Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) said Thursday that she will no longer be waiting on the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) as the city tries to reach a deal to reopen schools amid the pandemic.
The Chicago Sun Times reported that Lightfoot said she had run out of patience with the union, saying “we are out of runway” after “80 plus” meetings between the union and Chicago Public Schools (CPS).
“Despite a series of productive exchanges between CPS and the CTU leadership on Monday and Tuesday that should absolutely have led to a comprehensive agreement, we are deeply disappointed to announce we still have not reached a deal. Yesterday, there were a series of steps backwards that were simply not productive,” Lightfoot told reporters on Thursday.
The newspaper noted that a tentative agreement had been reached the day before between the two groups. The agreement would have provided weekly tests for teachers and staff at 134 schools in parts of the city that have been hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Lightfoot argued that CPS had been successful in the three weeks it has reopened but said the CTU’s actions “blew up that success and created the chaos we are now enduring.”
“We waited for hours last night — hours — and still did not receive a proposal from the Chicago Teachers Union leadership,” the mayor said. “And as of this morning, we are still waiting, but to be clear, not patiently — not anymore.”
“Today is the day when we need a definitive answer on all of the outstanding issues,” Lightfoot added.
The Hill has reached out to CTU for comment.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of daily reported coronavirus cases in Illinois has dropped significantly, with the state reporting less than 3,000 cases for three days straight this week.