Reprinted from The Wall Street Journal by Joe Barrett on February 10, 2021.
The Chicago Teachers Union begrudgingly ratified an agreement to reopen elementary schools for in-person learning for the first time since March amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Union members voted 13,681 to 6,585 to approve the deal, averting a possible lockout and strike after months of increasingly bitter negotiations.
But teachers clearly weren’t happy with the agreement or the administration of Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
“This plan is not what any of us deserve. Not us. Not our students. Not their families,” said CTU President Jesse Sharkey. “The fact that CPS could not delay reopening a few short weeks to ramp up vaccinations and preparations in schools is a disgrace.”
Before sending the deal to members for a vote without making a recommendation on whether to approve it, the union’s house of delegates passed a vote of no-confidence in the mayor and the nation’s third-largest school district. …
