Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Dr. Janice Jackson insisted on Sunday that teachers return to the classroom on Monday amid the heated situation between CPS and the union representing thousands of educators on the debate about the resumption of personal learning coronavirus pandemic.
The Chicago Teachers Union has been telling teachers to remain remote, out of concern for safety during the pandemic. Therefore, the Chicago Public Schools said that adequate staff cannot be guaranteed, so students will still be learning remotely on Monday – with the expectation that pre-kindergarten, special education and K-8 students will return to face-to-face learning on Tuesday, according to CBS Chicago.
The mayor said that all teachers from preschool to eighth grade should return to classrooms on Monday, unless they have been given special accommodation. If they don’t, “we’re going to have to act,” said Lightfoot, but gave no further details.
Lightfoot said several times on Sunday that “our schools are safe” and said that the CTU leadership needs to return to the negotiating table. The mayor also said that “distance learning is leaving many of our children” and accused CTU of not having a sense of urgency for students to return to face-to-face learning.
“We absolutely need to strike a deal,” she said. She promised that she and her team would stay up all night until a deal was reached. “CTU, please go back to the table – today.”
Jackson said that without an agreement between CPS and CTU, access to the remote learning programs offered by the Google Suite will be interrupted from the end of business on Monday.
Lightfoot said the public school system and the union had had 70 formal meetings since June. The mayor also described that the safe personal learning model follows the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Illinois and Chicago public health departments, and is supported by health experts from Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as well as local health authorities.
“Our schools are safe. Our schools are safe. We know this because we study what happened in other school systems in our city – more than 40,000 archdioceses, charters and other public schools that have had some form of face-to-face learning since the fall,” he said. Lightfoot.
According to CBS Chicago, CPS and CTU reached provisional agreements on Saturday in four areas: health and safety protocols, ventilation, contact tracking and health and safety committees.
On Sunday, Lightfoot said there was $ 100 million in investments to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in his schools, including health checks, temperature checks, hand sanitizer, PPE, disinfection, social distance and contact tracking.
Jackson appeared on CBS’s “Face the Nation” show“earlier on Sunday, saying it is safe to reopen Chicago schools with proper health safety precautions and protocols.
“We believe that we have to reopen schools. We have been closed for almost a year. And as a school system, we are beginning to see some of the effects of school closures,” Jackson told Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan. “Many of our students are not connecting. We are seeing African American and Latino students in particular being hit particularly hard. And our goal is really to give each parent a choice.”
“We are currently forecasting 77,000 students, which is about a third of the students here at CPS, who are eligible for face-to-face education. That’s twice the size of the second largest school district here in Illinois. And so reopening Chicago Schools are extremely important, “said Jackson. “We should also note that the city’s private and parish schools have been open since August, and we learned a lot from their implementation plans and sought guidance from public health authorities, as well as from the CDC to ensure that we had a solid plan for reopening. “
Meanwhile, many parents are divided.
Bridgett White’s dining room also functions as a classroom – and she said she is “very frustrated” with the current situation between CPS and CTU. Her daughter Brianna is in seventh grade and her son Tristan is in fifth. Neither has returned to school since March 2020.
“You have one side saying something, you have the other side saying something, and you’re in the middle,” White told CBS Weekend News on Saturday.
This week, the CDC said that face-to-face classes can be held safely, and President biden he said he wants all schools in the country to reopen in the next three months. But what’s happening in Chicago shows how difficult it can be.
“As a parent, you’re waiting day after day,” said White. “Is this the day when my son will have no learning?”