Frustrated CPS special ed parents say schools fail to meet students’ needs (LIVE UPDATES)

Anthony
Vazquez/Sun-Times

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Frustrations of a CPS special ed parent: ‘Why are other
kids reading and not my son?’ Anthony
Vazquez/Sun-Times Nancy Curran points out teachers on the screen as
her son Oliver Curran identifies them during a remote learning
session in December.

Oliver Curran loves to talk. To him, watching news about
politics or chatting with his mom is more fun than playing with toy
trucks.

As much as he loves talking, Oliver, 12, can’t read, his
mother, Nancy Curran, said. Curran brought her concern to
Oliver’s special education team at Coonley Elementary School in
Chicago’s North Center neighborhood, but instructors told her
Oliver just needed more time, she said.

That was more than a year ago, Curran said.

Now, with Oliver attending school virtually due to the pandemic,
Curran has noticed other students are already reading in her
son’s seventh-grade class of fellow special education
students.

“Why are other kids reading and not my son?” said Curran, of
Streeterville. “I’m very concerned about that, and I’m not
really being taken seriously.”

Remote learning has opened a window for parents to peer into
their students’ classrooms, which was difficult to do before the
coronavirus pandemic. At Chicago Public Schools, some parents of
children with disabilities say they are disheartened by services
they believe fail to meet students’ needs and are upset by the
low expectations some educators have for their children.

Read the full story from Clare Proctor here.

News 11:36 a.m. U.S. ramps up COVID-19
vaccinations after slow start, Fauci says

The U.S. ramped up COVID-19 vaccinations in the past few days
after a slower-than-expected start, bringing to 4 million the
number of Americans who have received shots, Dr. Anthony Fauci said
Sunday.

The government’s top infectious-disease expert also said on
ABC’s “This Week” that President-elect Joe Biden’s pledge
to administer 100 million shots of the vaccine within his first 100
days in office is achievable.

And he rejected President Donald Trump’s false claim on
Twitter that coronavirus deaths and cases in the U.S. have been
greatly exaggerated.

“All you need to do … is go into the trenches, go into the
hospitals, go into the intensive care units and see what is
happening. Those are real numbers, real people and real deaths,”
Fauci said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The U.S. death toll has climbed past 350,000, the most of any
country, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University,
while more than 20 million people nationwide have been infected.
States have reported record numbers of cases over the past few
days, and funeral homes in Southern California are being inundated
with bodies.

Read the full story here.

10:21 a.m. UK warns of more lockdown measures as new coronavirus
variant spurs outbreak

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Sunday
that more onerous lockdown restrictions in England are likely as
the country reels from a new coronavirus variant that has pushed
infection rates to their highest recorded levels.

Johnson, though, insisted he has “no doubt” that schools are
safe and urged parents to send their children back into the
classroom in areas of England where they can.
Unions representing teachers have called for schools to turn to
remote learning for at least a couple of weeks more due to the
new variant, which scientists have said is up to 70% more
contagious.

The U.K. is in the midst of an acute outbreak, recording more
than 50,000 new coronavirus infections a day over the past six
days. On Sunday, it notched up another 54,990 cases, down slightly
from the previous day’s a daily record of 57,725. The country
also recorded another 454 virus-related deaths to take the total to
75,024. According to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University,
the U.K. is alternating with Italy as the worst-hit European
nation.

“We are entirely reconciled to do what it takes to get the
virus under control, that may involve tougher measures in the weeks
ahead,” Johnson said in an interview with the BBC. “Obviously
there are a range of tougher measures that we would have to
consider.”

Read the full story here.

10 a.m. Coronavirus deaths and hospitalizations down, but
positivity rate up to start new year

Public health officials on Saturday announced 29 more Illinois
deaths have been attributed to COVID-19 while the virus has spread
to an additional 4,762 people.

That’s the lowest coronavirus death count reported by the
Illinois Department of Public Health in a single day since Nov. 13,
and a far cry from the statewide average of 111 deaths per day over
the last two weeks.

Twelve Chicago-area residents were among the latest victims,
including a Cook County man in his 50s.

The new caseload was also well below the state’s average of
5,785 per day over the last two weeks, but that’s mostly because
laboratories have been processing far fewer tests over the
holidays.

The cases were detected among 61,987 tests submitted New
Year’s Day — compared to the recent daily average of about
77,000 — which raised the statewide average positivity rate over
the last week to 8.3%.

Read the full story from Mitchell Armentrout here.

Analysis & Commentary 10 a.m. Young or
old, COVID-19 took them too soon in 2020

We wish
Samuel Linares could have been with us longer. Chef Linares
owned La Casa de Samuel, a highly praised restaurant in Little
Village, having worked his way up and honed his skills in some of
the finest restaurants in Mexico.

We wish
Leroy Hearon were still here, too. Lt. Hearon was a Chicago
firefighter who loved to tango. He traveled the world just to
dance.

And we sure wish
Flossie Lee Bournes were still with us. Ms. Bournes was a nurse
who cared for victims of AIDS in the early days of that health
crisis, back when AIDS frightened people so much that families
sometimes abandoned those who had the disease.

Why did Ms. Bournes take the risk?

“The Lord knew where I was supposed to be,” she would often
say. “Here — taking care of his children.”

Mr. Linares, Lt. Hearon and Ms. Bournes are among the more than
8,000 people in Cook County who died in 2020 of COVID-19, and among
the more than 16,000 people in Illinois who died of the disease.
They were older, for the most part, but engaged in life, and there
is every reason to believe they might still be with us had it not
been for the coronavirus.

They left us too soon because we, as a society, did too little
to contain COVID-19.

Read the full editorial from the CST Editoral Board here.

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