CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Classes officially started more than two weeks ago in the Chicago Public School system, and officials said there are still thousands of students who have not yet signed into their remote-learning classes.
Chicago Public School's Chief Education Officer LaTonya McDade said at Wednesday’s monthly Board of Education meeting there were still up to nearly 7,000 thousand students who have not logged into remote-learning classes yet.
McDade said it’s possible some of those students have moved to other school districts or have enrolled in charter schools.
CPS spokeswoman Emily Bolton later emailed the Sun-Times to say the most recent updated number of unaccounted for students is about 2,700, and said the figure was typical and not due to the pandemic.
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“This is not a phenomenon of remote learning circumstances; every year there is wide variation between the first and 20th day of school, which is why CPS and other large urban districts calculate final enrollment after students have been in school for a couple of weeks,” Bolton said in an emailed statement.
McDade said CPS central office employees, bus aides, and other workers have been calling families every day to find out where their children are, and what resources they need to get back in school. CPS said Safe Passage Workers have handed out nearly 60,000 flyers in various communities, and security guards have been trained and repurposed for home visits to check on families if they can’t be reached by phone, the Sun-Times reported.
CPS released data last week that showed about four of every five students logged on for the first week of school.
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The average first day attendance in CPS schools is more than 94 percent. This year it was 84 percent.