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Mayor Lightfoot said the same thing back in May. After all the bickering, seems like she and the president are on the same page. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1280209946085339136
Since Washington D.C. and Chicago City Hall are determined to make this happen, let's share some feedback from actual educators about what it's going to take...
First, it's going to take real commitment to the quality of life for Black and Brown families. Not tweets. Not emergency press conferences about naps and popcorn. Not podium-pounding and finger-pointing and political theater, but commitment to addressing the pandemic of poverty.
It will take commitment to addressing the pandemic of disinvestment. We went on strike last year for nurses, social workers and librarians in every school, every day, and consensus at the time was "You didn't already have these things??" No, we didn't. Because #Chicago.
The mayor's PR game is next level. The reality of her leadership is not. She centered an entire campaign around a strict re-opening for the city, but the risks inherent in visiting bars, restaurants, gyms, spas shouldn’t take precedence over the safety of our school communities.
The "Chicago Connected" program to provide high-speed Internet to CPS families? That's a good look. Would have been a better look in mid-March when the district shut down. And why did it take a global pandemic for people to realize that students needed devices and Internet?
But here we are. If the mayor and the president are set on opening schools in the fall, we have tens of thousands of rank-and-file educators in our union, and millions of colleagues across the country, to let them know how that should look for the safety of school communities.
CPS and other school districts across the country must bargain with unions and include union members in planning committees. There must also be ongoing safety committees once educators and students return to school.
There must be strict adherence to safety and the healthful guidance that we all know works: cleaning, PPE/masks, testing, contact tracing, social distancing, reduced class sizes and staffing (especially nurses and SEL support staff such as counselors and social workers)
Vulnerable and at-risk educators and students must be provided means to work remotely and with protection from termination. Special leave for quarantine must be granted for those exposed to or contracting the virus in an in-person school setting with no loss of benefit time.
We need continued pauses on high-stakes standardized testing and a teacher evaluation system that was flawed to begin with. We also need the #RighttoRecovery and support for community needs regarding housing, health care, child care, unemployment benefits, violence prevention.
We need #PoliceFreeSchools.
We haven't always seen eye-to-eye with @chicagosmayor and pretty much ignored @realDonaldTrump because...well, pick a reason. But life comes at you fast. If D.C. and the City are in agreement that schools need to open in the fall, then let's invest properly and get it done right.
