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 Chicago Public Schools elementary students missed their Feb. 1
return to the classroom, as the district and the Chicago Teachers Union failed
to even meet for negotiations on Jan. 31.
Students are now being told to return on Groundhog Day, but there is a
probability their day will be a repeat of the past 10 months at home.
CPS plans to shut off access to remote learning by the end of the day Feb. 1 for
teachers who fail to show up for work, schools CEO Janice Jackson said. CTU has
said they will strike if online access is cut off.
That strike would likely be illegal. It would also be CTU’s fourth strike in
nine years.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Jackson both lamented the union’s unwillingness
to make a deal happen to get kids back to class.
“We can do this,” Jackson said. “Why should Chicago stand out when everybody
else across the country has been able to safely do this? Why should CPS stand
out when private and parochial schools in Chicago have been operating since the
beginning of the school year?”
The answer may be that a strike is less about safety and more about CTU flexing
its muscles and wanting to be a national standard bearer for teachers’ unions.
CTU takes credit for triggering multiple teachers’ union strikes around the
nation in recent years, claiming its 2012 strike, “changed the future of
organizing.” That strike also forced the closure of 50 schools and the layoff of
thousands of teachers so Chicago Public Schools could cut costs to compensate
for satisfying the union’s expensive demands.
Their actions have elevated awareness of the dispute: Jackson was on “Face the
Nation” on Jan. 31 and the threatened strike was making national news Feb. 1.
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CTU’s stated worries have science against them. The
CDC found there is little evidence that schools contribute
meaningfully to the spread of COVID-19. There is similar data from
around the world, such as a UNICEF report citing evidence from 191
countries showing “no consistent association between school
reopening status and COVID-19 infection rates.”
Even anecdotal evidence from Chicago shows
in-person learning is relatively safe, with 40,000 parochial and
charter school students safely in class. The district expects about
77,000 students, or one-third of its elementary students, to attend
class Feb. 2.
But a strike threatens that. And CTU’s demand to continue remote
learning comes with significant costs to the district’s students.
A study out of Columbia University in December 2020 found remote
learning is widening the achievement gap because it is less
effective than in-person schooling.
Plus, Chicago students are not all using the online platforms.
The district in late May found less than 60% of Chicago students
were logging on three or more days a week. They found nearly 25%
never logged on at all.
“Many of our students aren’t logging on,” Jackson said. “We are
seeing African American and Latinx students in particular being
especially hard hit. And our goal is to really give every parent an
option.”
British researchers just set the cost for 6 months out of school at
about $55,000 in lost lifetime earnings.
CTU may gain status among the nation’s teachers’ unions, but the
cost to students is both clear and hidden. Students are suffering
academically and emotionally at present, and the cost of being out
of school for nearly a year may not be evident until kids are
decades older.
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