CHICAGO — Chicago Public Schools announced Monday it will make masks optional for staff and students at schools and on school buses beginning March 14, setting up another showdown with the Chicago Teachers Union over COVID-19 safety protocols.
The union said Monday it “will immediately be filing an unfair labor practice charge against the district in response, and requesting that CPS bargain over this decision.” Mandatory masking is one of the tenets of the COVID-19 safety agreement the teachers union forged with CPS in January after a bitter dispute led to five days of canceled classes. In a letter Friday to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, CTU President Jesse Sharkey warned that moving to a mask-optional policy would be a “clear violation” of the agreement.
The district said it’s still encouraging masking for students and adults and will continue contact tracing and on-site COVID-19 testing. CPS’ announcement comes three days before a March 10 court date for the district and attorney Tom DeVore, who has been trying to halt the CPS mask and exclusion mandate. Parents who participated in DeVore’s litigation challenging Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s school COVID-19 policies argued the CPS mask mandate violates their students’ due process rights.
