CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago Public School parents and students are anxious to know when, or if, there will be a return to in-person learning in the weeks ahead, and the Mayor is saying she’ll let them know soon.
With the city’s COVID test positivity rate down a bit, but still over four-percent, Mayor Lori Lightfoot was asked at the latest news briefing on the city’s COVID response whether there’s a chance of some in-person instruction in CPS schools by sometime in November.
The Mayor said it’s something being discussed, and she has not ruled out resuming in-person learning sometime in November, but “we have to see more progress in order for us, I think, to have a conversation about in-person learning. We’re not there yet. I don’t want to speculate about the chances. It’s something we are focused on every single day, and we’ll make an announcement relatively soon, because we’ve got to give parents and the school community enough time to adapt if we’re going to make a change. But we’re not there yet.”
The Mayor said she knows remote learning has been challenging, especially for working parents, but she said there are other considerations besides the test positivity rate.
Related
“I’m hopeful that we will get there sooner rather than later, because I know that all-remote learning is a real challenge for everybody involved, not the least of which the students and the parents,” Lightfoot said.
“We’ve got to think about the workforce, of course. We’ve got to think about our principals, our teachers, our staff coming back to work, what does that mean for them? What does it mean for members of that school community who are over 60, who have underlying medical conditions? Are we going to have enough of a robust workforce to be able to come back in-person?”
Related
CTU President Jesse Sharkey said in a statement Monday that Lightfoot and CPS needs to work with the union to improve remote learning “now that Mayor Lightfoot has moved to reopen bars and relax restrictions on fitness and personal care.”
Sharkey added that “there are numerous Chicago zip codes, especially in vulnerable black and brown communities with high student populations, with double-digit positivity rates.”
Sharkey said a return to classrooms before it’s safe to do so “could be catastrophic” for the city and school communities, the Sun-Times reported.
“We cannot prioritize bars and restaurants over black and brown children and our city’s most vulnerable students, including special education students and English language learners,” Sharkey said. “Increased socialization could cause a sharper spike, which would make it more difficult to reopen school buildings.”