Chicago Goes Back to School

🏫🚌 Chicago’s public schools could be back in classrooms today after the Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates voted to approve a deal with the city. Teachers returned to work yesterday, but it was the fifth straight school day that most CPS students have been out of class.

• The tentative deal – which is subject to a vote by the union's 25,000 members and has not been fully released – includes agreement on Covid metrics surrounding individual school closures and will extend through the rest of the school year. The delegates voted 63% to 27% in favor of ending the remote work action.
• Per the Chicago Sun-Times ($), the city didn’t offer to reinstate a threshold for district-wide school closures and didn’t agree to an opt-out testing program, two of the union’s most prominent demands. The district also didn’t agree to return to classrooms Jan. 18 as the union had planned.
• But officials did offer to increase testing at all schools to at least 10% of their student population. Students registered for testing would be randomly selected each week. All staff will be offered testing this week.
• Though the district stuck with an opt-in testing program, union leaders said that a testing stipend will be given to staff members who offer to coordinate testing expansion at their school. Around 16% percent of CPS families have signed their children up for regular testing.

+Looking ahead… The tentative agreement is expected to head to the union’s 25,000 members for final approval later this week.

📖 Go deeper: From the Left | From the Right | See the 360° view