CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A group of Chicago Public School parents staged a virtual news conference on Wednesday calling on CPS to forego in-person learning, at least for the next couple of months.
The parents who participated in the Zoom news conference say they don’t CPS to keep student or their teachers safe.
"Even the board meeting that’s going to be held later today is virtual, so why can’t our children continue to do such?” parent Bridgett White asked.
Julie Dworkin, parent of a seventh-grader and a sophomore, agrees that waiting would be best.
"A couple more months of remote learning is not going to harm anyone irreparably, but the inevitable deaths caused by the re-opening can never be reversed,” Dworkin said.
Some parents said they don’t think schools would be kept clean enough or — in the case of overcrowded classes — be able to adequately keep students physically distanced.
Flor Dimas cites a recent picture that had been shared on social media of a CPS classroom air filter that was incorrectly installed.
A teacher had taken off the face of the device and found the filter itself was still in plastic.
"We demand that CPS invest in remote learning,” parent Monica Soto Espinoza said. “CPS has never once asked us for our feedback on the remote. Instead, they are letting the kids get lost in the shuffle."
The parents want CPS to hold off in-person learning, at least until vaccinations are more widespread.
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