Can schools safely reopen without teachers vaccinated for COVID-19?
Dr. Robert Citronberg with Advocate Aurora Health answers your COVID-19 questions.
Twenty-five thousand Chicago Public School teachers will be asked whether the agreement struck between their union and the mayor is good enough for them to return to in-person learning via secret electronic ballot. Our members have to read it, discuss, and ultimately, make a decision as to what is going to happen next, CTU President Jesse Sharkey said.
If approved, students, teachers and staff will have a staggered return to their physical classrooms.
Pre-K and Cluster students will return Thursday, K through fifth grade on March 1, and fifth through eighth grade on March 8.
Where are Chicago parents at the bargaining table?
Where are Chicago parents at the bargaining table? With the Chicago Teachers Union finally deciding students can return to classrooms, parent groups are clamoring to be heard. Unfortunately, Illinois law prohibits them from having much say about schools reopening.
The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools engaged in a caustic negotiation over returning to in-person learning, with the deal finally winning approval from 25,000 rank-and-file union members Feb. 9.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot acknowledged the cost to families of the prolonged dispute: “This has been a very tough process for everybody in the CPS ecosystem, notably our students and their parents. I will do everything I can to make sure that they have a seat at the table on anything that relates to their education and the education of their children.”
Atlanta school system considers mandatory summer school for kids who fell behind due to coronavirus
Atlanta Public Schools is considering mandatory summer school aimed at helping students who suffered setbacks in their learning during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a top district official.
The plan, proposed February 1 at an Atlanta Board of Education meeting, has not been decided upon yet, but would focus on the unfinished learning dating back to March 2020 when schools first closed, Superintendent Lisa Herring said.
Students across the country have spent much of the last year learning remotely in an effort to mitigate the spread of the virus, and many worry that the disruption has left them with a lesser education and developmental experience.
Ballots are due by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, according to CTU, with more than 25,000 members casting their vote by secret electronic ballot.
The vote comes after CPS officials said that the two sides had reached a tentative agreement on a return to in-person learning as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
In addition, 90 percent of delegates voted no confidence in the district leadership of Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools. ChicagoTeachersUnion (@CTULocal1) February 9, 2021
The deal, if approved by the more than 25,000 members of the CTU, would have kids in pre-K and cluster learning classes back in classrooms by Thursday. Children in kindergarten through fifth grade would return March 1, while children in sixth through eighth grade would return on March 8 as part of a staggered return schedule.
(Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
President Joe Biden has committed to reopening most of America’s K-8 schools within the first 100 days of his administration, a goal the country’s two most powerful teachers unions endorse. Some GOP lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), want Biden to move faster, ordering districts to resume in-person instruction immediately.
“Science is not the obstacle. Federal money is not the obstacle. The obstacle is a lack of willpower,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “Not among students. Not among parents. Just among the rich, powerful unions that donate huge sums to Democrats and get a stranglehold over education in many communities.”