CHICAGO — Officials with the Chicago Teachers Union argued Monday that the halting of the universal masking requirement at Chicago Public Schools last month violated their COVID-19 safety agreement by rescinding a key tenet of the plan without reopening collective bargaining.
The hearing before Nick Gutierrez, administrative law judge with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, was prompted by the union’s filing of an unfair labor practice charge shortly after CPS announced masks would be optional for staff, students and visitors to schools beginning March 14.
“They repudiated a key term of the safety agreement and had no legal right to do so,” said Robert Bloch, an attorney for CTU.
