A group of parents of Chicago Public Schools students, not content to wait for the CPS to take action, have filed suit against the Chicago Teachers Union. WTTW reports:
A group of Chicago Public Schools parents are suing the Chicago Teachers Union, seeking an immediate return to in-person learning after classes have been repeatedly canceled this week during the union’s COVID-19 standoff with the city.
Seven CPS parents filed a lawsuit against the CTU on Friday, which also marked the third consecutive day without classes during a union labor action that has seen its 25,000 members working remotely until the city agrees to stricter health and safety protocols.
In the lawsuit, which was filed in Cook County Chancery Court, the parents claim the union’s action is actually an “illegal strike†— language that’s also been used by Mayor Lori Lightfoot. They want a judge to immediately order teachers to return to their schools and resume in-person learning.
“CTU’s resolution calling members to not show up for work in-person is a strike regardless of what CTU calls it and violates both the collective bargaining agreement with CPS and Illinois law,†Jeffrey Schwab, an attorney with the Liberty Justice Center, which filed the suit, said in a statement. “CTU cannot unilaterally decide what actions should be taken to keep public schools safe, completely silencing parents’ input about what is best for the health, safety, and well-being of their children.â€
Rank-and-file CTU members on Tuesday voted in favor of the labor action, claiming CPS has not done enough to protect students and staff inside schools from surging COVID-19 cases, driven largely by the omicron variant.
In an ideal world the CPS and the CTU would collaborate in getting the schools open. Facilities and protective measures would be reviewed on a case by case basis and corrected to the satisfaction of both parties. As a regular commenter astutely observed, the easy solution for the teachers is remote learning while the easy solution for parents and children is in-person learning. IMO ease is likely to prevail over the expensive and arduous work required to take the necessary remediative steps.
There is one mistake I hope will be avoided: trying to tar these parents as MAGA hat-wearing Trump supporters. They’re undoubtedly all or nearly all Democrats. This is Chicago. But it would be consistent with the predisposition these days to seek heretics rather than allies.
It will be interesting to see enrollment numbers next year. Every parent I know will vote with their feet when it comes to bad schools. But of course, I’m sure I’m in a bubble and not all parents are the same.
Jan to Dave —-> Quite a few democrats supported policies made by the Trump administration. IMO, ordinary democrats and ordinary republicans unite when it comes to what’s best for the family and the country’s economy.
I would say it another way. What the party leadership of both parties want has little to do with what average Americans want.
Now, that last statement, Dave, is something I’m in agreement with.
“What the party leadership of both parties want has little to do with what average Americans want.”
Once again making a point I frequently make. Looking to government for solutions is generally a fools errand. Its like a bunch of gazelles asking lion’s and cheetahs to guide them on a hunting expedition.
I think that’s an overstatement. What I would say is that looking to government to accomplish tasks better executed by the private sector is frequently a bad idea and bears risks of its own that are not generally not mitigated. I would also say that the public-private hybrids that are so popular with legislators are almost always a bad idea, having the benefits of neither and the problems of both.
Just as one example, our supply chain problems are not a problem created by government intervention. The private sector created it all by itself.
Other examples. Public fire departments are good ideas. We know from experience that relying exclusively on the private sector to fight fires is not effective. Public police departments are good ideas. The Founding Fathers thought that public highways were good ideas. IMO all interstates should be toll roads but that’s another story.