Chicago Teachers Union

Chicago teachers began voting Thursday to defy orders to report for in-person class next week ahead of elementary students’ return, actions the nation’s third-largest school district said could lead to “an illegal strike.”

Delegates with the Chicago Teachers Union have approved a walkout, sending the vote to the full union membership.

About 6,000 children — all of them preschoolers and children with complex disabilities — were welcomed back in CPS classrooms Monday for the first time in 300 days, along with 1,200 teachers and 1,700 clinicians.

Chicago teachers punished for refusing to show up for the start of in-person classes over COVID-19 concerns, demonstrated Wednesday outside the school board president’s home.

About 6,000 children returned to Chicago Public Schools classrooms Monday for the first time in 300 days.

Chicago Public Schools students began their return to the classroom Monday as school doors opened to thousands of pre-kindergarten and some special education students.

Some in-person instruction at Chicago public schools will resume Monday for the first time in months, the city’s mayor and school chief reaffirmed Friday, warning teachers that their absence will have consequences.

Only half of Chicago Public Schools teachers expected in schools ahead of preschool students’ anticipated return next week showed up, district officials said Tuesday in an increasingly contentious battle over classroom learning during the coronavirus pandemic.

CTU President Jesse Sharkey says the CPS plan to bring teachers and students back starting January 4th is forcing its members to choose between their livelihoods and staying safe.

The push to get kids in the classroom is gaining momentum after the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board denied an injunction requested by the Chicago Teachers Union.

The Chicago Teachers Union released a list of demands for reopening public schools. The list focuses on three categories: safety, equity, and trust.