For nearly two years, parents have picked up the slack for the Chicago Public Schools. We deserve a refund.
Category: Blog
Chicago Public Schools’ Failure to Plan Is Failing Families
Parents are furious over CPS leadership’s staggering lack of planning in the face of Omicron. Today’s CTU labor action can be traced to the district and Mayor Lori Lighfoot’s repeated failure to plan ahead.
Whether We’re in School or Remote, We Must Breathe, Love and Care for Each Other
When it comes to returning back to school in the middle of a pandemic, no one has the one right answer. But I would like to observe that we are responding with the same demands and the same strategies we have been using to fight the system for the past two years. History repeats itself. The same things we have been demanding during these pandemic years are the same things CTU has been demanding for the past decade.
CTU Must Stop the Theatrics and Support Return to In-person Instruction
After a year of remote learning, too many of our young kids, including mine, are far, far behind where they should be. When my wife and I met with our older son’s first-grade teachers at Open House in the fall, they told us, “We’re really scared. Not for your son, but for all of them, because they are so far behind already.”
With Omicron Hitting Hard and Fast, Parents Call for Another CPS Sick-Out
The Omicron surge is hitting Chicago hard and fast, with the highest peak of positive COVID-19 cases in Chicago since the pandemic started. Yet at no time during this pandemic has the CPS central office operated the district as a proactive, community-centered, educational entity .
We Need To Stop Playing Games With Young People’s Lives
I have been training since kindergarten on how to be quiet during school shooter drills. In sixth grade, I was taught to “just play dead” and hide under the bodies of my classmates. Since eighth grade, my “mature classmates” and I have had the added responsibility to try to disarm a shooter.
Update: A CPS Third-Grader Got in Trouble for Stating Truths about Columbus
When I met with my daughter’s teacher and her principal, I came with the historical facts and information from the teachers’ site to educate students on Indigenous Peoples Day. My daughter’s teacher just hadn’t taken the time to read the material.
It is time for more (COVID) testing in CPS
CPS has the opportunity to lead at this moment by making schools safe and equitable community centers for learning. So far, though, the opportunity has repeatedly been passed over in favor of an every-family-for-themselves approach.