CHICAGO (WLS) — Chicago Public Schools teachers and students are headed back to class Wednesday, after a tentative deal was reached Monday night between the district and the Chicago Teachers Union.
The breakthrough came after nearly a week of canceled classes for CPS.
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CTU said it is suspending its remote work action after a House of Delegates vote while its members vote on a deal with CPS.
The union tweeted Monday night that the remote work action is suspended while rank-and-file members vote on the proposed agreement negotiated with CPS and Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
The Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates has voted tonight to suspend the Union’s remote work action while rank-and-file membership votes on the proposed agreement.
— ChicagoTeachersUnion (@CTULocal1) January 11, 2022
The union’s 700-member governing body voted 63% to 27% in favor of ending the remote work action that affected about 300,000 students.
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“I’m ultimately proud the Chicago Teachers Union took a stand,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey said. “We’re going to keep doing what’s right as we navigate this. It’s not a perfect agreement but we’ll hold our heads up high, as it was hard to get.”
Lightfoot said Monday night that teachers will be back in classrooms Tuesday, and students will return to school on Wednesday. Classes are still canceled for students on Tuesday as teachers prepare to return to work.
The full CTU rank-and-file membership still needs to approve the deal, and is expected to vote on it later this week.
Among the highlights of the deal is an agreement to expand testing of students, but not the opt-out testing program the CTU had sought. CPS did agree to a set of metrics that would trigger a move to remote learning for individual schools, but not a district-wide metric as the union had wanted.
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The deal also includes expanded PPE and efforts to increase testing consents for students, Mayor Lightfoot said.
The mayor said there will also be new incentives to increase the number of substitutes in the district. She said the full details of the deal will be released after the agreement is ratified by the full CTU membership.
CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said the district remains committed to the safety of teachers, staff and students. The agreement proposed extends through the end of summer school, Lightfoot said.
“Some will ask who won and who lost,” Mayor Lightfoot said. “No one wins when our students are out of the place where they can learn the best and where they’re safest. After being out of school for four days in a row, I’m sure many students will be excited to get back in the classroom with their teachers and peers. And their parents and guardians can now breathe a much-deserved sigh of relief.”
“I want to make sure that everybody knows that we are committed to the safety of our students. We’re committed to the safety of our staff. We’re going to work together,” Martinez said. “There’s some really good things in this agreement.”
Tuesday will mark the fifth straight day CPS students have been out of class.
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