Seven CPS parents filed a lawsuit in Cook County Chancery Court, claiming the union’s action is actually an “illegal strike” — language that’s also been used by Mayor Lori Lightfoot. They want a judge to immediately order teachers to return to their schools and resume in-person learning. Beyond the new lawsuit, nearly 3,000 parents had signed an online petition by Friday afternoon demanding a return to the classroom.

A group of parents is working with attorneys and seeking an emergency injunction to get teachers back into the classroom, saying the work stoppage violates the bargaining agreement between CPS and the CTU.

The owner of Nuevo Leon restaurant in Little Village has been getting pushback from some customers. “Their reaction wasn’t what I expected,” she said. She said after numerous complaints and customers leaving, refusing to show proof of vaccination, business is down 80% this week.

When asked if parents can expect classes to be canceled on Monday, Lightfoot mentioned recent progress at the bargaining table, but said the deal needs to be “fair, reasonable and covers the entire school year. I’m not going to go back to the table again and again and again and say ‘pretty please’ to the CTU leadership, to get our kids in school.”

Commentary from Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski is included in this report.

The $5 million fund will go toward starting or expanding programs that offer in-person instruction or a hybrid approach. “Our goal is to ensure that there are outstanding opportunities for in-person and blended learning for students who have continued to be failed by the Chicago Public Schools system,” said CER Founder and CEO Jeanne Allen.

Mahon long has been a precinct captain for the 11th Ward Regular Democratic Organization, the army of political workers the Daley family has run for decades. The ward organization is headed by Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson, the indicted Chicago City Council member who represents Bridgeport, and Cook County Commissioner John Daley, Thompson’s uncle.

Aaron Wise worries that his two high school children are missing out on important parts of their adolescence. “I feel like there’s a lot of political stuff going on,” he said. “It’s hard, the situation is difficult. But it really shouldn’t be that difficult.”

Pastor Corey Brooks: “I hope it’s becoming clear to every Chicagoan that a city is not a collection of disconnected neighborhoods. It’s a single system, like the human body — and like the body, when part of the city is hurting, it affects the entire system. In the same vein, something amazing happens when a part of the body is injured: the entire system marshals its resources to heal the part that is vulnerable. That’s the response we need from our city.”

“A Lakeview community group’s Zoom meeting about rising crime was the place to be Thursday evening. Two aldermen called the city’s policing strategy a failure. A state senator who championed Illinois’ year-old criminal justice reform bill said legislators need to ‘make a lot of changes’ to the law. And a supervisor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office dispensed flatly untrue information about the number of people who commit new crimes while on bond.”

Ald. Brian Hopkins said he thinks the Hancock “is safe” and the aluminum piece coming off was a “freak incident.”

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki was unequivocal. “We know they can be open safely, and we’re here to help make that happen. And [the president] agrees with medical, scientific, and education experts that, because of the historic work we’ve done, we are more than equipped to ensure schools are open,” she said, before noting that this stance applies “everywhere, including Chicago.”

Vanessa Chavez, who has a daughter and two stepsons at A.N. Pritzker Elementary School in Wicker Park, said, “My hope would be that everybody grows up and decides to go back to the negotiating table and have teachers go back to the classroom,” she said, though she’s doubtful that will happen. “I personally am done with CPS. And it’s not because of the Chicago public school system, it’s because of the Chicago Teachers Union.”

“According to the Fordham Institute, the CTU is a Tier One union in terms of power. Illinois has no right-to-work law and Cook County has a high proportion of unionized employees. As a result, the CTU is in a powerful negotiating position. And what it wants in this case is reduction of risk, even if the level of that risk is already reasonable and comparable to what other workers in stores across the city tolerate…(T)he union also wants to make clear to management that anything important in the system must be cleared with it first.”

Police were called to the 1400 block of North Astor Street in the Gold Coast by someone who saw a group of men throw at least one cash register and other items from a pickup truck directly in front of the governor’s home, according to CPD dispatch records.