CPS’ announcement that it will make masks optional for students and staff members has spurred not just an unfair labor practice complaint from the teachers union, but also outcry among some parents and an alderman who called the move racist.
The head of Chicago Public Schools said Tuesday he does not anticipate a teacher work stoppage from the upcoming removal of the districtwide mask mandate, even as the Chicago Teachers Union swiftly vowed to fight the decision.
CPS CEO Pedro Martinez speaks to media at Mt. Greenwood Elementary School in Chicago on March 3, 2022. During Tuesday’s online forum, Martinez and public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said the decision to lift the mask mandate in CPS was based on the city’s success in beating back the omicron surge and landing at lower COVID-19 transmission risk in recent weeks.
“We were concerned about some of the legal challenges, that they could take that authority away from us,” Martinez said. CTU’s governing body — the 600-member House of Delegates — is scheduled to meet Wednesday, a date that was already on the books before CPS’ masking announcement.“I don’t know. They just took action. Why in the hell do we have to keep taking action?” Davis Gates said in a phone interview Tuesday. “We’re not wrong. The only safety policies that we’ve had in this district are the ones our members sacrificed for. The mayor doesn’t have a safety plan. Her doctor doesn’t have a safety plan.