We need your help! We're calling on the Illinois state legislature to get to work and pass valuable COVID-19 measures to protect our students and our schools. What we are fighting for:
- Establish clear metrics, so districts know when to switch to remote learning to keep students and staff safe
- Enforce guidance and requirements put forth by the IDPH and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), and heed the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
- Provide rapid COVID-19 testing in schools, so infected students and staff can be identified before they spread the virus.
- Urge the prioritization of education workers in the vaccine schedule.
- If the federal CARES Act isn’t renewed, the state needs to step in, so education workers are not forced to work while ill.
If we get these five things, it will allow schools to safely remain open. It will also allow the business community to thrive, setting Illinois back on a path toward economic recovery.
As a union, we’ve done everything we can. We’ve worked with state agencies. We’ve talked to the governor’s office.
Still we have members and students who are working and learning under dangerous conditions due, if nothing else, to the community spread in their counties.
We need lawmakers’ help. Please call them to action.