Chicago's controversial teacher's union leader called Mayor Lori Lightfoot 'relentlessly stupid' as teachers refuse to continue in-person learning.
CTU President Jesse Sharkey made the harsh comment during a press conference Monday morning nearly a week after the union made the highly-criticized last minute decision to cancel classes and push for remote learning as COVID continues to spike.
The avowed socialist union leader, who has led the CTU since 2014, branded a hypocrite for driving a Tesla and living on a multimillion dollar estate despite his socialist views.
'We feel like we're at a point where we don't have enough at the table to be able to go back to the people who, frankly, have sacrificed a lot at this point, and confidently say, 'This is something that can help us ensure our safety,'' Sharkey said Monday.
'The mayor is being relentless, but she's being relentlessly stupid, she is being relentlessly stubborn.'
Chicago Teacher's Union president Jason Sharkey called Mayor Lightfoot 'relentlessly stupid' in a press conference on Monday
Chicago public schools have been cancelled for four days as the union and city continue to argue on the safest way to continue instruction (Pictured: A sign taped to the front door of Pulaski International School of Chicago on Tuesday, January 5)
CTU leader Sharkey (left) continues to support the union's last minute decision to refuse in-person learning. Mayor Lightfoot (right) continues to claim that in-person learning is the best option for students but is working to reach an agreement with the union
The teacher's union and city officials including the mayor have been entangled in disagreements since the union voted to cancel in-person classes at 11pm Tuesday and push for remote learning over COVID fears.
But students in the city have since missed four days of instruction as Chicago Public Schools are refusing to switch to remote learning instead canceling classes outright, until an agreement is made.
Starkey said that an agreement is being held up by the mayor.
'We have said all along there are three elements to a potential settlement: The question of remote instruction, the question of widespread testing and the question of a metric that would allow individual schools to flip to remote if there is an outbreak at the school,' he continued.
'We have said all along there are three elements to a potential settlement: The question of remote instruction, the question of widespread testing and the question of a metric that would allow individual schools to flip to remote if there is an outbreak at the school,' he continued.
Lightfoot and other city officials including Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady and Chicago Schools CEO Pedro Martinez have continued to insist that in-person classes remain the best option for students but have agreed to negotiate with the union.
Lightfoot's latest update struck a more considered tone than last week's condemnation of teachers, which saw her brand their behavior 'unlawful.'
'Out of fairness and consideration for parents who need to prepare, classes will be canceled again Monday,' Lightfoot tweeted on Sunday. 'Although we have been negotiating hard throughout the day, there has not been sufficient progress for us to predict a return to class tomorrow.'
Parents have slammed the socialist leader of the CTU as he continues to defend the last minute decision to shutter schools last week by claiming 'going in puts students and families at risk.'
Just 400 positive COVID cases - about 70% students and 30% staff- were reported Tuesday morning after classes returned following the winter break.
Like all other large cities in the US, Chicago has been hit by a recent surge of COVID cases, blamed on the super-infectious Omicron variant.
A total of 5,260 new cases were recorded across the city on Friday, the most recent data available, with just over one in five COVID tests coming back positive.
Meanwhile, 90 people were in hospital on Friday - a 16% drop on the week before - and 11 people died of COVID on the same day.
Vaccination rates of people who have had at least one dose of COVID vaccine now sit at 72.3%.
Chicago Public Schools is the third-largest school district in the nation serving 350,000 students (Pictured: A sign is displayed on the front of the headquarters for Chicago Public Schools on Tuesday, January 5)
Union bosses have noted soaring cases among teachers to justify the ongoing closures
Public health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady insisted that the safety protocols set in place for Chicago Public Schools were sufficient to protect the children and staff
Sharkey held a Zoom press conference on Wednesday to defend the union's vote.
'Right now going into schools puts us at risk, puts our students and families at risk. We're in the middle of a dangerous surge. We don't think bars should be open,' he said.
He claimed that the city's safety plan to return to in-person learning was 'fairly inadequate.' Parents were quick to criticize Sharkey and the union.
'You're using our children as leverage. Parents are the ones to decide if it's safe to send our children to school. This is a disgraceful power move,' one said on Twitter in response to his press conference.
'If I got to vote to stay home in my warm house you bet your a** I would,' another said.
'Every single one of the teachers who don't show for in class teaching should immediately be fired,' quipped another.
James Sharkey lives in Rogers Park, Chicago with his wife Julie Fain and their two children who have grown up in the CPS system
The union boss at the center of Chicago's school shutdown firestorm is a longtime labor activist and supporter of socialism, but critics say his lifestyle is more akin to that of the wealthiest 1 percent.
Living in an expansive $1.5 million estate on multiple adjoining lots in Rogers Park, Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey is said to drive a Tesla and is married to the daughter of Royal Caribbean Cruises' recently resigned CEO.
On Tuesday, 52-year-old Sharkey led his union members in a vote to refuse in-person instruction starting immediately, citing concerns over the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
It led to a chaotic total shutdown of schools announced at 11pm the prior night, as the school system said it did not have the systems in place for virtual instruction.
Sharkey, who has led the CTU since 2014, said on Wednesday that teachers would only return to classrooms after the current surge subsides, unless the district agrees to the union's demands for new testing and health protocols.
'If you want to get us into the schools quicker, provide testing,' Sharkey said at a Wednesday news conference.
'We've been failed by the mayor, we've been failed by the public health office, and teachers and the school staff have decided the only thing we have control of is whether we go into the buildings.'
Sharkey did not immediately respond to an inquiry from DailyMail.com on Wednesday.
The stunning drama in the nation's third-largest public school system, with an enrollment of more than 350,000, has thrust longtime Chicago activist Sharkey into the national spotlight.
In the past, Sharkey's lavish lifestyle has drawn criticism from his opponents, and speculation that his wealthy and decidedly capitalist father-in-law is helping to bankroll his family.
Chicago journalist Mark Konkol wrote in a 2019 column for Patch that Sharkey 'talks like a working-class tough guy' but drives a Tesla and lives in a luxurious five-bedroom home.
'How can a union guy, whose wife works for a socialist non-profit book publisher, live like the wealthiest 1 percent?' wrote Konkol.
Raised in central Maine by his mother, a poet and schoolteacher, Sharkey attended Brown University, where he majored in modern American history.
After graduating, Sharkey went into labor organizing with the United Steelworkers in North Carolina, before returning to Brown for a master's degree in teaching.
While teaching high school social studies in Providence, Rhode Island, Sharkey met his now-wife Julie Fain, the daughter of business executive Richard Fain, who has an estimated net worth of nearly $200 million.
Richard Fain on Monday resigned as CEO of the Royal Caribbean Group after a 33-year tenure, in a move that was part of a succession plan announced in November.
Sharkey's father-in-law Richard Fain (above in 2013) was the third-longest serving CEO among current S&P 500 leaders when he retired on Monday
In a statement to Chicago City Wire in 2017, Sharkey said: 'We don't choose the family of our loved ones.'
'I have a lovely wife. We have children. I live in a house in Rogers Park and only have one of them, and I send my kids to public schools,' he said.
Sharkey and Julie Fain moved together to Chicago, where she worked as an editor for the leftist magazine In These Times before co-founding radical independent book publisher Haymarket Books.
The couple share two children, Caleb - a graduate from Jones College Prep, a public school, and Leo, who was at one point a student at Harriet Tubman elementary school - both Chicago Public Schools.
In a photo obtained by DailyMail.com where the family is pictured on a trip to Disneyland, the oldest son is seen wearing a t-shirt with a Mustangs logo - the official name used for sports teams at St Rita of Cascia, a $13,000-a-year private, all-boy's Catholic school in Chicago.
Public records show that Sharkey and Fain own a $868,000 home in Rogers Park, and that his wife's family trust bought the adjacent lot for $625,000 in 2006.
Meanwhile Sharkey continued teaching and became increasingly involved in the teachers union, as well as far-left political groups.
He was a member of the International
