With 25,000 Chicago teachers and other school workers on strike for the second straight day, Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) sports teams will be prohibited from participating in any official contests until the strike concludes.
However, local school boards can still allow their schools’ sports teams to practice regularly during the strike.
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) board of directors on Monday rejected a waiver request from CPS that would have allowed sports teams to participate in regular contests, despite the strike. IHSA bylaw 2.140 prohibits school sports teams from participating in “an interscholastic contest or activity during the time the member school is not in session due to a strike by teachers or other school personnel.”
Granting the waiver request for bylaw 2.140 would “extended beyond [the board’s] authority,” IHSA executive director Marty Hickman said in a statement. “The IHSA’s bylaws are developed by and voted into practice by its member-school principals, and, after some meaningful discussion, the board ultimately felt respecting the guidelines put in place by our member schools was the only option available in this situation, and any change to the bylaws would need to be facilitated through the IHSA legislative process.”
However, bylaw 2.140 does include provisions that allow school sports teams to practice under certain conditions. The practices must be approved by the school’s governing board and administration; must ensure the health and safety of students; cannot include students from a school whose teachers