Following a day of protests, the Chicago Board of Education decided Wednesday to warn but not fire two Chicago teachers who protested construction of a scrap shredder in Chicago’s heavily polluted Southeast Side. A Chicago Public Schools official had recommended the dismissals because the teachers allegedly disregarded district safety rules and repeatedly showed poor judgment and bias on the job.

The Chicago Board of Education weighed the fate of George Washington High School instructors Lauren Bianchi and Chuck Stark behind closed doors at Wednesday’s monthly board meeting. The teachers say they learned Tuesday of the dismissal recommendation by the executive director of CPS’ Office of Administrative Hearings.

“It’s clear to me that this has nothing to do with any alleged violation of CPS policy or my teaching ability and qualifications. This is absolutely retaliation for myself being an advocate and a supporter of my students advocating for themselves,” Bianchi, a social studies teacher, said Tuesday during a virtual news conference co-hosted by the Chicago Teachers Union.

“Clearly CPS must only want adults to support our students to be civically engaged when it doesn’t make the mayor look bad. So shame on CPS. I hope to be in the classroom where I belong this fall at George Washington High School,” she added.

George Washington High School instructor Chuck Stark speaks at a rally Wednesday outside CPS headquarters against the district's move to fire him and his colleague Lauren Bianchi, right, for their participation in protests against General Iron’s proposed move to the Southeast Side. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

After the board’s unanimous vote Wednesday to issue warnings to Stark and Bianchi, Board President Miguel del Valle noted the public support for the two teachers.

“I want to affirm that this board believes strongly in culturally relevant education,” del Valle said. “We will continue to be supportive of all our teachers who promote an education that is relevant and sensitive to the environments of our students and the overall status of their communities.”

In a statement Tuesday, CPS said an investigation uncovered “several significant policy violations by the teachers, including violation of safety policies concerning the transportation of students.” Bianchi called the claims “outrageous” and said the decision came before the board — whose members are appointed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot — shortly before she and Stark, a biology teacher, are due to receive tenure.

“Chuck and myself are both in this limbo where we’ve actually completed all of the requirements to achieve tenure. CPS just hasn’t updated their system yet. And that’s why they’re doing this because if they waited until August, they wouldn’t be able to do this,” Bianchi said. Stark called the timing “fishy.”

A statement from the mayor’s office issued late Wednesday did not address whether she had any involvement in seeking the teachers’ firings.

“A fundamental responsibility of CPS is to safeguard the children whose families entrust CPS with their precious children. CPS must hold everyone in the school community accountable to follow the rules when it comes to student safety,” the mayor’s statement said. “The Board considered a matter today involving allegations of serious rules violations and rendered a decision. This matter is now closed.”

The teachers’ near-firing came a week after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sent a letter to Lightfoot, accusing the city of violating the civil rights of its residents by encouraging polluting industries to move from white neighborhoods to Black and Latino communities.

After months of protests, the Chicago Department of Public Health in February rejected the last permit Reserve Management Group needed to open a scrap shredder along the Calumet River at 116th Street. It was an abrupt change of course for Lightfoot’s team, who faced outcry from neighborhood activists, federal civil rights investigations and pressure from the Biden administration.

RMG, which is based in Ohio, purchased and closed the General Iron Industries scrap yard on the wealthy, predominantly white North Side. City officials working for Lightfoot and former Mayor Rahm Emanuel worked closely with RMG and General Iron Industries executives to clear regulatory hurdles for the new Southeast Side operation, HUD found in its investigation.

Stark was one of the activists who waged a hunger strike to protest putting the facility near George Washington High School. “I can tell my students there are people in their neighborhood who have been fighting this fight for decades and winning,” Stark told the Tribune in February 2021. “They are holding back these big industries from totally taking over.”

Bianchi and Stark said their candor could have cost them their jobs. They pushed back against district claims they directed students to take transportation that was not procured by CPS or offered incentives for students to attend protests while not offering credit for other activities.

“I did not offer extra credit for any students to travel to any event,” Stark said. “Yet I am being accused of that, and I have made that clear to those from CPS that have asked me about it, so I’m making it clear here as well. I did not break any protocol in any of my instruction.”

CTU President Stacy Davis Gates speaks at a rally Wednesday outside Chicago Public Schools headquarters against a move to fire two George Washington High School instructors for their participation in protests against General Iron’s proposed relocation to the Southeast Side. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

Added Bianchi: “CPS is very clear that teachers are not to travel (with) or transport students. Neither Chuck nor myself have ever done that, nor would I. That’s a basic safety precaution. But instead, teachers and students at Washington High School and other schools transported themselves to protest. Some of these protests were directly targeting the mayor.”

Several people spoke in support of Stark and Bianchi at Wednesday’s board meeting. George Washington High School alumna Trinity Colon said the two teachers helped make it possible for her to attend Northwestern University on a full-ride scholarship.

“Students who look like me and talk like me and live like me deserve educators that care for them and advocate for their rights,” Colon said. “If the board truly cares about Black and brown youth, they will not fire teachers who have done nothing more than love and protect them.”

CTU Vice President Jackson Potter called the two teachers exemplary.

“In the midst of a teacher shortage, Mayor Lightfoot has called for them to be terminated,” Potter told reporters. “And for what? For teaching the truth, for demanding a safe environment for students and staff, for speaking truth to power, for empowering students to take action.”

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, said the teachers’ firings would be a “blow to democracy” and “send a chilling message” to communities.

Tribune’s Gregory Pratt contributed.