Chicago Public Schools Making Arrangements For Students When Teachers Walk
Contingency Plan Coming
(CBS) -- Chicago Public Schools is planning for a one day walkout the Chicago Teachers Union is planning for Friday April 1.
CPS Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool said the district will have at least 250 sites open next week where students get can get two meals and experience some kind of learning. Many of those places will be school buildings.
"Our priority is the safety of the kids and being able to provide them with food and engagement," he said.
CPS will announce the site locations on Tuesday.
Claypool said the one-day strike planned by the CTU is illegal, and he noted the union vote approving it was hardly unanimous.
"Many teachers and schools were in opposition to the action that CTU leadership took," he said. "We welcome our teachers in the school. We want them to come to work that day."
Teachers who don't show up will not be paid. Claypool did not say if any other potential action might be taken against teachers who don't show up.
For its part, the CTU said it's going ahead with its plans.
"We are shutting the schools down for a day so we can keep them open in the days to come. We expect every CTU teacher, paraprofessional and clinician to be on the picket lines at 6:30 a.m. on Friday, April 1. We will all walk out together and we will all return together," a union spokesperson said in a statement.
