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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Dr. Janice Jackson insisted on Sunday that teachers return to class on Monday amid the tense situation between CPS and the union representing thousands of educators on the debate over resuming face-to-face learning in the midst of Corona virus pandemic.
The Chicago Teachers Union has told teachers to stay away, for safety’s sake during the pandemic. As a result, Chicago Public Schools said adequate staffing could not be ensured, so students will continue to learn remotely on Monday – with the hope that preschool, kindergarten, special education and kindergarten to grade 8 are expected to resume in-person learning on Tuesday. , according to CBS Chicago.
The mayor said all kindergarten to grade eight teachers are due to return to class on Monday, unless they are given special accommodation. If they don’t comply, “we’re going to have to take action,” Lightfoot said, without giving details.
Lightfoot repeatedly said Sunday that “our schools are safe” and told CTU leaders they must return to the bargaining table. The mayor also said that “distance learning fails too many of our children” and accused CTU of not having a sense of urgency to bring students back to in-person learning.
“We absolutely have to make a deal,” she said. She vowed that she and her team would stay up all night until a deal was made. “CTU, come back to the table – today.”
Jackson said that without an agreement between CPS and CTU, access to distance learning programs offered through Google Suite will be discontinued as of the end of operations on Monday.
Lightfoot said the public school system and the union had held 70 official meetings since June. The mayor also described that the safe in-person learning model follows guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Illinois and Chicago departments of public health, and is supported by health experts Dr.Anthony Fauci , director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as well as local health officials.
“Our schools are safe. Our schools are safe. We know this because we have studied what is going on in other school systems in our city – over 40,000 schools in the Archdiocese, charter and other public schools that have been through some form of face-to-face learning since the fall, ”said Lightfoot.
According to CBS Chicago, the CPS and CTU on Saturday reached tentative agreements on four areas: health and safety protocols, ventilation, contact tracing, and health and safety committees.
On Sunday, Lightfoot said there had been $ 100 million in investments to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in its schools, including medical exams, temperature checks, hand sanitizer, PPE, disinfection, social distancing and contact tracing.
Jackson appeared on CBS’s “Face the Nation”earlier on Sunday, saying it’s safe to reopen Chicago schools with proper precautions and health safety protocols.
“We think we need to reopen the schools. We’ve been closed for almost a year now. And as a school system we’re starting to see some of the effects of school closures,” Jackson told “Face the Nation” “. moderator Margaret Brennan. “A lot of our students aren’t going online. We see African-American and Latin-American students particularly affected. And our goal is really to give every parent an option.
“Right now, we predict that 77,000 students, or about one-third of CPS students, are eligible for in-person instruction. It’s twice the size of Illinois’ second largest school district. And so the reopening of Chicago Public Schools is extremely important, ”Jackson said. “We should also note that the private and parish schools in the city have been open since August, and we have learned a lot from their implementation plans and we are looking to the advice of public health officials, as well as the CDC for make sure we have a solid plan. for the reopening. “
Meanwhile, many parents are torn apart.
Bridgett White’s dining room doubles as a classroom – and she said she was “very frustrated” with the current situation between CPS and CTU. Her daughter Brianna is in seventh and her son Tristan is in fifth. Neither has returned to school since March 2020.
“You have this side that says one thing, you have this other side that says something else, and you’re in the middle,” White told “CBS Weekend News” on Saturday.
This week, the CDC said in-person classes can be safely held, and President Biden said he wanted all schools across the country to reopen within the next three months. But what’s going on in Chicago shows how difficult it could be.
“As a parent you wait day in and day out,” White said. “Is this the day when my child will have no learning?”
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