Chicago Teachers Union And Chicago Public Schools Announce Tentative Agreement To Resume In-Person Classes At High Schools

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools announced Thursday afternoon they have reached a tentative agreement to resume in-person classes for high school students on Monday.

"The CTU House of Delegates is holding a special meeting today at 4:30 p.m. to review and consider the recommendation from our rank-and-file h.s. steering committee," the union said in a tweet.

In a statement, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS Chief Executive Officer Janice Jackson said the tentative agreement would allow for in-person instruction to resume at high schools as planned on Monday.

"In-person learning will resume for high school students for the first time in more than a year, and for the first time since March 2020 students in all grade levels at CPS have access to in-person learning. It is a critical milestone for our families and it's a tremendous step forward for the academic and social-emotional well-being of our students," Lightfoot and Jackson said in a joint statement.

The district had spent weeks negotiating with the union on specific terms for how to safely bring students back to classrooms, after CPS already brought back thousands of pre-k and elementary students earlier this year.

CPS and CTU have spent the past several days haggling over COVID safety issues; including high school schedules, accommodations for staff, a plan to allow teachers to stay remote if no students are in class during the week, and vaccinations for high school students and their families.

High school teachers and staff who had started working from school buildings earlier this week returned to working from home on Wednesday to protest the lack of an agreement.

Terms of Thursday's tentative agreement between CTU and CPS were not immediately available.

In-person classes resumed earlier this year for pre-k and elementary students, although all students still have the option of continuing to learn remotely during the pandemic.

This is a developing story...

In:
• Chicago Public Schools
• Chicago Teachers Union