CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) --After weeks of delays, Chicago Public Schools welcomed preschool and special education cluster students and teachers back to classrooms Thursday morning.
It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t cheap to get to this point, but the Chicago Teachers Union and district administration reached an agreement, with some students returning Thursday and others returning by March 8 through a phased-in approach.
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Less than 24 hours after Chicago Teachers Union members approved CPS’ plan to return to in-person learning, more than 500 people tuned in a virtual town hall meeting Wednesday night hosted by Mayor Lightfoot, CPS CEO Janice Jackson and Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady.
“Our schools are safe,” Lightfoot said. “...We are continuing to evaluate and look at more things that we can do, but we feel very confident that we have a very solid plan for those of you who are coming back into the schools in the classrooms.”
CPS CEO Janice Jackson noted that $100-million was spent preparing classrooms.
"Right now we have spent over $100 million to prepare for reopening. The lion share of that was spent on retrofitting our buildings, making sure that proper air ventilation was taking place. There were a host of schools that received capital improvements in order to ensure those buildings were safe," Jackson said.
"We put an air purifier in every single one of our classrooms, because we knew it was important. We heard from a lot of teachers during our early negotiations with CTU that that was something they cared a lot about. In addition to that, hand sanitizer, signage, all of the things that you know we've all had to do in order to make our buildings more safe."
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Jackson encouraged parents to report possible violations of the district’s COVID-19 protocol to their school’s principal.
“We can’t guarantee a COVID-free environment, but the protocols that we have in place are there to slow the spread and stop the spread of COVID,” Jackson said.
Not all students will be returning, as some parents chose to continue having their children learn remotely.
For more information, go to CPS.edu/reopening2020.