Many CPS teachers, students skip school on 1st makeup day after strike

Many teachers and students cut classes Wednesday, the first of Chicago Public Schools’ makeup days after this year’s contentious teachers strike.

While CPS said it could not provide an official count, teachers and students at several schools said absences appeared higher than usual on a day that had originally been scheduled to be the first day of Thanksgiving break.

At Disney Magnet Elementary School on the North Side, some classes were combined with many teachers out and student attendance lower than usual, teachers said. One Disney teacher, who asked not to be identified, said she was told 17 teachers called off on Wednesday. “A lot of students were absent,” too, but she didn’t know how many.

At Hyde Park Academy High School, one teacher said only six of 15 students showed up to one of her classes. Another teacher at Taft High School on the Northwest Side said student attendance was low while teachers who already had travel plans called off work. At some classes at Whitney Young Magnet High School, about a dozen of 30 kids were in attendance.

A teacher at O’Keeffe Elementary School on the South Side, however, said both student and teacher attendance was close to normal.

CPS spokeswoman Emily Bolton said in an emailed statement that the district was “confident that schools and networks are able to support their staffing needs today even with the high number of teacher absences we expect.”

CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union agreed to make up five of the 11 school days that were missed during the union’s strike last month. The additional makeup days include Jan. 2–3, which had originally been the last days of winter break, and June 17–18, which will extend the school year by two days.

Bolton said that teachers who took Wednesday off had to request a personal business day from their principal. She noted that sick days cannot be used for non-medical purposes.

In an email sent to CPS principals and assistant principals, CPS labor relations officer Kaitlyn Girard encouraged principals to consider their coverage needs when deciding whether to approve or deny teachers’ personal business day requests for Wednesday or future makeup days.

Principals were also encouraged to “request evidence of previously booked travel plans from employees” before approving personal business days. They were also advised that they can request medical certification for sick days.

Stacy Davis Gates, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union, said the high level of absences came in part because the days were announced without input from families or teachers.

“Anytime that you reconfigure a calendar after an 11-day struggle without the voices of the stakeholders at the table, this is the impact,” she said.

Jake Wittich / Sun-Times

CPS parent Tiffany Lake called the makeup days “ridiculous” while picking her 3rd-grade daughter up from Disney on Wednesday.

“The teachers missed the days, so why make the kids miss out on their break? They could use a long weekend by now, and I’m totally against the makeup days,” Lake said.

Her daughter said that three students were missing from her class that day.

One eighth-grade student, who asked not to be identified, said her main teacher and about 10 classmates were absent Wednesday.

John Levin, who was picking his 5-year-old son up from kindergarten at Disney, said he didn’t mind having to make up the school day before Thanksgiving break. His son, Evi, said a few of his classmates were out today, but he didn’t know how many.

“Kids should be in school and learning. I’d rather we make this up now than just get a free day at the end of the school year,” Levin said.

Contributing: Carlos Ballesteros