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Opening schools during the COVID pandemic has been no easy task in Illinois, where talks between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools have led to the fourth day of canceled classes.
“Out of fairness and consideration for parents who need to prepare, classes will be canceled again Monday,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said in astatementposted over the weekend.
“Although we have been negotiating hard throughout the day, there has not been sufficient progress for us to predict a return to class tomorrow,” he explained. “We will continue to negotiate through the night and will provide an update if we have made substantial progress.”
The class cancelation has affected more than 340,000 students, according toCNN.
Members are also asking CPS torandomly test 10 percent of staff and studentsevery week at every school (students can decline to participate). In the event that COVID cases in the city rise to a certain threshold over a seven-day span, or ifCOVID cases lead to an increase in absencesfor students and staff, the union wants CPS to return to virtual learning.
“I mean, if you say school is open … and half the students don’t show up, you’re not doing any learning for half the students, right?” union president Jesse Sharkey toldCNN. “And so if remote learning is half as good, it’s the same difference, isn’t it?”
“To be clear, what the Chicago Teachers Union did was an illegal walkout,” Lightfoot said on NBC’sMeet the Press, according toPolitico. “They abandoned their posts and they abandoned kids and their families.”
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COVID cases in the United States have increased in recent weeks, with the country averaging more than 678,000 news cases over the last seven days, according to aNew York Timesdatabase.
As of Jan. 7, Chicago is averaging 5,260 new cases, 90 hospitalizations, and 11 deaths a day, theChicago Department of Healthannounced.
As information about thecoronavirus pandemicrapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from theCDC,WHOandlocal public health departments.PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMeto raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, clickhere.
source: people.com
