CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago Public Schools students are to report to classes next Monday for the start of the new academic year, but there are some political leaders calling on the city and the district to do better to protect students and staff from COVID-19.
Nearly two dozen Chicago City Council members and state legislators said that because vaccines are not approved for children under the age of 12, the city and Chicago Public Schools leadership need to do all it can to up its COVID protocol game.
In a petition to Mayor Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools, elected officials asked that CPS to take the following steps:
• Listen and act upon educator and family feedback on the significant challenges posed by simultaneous learning.
• Do not roll back social distancing, quarantine, and contact tracing protocols at this time. Keep unvaccinated students apart more than the proposed three feet. If an outbreak occurs in a classroom or multiple classrooms in a school, all students and staff exposed to a person who is exhibiting symptoms and/or tests positive should trigger quarantine protocols, regardless of the exposed persons' vaccination status. That would mean if there is a confirmed case in a class, all students could revert to remote learning for up to 14 days.
• Implement additional proposed student home visit programs year-round to continually re-engage families and support improved attendance.
• Recognize that our students have gone through multiple traumas in the past two years and provide them the adequate number of qualified adult professionals for their readjustment and age appropriate transition back to in-person education. This means allocating funds for additional hiring above and beyond collective bargaining agreements of essential clinicians, special education teachers, and support personnel like paraprofessionals. These workers are the gears in the machine that will keep our students learning, thriving, and adjusting to a new reality.
• Finally, we believe that the current plans for the resumption of full in-person instruction will be improved through greater collaboration with community partners and parents, as well as an updated agreement between CPS and its labor partners based on guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education. Our city’s educators and support staff are on the front lines and know first-hand the challenges that students are facing. They should be a co-equal partner in crafting a reopening plan that is feasible and sustainable to prevent burnout during these challenging times, and ultimately safe to preserve life and well-being of thousands of Chicagoans.
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"We are deeply concerned by the consistent testimony from educators expressing their profound frustration with the status quo and how it hinders their ability to do their job along with families' growing demands about ensuring their children’s safety," the letter stated. "An effective reopening plan is anchored in collaboration with all stakeholders, radical transparency, and clear and regular communication to achieve the collective goals and foster public trust. To that end, CPS needs true buy-in from and collaboration with parents, communities, and organized labor. We believe that CPS can achieve this, and stand ready to assist however we can."
CPS teachers report to work Monday in preparation for next week’s start of classes.
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