The Mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, and the CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Dra. Janice Jackson, insisted Sunday that teachers return to classrooms Monday amid the dire situation between CPS and the union representing thousands of educators for the debate to resume face-to-face learning in the midst of Coronavirus pandemic.
Chicago Teachers Union has told teachers to stay away, out of concern for security during the pandemic. Therefore, Chicago public schools said that adequate endowment cannot be secured, so students will continue to learn distance learning on Monday, hoping that preschool, special education and K-8 students will return. in face-to-face learning on Tuesday. , according to CBS Chicago.
The mayor said all preschool teachers through eighth grade will have to return to the classroom on Monday unless they have received special accommodation. If they don’t comply, “we’ll have to act,” Lightfoot said, but he didn’t elaborate.
Lightfoot said Sunday several times that “our schools are safe” and told CTU management to return to the negotiating table. The mayor also said “remote learning is failing too many of our children” and accused the CTU of not having the sense of urgency for students to return to face-to-face learning.
“We need to get a deal,” he said. She promised that she and her team would stay awake all night until an agreement was reached. “CTU, please come back to the table – today.”
Jackson said that without an agreement between CPS and CTU, access to the distance learning programs offered through Google Suite will be cut from Monday to the end of the business.
Lightfoot said the public school system and the union have held 70 formal meetings since June. The mayor also described that the safe in-person learning model follows the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the public health departments of Illinois and Chicago, and has the support of 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 has happened in other school systems in our city: more than 40,000 archdioceses, charter schools and other public schools that have had some kind of learning. face-to-face since the fall, ”Lightfoot said.
According to CBS Chicago, CPS and CTU reached interim agreements Saturday on four areas: health and safety protocols, ventilation, contact tracking, and health and safety committees.
On Sunday, Lightfoot said there were $ 100 million in investments to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in its schools, including health testing, temperature checks, hand sanitizer, PPE, disinfection, social distancing and screening. of contacts.
Jackson appeared on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”“Sunday earlier, saying it is safe to reopen Chicago schools with proper precautions and health security protocols.
“We think we need to reopen schools. We’ve been closed for almost a year. 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. “Many of our students are not logged in. We are seeing African American and Latinx students especially affected. And our goal is to give all parents a choice.”
“Right now, we anticipate 77,000 students, which is about a third of the students here at CPS, who are eligible for face-to-face instruction. That’s twice the second largest school district here in Illinois. And so reopen Chicago Schools are extremely important, ”Jackson said. “We must also keep in mind that the city’s private and parish schools have been open since August, and we have learned a lot from their implementation plans and sought guidance from public health officials as well. like the CDC, to make sure we had a solid plan to reopen. “
Meanwhile, many parents are torn.
Bridgett White’s dining room also serves as a classroom and she said she was “very frustrated” by 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 that side that says one thing, you have that other that says something else and you’re in the middle,” White told CBS Weekend News on Saturday.
This week, the CDC said face-to-face classes can be done safely and President Biden he said he wants all the schools in the country to reopen in the next three months. But what’s happening in Chicago proves how difficult it could be.
“As a parent, you’re waiting day in and day out,” White said. “Is this the day my son will have no apprenticeship?”