On decision day for parents and teachers of Chicago Public Schools students tapped to return for in-person classes in the new year, the Chicago Teachers Union announced it had filed a legal action seeking to prevent the district from moving forward with its reopening plan.
The plan would have students in prekindergarten and moderate to severe special education cluster programs return Jan. 11. Other students in kindergarten through eighth grade who are enrolled in elementary schools would return in a hybrid model Feb. 1.
Union leaders on Monday filed a motion for an injunction with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board against what they think are “arbitrary” reopening dates and are accusing CPS officials of “manipulating statistics to justify their decision.” The motion aims to prevent CPS from requiring in-person learning “until they have bargained in good faith” about that decision.
The labor relations board rejected a similar request last month, before CPS came out with hard reopening dates. During that hearing, board members discussed the possibility of reconsidering the case if the district set a date.
In both cases, and in other grievances related to reopening, the union said CPS has failed to bargain with it over mandatory subjects, which each side interprets differently.
“The (Chicago Board of Education’s) authority to take such unilateral action rests upon a slender reed: the claim that the CBE’s right to determine ‘places of instruction’ includes the right to unilaterally put its teachers and staff into danger without meaningful bargaining,” states the motion, which seeks an injunction to require the terms of the reopening be “determined by good faith collective bargaining instead of executive fiat.”
In response, a district spokesperson said CPS and CTU have been “in discussions” since schools closed in March. The union hasn’t proposed specific changes to the current plan, according to CPS.
“With disparate rates of attendance and participation in remote learning, our Black and brown students are facing an unprecedented educational crisis that has the potential to reverberate for decades,” CPS spokeswoman Emily Bolton said in a statement. “… Given the learning loss and missed opportunities for our children, the discussion can no longer be focused on whether or not to reopen but how to do so safely. Numerous studies and data from schools in Chicago and throughout the country have shown that classrooms can safely reopen with proper mitigation strategies, and we must open our doors in order to counter the dire educational consequences for students who need support the most.”
The union questions what can really be gleaned from available data.
“It’s not clear to me that there is a uniform collection of data for schools,” said CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates. “The jury quite frankly is still out on that data.”
While many Illinois districts are doing remote learning, some are fully or partially open. Contact tracing data for the prior 30 days puts schools at the top of the list for potential exposure location, meaning someone who contracted COVID-19 had been at a school during the incubation window but not necessarily that transmission occurred there, according to state data updated Friday. About 15.8% of people who tested positive were potentially exposed at schools, followed by hospitals or clinics at 8.9%, according to the data. Yet schools account for a smaller share of outbreaks, defined as five or more cases linked to the same location over two weeks.
The state tracker shows 13 current school outbreaks and 825 schools with potential exposures based on contact tracing data.
Within CPS, which tracks data separately, weekly cases tied to school buildings peaked at 87 the week of Nov. 14 and totaled 30 the week of Nov. 28, the most recent week reported. The greatest number of cases tied to a single school since second quarter started Nov. 9 is five, at Phillips Academy High School, followed by four at Chappell Elementary, Chicago Vocational High School and Nicholson Elementary. There have also been eight administrative cases.
While CPS has required some employees to work in schools during remote learning, Davis Gates said the numbers seen with the “skeleton staff” raises questions about the district’s ability to prevent spread within its schools. She also took issue with the city’s decision to use a doubling rate of 18 days as the primary metric for determining if schools can be open.
“What the doubling rate tells me is that the mayor is comfortable with sending our children back into school communities with double digit positivity rates,” Davis Gates said. “That’s dangerous. The mayor had a decision to make last summer, open schools or open bars and restaurants. … She made the wrong decision and now we are in a situation when there is massive community spread.”
Different approaches have been taken in the two U.S. school districts with more students than CPS, though both have similarly focused on younger students and those who need the most special education support. COVID-19 cases are also surging in both cities.
In New York City Monday, public schools reopened to nearly 200,000 eligible students with a weekly random testing plan, eschewing the 3% citywide test positivity rate that caused them to close weeks ago. In Los Angeles Monday, the superintendent announced that public schools would close for the limited in-person services they had been providing.
“This is one big experiment,” Davis Gates said. “CPS is saying, ‘If you refuse to participate in our experiment, you could be fired.'”
CPS CEO Janice Jackson has said educators will be required to report to work in person unless they use the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Intent-to-return forms for teachers and opt-in forms for eligible students were all due Monday, and results were not yet available. When CPS sent similar forms in October for 16,704 students in pre-K and cluster programs, about one-third opted for in-person learning. About 58% chose to continue remote learning, and 9% did not respond. Schools are waiting on the results to figure out schedules, pods and staffing. Beyond the personal protective equipment, supplies and guidelines provided by CPS, each school is tasked with creating its own plan.
“This reopening plan is 550 different reopening plans,” Davis Gates said. “A lot of the implementation of this plan, they are leaving to the principal at the building level. We believe safety in the time of a pandemic should be uniform… if it is different for every single place how do you ensure the quality of implementation?”
The union also criticized CPS for having hired only 100 custodial workers when they said they would hire 400 more to help with heightened cleaning procedures. A district spokesman said 400 is the plan for when all grades return, and they will hire the remaining 300 custodians by that time.
Absent an agreement or injunction, the union is once again weighing its options.
“I am heartbroken we are being pushed into a corner where that’s even a consideration. Why would any mayor push human beings into a corner where they would have to strike?” Davis Gates said. “… Why won’t you create a plan that all of these stakeholders would sign off on, why are you forcing a plan with people who are anxious, who are experiencing trauma, who are fearful?”
The union’s governing body meets Wednesday, and an email to members stresses that it’s “imperative that delegates attend this Wednesday’s House of Delegates meeting prepared to decide on next steps in this fight.”
hleone@chicagotribune.com