CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Students at Chicago Public Schools returned to class Monday morning but some parents are concerned over the district’s test-to-return policy.
CPS sent out more than 150,000 at-home COVID-19 tests over winter break with the goal of testing students before they return to class.
Several parents received an email, shared by the Chicago Teachers Union, explaining some of those tests were no longer valid.
“It's very confusing how we took our time out to bring the children to comply with CPS and we got no results,” said Danelda Archer, a parent who received an unsatisfactory test result for her kids at Park Manor Elementary. “How can I allow my children to come back if they don't even have a negative or positive result? That was supposed to be the end result to ensure that they were safe.”
Sonja Hammond, another Park Manor parent, echoed similar concerns.
“We're going to protect our kids. And until these kids are safe, my kids will be at home on remote learning,” Hammond said.
The company responsible for processing the tests says many of the kits, which had previously overflowed FedEx drop boxes, were delayed in transit due to weather or holiday shipping issues and that they couldn’t be processed within the 48-hour timeframe.
The district’s COVID-19 tracker shows more than 35,500 tests were completed over the past week with a positivity rate of 18%. Nearly 25,000 were found to be invalid.
The Chicago Teachers Union plans to address the concerns over the district’s COVID-19 safety plan during a press conference outside Park Manor Elementary School.
Briana Hambright-Hall is a school counselor at Park Manor and a Chicago Teachers Union delegate. She said the union is demanding more COVID-19 testing and better face masks.
“As Omicron spreads rapidly through our school communities and our neighborhoods with seamlessly, no rhyme or reason as to how vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals are affected, we are asking for layered mitigations to be put in place immediately to keep our school and students safe,” Hambright-Hall said.
WBBM Newsradio contacted CPS for this story and the district responded to the request saying, in part:
“Over the holiday weekend, we learned from our vendors, ThermoFisher and Color, that more than half of the 40,000 submitted tests could not be validated. While we continue to seek answers, we are focused on increasing on-site testing opportunities for the impacted students and schools this week as part of our ongoing weekly testing. That weekly in-school testing resumes at all our schools this week, starting with 120 schools today, as well as all other safety measures that have been in place since schools were safely re-opened to in-person learning in spring of 2021. We will continue to work with ThermoFisher and Color to support families who still want to use the remainder of the distributed home kits for this FDA-approved COVID test, and we will follow up with more information about how that could work.
“Testing results are not required in order for students to attend school today. We have advised parents to keep students home if they are sick. We further remind our community that informal, last-minute learning and care spaces typically have fewer COVID-19 safety protections in place than schools. Districtwide, unwarranted and preemptive mass school closures could actually fuel community spread. Taken together with other profound harms–physical, mental, academic, and social and emotional–associated with remote-only learning, CPS stands firmly on its decision to protect and promote child health by keeping schools safe and open.”
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