The Chicago Teachers Union has voted to approve the COVID-19 agreement with Chicago Public Schools, putting an end to their latest dispute over school safety.
The Chicago Teachers Union has voted to approve the COVID-19 agreement with Chicago Public Schools, formally putting an end to their latest dispute over school safety, though the omicron surge that prompted the conflict rages on.
welcomed back students, most of whom had spent only two days inside a classroom since winter break began more than three weeks ago. A record 10,898 students and about 2,300 adults were in isolation Wednesday because they tested positive for COVID-19 or in quarantine because they came in contact with an infected person. Fully vaccinated, asymptomatic people are not required to quarantine.
Jones added: “I do not feel that it was time because kids are germy. Right now it’s flu season. It’s pneumonia season.” Outside Budlong Elementary on the North Side, where she was dropping off her 4-year-old daughter Sofia for preschool, Ester Burke said she had mixed emotions about the resumption of schools, though she wished the district waited longer to bring students back as cases of COVID-19 have been continuously rising.
“For kids, the transition of going back to school and then pulling them out and then sending them back, all within a week or so, is not quite healthy mentally or emotionally, especially at a young age,” she said. Kenwood dad Demarcus Anderson said his daughter had been able to keep herself motivated even during Zoom learning, but he said the social distancing from her friends can be difficult.