Chicago City Wire

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot recently discussed the path that led to Chicago Public Schools reaching an agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union for the return to in-person learning on Jan. 12.

“After a productive day at the bargaining table, I am pleased to report CTU will end their work stoppage,” Lightfoot posted on Twitter at the time. “CPS put a great proposal on the table that both bargaining teams discussed in detail. We can never forget the impact on the lives of our children and their families. Every decision has to be made with them at the forefront.”

An editorial by City Journal claims CTU has long posed a blockade to progress for children, with the union’s decision to prevent public schools from returning to in-person sooner because of rising COVID-19 infection rates merely representing the latest example. At the start of the new term, about half its member teachers failed to show up in person and at least 30% were absent on the first day of classes.

“As long as I’m mayor, I will always be on the side of our children and their families,” Lightfoot added. “I was you as a kid growing up in a public school system. I’m here because of the teachers from my school. Education is the greatest equalizer. We will do whatever it takes for you to have access to a quality education in a safe and nurturing environment.”  

 Soon after voting to keep schools closed, CTU officials also demanded a better accounting of the $1.8 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds steered to the city for schools as part of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, FOX News reported.

"The in-person learning that some of us are getting is still not where it needs to be because the district, the mayor, refuses to put the resources into schools,” CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said during a recent Zoom meeting. “She spent $100 million. She got $2 billion. … What is the percentage on $100 million to $2 billion?"

Data from the Chicago Public Schools website shows that 36,816 COVID-19 tests were completed between Dec. 26 and Jan. 1, but 24,986 were deemed "invalid" because of delays brought on by "weather and holiday-related shipping issues."

The school closures in the face of rising omicron cases has prompted a nationwide debate that the country’s third-largest district found itself pinned in the middle of.

President Joe Biden has called for schools to remain open, and the American Academy of Pediatrics "continues to strongly advocate that all policy considerations for school plans start with the goal of in-person learning" due to the mental and physical toll remote learning has had on children across the country since the pandemic hit roughly two years ago.