Chicago’s mayor, Lori Lightfoot, is facing criticism after her office attempted to recruit students with school credit to help with her re-election campaign.

Emails encouraging students to volunteer were sent to several Chicago Public School (CPS) teachers’ work emails from Megan Crane, who identifies herself as Lightfoot’s deputy campaign manager on LinkedIn.

According to screenshots that circulated on social media late on Wednesday, Lightfoot’s office asked teachers to encourage their students to submit their résumés for an externship program for those “interested in campaign politics and eager to gain experience in the field”.

Those who join the externship would be expected to contribute 12 hours a week in exchange for “class credit”, WTTW first reported.

The email further elaborated that Lightfoot’s office was seeking “enthusiastic, curious and hard-working young people eager to help Mayor Lightfoot win this spring”.

Many were quick to call out Lightfoot’s office for the recruitment attempts.

“Looks like desperate times call for desperate measures,” tweeted the Illinois representative and Chicago mayoral candidate Jesús García.

Mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson wrote on Twitter that Lightfoot’s actions were “outrageous, desperate, & downright unethical”.

Former Chicago inspector general Joe Ferguson also called the initiative “deeply, deeply problematic”.

The solicitation of volunteers using the CPS email system is specifically discouraged in an ethics guideline published by CPS, though Lightfoot’s campaign claimed to have used emails made publicly available, reported the Chicago Tribune.

Shortly after the email was publicized, Lightfoot’s campaign sent out several follow-up statements about the emails.

In one statement, Lightfoot’s campaign wrote that staff would “cease contact with CPS employees” out of an “abundance of caution”, reported the Tribune.

Less than two hours after that statement, Lightfoot’s campaign announced that contacting “any city of Chicago, or other sister agency employees, including CPS employees, even through publicly available sources” would be “off limits”.

In light of the controversy, a spokesperson from CPS told the Tribune that the school district does not “coordinate with any political candidates or campaigns”, highlighting that teacher emails are publicly available.

But leadership from the Chicago Teachers Union called the recruitment efforts “unethical and wrong”, noting concern that teachers who decline to participate in volunteer efforts or do not encourage their students to do so could face retaliation.

“This is the same mayor who promised to clean up corruption and make good ethics an anchor in her administration. This latest scheme shows she’s a rank hypocrite on ethics issues – including her attempt to use our schools and students as her campaign tools,” wrote union leaders in a statement, reported WGN 9, a local news affiliate.

The Chicago board of ethics told WGN that they were aware of the emails and planned to discuss it at the next board meeting, currently scheduled for 23 January.

The Chicago mayoral election will be held on 28 February.