CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Some Chicago Public Schools parents, who are not comfortable sending their kids back to schools yet, are demanding that they be offered a "serious" remote learning option with a little over two weeks before full, in-person education is set to resume.
Chicago Public Schools plans to welcome students back starting Aug. 30 for full, in-person learning, except for a small group of “medically fragile” children accepted into the Virtual Academy.
But with so many kids unable to be vaccinated and the Delta variant driving a surge in COVID cases, some parents, who are uncomfortable with sending their kids back, said the remote option doesn’t work, because it’s only available those select, “medically fragile” students.
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Cassandra Kaszocha has three children.
"That leaves families like mine who aren't comfortable returning our kids to in-person with few choices, other than to pull our children and home school. We don't qualify as high-risk enough for the Virtual Academy, and even if we did, only one of the three children in our household would be eligible," she said. "As we have been told repeatedly, COVID is a household disease."
Rosemary Vega has two kids.
"My sophomore is vaccinated and my 10-year-old fifth grader is not; so as you can see our options are very limited, our fears are still real. Virtual Academy is not a fit for our children. We want virtual learning. We want it from the neighborhood schools,” she said. “We know that CPS is sitting on billions of dollars, and we want them to use that money for resources to hire more staff for our neighborhood schools and for our children.”
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Those two parents and others spoke during a virtual news conference hosted by the group Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education, which started an online petition.
The district said reopening for full, in-person learning is in the best interest of students and it can be done safely.
“The district is opening five days per week, in-person in accordance with federal and state guidelines, which have emphasized the critical importance of students getting back to the classroom after a period of immense disruption to learning and social-emotional well-being,” the district said in a statement.
"Health officials, scientists and officials at the Chicago Department of Public Health also agree that opening schools in the fall is not only in the best interest of our students, but that it can be done safely, which is why there will not be a standing virtual learning option except for our most medically fragile students who meet specific criteria.”
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