Students in Boston and Chicago walked out of classes on Friday in protest, demanding a return to remote learning as the Omicron variant surges across the country.
Driving the news: The walkouts come two days after 340,000 Chicago students returned to the classroom after a five-day work stoppage due to the Chicago Teachers Union asking for tougher COVID-19 restrictions.
The big picture: Students in Chicago said they were "dissatisfied with the additional health protocols" that the CTU and Mayor Lori Lightfoot agreed to, Reuters reports.
- Nearly 600 students from 11 Boston schools walked out of classes on Friday, per Reuters.
- Students in New York City and Michigan walked out of classes earlier this week to protest inadequate COVID-19 safety protocols and demanded remote learning across the school district.
- Students in Oakland, California, announced earlier this week that they were prepared to go on strike if the school district didn't start to provide KN95 face masks, increased COVID-19 testing and more.