Last Friday, August 20, CPS sent out a correspondence stating that the 600-700 minutes of Safe School On-Line Training must be completed during teacher self-directed time.
The Union has reached out to Employee Engagement to push back and this resolve this matter, and will continue to work to address it. However, it is imperative that union members push back on this directive at the local school level. Any required training should be done on principal directed time, and any cancelled self-directed time for these trainings must be made up. If the self-directed time is not made up, our contract (Article 27-5) requires that CPS compensate teachers for the missed time.
Delegates and members should be raising this issue through your school’s Professional Problems Committee (PPC) ASAP. Your advocacy should include PSRPs and substitute teachers in your buildings who aren’t entitled to self-directed preparation time, but also have preparation they need to complete to start the year.
Delegates, please hold a back-to-school union meeting to share this information with your members and reach out to your administration to schedule a PPC meeting immediately. We encourage members to do the work they need to complete on self-directed time as you push back at the local level and CTU staff and leadership pushes back at the district level.
- If you need support in pushing back at the local level, please reach out to your CTU Field Rep or Organizer who you can find here: https://www.ctulocal1.org/reps/
- For more information on how to set up your Professional Problems Committee, see our toolkit here (updated last year for remote learning, and all resources are still usable): https://www.ctulocal1.org/covid19/ppc/
- For additional resources to support pushing for missed preps to be made up, see our resources here: https://www.ctulocal1.org/rights/concerns/preps/
