As Chicago Public Schools expected to welcome the first phase of educators Monday morning for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, many members of the Chicago Teachers Union have vowed not to reintroduce their buildings, citing to safety issues and differences in equity for black and colored students.
This comes after at least 33 out of a total of 50 mayors sent a letter to Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Principal Janice Jackson outlining how they were “deeply concerned” about the Chicago reopening this month, as the “current plan for students and staff returning to school buildings do not meet the district’s regional goal of increasing student equity, and fail to adequately address a number of safety concerns identified by parents, students and staff in in the light of the ongoing pandemic. “
Jackson responded on Sunday with her own letter, arguing that security protocols, including contact tracing, had already been put in place, and that the option to return for personal tuition would only benefit black and Latino students who were “left behind” with remote control learning, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Jackson further argued that thousands of private and Catholic school students have had the option for months, “and the provision of this option is a matter of fairness that will have consequences for years to come.”
“Personal learning is not the right choice for every student, but it should be an option for everyone,” she said.
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Referring to the most recent CPS survey, mayors pointed out that less than a quarter of families chose to learn in person, and White families said they plan to have their children twice as high as blacks and Latino families.
The teachers’ union further argued that white children in classrooms would therefore benefit from it, and that the quality of virtual learning that most minority children would visit would suffer if teachers struggled to have a balance between both groups of students.
“Pushing teachers and students into buildings will weaken our distance education plans and not strengthen them,” Lori Torres, a Logan Square teacher and mother of three children in the district, told a news conference Monday. via Zoom was held, said. “Teachers are expected to be two people who will drive children in front of them and drive children on the screen. Besides being safe, the decisions the district has made say we can still not trust that what they put in place we have not in mind. “
The press conference hosted by the teachers’ union was intended to give several educators at schools across Chicago the opportunity to explain why they would ‘exercise their contractual and legal rights in a safe workplace’ by refusing to report to their buildings on Monday to do. The union members outlined what they categorize as shortcomings and gaps in the CPS reopening plan.
“The plan they put in place and the story they told our families is that this decision is with fairness in mind,” Torres said. “Equity is one of the things that provide proper staffing in our building. Equity is one of the things that supports our children where they are. Equity does not say you have to go back to buildings that we know are not safe.”
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“Our black and colored communities have been hit the hardest and they will be further devastated if we allow this reopening plan to take place,” added Linda Perales, a teacher at Corkery Primary School. She explained that the fact that teachers have to wear a face mask all day during personal instructions will make it impossible to teach letter sounds and that classrooms will be virtually empty to be able to take social distance, which means that socialization cannot even take place not if students return in person.
According to CPS, at least 5,800 employees working on the preschool and special education group programs will return to their schools on Monday. An additional 861 were granted medical leave and about 300 requests are still pending, the Times reported. Their students will return on January 11 for personal tuition.
On January 25, thousands of others are expected to return to their building to prepare for the return of students in kindergarten through eighth grade on February 1. It was unclear how many union members would turn up on Monday, but rather chose to stay home.
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In a video posted Monday by Chicago Public Schools, Erik Olson, principal of Hamline Elementary School, explained that personal education will look different at each school, based on how families responded to CPS ‘intention to return the form to send. Most schools will follow a similar model that follows guidelines from public health officials to ensure a safe learning environment, he said.
Generally, students are grouped in pods of up to 15 students who will enter through a specific door, fill out a daily health questionnaire and have the temperature taken and then go directly to a specific classroom where they will be socially distanced.
Students will stay in the classroom the vast majority of the day, although some schools have preferred to have students leave for lunch and recess, while other students have to eat at their desk. They will use designated corridors and stairs to maintain a separation between pods as they move through the building. Classrooms are equipped with good ventilation and air purifiers. Sanitation and hand washing stations have been set up across schools.
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Nicole Spicer, principal at Bronzeville Classical Elementary, explained that students will follow a hybrid model on different days of the week, varying between personal and homeschooling. Students with special needs in group programs have personal tutoring available five days a week.
The school reopening plan in Chicago has been pushed back several times already.
“The CTU has not identified any area where the district plan does not meet public health guidelines, and the CTU’s tactics at the moment are disrespectful to the 77,000 mostly black and Latinx families who have personally chosen,” said Emily Bolton. spokesman for the CPS, said a statement to the Chicago Tribune Sunday. “It is the district’s expectation that homeless teachers will report tomorrow, just as principals, conservation staff, engineers and food service staff have the whole pandemic.”