Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot warned that action will be taken against teachers that do not show up at schools Wednesday after a union voted against in-person learning.
Lightfoot responded shortly after 73% of the Chicago Teachers Union voted to go back to remote classes until the spike in cases “substantially subsides”.
Because of the vote, classes were cancelled Wednesday, and Lightfoot announced that teachers who do not show up at school will lose pay.
The union took to Twitter Wednesday morning, saying “Mayor Lightfoot has started locking Chicago public school teachers and staff out of their Google Classrooms”. It had previously said that “all members will log in remotely to work”.
On Tuesday night, Lightfoot tweeted “I want to assure you that I am doing everything in my power to keep our students in school, where they belong, learning”.
The mayor said she is “committed’ to speaking with the union “and negotiating a fair agreement”. Lightfoot noted she is against “unilateral action to shut down the entire district, depriving hundreds of thousands of students of the safe, in-person schooling environment they need”.
“I’m urging teachers. Show up to your schools. Your kids need you,” she said, asking the public to follow the guidance of experts.
“To be clear: Educators of this city want to be in buildings with their students. We believe that classrooms are where our children should be. But as the results tonight show, Mayor Lightfoot and her CPS team have yet to provide safety for the overwhelming majority of schools,” the union tweeted early Wednesday.
The union said the decision will not be changed until COVID cases decrease or Lightfoot’s team “signs an agreement establishing conditions for return that are voted on and approved by the the CTU House of Delegates”.