Chicago Public Schools will stay open May 1

School will be in session despite the Chicago Teachers Union’s relentless efforts to push students out of school and leverage labor for political gains.

A compromise between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union will keep schools open May 1.

The district rejected the union’s demand to close school that day. Instead, 100 schools will be provided with buses so that students have the option to “field trip” to a massive pro-labor, anti-President Donald Trump rally in the afternoon.

CTU’s attempted power play made clear that the union prioritizes politics over students, drawing outcry from parents and community members. Gov. J.B. Pritzker weighed in against the union’s demands, saying, “Political operators trying to determine what the calendar should be for kids seems inappropriate.”

Specifically, CTU wanted schools closed for what would have amounted to a one-day strike, pushing members to withhold labor and “build worker power.” The union held training and virtual events to prepare members for the now-cancelled day of ditching their classrooms in favor of political activism.

CTU’s plans demonstrated its radical priorities

CTU’s plans included “mass resistance training” for students, “marches and rallies,” “Peace Concerts” and voter registration drives. CTU Vice President Jackson Potter claimed “the world is watching” the union “fight back” against billionaires.

The union’s push was a year in the making. After May Day 2025, the union set a new year’s resolution to “raise the bar” by organizing the “largest May Day action yet” in 2026. That, in turn, is in preparation for a possible nationwide 2028 general strike across industries.

Since then, CTU has hosted mass virtual events for the May Day Strong network. A recent social media post says “Join us this May Day as we come together to demand justice and build worker power.”

For rank-and-file members, CTU hosted a weekend-long delegate training for May 1 to center students and families “to tax the rich, fight authoritarianism, and fund our schools.”

CTU also hosted a Building Toward May Day 2026 webinar for curriculum training for pre-K to 12 educators so they are “ready to bring history, labor and social justice into the classroom.”

To coordinate a May Day economic blackout, CTU claims to be growing a coalition of workers. Beyond educators, the union is organizing with nurses, postal workers, grad workers, baristas, the Chicago Federation of Labor and more.

The unsuccessful plan to “go bigger” called on “schools and communities to organize civic education, mutual aid, voter registration, labor history programming, and collective action across Chicago.”

Left in the wake of the union’s political activism: the thousands of CPS students who can’t read or do math at grade level.

CTU’s popularity has tanked

CTU becoming less popular and more toxic. Chicagoans see that its political agenda hurts students and underrepresents members who don’t want to sacrifice classroom time.

The union also may want to step back from its relentless political pursuits and keep in mind that it’s less popular than ever. A record-low 27.5% of Chicago voters have a favorable opinion of CTU. More than half — 53.6% — dislike the union.

Had the union gotten its May Day wishes, it likely would have added fuel to anti-CTU fire.

Hosting mass organizing events, pressuring the school board for a day off and building labor coalitions for an economic blackout should not be the union’s priority when Chicago Public Schools students are struggling academically.

Just 43% of CPS students in third through eighth grade read at grade level in 2025, and just 27% were proficient in math, according to the Illinois Report Card released Oct. 30.

Fortunately, the district dealt a blow to CTU’s May Day plans. Students will be in school, and families won’t be left scrambling to find alternate plans because CTU walked out once again.