Chicago Resumes School Days After Feuding With Teachers Union
Nikki Attkisson | Last Updated : February 12, 2021America’s 3rd largest school district finally returns back to studying in classrooms after various disagreements with the Teachers Union regarding covid safety.
Chicago parents Willie and Brittany have struggled for over a year to assist their 6 children in online classes.
Chicago Resumes School Days After Feuding With Teachers Union
Construction worker Willie along with his wife stated that even though there is no complete guarantee of a virus-free environment, they believe in their district’s covid measures and that they can safely send their kids to school.
On Thursday, their youngest child would be stepping into the school premises followed by their 4 elder kids in the upcoming week as per Chicago’s reopening plans of the elementary-middle schools.
After weeks of constant arguments on breaking district orders, strikes, and threats of being forbidden from district teaching, the Chicago Teachers Union finally agreed to proceed with the school reopening.
The deal stated that around 1,500 vaccines would be provided for teachers every week after an initial dosage of 2000 vaccines for those who will be returning first.
It also provides to take care of teachers highly prone to the covid as well as those who are infected with the virus.
Emergency measures have also implemented that grant permission for schools to shut down in case of any increase in infection.
Willie and Brittany’s 2 high school kids are expected to continue with their online classes as Chicago has not yet provided any measures for the reopening of high school.
Schools in various parts of the world are struggling with the same issue. There have also been similar Teachers Union debates in Philadelphia.
A few days ago, the city of New York announced its reopening of middle schools.
Despite agreeing to Chicago’s covid safety school measures, the Teachers Union continued to argue that the district hasn’t undertaken any measures to provide safety to the teachers, and very few students are interested to go back to school.
Last month, around 3,200 elementary and middle school students including eligible students from special education schools returned back to the regular classroom study.
Data from December says that around 77,000 students are interested to come back to school but it is unclear how many will actually return.
On the flip side, many parents disagree with the reopening as they are quite skeptical about the district’s covid safety measures.
Willie who is said to be a member of the citizen group known as Black Community Collaborative stated that he and his wife had to make various sacrifices to look after their kids during online classes. Brittany was forced to stop going to work to take care of her 6 children’s online class schedules.
He also added that the kids are exhausted from being at home every day and online education has been tiring for the family.
With over 15 years as a practicing journalist, Nikki Attkisson found herself at Powdersville Post now after working at several other publications. She is an award-winning journalist with an entrepreneurial spirit and worked as a journalist covering technology, innovation, environmental issues, politics, health etc. Nikki Attkisson has also worked on product development, content strategy, and editorial management for numerous media companies. She began her career at local news stations and worked as a reporter in national newspapers.