CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- With the Chicago Public School system planning to return to in-person learning for some students in less than a month, the Chicago Teachers Union is pushing back.
During a Zoom news conference Wednesday morning, the CTU questioned how COVID-safe the CPS plan is.
Special Education teacher Linda Perales, of Corkery Elementary School in the Little Village neighborhood, pointed out that special education cluster students such as those with Down’s syndrome and autism would be the first to return.
"The reality is that cluster students cannot practice social distancing. They need assistance with feeding. They need assistance with toileting. They need assistance with hand-over-hand in order to hold a pencil," she said. "The truth is that cluster students cannot wear a mask for the entire day. That puts them and the teachers and staff in the classroom and other students, at risk."
Environmental consultant Sterling Laylock questioned CPS' contention that it has followed the science when it comes to making sure air quality in classrooms minimizes the risk of spreading the coronavirus.
"If you just take a look at how the schools were inspected. They inspected 20 percent of the classrooms for indoor air quality with no [teachers and students] present. People are the source of this COVID-19 pollution, when we breathe, when we cough," he said.
Laylock went on to say that instead of "following the science," CPS has presented a "marketing strategy."
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Chicago Teachers Union president Jesse Sharkey, a high school teacher on leave and parent of two CPS students, said it’s too unsafe from a COVID-spreading standpoint in the community to bring students back for in-classroom learning. The union wants in-person learning to resume when the COVID test positivity rate citywide is below 3 percent, but right now, it’s more than 12 percent.
"We propose the level that NYC has used and the board is saying that is not the right level for them," he said.
Sharkey does not believe there has to be widespread COVID vaccinations for in-person learning to resume.
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CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates, a high school teacher on-leave and the mother of three CPS students, said CPS needs "to practice deliberate caution with re-opening schools."
"Our families that we serve have been very clear about how this virus has affected them and have repeatedly chosen remote learning."
She said the mayor and public school system have been begged to make remote learning more sustainable.
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There’s a court hearing Thursday on the Chicago Teachers Union’s challenge to a return to school Jan. 11 for pre-kindergarten and certain special education students.