Chicago Teachers to Return to Work in Schools, Ending Covid-19 Impasse

Jesse Sharkey,

president of the Chicago Teachers Union, said that the union’s governing body had voted 63% to 37% to end the walkout. He described months of talks to get the city and the school system to agree to a system that would protect teachers, students and parents from the virus.

“We’re going to keep doing what’s right for this city,” he said.

Mayor Lightfoot said the key to the agreement was setting a metric for how many Covid-19 infections would be needed to trigger a shutdown of individual schools.

“This was not necessary to happen,” Ms. Lightfoot said. “I’m glad that we’re putting this behind us and looking forward. People are frustrated. Why wouldn’t they be?”

School administrators and the union in the nation’s third-largest school system have clashed repeatedly over Covid-19 protocols throughout the pandemic. Classes were online for much of the 2020-21 school year and began returning to in-person instruction last February amid strong objections from the union.

Mayor Lightfoot appeared on “Face the Nation” Sunday, saying that teachers had abandoned their students and noting that the shift to online learning last year was difficult on working families and hurt many students.

Classes have been in person this school year, though the union and the school district have never adopted a formal agreement on safety protocols.

The teachers union had sought mandatory testing for all returning teachers and staff before resuming in-person instruction after winter break. Short of that, the union sought a two-week pause in in-person instruction until the city could put additional safety measures in place, such as providing N-95-style masks to all students and staff, using health screeners and other protocols.

Write to Joe Barrett at joseph.barrett@wsj.com