the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Nov 23, 2020
Chicago’s public schools have been on Remote Learning for all students since mid-March. Nonetheless, CPS staff have been contracting the virus. Olga Quiroga died from Covid, after helping to pass out bag lunches to parents at Funston Elementary.
At least four staff at Nightingale Elementary caught Covid—and one security guard there died. Nightingale was one of nine Elementary Schools serving as a “Learning Hub,” where a few students could go to be able to get online for school with some supervision. 439 COVID cases related to CPS buildings have been reported—more than half of them in November.
Even as the virus is spreading faster than ever in the city, Chicago Mayor Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools Chief Janice Jackson laid out a tentative timeline for re-opening elementary schools and certain special education programs, without proper protections.
To reassure parents of safety, Janice Jackson has more than once announced in the media that the district procured a HEPA filter for every classroom. But principals, more than once, have told their teachers and staff that those filters were only going to be put into a much smaller number of rooms.
Of course schools need to reopen. But who can trust the CPS administration to do it safely when they continually pull crap like this?