National teachers union president joins CTU to lay out COVID safety demands

CHICAGO - The president of the American Federation of Teachers made a visit to Chicago Public Schools on Wednesday.

Randi Weingarten leads more than 1.5 million members in the federation.

She visited public schools on the city's South and West sides before classes started Wednesday morning.

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Weingarten was joined by activists and other teachers who are demanding more action to keep children safe from violence and COVID-19.

"The money is there. You see the motivation is there. What's not there is an administration that wants to work with the teachers and the students to get this done," Weingarten said.

The crowd continued to demand more testing, vaccines and more staffing for all CPS schools.

They say along with more COVID protocols, the extra staff members will help keep children safer.

"The residents of this neighborhood are not just experiencing one pandemic, they're are experiencing two," Chicago Teachers Union VP Stacy Davis Gates said. "A pandemic of violence that seems unrelenting and the pandemic of COVID-19 that seems equally unrelenting."