CHICAGO – Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Chicago Public Schools will move forward with plans to reopen schools on Monday, despite ongoing objections by the teachers union and a large group of aldermen.
Further, CPS CEO Janice Jackson said staff members who don’t show up — as about half failed to do this week — will be deemed absent without leave “and ineligible for pay going forward.”
“This is not a measure we take lightly,” Jackson added.
Remote learning “is not sustainable, not over the long term, because it does not serve every student equally, especially those students who are younger, who require additional help and support and simply don’t have access to a sustainable learning environment,” the mayor said Friday, emphasizing the safeguards in place for students and staff.
“We are doing everything we can to place safety in this pandemic at front and center of what we are doing ... but we need to forge forward,” Lightfoot said.
CPS schools have remained closed for in-person learning since the coronavirus prompted Gov. J.B. Pritzker to shut down schools statewide in March.
But after delaying reopening several times amid strong opposition from the Chicago Teachers Union, the state’s largest school district announced plans to begin bringing its first students back on Monday, including pre-kindergarten and some special education students.
Parents were given the option, and about 35% of parents of students eligible to return Monday, or about 6,500 children, chose the in-person option, according to CPS.
“What’s gotten lost in a lot of the noise here is that it’s an option ... we have an obligation to support that selection, that choice,” the mayor said. “To deny parents this option is irresponsible and wrong. It just is.”
The plan calls for the bulk of remaining students — virtually all kindergarten through eighth graders — to begin in-person classes on Feb. 1, with a hybrid of remote and in-school classes. Of that group of students, about 77,000 have chosen the in-person option.
No return date has been set for high school students.
But the union has continued to push back against these plans, with leaders saying they’re skeptical of the district’s ability to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools. On Monday of this week, when the first teachers were due to return to buildings, about half of them defied the district and continued to teach remotely instead. Of all staff, about 60% showed up.
Jackson said Friday that figure has grown to 65%, “largely driven by teacher attendance increasing throughout the week,” Jackson said, “despite significant pressure from union leadership.”
When asked whether any teachers could face termination for not showing up, Lightfoot and Jackson did not address that directly.
“Let’s not race to the bottom,” the mayor said. “It’s our hope and our expectation that those teachers who are expected to be back … will come. If not, there is a process to address these issues.”
The union has asked that teachers be allowed to opt out of in-person learning at least until they receive their first coronavirus vaccine doses, which could be available to teachers by March, city health officials have said.
The reopening plan has also been criticized by dozens of Chicago aldermen and by the head group that represents CPS principals. But CPS officials have continued to stress they are confident in the plan and in COVID-19 safeguards, and that severe equity issues apparent in remote learning necessitate a return to in-person classes.
“We remain committed to continuing to meet with CTU leadership to find workable solutions to address their members’ concerns. Unfortunately, the CTU leadership continues to move the goalposts of their demands, with the goal of halting in-person learning for thousands of students on Monday, even as the majority of its members have reported to schools this week,” CPS spokeswoman Emily Bolton said in a statement Thursday.
Lightfoot addressed teachers directly Friday, saying: “To our teachers and our staff, we look forward to seeing you on Monday. I want you to know I have absolutely heard you. I know you are anxious; I know many of you are scared. I understand that. ... I also know you care deeply about our children … and put their interests first. We have and will continue to take every step in our power to keep " everyone in schools safe.
CPS CEO Janice Jackson on Friday underscore the $100 million investment the district has made toward COVID-19-related school safety.
She said grades, attendance and participation has dropped dramatically during remote learning and that Black and Latino students, who represent the vast majority of CPS’s enrollment and in many cases whose parents are essential workers, have suffered the most.
As for when high school students will return to classrooms, Jackson said those plans are still the works.
