Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot, was one of the most aggressive advocates for people staying home during the city’s and state’s stay-at-home orders. Now, the Chicago mayor is singing a different tune when it comes to students in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system.
The students who have opted to return for in-person learning, are expected to return on Monday, January 25th. The current plan is to have students ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade return in person. Adding to a list of expectations, the teachers are also expected to return in class.
However, for over a month now, Mayor Lightfoot has had quite the struggle to get teachers back into their classrooms….It’s not like we’re in the middle of an excruciating pandemic… oh wait. As of January 30th, no deal has been made between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), so teachers have no contract to return to in-person teaching.
Here is my take on this, I cannot fathom as to why Mayor Lightfoot is trying so desperately to get teachers and students back into the classrooms so soon. On January 12th, the United States reached 4,406 deaths in a single day, setting it at the highest casualty rate in one single day during the pandemic. What is the need to push students and teachers back to in-person learning, if online learning is proving sufficient?
I had the opportunity to talk to a CPS student who is currently in the sixth grade. When I asked him about his experience in an online classroom, he told me that while it was not the same as being in the classroom, there were less distractions and if they could be safe at home, why return. I also asked what his teachers were saying about the upcoming return and he said, “Right now we have a choice to go back or stay at home. Our teachers asked us on Friday who was going back to school. 10 kids out of 31 said they were going back to school.”
After being able to talk to a CPS student and get their perspective, I then decided to talk to someone on the instructor side, and received their insight as to what is going on. As a safety measure, they asked to remain anonymous. So for writing sake, let’s call him Manuel. Manuel works at a Chicago Public School and works adjacent to teachers. He told me that his school is not near ready to bring in teachers or students yet. He went on to say, “The air purifiers that Lightfoot and CPS keep shouting about haven’t even been seen in my school yet. There are some teachers here working in person, but only because they chose to come. Though, the ones who decided to work remotely aren’t guaranteed of getting paid. The situation is just absurd and it doesn’t help that the mayor is bullying teachers back into their classrooms.”
As Manuel said, Mayor Lightfoot is the bully here. In a sense, she is vilifying teachers and teaching personnel. In all honesty, I hope that they don’t reach an agreement by Monday. Teachers are not your babysitters.