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A28 u.s. news
Diamars 11 Januari 2022

Chicago fight with teachers union stretches into 2nd week

safe. Instead, Chicago opted to figure out how to catch up open for meal pickup.
to cancel classes two days af- and it’s a really stressful situ-
ter students returned from ation.” School leaders have touted
winter break. a $100 million safety plan,
The tone of Lightfoot and which includes air purifiers
Chicago shares pandemic CPS Chief Executive Offi- in each classroom. Roughly
concerns with other dis- cer Pedro Martinez’s Sunday 91% of staff are vaccinated
tricts nationwide, with more evening statement suggested and masks are required in-
reverting to remote learn- more progress than on Sat- doors.
ing as infections soar and urday when, shortly after the
staff members are sidelined. union made its latest offer Since the start of the aca-
But the situation in union- public, they said, “CTU lead- demic year, some individual
friendly Chicago has been ership, you’re not listening” classrooms have temporarily
amplified in a labor dispute and vowed not to “relent.” switched to remote instruc-
that’s familiar to families in The offer she rejected in- tion when there are infec-
the mostly low-income Black cluded teachers reporting to tions. But in rejecting a wid-
(AP) — The leader of the “The mayor is being relent- and Latino district who saw schools Monday to distribute escale return to remote learn-
Chicago Teachers Union less but she’s being relent- disruptions during a similar laptops for remote learning to ing, city health officials argue
on Monday blamed the lessly stupid, she’s being re- safety protocol fight last year, temporarily start Wednesday. most students directed to
city’s mayor for the con- lentlessly stubborn,” he said a 2019 strike and a one-day quarantine because of possi-
tinued standoff over CO- during a Monday news con- work stoppage in 2016. Both sides have filed com- ble classroom exposure don’t
VID-19 protocols as class- ference. “She’s relentlessly plaints to a state labor board. get COVID-19. The district
es for hundreds of thou- refusing to seek accommoda- Cheri Warner joined oth- is piloting a “test to stay” pro-
sands of students were tion and we’re trying to find er parents at a news event Union leaders have accused gram to cut isolation times.
canceled for a fourth day. a way to get people back in Monday calling for the dis- Lightfoot of bullying, saying
school.” trict and teachers to focus that while in-person instruc- The union argues that the
CTU President Jesse Sharkey on getting students back into tion is better, the pandemic measures fall short, especially
said union and district rep- Sharkey’s comments came a classrooms. The mother of has forced difficult decisions. considering the omicron-fu-
resentatives negotiated until day after Lightfoot said many 15-year-old twins said the eled surge that has upended
10 p.m. Sunday but “remain teachers had abandoned their sudden loss of in-person “The mayor’s saying she’s the return to work and class.
apart on a number of key fea- students by refusing to teach learning has taken a toll on going to be relentless in pros- It has also criticized the dis-
tures” that teachers want be- in-person. her family. ecuting a case, but the may- trict for not enrolling enough
fore returning to classrooms, or’s not a prosecutor and I’m students in a testing program
including a testing program The union wants the option One of her daughters has not a criminal being pros- and an unreliable database of
and triggers to close a school to revert to remote instruc- depression and anxiety, and ecuted,” Sharkey said. “Our COVID-19 infections.
for in-person instruction due tion across the 350,000-stu- winter always is a difficult members are not people who
to an outbreak. dent district, and most time. Losing touch with her have done anything wrong.” Several district families, rep-
members have refused to friends and teachers just adds resented by the conserva-
Sharkey accused Mayor Lori teach in-person until there’s to that burden, Warner said. Attendance was down ahead tive Liberty Justice Center
Lightfoot of refusing to com- an agreement, or the latest of the cancellations due to in Chicago, filed a lawsuit in
promise on teachers’ main COVID-19 spike subsides. The girls “missed their whole students and teachers quar- Cook County over the clo-
priorities and said union But Chicago leaders reject eighth grade year and it felt antining due to possible ex- sures last week, while more
leadership can’t go back to districtwide remote learn- like they weren’t really pre- posure and families opting than 5,000 others have signed
members with what the may- ing, saying it’s detrimental to pared for high school,” War- to keep their children home. a petition urging a return to
or’s team has offered so far. students and that schools are ner said. “They’re all trying All buildings have remained in-person instruction.

Man who bought gun for Kyle Rittenhouse pleads no contest

(AP) — The man who bought an sha in 2020 over the shooting of a Black was 18 and dating Ritten- Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber
AR-15-style rifle for Kyle Ritten- Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white house’s sister when he purchased an and Gaige Grosskreutz. Rosenbaum
house pleaded no contest Mon- police officer. A jury acquitted Rit- AR-15-style rifle for Rittenhouse in and Huber died of their wounds. Rit-
day to a reduced charge of con- tenhouse of homicide and other May 2020. Rittenhouse, of Antioch, tenhouse is white, as were all of the
tributing to the delinquency of a charges in November. Illinois, was 17. Black testified during people he shot.
minor in a deal with prosecutors Rittenhouse’s that he bought the rifle
that allows him to avoid prison. Binger told Schroeder that he didn’t so he and Rittenhouse could target Rittenhouse argued that he fired in
believe he could move forward with shoot and hunt on a friend’s property self-defense after the men attacked
Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce the felony counts against Black, who in northern Wisconsin. him. On the last day of his trial,
Schroeder accepted Dominick Black’s testified against Rittenhouse. Binger Schroeder dismissed a charge of be-
plea during a six-minute hearing. As- noted, among other things, that dur- Three months later, in August 2020, ing a minor in possession of a firearm.
sistant District Attorney Thomas ing Rittenhouse’s trial, Schroeder sid- Rittenhouse used the rifle to shoot
Binger dropped two felony counts of ed with defense attorneys who argued
intent to deliver a dangerous weapon that Wisconsin law prohibits minors
to a minor as part of the deal. from possessing short-barreled rifles
and short-barreled shotguns but al-
Contributing to the delinquency of lows them to possess long guns.
a minor is a misdemeanor punish-
able by up to nine months in jail, “In these circumstances, to go for-
but Binger reduced the charge to a ward with these felony charges
non-criminal county ordinance vio- against Mr. Black, given the court’s
lation. Under the deal, Black will legal ruling as well as Mr. Black’s co-
pay a $2,000 fine. Each felony count operation and the jury’s decision in
would have been punishable by up to the Rittenhouse case, does not seem
six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. appropriate,” Binger said.

Rittenhouse used the rifle to shoot Black’s attorney, Tony Cotton, said
three people, killing two, during a tu- nothing except to confirm the deal.
multuous night of protests in Keno-