Chicago teachers vote to go back to remote learning

CTU was polling its members if they would support a "district-wide pause and temporary shift to remote learning" following the rise in COVID cases in the city.

CTU asked its member to complete a survey titled "Possible Actions for Safety January 2022" before an all-member meeting Tuesday which was scheduled to discuss “…how each member and every school safety committee can contribute to this escalation in our safety campaign."

The survey asked members to check either "yes" or "no." to answer "If COVID continues to dangerously accelerate or should staffing levels in our schools drop to unsafe levels, would you support a... District-wide pause and temporary shift to remote learning,"

"Cases of the new omicron variant are spiking in Chicago and around the country. It is imperative that we return from our winter break with a plan to ensure school communities’ and our own safety. Please answer the following very short survey to help guide the CTU’s response to CPS’s inadequate pandemic response."

Chicago Public Schools is scheduled to go back to school Jan 3 after winter break.

In January, while Chicago students were still in remote learning, Sarah Chambers, a CTU board executive, issued tweets telling teachers not to return to school, claiming it was unsafe for them to go back to school amid the pandemic and threatened a strike, while posting selfies of herself in the Caribbean on vacation.

In a now deleted tweet Chambers wrote, "Sign the petition to continue to work remote, to be safe! The news is in Lori’s pocket like always! We’ve had so many family members die already, even remote. 50% of my staff, working in the building got Covid, imagine how many would die with reopening!"

The CTU is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, which heavily supported the Biden presidential campaign, as well as many other liberal campaigns.

Chambers has a long history with the more activist elements of the union, including the #RedforEd movement, which has socialist roots, and advocates for a leftist Democrat uprising designed to flip purple or red states blue, using the the education system.

In March, the Chicago Teachers Union passed a resolution to oppose US intervention in Venezuela. The Marxist-Leninism Today provided the details of that resolution.

In January 2021 CTU released a video showing six of their members who are dance instructors performing an interpretative dance to express their feelings about refusing to return to work unless they felt "safe."

At the time CTU voted not to return to work and in the process defied an order from the Chicago Public Schools administration.

The Union wrote in a year in review article on its website, "In January, members voted overwhelmingly not to return to buildings and to continue teaching remotely until a safety agreement was in place. Courageous educators across the city braved frigid temperatures — and potential disciplinary action — teaching outside as the mayor tried to force students, educators and staff back into unsafe school buildings. The vast majority of families refused and stuck with remote learning for the rest of the school year."

The article continued, "The courage and unity of our rank-and-file members secured a landmark agreement, and one of the best safety pacts in the US for district educators and their students. It included staff and student vaccinations, a health metric, building safety protocols, classroom ventilation improvements, and importantly, safety committees to help enforce the agreement building-by-building."