‘It’s our moral obligation to do everything we can’: Chicago school board defends reopening plan

Back of a student walking down steps.
Chicago Public Schools officials said they plan to telecast teachers leading in-person instruction to remote learners. (Stacey Rupolo/Chalkbeat)

Educators and parents on Wednesday harshly criticized Chicago Public Schools’ tentative plan to bring some students back to school buildings later this fall.

Critics said the plan lacked transparency and community input. 

But board members pushed back forcefully, arguing during their regular monthly meeting that the district had considered safety and would not recklessly endanger students and staff. Vice chair Sendhil Revuluri argued that while the science of COVID-19 transmission is emerging and constantly shifting, there are decades of research showing the long-term harm to students from being away from their classrooms.

“We are going to be in this situation for a while; we can’t press pause,” he said, adding, “It’s our moral obligation to do everything we can to bring (students) back to school as soon as it is safe to do so.”

The district plans to open campuses to pre-kindergarten and some special education students sometime after Nov. 9, when the second quarter starts. Officials said they are monitoring the city’s spike in COVID-19 cases and will announce a decision soon. 

The district also announced plans to telecast teachers providing in-person instruction in their classrooms to students who stick with remote learning — an approach some educators questioned on social media. 

School would open to small groups of students, known as clusters. But teachers and parents of pre-kindergarten and special education clusters told the board many unanswered questions remain about the reopening plan. 

They pointed out the challenges of maintaining social distancing in both programs and the medical vulnerability of some special education students, and some called on the district to nix the plan altogether. 

“Getting this plan wrong does not mean disrupted learning,” said Erin Young, a special education teacher. “Getting this plan wrong means a loss of life.” 

Under intense criticism that they had not adequately consulted families and educators, district officials said they would provide written answers to common questions and to host virtual meetings with cluster parents. 

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School board members, who are appointed by the city’s mayor, said they could relate to families’ and teachers’ concerns, but backed the reopening plan. 

Families in the programs slated for a possible reopening must respond by Wednesday to a district survey asking them if they plan to send their children back to school buildings. Officials said that the district will assume families who do not participate in the survey plan to stick with virtual learning. 

District leaders stressed the current loss in enrollment and engagement that they say are informing their effort to bring students back to school buildings. They listed safety measures, including staggered school bus arrivals, student “pods” that stay in their classrooms and leave through designated entrances, cloth face coverings, contact tracing, and free testing for any student or employee who displays symptoms or has been in close contact with someone who got sick.

“We will be looking at the science and working closely with our colleagues at (the Chicago Department of Public Health) as we make these critically important decisions,” said schools chief Janice Jackson. She  added the district has heard from many parents and students eager to return to in-person instruction.

The district so far has spent $116 million responding to the pandemic. That includes nearly $220,000 developing an online tracker of COVID-19 cases at district schools.

During public comment, teachers and parents expressed concerns. 

Educators in cluster programs say they worry about disabilities such as Down Syndrome that make their students more vulnerable to the coronavirus. They noted some of those students cannot wear masks consistently because of sensory or breathing issues, and some require help with toileting and sitting still that make social distancing from teachers practically impossible. 

Teachers at two schools that serve only students with special needs said their schools lacks unused space to spread out students.

Pre-kindergarten teachers also said that it’s extremely challenging to keep 4- and 5-year-olds at a safe distance.

“What kind of trauma are we creating for our children if we bring them back into environments where the adults are afraid for their lives?” teacher Francie McGowan Conway said. 

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The district’s teachers union and a coalition of parent and community groups called GEM have come out strongly against the reopening plan. At the meeting, Jennie Biggs of Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education, one of the groups in that coalition, decried what she described as a lack of family input and involvement and said GEM sent the district 16 pages of questions related to the plan. 

“This is a big fail on the part of the district,” she said. “This is eroding trust in CPS even further.”

But school board members pushed back, even as they assured parents and teachers they took concerns seriously. 

“We are dealing with the ventilation issue. There is transparency,” board Chairman Miguel del Valle said. “This is evolving. That’s why an exact date has not been set.”

District academic chief LaTanya McDade noted that about 400 schools have held virtual town halls with families to get their input on how remote learning is going, and the district has made hundreds of phone calls to parents whose children might return to buildings first. 

Officials said students who opt to stick with remote learning will receive the same amount of instruction the district requires now if some of their peers return to the classroom. But she said the district is eyeing a “simultaneous teaching model,” in which in-person instruction in the classroom doubles as live video instruction for students at home. The district will provide training for teachers on doing this effectively, she said.

Some district teachers were quick to voice concerns about this approach, which they said will shortchange remote learners. 

“Teaching isn’t like a TV show that remote students watch passively,” social studies teacher Peter Van wrote on Twitter. “Engagement and learning will drop significantly if teachers can’t devote full attention to the remote students.”

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