Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is keeping May 1 as a full school day, but the district had to give something up to get there. Following backlash from the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), CPS struck a deal that allows students to leave campus during school hours to participate in May Day protests and activism.
Staff still have to show up to teach, and the academic calendar stays intact. But principals can now let students leave for outside events. Dr. Macqueline King, the district’s CEO and superintendent, described the deal as a compromise that “preserves the classroom time students deserve” while recognizing “the proud history of civic action in Chicago and beyond.”
This all traces back to a resolution CTU passed in March. The union didn’t want a compromise. It wanted schools fully shut down on May 1.
“Public education is facing an unprecedented national assault driven by MAGA politicians, billionaire donors, and corporate interests who seek to privatize our schools, censor educators, ban books, dismantle civil rights protections, criminalize and separate immigrant families, and weaken workers’ unions.”
The resolution called for “No Work, No School, and No Shopping,” which will be a full day off reserved for voter outreach, civic training, and protests. The call went further than that, too, demanding that ICE be kept out of sanctuary cities and for policies to “tax the rich.” Those demands move well beyond classroom instruction and into left-wing political advocacy.
CTU Vice President Jackson Potter turned the passing of the resolution into a midterm punch at President Trump:
“If we still want to have democracy in the midterms this November … it is up to every Chicagoan to stand up for what we believe in and show the authoritarian billionaire in Washington that when he breaks every rule, we will not go along with business as usual.”
CPS stopped short of giving the union everything it wanted. Principals can greenlight school-sponsored activities using the standard field trip process, and students who stay behind will have a normal school day. There’s also an existing Illinois law that gives students in grades 6 through 12 one excused absence per year for qualifying civic events, provided parents sign off.
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Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former CTU organizer, endorsed the agreement and encouraged participation:
“Encouraging participation allows Chicagoans to honor our history while advocating for our future. We look forward to a day of meaningful solidarity and community resistance to the forces trying to tear us apart.”
Johnson’s statement went on to highlight Chicago’s long, progressive labor history: the Haymarket Strike, the fight for an eight-hour workday, and framing May Day as part of that same tradition.
For now, the agreement keeps schools open, attendance rules are almost the same, and the calendar is intact. But under the agreement, students now have two official ways to leave during school hours for left-wing May Day events: a school-approved activity or a parent-approved excused absence.
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