CPS teams will be allowed to practice during strike, if non-union certified coach available

Chicago Public League schools received another reprieve in regards to their status for being eligible for playoff participation.

Schools received approval from the Chicago Board of Education to allow schools that have IHSA certified coaches on staff that are not part of the Chicago Teacher's Union to run practices while the strike is ongoing.

The strike will still need to be resolved prior to scheduled kickoff times this weekend in order for teams to be allowed to play games. One of those games, Curie vs. Homewood-Flossmoor which was originally scheduled for Friday, will have to be rescheduled again to give Curie any chance of making the practice date requirement.

It is unknown if all of the affected 19 schools have coaches that are non-teachers but certified. If they don't they likely will have to forfeit those games if the strike is unresolved and they can't get a practice in by the end of Wednesday because of it.

If they do have coaches that are certified, they can conduct a practice today and have it count toward the necessary practices required for a run-up to a potential playoff game on Saturday. If schools have been out of organized practice for seven or more days (not counting Sundays), which the CPS schools have been, they must practice three days prior to playing in a game.

The 19 schools affected by this are Orr (Class 2A), Carver, Harlan and Dunbar (Class 3A), Phoenix, Agricultural Science, Sullivan and Clark (Class 4A), Payton, Hyde Park, Amundsen (Class 5A), Simeon, Mather, Kenwood (Class 6A), Phillips and Lincoln Park (Class 8A), Taft and Curie (Class 8A).

This movement seems to be initiated by a movement started by Payton Head Coach George Klupchak on Twitter on Wednesday night where he tweeted by-law 2.070 (Qualification of Coaches) to the mayor of Chicago Lori Lightfoot when she referenced the plight of the Simeon football team specifically in a speech made addressing strike negotiations.

"We were just hoping to draw some media attention to it," Klupchak said Wednesday morning. "What prompted the thinking that was that Mayor Lightfoot mentioned the Simeon football team in her press conference and was upset about that they weren't going to be able to compete. I thought it was worth responding and just pointing out that there was something that we could do. Knowing that obviously if the strike is still ongoing we aren't going to play a football game, but we do have the option to practice with non-union employees leading it. And a lot of CPS schools have non-CTU employees coaching their kids."