Chicago likely to cancel classes a fourth day amid teachers' union dispute

Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Chicago Public Schools will likely cancel classes Monday, marking the fourth day of cancellations for the majority of the district's 270,000 students amid ongoing negotiations with the teachers' union over COVID-19 protocols, school officials said.

Officials told the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday that principals at many schools have notified parents that the return to in-person learning would likely have to wait amid the dispute.

Schools have been closed since Wednesday due to the disagreement between the school district and the Chicago Teachers Union over the school system's COVID-19 protocols after the union voted to work only remotely amid the Omicron variant surge, WBBM-TV in Chicago reported.

Some issues include whether all students should have to submit a negative COVID-19 test before returning, and how many staff or student absences should lead to a shutdown.

Though teachers want to return to work remotely, the district has locked teachers out of their virtual classrooms, demanding they return to work in-person, teachers said.

After school officials said in a statement they wanted to "hopefully on Monday," get kids back in school, the district told principals in an emailed update to let families know there would be no school Monday unless negotiations move forward later this weekend, the Sun-Times reported.

"If an agreement is reached with the CTU over the weekend, we may reverse this decision and hold classes on Monday," a copy of the memo shared with the Sun-Times said.

In a joint statement late Friday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez demanded the negotiations end this weekend.

"Bargaining sessions continued today and went into the evening," the statement said. "The sessions remain productive but must be concluded this weekend.