Chicago fight with teachers union stretches into 2nd week

By SOPHIA TAREEN and KATHLEEN FOODY
Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — The leader of the Chicago Teachers Union is blaming the city’s mayor for a continued standoff over COVID-19 protocols. Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey says the union and district “remain apart on a number of key features,” including more testing and lower thresholds to shut school for in-person instruction during an outbreak. Chicago schools face the same pandemic issues as others nationwide, with a growing number of districts reverting to remote learning as infections explode during the omicron-fueled surge. But the situation in union-friendly Chicago has been amplified in a labor dispute that’s familiar to families in the mostly low-income Black and Latino district.