The city's teachers union voted Tuesday to return to remote learning. (Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Chicago Sun-Times/AP)Chicago public schools canceled classes Wednesday after the city’s teachers union voted overwhelmingly to return to remote learning amid a surge in coronavirus cases, defying the city’s order to return to classrooms. Chicago’s fight over in-person vs. remote learning comes as many school systems across the country have faced similar struggles during a winter surge in coronavirus infections largely driven by the omicron variant. Tuesday’s vote by Chicago teachers is the result of a months-long fight between city officials and the teachers union, which has repeatedly expressed concerns about conducting in-person classes while infections spread at schools. Chicago’s daily case averages were above 4,000 in the last week of 2021, rendering the winter surge the city’s worst during the pandemic.
