Chicago: Chicago Public School teacher returned to their school on Tuesday after reaching an agreement on Covid-19 protection with the district, ending the walkout that canceled the class in the entire largest school system in the United States for a week.
The 340,000 system of students will return to school on Wednesday after the Chicago teacher delegation house voted on Monday night to end Weeklong walkout for Covid-19 fear.
Walkout starts with the union’s voice to restore virtual instructions and encouragement for a more stringent safety protocol, including broader testing, such as the omicron variant spread.
While most US public school districts have reopened their campus for the new year, the education system in several major cities has chosen online learning or delay the back-to-classroom plan due to lack of staff, in some cases caused by covid disease.
The United States reported 1.35 million new Koronavirus infections on Monday, according to Reuters’ calculations, the highest daily total for any country in the world as a very contagious spread of omicron variants did not show signs of slowing.
On average seven days of cases in Chicago showed an indication of last week’s decline, down 8% since the previous week which saw 5,200 cases.
While the third largest US city has seen a surge in case, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has encouraged the school to remain open.
“Completely switches to distance learning again without the health of the public to do so will create and strengthen social, emotional and economic chaos that are too many families,” he said at a press conference.
The dispute was tense.
Lightfoot and the district have staple illegal walkouts and say teacher salaries will dock.
Trade unions accuse the mayor and school officials “lock” teachers by freezing their online instruction platform.
The agreement called for an increase in testing and contacts in school, creating a metric for the district to go far and cover the commitment to secure additional KN95 masks for staff and students, Chicago Tribune reported.
During a press conference on Monday, the President of the Chicago Teacher Jesse Sherkey said the agreement was not ideal but “it includes some important things that will help protect ourselves and our school.”