Teachers who don’t show up for work Monday “will be deemed absent without leave and will not be eligible for pay,” said Janice Jackson, CEO of the nation’s third-largest school district.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she is determined to reopen schools Monday, starting a phased return to in-person learning, and that city officials are “doing everything we can to place safety in this pandemic at front and center.”
But teachers, many of whom returned to classrooms last Monday to start to prepare, said they found conditions unacceptable and called the demand for them to start teaching “heartless.”
The situation sets up a potential showdown between a powerful teachers union that has a history of striking and a school district that is determined to open despite a rise in coronavirus cases.
Thad Goodchild, lawyer for the teachers union, said it would be illegal if the district withholds pay for work being done remotely, as it has threatened to do, or if the district locks teachers out of Google Classroom so they are unable to teach their students virtually if they don’t return in person.
The union and the district were continuing to meet over the weekend, Goodchild said. If they can’t come to agreement, he said, “all options are on the table.” He said a strike was possible “if CPS and the mayor retaliate against the teachers who have been directed to report in person on Monday” but choose to stay CONTINUE READING: Chicago teachers balk at reopening plan, face pay loss if they don’t return - The Washington Post