CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Of the city’s more than 200,000 elementary school students, more than 62-percent of them will continue learning from home when in-person instruction begins in the coming weeks.
Chicago Public School officials said the parents of more than 130,000 elementary school students indicated they wanted their children to remain learning remotely, or they did not respond at all. But, more than 37 percent of parents do want their children in school.
"With 75,000 students slated to return at the beginning of the calendar year, that is twice the size of the second largest school district in Illinois," said Chicago Public Schools CEO Dr. Janice Jackson. "I know that this will be a complicated process, and that maybe the first two weeks will be complicated, just like they are during any school year, but I know after a while, we will get our sea legs and be able to do this safely."
According to CPS data, a disproportionate number of those CPS families that opted to send their children back to schools were white, while families of color were more likely to decline the opportunity to return; which raises questions about the argument that has been made for weeks by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS officials that reopening schools will help reduce racial inequity gaps caused by remote learning.
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Of the students who said they might return, 23.4 percent are white, 30.2 percent are Black, 38.9 percent are Latino and 4.4 percent are Asian American. The racial demographics of students who were eligible to return were 12.9 percent white, 33.2 percent Black, 46.7 percent Latino and 5 percent Asian American, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. About one-third of Black, Latino and Asian American families are sending their kids back to classrooms, while two-thirds of white families are going back.
Pre-kindergarten and certain special education students are to return to in-person learning Jan. 11, with kindergarten through 8th graders to return Feb. 1. There’s been no date set for high schoolers to return for in-person learning.
"Families returning in January should expect to receive their child’s classroom assignment this week and families returning in February will be notified in late January," said Chicago Public Schools Chief Education Officer LaTonya McDade.
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The Chicago Teachers Union continues to fight the school system over a return to in-person instruction.