By Logan Smith-
The Chicago Board of Education has excluded parents and teacher from its recent decision to bring in an outside mediator to aid in its negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union .
The board said the mediator can only address the issue of the impact of school re-openings, but not the decision of when to bring students back for in-person learning.
In a letter sent on Tuesday to the CTU’s legal team, board Labour Relations Officer Kaitlyn Girard was clear in her position that the Chicago Board of Education will not engage in mediation over its decision to reopen schools.
As you are well aware, decisions to determine the places of instruction, whether remote or in-person, are permissive subjects of bargaining … and the CBE has no obligation to bargain its decision.”
The union has been in disagreement with the Chicago Board Of Education over reopening, but on Sunday made a formal request for mediation over reopening issues before any students are brought back into school buildings. This is because Chicago Public Schools has said it plans to bring pre-K and some special education students back for in-person instruction during the second quarter of the school year, which began Monday.
An official return date for those students has not yet been set. The CTU responded to the board’s letter Tuesday, saying the board only agreed to mediation on the conditions it can walk away at any time; have no obligation to negotiate; and is free to make decisions without input from parents or teachers.
“They are willing to meet with a mediator if CTU will sign off that it is 100% up to CPS to decide when to return to the buildings, what protections are in place, and when students, staff and schools are ‘safe enough,’” the union said in a statement.
CTU officials have repeatedly called on the CPS to improve remote learning and keep kids out of schools as the City experiences a second surge of COVID-19 cases. Data from the Chicago Department of Public Health has revealed a seven-day rolling average of 1,784 new cases per day, an increase of 38% from the previous week.
City health officials insist that disease transmission in schools is rare when proper safety protocols such as social distancing, mask wearing and surface cleaning are applied.
The union has filed labour practice charges over an alleged refusal by CPS to bargain with the CTU, and the quality of ventilation systems within CPS schools. The school district had last week spent $8.5 million on 20,000 air purifiers to combat the spread of COVID-19 in classrooms and common spaces within schools.
The CTU initially pursued a preliminary injunction barring CPS from implementing its reopening plan, but the request was denied last week by the Illinois Labor Relations Board on the grounds that the school district had not yet set a date for students to return.
“The virus is surging,” the union said in a statement. “And under any and all conditions, reopening must be done safely. We will stand for nothing less.” Parents and teachers have mixed feelings about students returning to in person classes. Some fear that long absence from school would have a long term damaging effect on the education of many children, while many parents are so worried about the chances of their children catching COVID-19, that they would rather they stayed at home and not mix in school.