Dear Dr. Jackson and Mayor Lightfoot:

We are writing to you now to request that CPS continue its negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union in good faith and without any threat of a teacher lockout that will disrupt remote instruction for the entire CPS student body.  A strike will be the most harmful outcome for all CPS stakeholders.  

As you are all too aware, this has been an extremely difficult time for all CPS students and their teachers.  We understand that CPS now seeks the return of 77,000 pre-k through 8th grade CPS students to in-person learning. As parents, we understand the strong desire of these families to do what they believe is right educationally for their children and are sympathetic to all of them. Having said that, the vast majority of CPS students, about 278,000 (80%) of them, either will not or cannot return to in-person learning at this time. 

We also understand that the CPS-CTU negotiations have been slow and difficult. However, it does appear that some headway is being made, albeit more slowly than CPS and the returning families wish to see. These are fraught times that require cool heads. A CPS teachers strike will hurt all 355,000 CPS children. Teachers have been and will continue to teach all of their students remotely during these negotiations. While far from perfect, remote learning has been a viable alternative to in-person instruction to date.   

We are hopeful that school for our children and the negotiations can continue to occur simultaneously until CPS and CTU have reached an accord on the CPS reopening plan.