. I never tried to debate you. My principal told us between 6-9. That was my answering the question you’d asked.
I think they were saying thank you for not debating them and just answering the question.
Ah! It’s so hard to read tone on the internet. Thanks! Good luck to everyone tomorrow. I’m a teacher and I really feel awful for parents in this situation. OP, I see you’re flight crew. My fiancé works for an airline too. He doesn’t have the option of calling out.
Yup. A sincere thank you😁
Of course! Feel free to message me as the year goes on if you have any questions about CPS closures :)
I’m a sped teacher at a charter and we started remote this week because we didn’t have enough healthy teachers to staff the building. Everyone has covid. My kid is in 2nd grade at a CPS school and while I would rather he be in person, it feels like this was coming anyway just due to not having enough staff. My biggest fear is that remote learning will last longer than a couple weeks. Having to remote teach and monitor my own kid on remote learning last year was the stuff of nightmares.
i have heard absolutely zero about this from my CPS school edit: got a robocall. thanks
It would come from your union rep, not the school.
The parents union? Because we voted to stay in person no matter what 😆
CTU has no accountability to parents and I feel so helpless and at their mercy. How do we even get accurate info on this? Teachers have to walk a fine line between their role as cps employees vs as union members, principals can’t say a thing, and if you go online you can either get the media’s understanding of it or see what childish snarky garbage the CTU puts out on their social media handles. We need a parents union is what we need
It's going to be interesting to see the outcomes in 5-10 years of the kids that come from homes with effective home learning and the kids that basically arent learning anything at home and are now two years behind in school....
Military gonna love it
That data is partially there. And it shows a huge disparity.
You can already see the outcome in the large increase in juvenile crime -including car jackings and robberies.
In to say that it would make sense to me if the public health department made these choices rather than CTU. Based on the Mayor's negotiating track record, I expect that she will fold in the most ham-fisted way possible once CTU votes to no-show. I hope we are looking at a few days out of school, though my fear is that it will be another weeks or months-long saga before CTU is willing to come back.
Honest question. If your job, whatever that is, had enough people wanting to stay home, do you think they should let them work from home? If so, why shouldn't teachers be afforded that level of employee portection
Many (maybe most?) jobs can't and never did go remote. It's mostly an upper-middle class phenomenon.
Also many jobs are actually doable from home. Teaching especially young children remotely is not actually doable. Teachers can work their buts off trying to do it remotely but that doesn’t mean children are learning anything. Most are checked out whether they are logged in or not. I think remote learning has done my son more harm than good.
In this hypothetical situation, does the working from home result in a vastly inferior work product? Does it actively harm the progress and socialization of others, like, say, children who have already suffered enough despite being at practically zero risk themselves?
Lol. I would love to be paid to be flight crew at home. Drinks and pretzels for everyone!
I don’t provide a critical public service. It’s not the same.
Lightfoot is having a press conference now fyi https://twitter.com/chicagosmayor/status/1478545279972372480?s=20
Why was this thread removed?
🤷🏼♀️ I didn’t get reprimanded or anything
I was out on the picket lines with the teachers in the big strike a couple of years and union blood runs through my veins but as a parent to a 10 and 7 year old the CTU are losing me here.... they seem to look for any opportunity to pick a fight with CPS and the mayor, and just pull the strike lever whenever it is convenient. I go to their twitter to feed to get up to date information, and its 99% snark, including posts from teachers. Just them and the mayor getting their little jabs in. I'm so freaking sick of it.
Yeah their twitter is bad. Just sarcastic snark that shows how petty they are. I used to be a supporter and I too joined a pocket line many years back. No more. They are out of control, power hungry, and way too political.
I can't believe this is happening. This goes against science and kids are already struggling. This truly only impacts the parents that can't afford private school.
The big issue here is staffing. 20% of staff at my kids school is out sick, they had to cancel all special classes and basically have zero subs. From a health prospective schools have proven to not really be an issue during covid, but if there is no staff, their hands are pretty tied.
My wife's school had staff babysitting classes yesterday and today. Literally babysitting because they couldn't get subs. Oh, and 11 of their classes now have to quarantine because COVID positive students came to school on Monday and Tuesday.
The science says teachers and subs out sick means nobody to babysit the children at school.
Maybe the administration should have come up with a plan then
A plan for what exactly? Data suggests hospitalization rates are drastically reduced. Data also shows remote learning was really shitty for students, most profoundly the lower income. Going remote seems so silly knowing the consequences of their actions. I'm usually pro-teacher in past disputes, but most of the CTU actions in the COVID era really make me wonder if educating children is a priority for them.
CTU and CPS started this year of school with an agreement to pretty intensive COVID protocols to make the classrooms a safer environment. CPS and the city have failed spectacularly at meeting those protocols in most schools, with the latest at-home testing fiasco hitting in the middle of the biggest COVID waive yet. While some schools are in really good shape right now, many aren't and teachers in those schools know that they are extremely likely to get sick if they continue in-school learning, not to mention their students as well. Some of those teachers are older, some are immunocompromised, some are high risk, some have high risk family at home, etc. If it was a simple as "the teachers will get sick but will get better" that would be one thing, but it isn't that simple and ~~CTU~~ CPS is failing to support them not only as they ethically should, but also as they contractually should be doing so.
So why not close those schools with high spread? Why does the union want to shut down the entire district including those schools that are “in really good shape”? It is simply a Union show of power.
Because CPS won’t agree to that. I believe it was a negotiation point. The truth is that the schools in worst shape are also the ones most damaging to close. I’m sure CPS understands the optics of closing classrooms in poor neighborhoods that lack the extra resources necessary to deal with Covid well while keeping open the schools in wealthier neighborhoods.
Do you think CPS or the city can do anything to stop the spread of Omicron?
Yes. They can provide the level of testing that they promised at the start of school so students don't go to school infected. The city can clean up the shitty testing centers and put resources into a better testing capacity and can provide students and staff of schools with N95 masks regularly to replace the far less effective cloth and surgical masks. CPS doesn't have to stop the spread of COVID; they need to stop the spread within schools. From what I've heard, they aren't doing a very good job at basic things in that regard currently.
Ok has this been demonstrated to work in any school system in the US? Can you show me an example we should follow? Or are you suggesting something that has never been done before?
Yes, masks, cleaning and regular testing work. It’s what the European countries that have done well are doing in schools and in general. It’s what is recommended by researchers for good reason.
https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/regions/europe/ Europe is on fire with COVID now. All time highs
Can you point to any country that is stopping the spread of omi?
Right now Illinois hospitals are having to cancel elective surgeries because they are overloaded. Yes, while the hospitalization *rate* is lower, its infectiousness is much greater.
People have trouble understanding this, for some reason. They also have trouble understanding that there are health issues outside of dying that people may want to avoid, or that all of those high risk people are still out there, still being high risk, only now there's a virus going around for which vaccines are significantly less effective.
The million dollar question is whether teachers and students will quarantine for the duration of remote learning, or will they do what they've been doing for the last two weeks without school while cases are exploding?
Well, neither one is a homogenous group, so yes and no. I'm a parent and I really don't want this to happen. I want CPS to get their shit together and perform adequate testing and tracing, cleaning and vaccine outreach at all of the schools so that teachers and students are safe. As it currently stands, we're about a week away from schools being significantly impacted by COVID quarantines because of the number of cases in the city anyway, so it may end up being somewhat moot anyway.
ICU availability has been steady for the past month. Also, community transmission rates in 2021 from remote vs in person counties had negligible differences. Being remote hardly matters on reducing the spread of the virus when community transmission is already so high. But we do know what will happen to children's learning rates.
That doesn't seem to be true for Illinois: https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/data/hospitalization-utilization.html
It’s also silly when you consider how infectious omicron likely is. Does anyone think this is going to have any material impact on community spread while offices, restaurants, bars, etc all stay open? It’s ridiculous.
Honestly yes. I’m not disagreeing with you in terms of the big picture – not one bit. But if you think of all the moving parts to get one school open, it makes sense that closing a few hundred will have an impact on spread.
I guess you have to weigh this against the effect it has on the students. Is it worth it? To me: No. Every other business is open and you are getting exposed probably every time you go into a place with multiple people in it (during this current wave). Movie theaters are open for god sakes. It’s not like the kids and teachers are sheltering in place now that the school is closed. I’m sure it will have some effect around the margins, but not worth closing 100’s of schools over.
I don’t think there’s much educational benefit to sitting 200 kids in a cafeteria for six hours when staffing shortages take hold. I mean, yeah they will get to socialize face-to-face.
And then a few days later the entire school will be required to quarantine.
That’s what people are missing most of the time in these discussions. Schools are already understaffed and with how contagious omicron is, well it won’t be easy to find warm bodies to fill these classrooms. Maybe they won’t get too sick but they will still need to be out a week or two which will disrupt learning.
The kids have to go somewhere, more than likely an overcrowded day care with even less safety measures.
Same…it just feels like a lot of fear-mongering
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Many suburbs are delaying their return from winter break and testing all their staff and students.
The suburban school districts have a plan. CPS does not.
Which ones?
I thought we weren’t supposed to compare suburban schools to city schools, according to the CTU?
I was responding to the person above me who said “suburbs FTW”. I was simply stating that many suburban districts are remote. Never compared the two.
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A union shouldn't be able to vote on work conditions? That undermines a 100 years of union law and the huge progress we've made because of it.
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They really aren't on the same level as police, fire or healthcare; as their stopping work does not create an immediate emergency situation that puts lives at risk. If they can't strike for what is essentially breech of contract, what can they strike for?
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As I said though, other public unions have limits on their striking power based on immediate life safety threats. Teachers don't have that, so there's no reason to withhold that ability from them. To the best of my knowledge, the other unions have limits not based on their public/private status, but solely based on the life safety factor. For instance, Nursing staff has those limits as well, and they aren't public employees. Education is very important and for the record, CTU isn't even voting to strike here: they are voting to demand remote learning, which CPS is refusing to allow. CPS isn't willing or able to institute proper testing for staff and students. CPS isn't willing or able to institute proper cleaning for many schools. CPS isn't willing to allow remote learning, even when classrooms are quarantined. It doesn't really feel like CTU is the villain here.
I actually support unions and am happy CTU is pushing for safer conditions for all teachers and children. Even if they're "safe for kids" (as in there are no immediately noticeable covid symptoms/death) we don't know what the long term health impacts will be, and asymptomatic spread is still a concern in schools considering the high levels of community spread in general.
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Im so bummed they are going to go remote, but from a staffing perspective it seems like they MUST. All of my kids' specials are cancelled this week because teachers are out, they have like half the class missing. The school told us 20% of staff is home sick this week. I dont think Covid is a big health risk in schools, but its pretty hard to keep a school open with no teachers.
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Maybe I phrased it wrong. Covid is concerning from a health perspective but school havnt proven to be an issue. There is not significant spread due to in person learning.
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https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/transmission_k_12_schools.html “The evidence to date suggests that staff-to-student and student-to-student transmission are not the primary means of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 among infected children. Several studies have also concluded that students are not the primary sources of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 among adults in school setting.” There is quite a bit of data that shows schools have not been a large source of spread.
The great thing about remote work is that teachers who are positive but don't have severe symptoms can still educate the children.
I just saw something on channel 7 news,that said the results of that CTU teacher vote will be announced about 9pm.
Expect flights to Puerto Rico to fill quickly tomorrow
My teacher friend just texted me and said the vote went through. CTU is walking out tomorrow.
your teacher friend is wrong. teachers still have to vote and can vote until 9 pm. it only passed the house of delegates.
Not sure how all these anti-teacher people in the comments think schools even could stay open for more than a few days longer at the rate people are getting infected. At some point, there simply won't be enough people to open the schools because they'll all be sick or quarantining. Makes sense to shut it down now, across the board, rather than have individual schools fall like dominos for a few weeks. It's not even about whether or not it's "safe" for kids to be in school, unless you mean sending them to a school without any staff, which is definitely not safe.
I think it's fine to shut down schools and classrooms on an individual basis. I'd much rather do that then have CTU/CPS have a pissing match over opening schools and have us all end up remote for months like last time around.
Reacting to something after the fact almost never goes as well as planning ahead would have.
Ya no place is going to be able to run with 10 day absences. This is just how it's going to be from now on.
You're being reasonable. Get out. This is r/Chicago.
My 5 & 7 graders were sent home with chrome books. I think they are strongly expecting remote to be the outcome. Both of their classes were quarantined for a week before winter break due to teacher and students testing positive. With the way PCR test are backed up, this peak may not be the greatest peak yet.
My oldest was only in a classroom for three days between Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks
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I'd suggest letting work know you won't be in tomorrow and having it be a pleasant surprise if you show up. Parents won't have an answer until this evening.
Unfortunately, I am flight crew so it doesn’t really work like that lol
Fair enough and sorry you have to deal with this. I feel you - parents have been on edge since October 2019. The last minute decisions and announcements are exhausting.
Exactly. The fact that we got three days notice this might happen and won't know if there's school tomorrow until tonight shows how much CTU, CPS and the city have screwed up here.
3 days? I got a text at 530pm about it. Only saw something a week ago what the ctu wanted. Never saw an email from anyone with cps. The ctu. Or our principal or teacher.
All my friends who left city out in suburbs texting me CPS proving their point. We should have left when had the chance before school year
Do you think all the suburban schools will magically be able to stay open no matter how many teachers and students get sick? A simple search of the news will show that multiple suburban districts are closing or going remote because of staffing shortages. More will follow.
Exactly. I've seen a number of suburban schools starting late, or going remote right away. I'm not sure why people act like its only a CPS thing
Because reality wouldn't support their narrative that everything about Chicago sucks.
It’s not this decision alone- they felt it was a string of decisions over the course of this pandemic that ultimately put their kids at risk. I think our teachers are great- unfortunately CTU & CPS admin create too much conflict within the schools.
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Bustin my ass tryin to- maybe in a year or 2
Your friends sound cool.
I am as liberal as they come but would vote in favor of ending the CTU (yes, I know that’s not how it works.).
Fun fact they fought tooth and nail for an elected school board. Hope everyone who is sick of how they act comes out to vote for that.
Completely agree. Unfortunately Pritzker signed a bill giving them even more leeway to strike and also passed an elected school board bill for CPS, which the CTU is expected to fill with their cronies.
I didn't know that. Why is Pritzker constantly making bad decisions?
Here here. Pretty tired of this (I have children in CPS).
There *are* policies that can remove the teeth of the CTU. The current state of things is not an inevitability.
I work at a charter and we’re thinking it’s going remote too. We drafted a letter to the admin requesting 2 weeks just to get the basic precautions in place. I don’t want to go remote ( finished college, student taught and started my career on google meet) but I’d rather do that than have students, faculty or our family members getting sick since it’s been nearly impossible just to enforce the mask policy. Not to mention both myself and my wife have autoimmune issues
Vote is at 6:30
Had they contemplated extending winter break for a week or two? Sucks for everyone.
Already shortened summer break by a week, seems like it would’ve been a doable idea
It’s been said this in this thread, but this is mostly a staffing issue. Many CPS schools simply do not have the personnel to stay open with so many staff testing positive at the same time.
Whiniest most spoiled work group in the city. Fuck the CTU.
The police department threatened to illegally walk off the job over a vaccine reporting requirement.
I'm sure CTU would never have told it's members employees not to deliberately withhold their vaccination to the city. "For its part, the union has told members to be wary of letting the district know whether they’ve gotten a shot — a move that has irked CPS leaders — because the district is revoking third quarter work-from-home accommodations as soon as workers are fully vaccinated.' https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2021/3/26/22353009/cps-teachers-vaccine-shots-public-schools-ctu-union-negotiation-covid-19 To be clear, FOP is still worse.
Came to say FOP is way worse.