Chicago Public Schools will welcome students back to the classroom in less than two weeks, as the delta variant of COVID-19 is driving the number of infections up across the city. The rising case count has put another wedge between CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union.

With less than three weeks until in-person classes resume, Chicago Public Schools has announced it will require all teachers and staff to get a COVID-19 vaccine by the fall.

Speaking Wednesday at his first Board of Education meeting since he was appointed as interim Chicago Public Schools CEO, Jose Torres said the district’s “true north” goal before reopening schools must be to make sure at-risk students are prepared to return to CPS.

The school district on Tuesday released its budget proposal for the 2022 fiscal year, which includes $672 million for priority facility investments throughout the city and more than $1 billion in federal funding for student supports.

After decades of organizing by parents, activists and unions, Chicago is on the verge of having a fully elected school board for the first time in its history.

As Janice Jackson’s tenure with Chicago Public Schools draws to an end, a cavalcade of current and former elected officials sung her praises during what was her final Board of Education meeting as CEO.

Educators at the all-male charter schools will receive pay raises, back pay for the last three years when contract negotiations were ongoing and commitments from administrators to follow special education requirements to support students.

Thirty-four Urban Prep Charter Academy teachers walked off the job Monday morning, weeks after a unanimous vote to strike over pay raises and an alleged refusal by the charter operator to provide some legally-mandated special education services.

Republicans were in control of state government in 1995, when a change in Illinois law gave the mayor of Chicago the authority to appoint board members to run the city’s school district. Fast forward to 2021, and Republicans continue to favor that setup.

Converted CTA buses will visit 15 Chicago Public Schools to provide COVID-19 vaccines to students over the next three Saturdays, city health officials announced Thursday.

The fourth quarter of the school year has begun for Chicago Public Schools. And on Monday, nearly 26,000 high school students were expected to return to their classrooms to resume in-person learning for the first time in more than a year.

Chicago Public Schools high school students will return to the classroom on Monday if teachers agree to the framework announced Thursday by the district and the Chicago Teachers Union.

Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said “adequate progress” hasn’t been made at the bargaining table with CPS after union delegates voted over the weekend to approve Wednesday’s remote-only work action. 

The Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates on Sunday evening voted to keep high school staffers out of schools beginning Wednesday as the union continues negotiating with CPS over how to safely reopen those schools.

The Chicago Teachers Union is asking Chicago Public Schools to delay its target reopening date for high schools by one week in order to allow more time to learn about coronavirus variants and current transmission rates.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she was disappointed that Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law that gives a subset of Chicago firefighters the same retirement package as their peers, saying it will “result in a deeper financial burden to the taxpayers of Chicago.” Days earlier, he signed another law Lightfoot had pressured him to reject.