Teachers Union: Returning to classrooms next month would be ‘failed leadership’ (LIVE UPDATES)

Anthony
Vazquez/Sun-Times

Get the latest news on how COVID-19 is impacting Chicago and
Illinois. Follow here for live updates.

The latest Teachers Union: Returning to classrooms
next month would be ‘failed leadership’ Anthony
Vazquez/Sun-Times Community leaders and Aldermen stand together to
walk to City Hall during a rally and car caravan outside of City
Hall on W Randolph in the Loop, Monday, Aug. 3, 2020. Protestors
rallied and held a car caravan to protest against Chicago Public
Schools against possible unsafe environments for students as they
return to school during the pandemic. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

As the debate heats up nationwide over the reopening of schools,
Chicago teachers, activists and families rallied outside City Hall
Monday to oppose a planned return to classrooms when Chicago Public
Schools classes resume next month.

The protests are part of similar demonstrations in several
cities across the nation and come just days before CPS parents are
being asked to tell the district whether their children will go
back to in-person learning or continue trying to learn from
home.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS officials have proposed a return to
schools that would put most students in classrooms two days a week
and school staff, including teachers, four days a week.

The most vocal leader in the push to keep school buildings
closed is the Chicago Teachers Union, which has said it believes
in-person instruction is not safe for teachers or students as
COVID-19 continues to spread.

The union has gone as far as suggesting a potential repeat of
last fall’s strike could be used as a last resort if staff are
forced to return to classrooms. Mirroring the lead-up to last
year’s walkout, the CTU is renewing its rivalry with Lightfoot by
ramping up its public attacks on the mayor, with its harshest
criticisms coming Monday.

“It is failed leadership to believe that we can bring hundreds
of thousands of people back into school communities and not suffer
loss and sickness,” said the union’s vice president, Stacy
Davis Gates, an outspoken and frequent critic of Lightfoot.

Read the full story from Nader Issa here.

News 8:19 a.m. Longtime vendor Nichols Farm and
Orchard booted from Wicker Park Farmers Market amid violations of
COVID-19 protocols

Nichols Farm and Orchard, part of the Wicker Park Farmers Market
for two decades, was kicked out last week.

The Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce said Nichols Farms
repeatedly violated COVID-19 protocol — not properly wearing
masks, not having a rope to properly mark boundaries and not having
a hand-washing station.

But Todd Nichols, a family owner of the farm, blames their
removal on a “spur-of-the-moment decision” after three years of
tension with market manager Alice Howe. And he expects the farm
could lose $50,000 to $70,000 because of it.

The Wicker Park Farmers Market opened July 5 — later than
usual, due to the pandemic. Vendors received COVID-19 guidelines
beforehand, Howe said.

Many booths didn’t follow protocol perfectly the first week,
said Pamela Maass, executive director of the chamber. Other vendors
adjusted, but Maass said Nichols “stayed in
non-compliance.”

Reporter Clare Proctor has the full story.

New cases

• Cubs’ third baseman Kris Bryant was scratched from the
  Cubs’ lineup minutes before Saturday’s game due to
  gastrointestinal issues –
  which fall under the list of COVID-19 symptoms.
• Health officials on Sunday announced another 1,467 people
  tested positive for COVID-19 in Illinois.
• Lena Dunham says her body “revolted” in a debilitating
  month-long struggle with
  COVID-19.

Analysis & Commentary

In Letters to the Editor, Sara Wohlleb of
Uptown writes:

Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson and Mayor Lori
Lightfoot are asking parents to choose now between their in-school
hybrid option or a fully remote option in September. If parents
choose the first option, they can change their minds at any time.
The second option locks them in until Nov. 9.

Most of the people in my circle are choosing the hybrid model,
simply because it gives them the option to change their minds
later, when we have more information about what these models will
mean for our kids and the trajectory of the pandemic. The data CPS
is collecting this week will not be a reflection of parents’ true
learning preferences, but rather their logical desire to keep
options open in such a high-stakes decision.

Let’s get real: Our collective decisions this week could mean
the difference between life or death for teachers, staff and the
kids themselves. My own kids really struggled with online learning,
but if we can protect the lives of Chicagoans by going back to that
model, we’re going to make the best of it.

There’s a bigger lesson to offer to our kids here — about
what really matters when the chips are down. Chicago, we can do
this.

Read this and more letters from Sun-Times readers here.

Read the Full Article