Chicago Public Schools to Drop Mask Mandate March 14; Teachers Union Vows to Fight the Change Without Collective Bargaining

By TRACY SWARTZ

CHICAGO TRIBUNE 

MAR 07, 2022 AT 6:14 PM

Chicago Public Schools announced Monday masks will be optional for staff and students at schools and on school buses beginning March 14, setting up another showdown with the Chicago Teachers Union over COVID-19 safety protocols.

The union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the state labor board Monday, asking for the CPS mask mandate to continue until CTU’s complaint is resolved. Universal masking is one of the tenets of the COVID-19 safety agreement the teachers union forged with CPS in January after an acrimonious battle led to five days of canceled classes during the omicron surge. In a letter Friday to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, CTU President Jesse Sharkey warned that moving to a mask-optional policy would be a “clear violation” of the agreement.

CTU is asking the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board to compel CPS to engage in “good faith bargaining prior to implementing unilateral changes in the terms and conditions of employment which affect the health and safety of the employees represented by the union.”

In its complaint, CTU further accused CPS of not holding up its end of the safety deal by withholding information such as the number of KN95 masks distributed to schools; school-level data on COVID-19 tests conducted through the district’s free weekly program; and confirmation of the creation of school-based contact-tracing teams.

CTU said its leaders met with CPS CEO Pedro Martinez on Feb. 28 and “specifically requested” the opportunity to discuss whether to reopen the safety agreement to renegotiate the masking provision. The union said CPS gave Sharkey 13 minutes notice of the masking policy change before the district issued its news release Monday.

In response to questions about CTU’s unfair labor complaint, CPS spokeswoman Mary Fergus released a statement noting the “enormous change in circumstances since the CTU agreement was reached at the height of the omicron surge. ... Since that time, every local, state and federal public health agency has recommended that masking become optional.”

“We believe this is in everyone’s best interest — including our partners in labor. CPS is committed to continuing to bargain with CTU to reach a workable solution,” Fergus said. “Rather than wait to have this decision thrust upon us by people outside of CPS and in ways that might ignore CPS’ unique circumstances, the CEO acted swiftly so that his autonomy to make prudent health decisions based on what’s happening in CPS communities would not be affected going forward.”

The news comes three days before a court date for CPS and downstate attorney Tom DeVore, who has been trying to halt the district’s mask and exclusion mandates. CPS parents who participated in DeVore’s litigation challenging Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 school policies argued the district’s mask rule violates their students’ due process rights.

“I am in receipt of the CPS announcement that effective Monday, March 14, 2022, the district will drop its unlawful mask mandate. It’s unfortunate CPS had to be faced with the imminent issuance of a restraining order before finding the courage to take a stand against the teachers union unlawful bargaining provisions,” DeVore said in a statement.

“I’m excited for the parents of CPS students who will now be free to exercise their right to choose what’s best for their children instead of being dictated to by overreaching bureaucracies. The rule of law exists to protect everyone in this state including all children who attend CPS. I will not stop until we are certain these unlawful mandates are never forced upon any child of this state again.”

In a letter to Sharkey released Monday evening, Lightfoot acknowledged the litigation the district faces and said she agrees with him “that we must maintain our authority and autonomy in deciding what happens in our schools. ... An injunction directed against CPS, even if temporary, would undermine measures that CPS has in place, and could tie CPS’ hands in the future. Because this is a significant change, we must work together to prepare.”

Most school districts across the country have transitioned to a mask-optional model. Chicago removed the mask requirements for most public spaces on Feb. 28 to align with the state of Illinois.

At the Feb. 23 Chicago Board of Education meeting, board members said the CPS mask mandate would remain because student vaccination rates vary between schools. On Monday, the district said 49% of age-eligible CPS students and more than 91% of CPS staff members are fully vaccinated.

“CPS was one of the first to require universal masking in schools, and we would not be moving to a mask-optional model unless the data and our public health experts indicated that it is safe for our school communities,” Martinez said in a statement. “We will support our staff and students as we enter this new phase in the pandemic and continue to move forward together.”

CPS promised to share more information with families and staff about the district’s evolving COVID-19 protocols before March 14. The district said Monday it’s still encouraging masking for students and adults and will continue contact tracing and COVID-19 testing through its in-school program.

In a statement Monday, CTU called on CPS to allow greater access to its Virtual Academy for students with certain medical conditions and to provide additional accommodations to staff with medical vulnerabilities. The union wants CPS to share the metric that will determine when the mask mandate would return if COVID-19 conditions worsen.

“Today’s move by Mayor Lightfoot and CPS not only violates the union’s agreement with the district, it ignores the impact that COVID-19 has on communities of color,” the union said in its statement. “The mayor has instead prioritized the wishes of Tom DeVore — an opportunistic, right-wing extremist hundreds of miles away from Chicago — over the wishes of the people of our city.”

Universal masking was part of the safety agreement CTU reached with CPS in February 2021 that paved the way for schools to reopen in waves. There was not a safety deal in place for this school year, until the union voted in early January to refuse in-person work as COVID-19 case numbers rose in Chicago.

Pritzker, meanwhile, pointed to “vast improvement” in COVID-19 hospitalizations and transmission when he lifted the state’s school exclusion requirements Friday. The Illinois Department of Public Health “strongly recommends” students and staff members stay home when they have a confirmed case of COVID-19. The state’s school mask mandate ended last month.

CPS policy is that people who contract COVID-19 and unvaccinated people who come in close contact with an infected person stay home for five days, in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. Sixty-nine CPS staff members and nearly 800 students were in isolation or quarantine as of Friday, according to district data.

Tribune’s Gregory Pratt contributed.

tswartz@tribpub.com