Chicago schools reopen: teachers refuse to return to school amid concerns over student safety

The fight over when and how to reopen the Chicago Public Schools for the first time during the still violent pandemic peaked on Monday, with many teachers refusing to perform at their schools on a day that authorities hoped would be the start of a return to normality for education in the city.

Citing health and safety concerns and a lack of confidence in the school district’s coronavirus mitigation protocols, some school staff working with preschoolers and students with moderate to complex disabilities refused to return to schools, despite being obliged to do so. Authorities did not say on Monday how many of the 5,800 expected to return to schools did not attend. About 6,500 of its students are expected to return next week, while more than 10,000 will remain remote. Kindergarten employees through eighth grade are expected to return later this month, before reopening on February 1 for these schools.

School officials reported a range of conditions, from no problem to dirty, cramped rooms with poor ventilation. At Brentano Elementary in Logan Square, teachers and doctors set up makeshift workspaces in the schoolyard, working in freezing temperatures as a way of protesting the order to return to the classrooms they believe to be unsafe.

Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times

CPS officials said those who do not report to their schools will face discipline. Spokeswoman Emily Bolton said on Monday that health officials approved the district plan and that the Chicago Teachers’ Union’s “last-minute tactics are deeply disrespectful to the 77,000 families, mostly black and Latino. , who opted for face-to-face education “.

The union, which has been campaigning for several months against CPS’s reopening plans, said it will support its members, but has not yet called for any class action, such as a work stoppage. The union has a meeting in the Chamber of Delegates scheduled for Wednesday, in which several options can be considered.

Each side stepped up its efforts to convince the public of its position on Monday, in actions reminiscent of the teachers’ strike two falls ago.

CTU held press conferences in the morning and in the afternoon – with another scheduled for the beginning of Tuesday – in which the teachers explained their fears for their health and their decisions not to attend classes. The union was embarrassed last week, however, when Sarah Chambers, a member of the CTU executive board, posted photos of her vacation in Puerto Rico on social media, even while advocating for schools not to reopen.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and school principal Janice Jackson countered the union’s media campaign with an undisclosed visit to Drake Elementary on the Near South Side. City representatives did not immediately answer questions about why the visit was not made public until the photos were shared on social media after the fact. Lightfoot and Jackson were seen close to school officials – although employees wore masks, they did not always follow social disengagement protocols.

“Today we are one step closer to a safe return to classroom teaching,” tweeted Jackson.

The visit came after the mayor and CEO of CPS received a letter on Sunday from 35 councilors – two more signed on Monday – who said they were “deeply concerned” about the city’s return to classrooms amid the pandemic. Jackson responded with a letter of his own saying that the CPS has already addressed these concerns.

‘I wanted to take a chance’

On Monday on the South Side, a group of about 20 doctors who serve students with hearing and visual impairments were instructed to report to a closed school that has been transformed into a CPS office, said a worker who obtained anonymity to discuss the working conditions because he feared retribution.

Inside the school, doctors were installed in an old gym that had dirty surfaces, no ventilation system and only one window in operation in more than a dozen, the worker said. After employees complained, they were sent home to spend the day, while a cleaning team went to the gym. Later on Monday, they were told to report to the same room on Tuesday, although the window and ventilation problems have not been resolved.

“None of us really thought it would be better, but we just wanted to try,” said the clinician, adding that they did not seriously consider not coming back in person because they fear the district could cut its position as a punishment.

CPS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the worker’s claims.

The clinician is also concerned with the logistics of the CPS hybrid learning plan. These therapists are still required to perform at the gym, although most of the students they serve have decided to remain aloof. The result is up to 20 people teaching in virtually the same room with their voices echoing, making it difficult for their students to hear on a computer. And for children who are in person, doctors can visit several schools and groups of students at that school on a given day.

“Many of us are concerned with being a vector, traveling between pods and exposing people,” said the clinician. “It is very difficult for your employer not to care about your health and safety.”

A school on the West Side, however, looked flawless on Monday, said another employee who works with special education students, with abundant air fresheners, acrylic barriers and signs telling children to stay two meters away,

“Schools seem cleaner than ever,” said the worker. “I felt safe, I felt good. But the children were not yet there. After entering a classroom with 12 children, how do you keep them apart? “

The official questioned whether the CPS should wait to return until the teachers were vaccinated, as they would be included in the next batch of essential workers. “What’s another six weeks when you’ve been gone for six months?”

Screenshot / Chicago Teachers Union

Linda Perales, a professor in the special education cluster at Corkery Elementary, said she decided to continue teaching remotely without approval on Monday, because returning to the classroom does not necessarily mean that her students will receive adequate therapy and education.

“We know that students in the K-2 cluster cannot wear a face mask all day, cannot distance themselves and this increases the transmission of COVID-19,” said Perales at the CTU morning press conference.

“They will have to wear a mask all day. Teachers will have to wear a face mask all day, and this is very important to note because it will make it impossible to teach letter sounds and the like. “

Perales and other teachers said they were concerned that the return to face-to-face learning would affect low-income students, increasing the risk of transmission and bringing the coronavirus back to their communities, which have already been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Screenshot / Chicago Teachers Union

Nancy Salgado, a mother from Brentano, said outside school on Monday that she took her asymptomatic children to take the test in November after she took COVID-19. They were positive.

“What does that mean? If I hadn’t tested them and our children were in that classroom, they would have spread COVID to other teachers and other students, ”said Salgado. “They would have come back and hurt someone, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

Ald.: Families are not ready to return

Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) said at the union’s afternoon press conference that he heard from residents of his infirmary that they feel the city is ignoring their fears.

“This plan still looks incomplete, it looks incomplete,” said La Spata. “At three different meetings, I asked CPS directly what are the reasons why the parents said they don’t feel safe to return. On three different occasions, I heard: ‘We don’t know. We are working to get those answers. ‘

“CPS, until you answer why you don’t have the confidence of these families, we are not ready to go back to the classroom.”

On Sunday, Jackson argued in response to a letter from councilors that returning to face-to-face learning will help black and Latino students who “lag behind” in remote learning. Jackson and Lightfoot made these heritage concerns a focal point of their strong drive to return to schools.

But with two-thirds of black and Latino students choosing to continue learning at home, Lori Torres, a teacher in Logan Square, said that CPS did not take equity into account and expects teachers to teach students in person and remotely, without extra support .

“Pushing teachers and students into buildings will weaken our remote learning plans, not strengthen them,” said Torres. “Teachers are expected to be two people, managing the children in front of them and managing the children on the screen. In addition to being safe, the decisions the district has made tell us that we cannot yet trust what they have implemented to keep us in mind. ”