Education
Chicago Teachers Union, Board of Education Debate Canceling Classes for May 1 Day of Action
Chicago Public Schools are expected to remain open May 1 during a nationwide pro-worker demonstration known as May Day.
Mayor Brandon Johnson, representatives from the Chicago Teachers Union and some Chicago Board of Education members have been petitioning to exempt students and teachers on May Day, allowing them to participate in local demonstrations.
But CPS CEO Macquline King said in a statement last Thursday that her recommendation to the board has been, for weeks, to maintain May 1 as an instructional day for students.
“As a career educator, I believe every minute in the classroom is vital for our students,” King said. “My position has not changed.”
The board could overrule her decision should it call a special meeting and vote to cancel classes. A majority of board members, including President Sean Harden, are Johnson appointees and were reportedly in favor of canceling classes in a closed-door meeting.
Jennifer Custer, a CPS board member representing District 1B on Chicago’s Northwest Side, strongly opposes canceling classes, arguing it could disrupt families who have made plans around the current schedule. She said it’s still up in the air whether classes will be held May 1.
“We put out a calendar at the beginning of the school year for parents, and they really rely on that. It’s a form of stability,” Custer said. “Now, seemingly, eight days beforehand, if the board votes to, we could overturn that and change it, and that really puts a big burden on our parents and our families.”
Custer said she has received “countless” emails from parents in her district who said their children must be in school May 1 or they will need to call out of work, an alternative many cannot afford.
In a statement released last Thursday, CTU accused CPS of dragging its feet on officially canceling classes May 1, which the union said the two sides agreed to do in their last bargaining agreement.
“We bargained with CPS to make May Day a day of civic action in our contract, ratified last year,” the statement said. “CTU has held countless meetings with CPS to discuss student preparations and troubleshoot challenges.”
Custer said the contract allows CTU and CPS to mutually agree on a May 1 day of action beginning in the 2026-2027 school year, not the 2025-2026 school year.
“It (May Day) was discussed during negotiations,” Custer said. “However, it was said to CTU that the calendar was already set and it would require, then, a board vote to overturn that calendar. We could organize activities for May 1, beginning the 26-27 school year. So we didn’t exactly get the same message that CTU is claiming.”
Bridget Doherty Trebing, a 26-year veteran art teacher at William Howard Taft High School and CTU executive board member, said CPS is violating the contract and that adjusting school calendars on short notice is ordinary.
“As a 26-year veteran, we certainly do make adjustments to the calendar. It isn’t moving mountains,” Doherty Trebing said. “This week, high school students were doing ACT testing and pre-ACT testing. Schedules were adjusted, some students were not in attendance. So that’s not uncommon.”
CTU has released its own plan for May 1. Under the plan, students will arrive at school at 8 a.m., participate in civic lessons until noon and then join the May Day demonstration at Union Park at 1 p.m.
Bridget Doherty Trebing said students need a stronger civics education now more than ever, citing actions by the Trump administration that she said are affecting Chicagoans.
“Our families and students are being impacted by ICE,” Doherty Trebing said. “We’re in multiple wars. Folks are having a hard time paying for gas. Folks are having a hard time paying for groceries, rent and property taxes. Things happening at the federal level are impacting our students. And our students wanna see teachers standing up.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, the curriculum recommended by the CTU for May 1 includes a lesson plan titled “Things Donald Trump Did This Year You Might Have Missed” and activities like having 3- and 4-year-olds create protest signs and having students make TikTok videos about rising authoritarianism.
The Tribune Editorial Board accused CTU of indoctrinating students rather than teaching them how to arrive at their own conclusions. But Doherty Trebing said the recommendations are part of a regular civics education.
“We have a civics graduation requirement,” Doherty Trebing said. “Current events, being in-service, democracy in action — that’s part of the curriculum. When have we not talked about actions of presidents? What’s going on in the government? That’s not new.”
