A group of Chicago Public Schools parents on Wednesday called on the district to provide a “serious” remote learning option as the highly transmissible delta variant drives a surge in COVID-19 cases in Chicago.
CPS plans to welcome students back to classrooms for full-day in-person learning starting Aug. 30, except for a small group of “medically fragile” children accepted into the Virtual Academy. The parents who spoke out on Wednesday dismissed that new remote learning option as unsuitable because it’s only available to children with certain health conditions, and questions remain about how the program will work.
“It’s not the option that we want. We want virtual learning. We want it from the neighborhood schools,” said Rousemary Vega, a parent of two CPS students and a staff member for Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education, the parent group that hosted Wednesday’s virtual news conference.
“We know that CPS is sitting on billions of dollars, and we want them to use that money for resources to hire more staff for our neighborhood schools and for our children.”
The group’s petition for a remote learning option for families who are “not comfortable returning to in-person at this time” has garnered more than 100 supporters — though this proposal faces an uphill battle. State Superintendent of Education Carmen Ayala issued a declaration last month mandating in-person learning at all Illinois schools with limited exceptions.
CPS created the Virtual Academy and identified about 3,000 students who could be eligible for the program. Only about 150 applications had been submitted as of late last month, per a CPS spokesperson, and it’s unclear how many students have been accepted. The application deadline was Friday, but CPS said it is still reviewing submissions on a case-by-case basis.
Nicole Abreu, who says her oldest child has epilepsy, has not been impressed with the Virtual Academy so far. “When I went to the Virtual Academy info session over the summer, there were so many unanswered questions that I had,” Abreu said at Wednesday’s news conference.
“They didn’t really have any information about who was going to be staffing it for my daughter, who the learning curve to working with her is very steep. There was no information (about) who would be the district rep for the Virtual Academy. Who would be the special education administrator? Who would be the clinicians? If we had to call an (individualized education program) meeting, who would we meet with?”
Staffing of the Virtual Academy is one of the topics that’s being debated between CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union as they continue to bargain over the terms of the reopening. CTU wants its own members who are medically unable to return to work to fill Virtual Academy positions, while CPS says hiring decisions should be up to Virtual Academy Principal Wayne Bevis.
CPS administrators, meanwhile, announced Friday they are “committed to testing 100% of CPS students and staff each week” and will “ensure” any student or staff member who is symptomatic or a close contact of someone who tested positive has access to a free COVID-19 test. But CTU leaders said CPS walked back the 100% testing commitment in negotiations Tuesday.
“CPS now proposes to offer testing to all adult teachers and staff but NOT to all students. Limited student testing would be triggered by the citywide transmission rate and, except for sports, only offered to unvaccinated students,” the union tweeted Wednesday. “While Chicago’s current transmission rate is high enough to trigger student testing, we believe any testing program needs to cover all students — including vaccinated students, as we know the virus can be transmitted by both the vaccinated and unvaccinated.”
On Wednesday, CPS tweeted that it updated its bargaining proposal to reflect its original position, that all students will be offered weekly COVID-19 testing, regardless of vaccination status.
“This COVID-19 testing program will be in place at the start of the school year on Mon., 8/30, and remain in place as long as Chicago is experiencing moderate, substantial, or high rates of community transmission,” CPS tweeted. “This is in addition to the weekly COVID-19 testing offered to all staff regardless of community transmission rates in line with @CDCgov‘s recommendations.
Chicago health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Tuesday that more details about CPS’s fall reopening will come next week. Like the rest of the state, the district is requiring students and staff wear masks indoors except to eat and drink. CPS said it will maintain at least 3 feet of social distancing when possible, but CTU wants 6 feet.
Statewide, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to rise while new vaccinations remain stagnant.
State health officials Wednesday reported 3,933 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, the most cases in a single day since April 9. Over the past week, the state has averaged 2,976 cases per day, the highest seven-day average since the week ending April 20.
Illinois was averaging 2,099 cases per day a week ago and 511 per day a month ago.
The case positivity rate — the percentage of cases as a share of total tests — reached a seven-day average of 5.1% as of Tuesday, the highest level since the week ending Jan. 20, when the state was still descending from the pandemic’s massive fall surge. The case positivity rate peaked at 13.2% in mid-November.
Hospitalizations also remain on the upswing, with 1,558 COVID-19 patients in hospital beds statewide of Tuesday night, the highest level since mid-May. Over the past week, the state has averaged 1,348 patients per day, up from 982 a week earlier and 428 a month ago. The number of patients requiring intensive care has seen a similar increase, reaching an average of 273 per day during the week ending Tuesday, compared with 203 the previous week and 89 a month earlier.
In Chicago, the average for daily new cases stood at 364 as of Wednesday, up from 262 a week ago and the highest number since May 9.
Chicago Tribune’s Dan Petrella contributed.
tswartz@tribpub.com
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