CPS reopening plan so far: What you need to know about when and how Chicago schools will welcome students back
In the new year, Chicago Public Schools plans to start reopening schools, beginning with students in prekindergarten and special education clusters and phasing in upper elementary grades. The district released a reopening guide just before the Thanksgiving holiday. Here’s how it addresses some common questions.
Which students go back first, and when?
Students in prekindergarten and moderate and severe special education cluster programs may return Jan. 11. Other students in kindergarten through eighth grade who are enrolled in elementary schools may return in a hybrid model Feb. 1.
What about high school students, as well as middle-grade students who attend high schools?
Schools with both upper and lower grades have until Jan. 18 to tell families if they’ll offer in-person classes to students in seventh and eighth grades. Students in grades nine through 12, along with middle-grade students who attend academic centers housed in high schools, will all continue learning from home, but district leaders have said they’ll “continue to evaluate options” to bring those students back to classrooms.
What if I’m not ready for my child to return to in-person learning?
“We will have an option for everybody,” including remote learning, CPS CEO Janice Jackson said Monday in an interview with WBEZ’s “Reset” program. CPS sent intent-to-return forms to teachers and opt-in forms to eligible students last week, all due next Monday.
When CPS sent similar forms in October for 16,704 students in pre-K and cluster programs, about one-third opted to return to classrooms. About 58% chose to continue remote learning, and 9% did not respond. White families opted for in-person schooling at the highest rate, nearly 52%.
Families that already submitted a response don’t need to do it again unless their preference has changed. Once CPS provides schools with the results, they can move forward with figuring out schedules, pods and staffing.
Remote learning will still involve an hour of live instruction and 90 minutes of independent learning for pre-K students. Kindergartners through eighth grade students will receive 150 to 180 minutes of live instruction and 180 to 210 minutes of independent learning, with the greater amounts of live classwork on Wednesdays when all students are remote. Students in cluster programs will get 150 minutes of live instruction and 210 minutes of independent learning.
Jackson cited disparities evident in remote learning attendance and engagement data as reasons for reopening. “We have a moral obligation to get our kids back in school so they don’t lose more ground than they’ve already lost,” she said.
What will the in-person and hybrid schedules be like?
Schedules may vary by factors such as grade level and school. Full-day and half-day prekindergarten, along with elementary cluster programs, will meet five days per week for the usual amount of time. High school cluster programs will also meet five days per week, but daily minutes may vary.
Kindergarten through eighth grade students will each meet twice a week for full school days, with three remote learning days, in two groups on alternate schedules. One shift will meet in person Monday and Tuesday, the other shift Thursday and Friday. CPS is asking schools to put students from the same household on the same shifts.
Will my child be in the same class whether we choose in-person or remote learning?
Class assignments could depend on how many students and teachers decide to return in person and whether a particular teacher has both in-person and remote students and is required to teach them all at the same time. Beyond the guidelines compiled by CPS, each school is tasked with creating its own plan. Jackson said the district will provide teachers with professional development and support, but that the simultaneous model is doable.
“We have made clear it will be a simultaneous teaching model,” Jackson said. “... Our teachers will rise to the occasion, as they have done.”
On Dec. 18, CPS expects schools to share teaching assignments and rosters with pre-K and cluster teachers and classroom assignments with parents. For kindergarten through eighth grade, teachers are supposed to find out their assignments and rosters by Jan. 11, and parents should have classroom assignments and hybrid days by Jan. 18, according to the reopening guide.
What protections will be in place to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus?
In addition to grouping children in pods, as well as providing face masks to students and staff and requiring their use with minimal exceptions, CPS has multiple other protections in place. Those include symptom and temperature screening; supplies of soap, sanitizer, wipes and disinfectant sprays for each school; and the installation of air filters, sneeze guards and distancing signs. CPS has also hired dedicated contact tracers and plans to bring in an additional 400 custodians. The district will also “facilitate access” to free COVID-19 testing for students and staff who show symptoms or have had close contact with an infected person, and surveillance testing of school-based staff is also planned.
How will CPS enforce rules around mask wearing and social distancing?
Enforcement mechanisms haven’t been made clear, and the district’s approach involves educating students about the importance of wearing a mask. Parents or guardians can request accommodations to exempt their child from wearing a face covering if they have certain medical conditions. Those requests “will be evaluated individually to assure the needs of all students are met,” according to the reopening guide, which doesn’t say whether families would be notified if a student in their child’s class has a mask exemption.
“Making sure the right PPE and other protocols are in place to protect our students and staff is something we take seriously,” Jackson said.
Will schools still open if the current COVID-19 surge isn’t over by Jan. 11?
In order to proceed with its phased-in reopening plan, CPS has set a case-doubling time of 18 days as the primary metric to watch, with the Chicago Department of Public Health finding it a good indicator of community spread stabilizing.
But if the doubling time hasn’t improved, schools cannot reopen, public health officials have said.
Jackson said CPS took the winter holidays into consideration when setting reopening dates. Winter break for CPS begins Dec. 21, with classes resuming remotely on Jan. 4.
“We believe this gives us enough time for families to celebrate and for us also to identify any patterns that may be troubling and preclude us from starting school,” she said, adding, “People should assume we are going to open our doors on Jan. 11 unless it’s unsafe to do so.”
Is the Chicago Teachers Union on board?
After Jackson said on WBEZ that the one thing CPS and the union agreed on was that kids needed to go back to school, CTU countered on Twitter: “The CPS CEO doesn’t speak for us.”
Many teachers and union leaders have expressed concerns that the plans, particularly the expectation of teaching simultaneously to students in classrooms and online, seem impossible and would not provide equitable instruction to all students.
“The mayor and CPS have announced their plan to force students and educators in January and February to return to unsafe in-person learning, without spending the time or energy to make necessary improvements,” reads a CTU announcement sent Tuesday.
The CTU filed an unfair labor practice charge last month, accusing CPS of illegally refusing to bargain over reopening and safety protocols.
Jackson said the union “gives a lot of good feedback and pushback on items, and we make adjustments as a result.”
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