Lightfoot disses bill for an elected school board

 They said that it could never be done, and that if done it would be a mess for parents and students alike, but on Tuesday, the Illinois State Senate in a 36/15 vote did just that: voted to create an elected school board for Chicago, a first, and one that with a phased in plan would allow for a partial unit in 20125, and a fully elected board in 2027.

While certainly a historic event, and pending House approval and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature, there can be pitfalls, as noted in previous discussions, but most prominently was received with more than a soupçon of opposition by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

In an unrelated press event, she was quoted, by The Chicago Tribune: “There were obviously a lot of different agendas at work that led to the bill that passed,” and described “the legislation as one step in a longer process on which there’s still work to do.”

What that entails seems to be murky at best, and her clarification left more questions than answers to most listeners.

“We’re talking about the most consequential change in governance for Chicago Public Schools,” Lightfoot said. “It can’t be about the politics. It’s got to be about the people, and the people that matter most are our children. So we’re going to keep making sure that message gets through and resonates, and I’m confident we can get to a better place.”

A better place that allows for more control? Chicago is the only one of 891 districts in the state that does not have a fully elected school board, noted a coalition of CPS parents, Black and Brown organizers, and others who held a news conference last month urging Sen. President Don Harmon to call the bill for a vote last month. 

Across the country only New York City and Boston have a mayoral appointed board, with most comparable big cities such as Los Angel, Miami, Houston, Las Vegas and Atlanta all having an elected school board.

Certainly no one in politics pretends that every bill passed is perfect, and that compromise is the order of the day, and no more perfect example is this bill.

The Trib also noted, “Despite supporting an elected board during her mayoral campaign, Lightfoot has since supported proposals that would allow the mayor to retain some control of the board.”

From these and earlier comments she seems to object to the loss of mayoral control and that her appointments to the hybrid board are required to be confirmed by the city council. 

This is revealing; not only as a turnabout from her campaign days, but also a creeping resemblance to her predecessor Rahm Emanuel, along with dropping an F bomb to State Sen. Robert Peters, about his senate colleagues, at a recent basketball game, and a desire, she said, that they had thought, ““how ‘we’re gonna **** her.”

We’ve seen this thinned skin approach before, most recently when she nearly toppled negotiations between outgoing school CEO Janice Jackson and the Chicago Teachers Union in a televised melt down.

“The same day the Illinois House passed a different version of the elected school board bill, Lightfoot introduced a plan that would create a hybrid board, with the mayor appointing the majority of members. She has said a 21-member body would be “unwieldy” and objected to the timeline for transitioning away from an appointed board.”

Offering praise, to the efforts, was the CTU, who wrote in a legislative memo published by the Trib: “Thanks to the work of thousands of people — and in particular the members of the (Grassroots Education Movement) coalition — we are one step closer to an elected representative school board,” the CTU wrote. “... And a huge thanks to everyone in the CTU who helped move the bill to this point.”

Lightfoot pledged to “keep our fight where it should be, which is making sure that our children are heard, that their educational futures are secure and that parents have seat at [the] table.”

In a continuation of what can only be called a rant, Lightfoot said, “Why that is so hard for people to understand, why that sense of urgency around those core values is something that some folks in Springfield don’t get, I don’t know. But there has to be accountability for ignoring the people,” continuing, she said. “It’s interesting that this is supposed to be about democracy but what happened in Springfield had nothing to do with democracy. But democracy, mark my word, will prevail.”

it’s not all going to be sunny days ahead, and as we noted, in an interview with former Ald. Dick Simpson, for our long shuttered Examiner column, almost four years ago, he stressed: “An elected school board would get the voice of citizens between the near dictatorial control of Mayor Emanuel and opposition by the Chicago Teachers Union. We citizens pay for the school system and we parents depend upon the system to educate our children. We should have a voice separate from the mayor's that can provide a check and balance to both the mayor and the union.”

He did caution, “Adding to the mix is a racial component that has a system that is mostly African American and Hispanic and an elected board . . .Thus a citywide elected board could tip heavily in favor of whites, and disenfranchised students of color; but the move now leans towards a proposed district election rather than citywide.”

Lightfoot has pledged to keep fighting for a negotiated resolution that reflects “the realities and the necessities of CPS” and planned engagement with “a range of community partners” that have been weighing in on the school board issue. She called on those involved to “get back at the table in a concerted effort to listen to each other” and put students and parents first.

“I don’t believe what came out of the Senate the other day does any of those things,” Lightfoot said.

Jackson's departure from CPS leaves a spotty legacy

The resignation announcement by Janice Jackson, Chicago Public School superintendent, earlier this month, shocked many local professional educators, as well as local residents; but many of those who have professed admiration for her tenure, and some of whom previously were critics, have taken a reformed view of Jackson, the ultimate apparatchik in one of Chicago’s key leadership positions.

While she has been derided for shilling for the former mayor, Rahm Emanuel, she also emerged from supportive roles after her predecessor, Forrest Claypool, was removed from office for lying to an investigator for his role in a cover up in an ethics probe., for a variety of what Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey called “foundational work,” her legacy is spotty.

A staunch ally of Emanuel, Claypool was succeeded by Jackson, in 2017, and who was criticized for this alliance; and, one of them was Troy LaRaviere, president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, who said in an email to Chicago Tonight, at the time:  “CPS’s Executive Officers have one job: To get their talking points from the Mayor’s education people, memorize them, and repeat them at every opportunity."

“That was Ms. Jackson’s job as (chief education officer), and the only thing that will change as CEO is her salary.” and, that salary was increased to $300,000, which some say was justified for increased testing scores.”

Jackson later forced out a resignation from his principalship of Blaine Elementary, an award winning school, recognized by Chicago Magazine in 2010 as the 16th best elementary school in the city, and also the 6th best “neighborhood school.”

Her role in the negotiations of the 50 school closures under Emanuel, was much derided, and recently Chicago Reader columnist, Ben Joravsky, said, “. . .Jackson proved her usefulness to Mayor Rahm by being the front person when he closed 50 schools, mostly in Black communities,” 

Later in a 2019 Chicago Magazine profile: “ [She] made no secret to those who knew her of how unhappy she was with many decisions — including the closing of 50 schools on the South and West Sides — the district was making under Byrd-Bennett and Claypool, a local pol and Emanuel ally with no experience in the educational system.”

Her supporters, and there are many, who say that the opening of the new high school in Englewood and the Bronzeville Classical Elementary School on the city’s South Side, are to be praised has been justifiably lauded, as well as stabilizing a once moribund budget that had also earned junk bond status by a major bond rating agency.

Coming after the budget woes of Bennet and Claypool, and taking a quick look backwards, LaRaviere’s departure can now be seen as inevitable, especially since he was one of the few voices that objected to the $20 million “no bid” contract negotiated by the now disgraced Bennett from her former employer, SUPES academy, for teacher training, that in reality, was a tidy kickback: enough to pay college tuition for her grandson’s tuition, and go to casinos; she was subsequently sentenced to federal prison.

Against this background, Jackson succeeded on some fronts, and her personal narrative as a homegrown success story, has earned her points, which the local press has continued to tout.

Legitimate growth, reported Chicago Magazine: “Graduation rates and most test scores are climbing. Illinois schools will be getting an additional $375 million in state money for their next fiscal year, most of it to be distributed in “tier” funding, meaning the poorly funded systems — namely, Chicago’s — will get a greater share (around $66 million for CPS). “

On the flip side is that enrollment has seen a dramatic drop with 103 schools that have fewer than 250 students, and in an interview with WBEZ, Jackson acknowledged that “it’s a huge problem,” and “the biggest threat to the school system,” but segued to saying that communities need to speak up.

Parents did speak up when, as her critics noted, she supported “a plan to convert the existing National Teachers Academy elementary into a high school, while shipping current NTA students over to South Loop Elementary beginning in 2019.”

Changing the award winning elementary school created an uproar and WTTW reported “NTA parents have protested that move, and students at Harper have held sit-ins to voice opposition to their school’s closure.” 

The district has also seen pressure from white parents for increased gentrification of the schools as well as neighborhoods, and during the Academy outrage, we reported,, “Emanuel, critics, such as Chris Kennedy, former gubernatorial candidate, this represents, part and parcel, of the gentrification of some of the city’s most developing, and desirable neighborhoods; underscoring, and accelerating, the trend of city living especially by affluent whites, with school age children.”

Equity despite a task based department may also be part of Jackson’s legacy where, in that same profile,  there has been distrust from many, at the beginning of her tenure: “I have respect for Dr. Jackson as a teacher and as a principal,” says Jitu Brown, a national organizer for the social justice group Journey for Justice Alliance. “But she is not working for the communities as head of CPS. Her job is to bring educational justice to the neighborhoods, not close schools and bring in gentrification.”

Chalkbeat.org reported the end game: “Parents seeking to stop Chicago Public Schools from closing the popular National Teachers Academy in the Near South Side won a victory Monday, in what attorneys say may be the first court-ordered freeze of a school-closing measure in Chicago.

This was not only a perfect storm, but an example, say detractors of Jackson’s duplicity, especially considering that, as was reported at the time:

“NTA is—and was at the time CPS announced its plan to close it—among the highest academically performing elementary schools in Chicago. It is located at the site of the former Harold Ickes Homes, a public housing project on Chicago’s near south side. It serves over 750 students, making it “efficiently utilized” according to CPS standards. About 77 percent of its students are African American, and about 72 percent come from low-income households.” 

Scandal also rocked the district when there was “an egregious investigation, this time by The Chicago Tribune which revealed the sexual abuse of  students at CPS, 523, over a nearly ten year period, from 2008 to 2017, and then shortly afterwards, another painful revelation: incidents where students had sexually violated other students; and where a majority of the perpetrators, and victims, were special needs students.” 

While Jackson revealed pain on hearing that she quickly swung into action, and did some basic level protections for the safety of the students; but, also showed that years of neglect in the care and management of the district took its toll, and have created an aura of distrust by many parents.

For her successor the die seems to be cast, in several directions and while the guessing game has not yet begun, and whether the person may be local, or national, tackling long held systemic problems in bay and keeping the balls in the air, while moving ahead, is far less a task, than wrestling with angels.

Chicago Schools emblematic of reopening challenge

For Chicago Public Schools, the nation’s third largest school system, school openings have begin to look far less than Mayor Lori Lightfoot and school superintendent Janice Jackson promised: happy smiling school children assembled at the school door, with parents hovering in a background of sunny skies, replete with television cameras recording the long awaited event.

Instead, the return of elementary school children has tweaked that vision to less than 30 percent attendance with most parents keeping their children at home, out of fear and distrust, of both the Covid pandemic, as well as the school system itself.

Battle scarred from a second near strike with The Chicago Teachers Union, Lightfoot marshalled all of her considerable energies, and strength, to force the issue, and increase the optics of in person learning, as similar cities across the US attempted to do the same.

Needless to say the politicization of the effort was not only for mayoral benefit, but also for gubernatorial leadership, as the partisan divide began to take hold of this issue and came to have Gov. J.B.Pritzker as a party of interest; and,while widely acknowledged to be a benefit for both children and parents, the issue also began to be intertwined with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and the massive vaccination effort from the Biden administration.

While the CDC said that vaccinations were not necessary for schools to open, the White House began to push for it, as an aid to in person learning. Yet, that effort began to be compromised by the lack of record keeping on teacher vaccinations.

Associated Press reported that “States and many districts have not been keeping track of school employee vaccinations, even as the U.S. prioritizes teachers nationwide.”

While that may come as a surprise to many, they also noted that “Vaccines are not required for educators to return to school buildings, but the absence of data complicates efforts to address parents’ concerns about health risk levels and some teachers unions’ calls for widespread vaccinations as a condition of reopening schools.”

For Chicago, this seemed like the nail in the coffin as not only was it supported by CTU, but in a latent move, after the request and tense negotiations, by CPS who began to advocate for them in a level of requirement, said some reports, to the chagrin of Union officials.

Reaction from parents across the country has been mixed, with some saying how joyful it was to have in person instruction, as their children cheered, to others, more fearful and less trusting saying, with one parent noting, “Nope, my kid will not go back and take that risk. Teachers may have gotten the vaccine but not the kids that are in class, and they can still get sick,” said one from Chicago.

 

In Louisiana’s East Baton Rouge parish, a mother told Huffington Post, “My family works. I have no one I can take her to and say, ‘Ok, at 12 o’clock you are going to have to start working online with her for school.”

Whie no one area can be called an epicenter, Chicago with its racial and economic diversity might be seen as a model for frustration.

Adding to that are the variables of school size, and age, with some, from another era, not easily equipped for physical distancing, and others built in another century that have not been adequately maintained and parents who cannot afford child care, especially Black and Brown parents, whose resources are already stretched thin; not to mention the gulf between wealthy suburban districts, and those from the urban core.

Detroit with its 78 % Black population, and widespread unease with the vaccine, faces an uneasy comparison with suburban schools, serving as a prime example of the difficulty of a one size fits all process with widespread belief in the efficacy of vaccination, tied to school openings.

Now enter a change in the social distancing requirement that Illinois education officials issued on Wednesday, in a move to increase students, that was met with more than “scepticism from teachers and some parents,”the Chicago Sun Times reported as they reduced the 6 ft. distance requirement to “3 feet as long as educators are vaccinated.”

The problem is as AP noted, “No states are publicly reporting the percentage of teachers and school staff that have been vaccinated, according to a Johns Hopkins University analysis published Thursday.”

Lacking that communication only hampers the thin level of trust between some educators and parents.  

Adding to the confusion is that, “President Joe Biden directed all state governments this week to administer at least one coronavirus vaccination to every teacher, school employee and child-care worker by the end of March. Biden has promised to have most K-8 schools open for classroom instruction by the end of his first 100 days in office, or the end of April.”

It is worth noting, as AP did, that, “Vaccines were a contentious part of the fight to reopen schools in Chicago, which narrowly avoided a teachers strike last month over COVID-19 safety plans. Vaccinations began in mid-February, but it’s unknown how many of the nearly 40,000 Chicago Public Schools employees have been vaccinated.”

Whether the bulk term of “employees” included teachers was unclear, but one week earlier the Chicago district online tracker showed at least 3,586 “staff members had received vaccines at CPS sites,” but, which may not be inclusive of “doses administered to staff through partnerships of independent providers.”

For those teachers that have been vaccinated, they are required to wait  two weeks before returning to the classroom,unless special accommodations have been made and frequently will have substitute teachers teaching students, instead of themselves.

An ironic situation then ensues, and one that The Chicago Tribune noted, quoting one teacher, who said, students are “basically being put into a room to do the exact same thing they’ve been doing,” while remote learning’”

By the time Fall approaches, there may still be students whose parents have kept them in remote learning, thus freeing more classroom space, and making it easier for the new distance guidelines, say some observers.

If lack of knowledge seems apparent, one area where it is not is the politicization of the effort across America, where the above examples point, not only for desired optics in Chicago, but also California, Ohio, and Florida as well can be disregarded by their educators, with 6 ft as an ideal distancing target, but then becomes a requirement when students eat lunch.

A further muddying of the waters has occurred with a directive from the Illinois School Board of Education, and the Illinois Department of Public Health who recommends the discontinuance of on site symptom checks (mostly temperature measuring) and that “all assessments to be done initially in the morning ahead of the school door.”

Notably, the exact steps to be taken were not issued.

Looking across the nation we see a mix of remote learning balanced with classroom learning, a desired goal earlier done in 2020, in some parts of the US and Europe, but now with new strains of the coronavirus appearing, might prove to be the best avenue to opening schools and relieving, in part, ast least, the long standing problem of child care, although the new COvid relief bill does provide a significant amount of money for child care, for the poorest of families.

This effort is predicated on the belief that younger children are less prone to transmitting the virus, with their less involved schedules, than high schoolers who are often in school, playing competitive sports with other teens, and on field trips, among the many beyond the school walls.

Then again, there are some schools that are adopting a wait and see approach that will allow them to “scrap in person classes at least for the start of the school year, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington,” according to Huffington Post.

Still others despite rapidly increasing cases are equally increasing in person learning, such as Mississippi, where “44 districts began classes in person this week,m starting Monday with the rural 1,700 students . . . just east of Jackson.”

Taken as a whole it’s hard to imagine a more dramatic, yet fractured approach to a critical need for social capital, for the next generation, yet is also equally hard for various state and local needs to be met in an atmosphere of power, politics and passion; where it will take more than money, not matter how justified to move the needle towards the Fall of 2021, especially with a vicarious virus, such as Covid.

Chicago Schools and Union agreement causes anxiety

 Whether it was worth the fight, say some, about the recent battle between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union, depends on who you talk to: for CPS, the battle was won; talk to the CTU, it was a pyrrhic victory that placed them back in the schools, where they wanted to be, but with a deal, that left them pretty much, months ago, asking, and getting what they wanted, but in a partial basis, that left a lot of room for doubt after the union approved the reopening deal this past Wednesday, after a lengthy standoff.

The phased in return for grades K through 8 thrills some parents, but leaves others in doubt of the safety of the schools, and for others, mostly Black and Brown people hanging back, choosing remote instruction out of an abundance of caution, fearing that CPS might not fulfill its promises.

An air of dissatisfaction hangs over the results of the agreement which gives 67,000 preschool students, and those through eighth grade, on a two week schedule, with some already returning Thursday, some on Feb. 22, more on March 1, and the balance on March 8.

Lying at the heart of the union’s demands were vaccination for teachers, and especially those who either had preexisting health conditions, or were living with, or caring for those that did, putting them at risk, for contracting Covid 19; despite some that asserted that the risks were minimal, to nonexistent.

However there are some children, with compromised immune systems, under the condition called MiSC that tested positive for Covid, and studies that showed children could be effective transmitters of the virus, yet that argument fell initially on deaf ears from CPS officials. 

Under the leadership of Dr. Janice Jackson, CPS has said that 2,000 vaccines were offered to pre K and special education teachers and staff, with 1,000 given to staff who requested continuance working from home, “because they live with a medically vulnerable household member. Those workers will be required to return two weeks after their first dose,” reported The Chicago Sun Times.

Extending the vaccine to 1,500 workers, at four CPS distinct sites at the end of February gives a more complete cycle, if not one where both were administered.

That was just enough, say some, to return to in person learning, and easing the burden on parents who are unable to work from home, say advocates, and some parents.

CTU gave a simple majority ascent to the plan, with 68 percent of voting members, but with a close vote and 5,000 members not voting, there was as the Times added, “a sign of the split views on reopening schools during the pandemic.”

“Let me be clear. This plan is not what any of us deserve. Not us. Not our students. Not their families. The fact that CPS could not delay reopening a few short weeks to ramp up vaccinations and preparations in schools is a disgrace,” Sharkey wrote in a member letter, released by local media, including the TImes,“This agreement represents where we should have started months ago, not where this has landed. That is a stain on the record of their administration.”

From a process point of view it was messy, with Jackson, at an infamous meeting, giving an unwelcoming attitude of dismissiveness, while Mayor Lori Lightfoot, had a near melt down at a press conference, where, in a raised voice, she accused the union of ill intentions; ironically just at the point when mutual agreement was approaching.

All things being equal Sharkey added, "This agreement also puts us in a vastly better position than we were in November, when even after months of struggle, CPS’ ‘planning’ and ‘preparation’ would have been laughable were it not also so dangerous.”

While the mayor could breathe a sigh of relief that there was not another strike during her tenure, the bad feelings will continue to exist in the nation’s third largest system.

Not far from the surface is race, long a problem in a city beset by racial segregation and strife, and continuing under Black leadership, and also underscores the decades history of white flight from America’s central cities.

The disparities as we have noted before in Chicago schools has been 11 percent white, 81 percent, Black and Brown, and the consequent racial disparities in resources, as well as buildings, has upended how schools are treated, and in both categories, with greater attention to the minority student population.

Not long ago an award winning and multiracial grammar school was faced with a change to a majority white high school, under Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Jackson only to be forced to back down, after protests ensued.

Parents of racial minorities have complained to me that they are often the last to be consulted for changes, and of course, many are still angered when Emanuel closed nearly 50 mostly Black schools in the city.

Many of these same parents, not trusting the agreement, decided to leave their children in remote learning despite the agreement, out of fear that they will be on the short side.

Case in point is the physical plant of many city schools, what former Gov. Bruce Rauner called “crumbling prisons.” And, with the age of the city and the varied buildings, some indeed resembled his metaphor.

 

In and insightful and expansive essay in The New Yorker, Keeanga Yamah Taylor cited a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report on the nation’s schools and that forty one percent needed to replace aged heating and ventilation systems; and Chicago in many instances needs are top of the list, where many in a 2018 Chicago Sun Times story, Taylor added “of the hundred and twenty five schools it examined, ninety one failed a quick cleanliness inspection.”

CPS responded with a plan for increased cleanliness, but the news and the optics left a lot to be desired for many parents, and now at the present time with cleaning a necessity as part of school reopening, it’s easy to see that trust was eroded.

Underneath the negotiations is the real fear, that Taylor has noted, is the need to to stem further white flight and to gain more revenue, the need to bolster white attendance in the public schools; which has led to suspicion on the part of the CTU, as well as parents, that people of color might be on the losing side, especially considering not only the demands of today’s society, but as anchors for strong Black neighborhoods, and families.

While the line might not be as bright as Taylor suggests, the future seems uncertain, at best. And, with conflicting guidelines from the Center for Disease Control on reopening, it’s anyone’s best guess, how this will all play out.

Chicago school board to teachers: take it or leave it

Chicago Public Schools, the nation’s third largest, has been grappling like the rest of the U.S. in how, and when, to reopen schools, Facing the usual discussions of transmission and safety, the school board has been locked in a series of discussions with the Chicago Teachers Union, and the frustration in reaching an agreement to protect the safety of teachers, and their families has reached a stalemate with the school officials over how this can be done.

While Superintendent Dr. Janice Jackson has expressed her desire to reopen the schools from K through 12; after some pre-K and special education students recently returned to the classrooms, no more than 3,000 showed up on any given day, reported The Chicago Sun-Times; fearing faulty ventilation, and less than adequate sanitation, problems that have beset many schools before the Covid pandemic, and now continues, worsening a condition and creating a roadblock in negotiations.

Jan. 25 was the date that general K-8 students are expected to resume in person instruction, but as we've seen the possibility that teachers will be in their classrooms seems remote at best. and over the weekend, beginning on Friday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, "Chicago Teachers Union members narrowly voted to defy Chicago Public Schools’ reopening plans and continue working from home Monday because of health and safety concerns."

Dr. Janice Jackson

While there is scant evidence of child to child transmission, there is ample evidence of child to adult transmission; and, especially for those that have pre existing health conditions, there are also many parents not confident with school safety, and who are caring for the elderly, or the immunocompromised, and are growing increasingly anxious.

This group is joining many teachers who are managing their own pre-existing health conditions, or those caring for, or living with, elderly relatives, a group that is especially vulnerable to death from Covid 19.

In anticipation of the struggle Jackson has set a new day for the general return, now next Wednesday. In previous conversations and meetings, Jackson has said that she wants compromise, but there has been little of her efforts to clearly establish that goal, and her public speech is focused solely on in person learning.

CTU president Jesse Sharkey has said that conversations improved last week, but that alone seems to have not been enough, and he added that central to the union’s concerns are the 87 teachers who did not report to school; and, were subsequently locked out of remote teaching by the District, and have not been paid.

Mr. Sharkey

Jackson seems, her critics say, intent on punishing those teachers by corralling the rest into submission, without looking at their concerns; a move that can easily lead to another strike, which would be the second in the administration of Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Beginning last Thursday 25,000 teachers met to decide whether to strike. 

 

ABC Eyewitness News has reported that “The Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates passed a resolution Wednesday allowing all members to only work remotely”, and ”The measure will go to all members for an electronic vote on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.”

Somewhat dismissively, Jackson noted in a by now infamous roundtable meeting last Tuesday: “A lot has been made about resistance to coming to work this week”, but quickly added “that doesn’t mean that we ignore the concerns that people who have resisted coming in the buildings, we have to listen to those concerns.” 

Of course, listening does not mean acting, and many CTU members view this as disingenuous, her statement not withstanding.

Jackson then quickly added, “We can’t do this work without teachers ... so for that reason alone it’s in all of our interests to have an agreement,” and “People can’t make heads or tails of the back-and-forth,” which seem sironic since she has been part of that conversation.

This looks very bad for the Lightfoot administration coming on the heels of the publicized looting along Michigan Avenue, (in the aftermath of peaceful protests following the murder of George Floyd), the ever increasing crime rate, which also includes often deadly crime on the city’s Red Line elevated train, operated by the Chicago Transit Authority.

In a perfect storm, which this is becoming, Sharkey has said, “RIght now . . . people are being ordered to go into work and they’re saying,” I can’t go into work, I live with my 80-year-old mother who has an immune disorder and I’m worried that she’ll die.’ Tha is the 12th hour for them.”

United Working Families, an advocacy group, said in a statement last week, labelled the Board of Education's plan “botched and reckless”, adding that “Over 1,000 Pre-K and Special Education teachers and other school employees,. . . who are pregnant, suffer from chronic health conditions, or care for at-risk family members, have been denied accommodations by CPS.”

Many say some of this could have been prevented by vaccinating teachers before sending them back to the classroom, an effort that now supported, seems too little and too late, say other advocates.

If clairvoyance is an added talent from the superintendent, she emphasized, “I cannot promise a COVID free environment, nobody can. If anybody tells you that, run in a different direction; they’re lying.”

CPS has said that they “cannot mandate staff members to take the vaccine, and public health experts have said schools can reopen safely without waiting until vaccinations are administered,” said The Chicago Sun Times, in a summary of where the two sides stand, on how, and when to reopen.

Socio economics are also a factor, and many in communities of colors, such as the Latinx community of Little Village; and in that vein, Enlace, a voice of advocacy, issued a statement that the majority, “must recognize that our community is largely made up of essential workers many of whom do not have the option of working from home . . . and are in desperate need of safe, affordable childcare during school hours.”

They have offered suggestions ranging from “learning hubs” as a tool that has been in use, to be reevaluated, and also suggested, along with other ideas, offering “flexible options for older students who are taking on additional responsibilities such as caring for younger siblings or working to increase family income.”

Data from CPS seems circumspect, and they “have not provided student attendance numbers for that first week of in-person learning,” saying that there are difficulties to track the various students that are in person, learning remotely, or in a mix of both.

The Sun-Times reported that I"t’s also not clear, however, how many of those K-8 students will actually follow through with their intentions to return to classrooms. CPS officials on Friday released attendance data from the first week of school for pre-K and cluster students that revealed an average of only 3,189 of the 6,470 students who opted in — 49% — returned to classrooms each day."

Somewhat oddly, at that Tuesday meeting, Jackson also said, “there is no right answer and because more people choose one thing over the other doesn’t make it right.”

In what many observers see as a circular discussion, CPS spokesperson Emily Bolton said in part, after the Wednesday vote, through a written statement: "We have agreed to the CTU's safety demands every step of this process and we are ready to come to a resolution that provides our families the smooth transition to in-person learning they deserve. CTU leadership wants to close schools that are already safely open to students, and cancel in-person learning for the tens of thousands of students who are relying on their dedicated educators to provide in-person learning in the coming weeks.”

If the CTU votes to strike, as we have seen it is to not teach in person, but remotely, a departure from the traditional work stoppage. But Jackson, has said, “Limiting in person education to teacher preferences allows adult preferences to override a family’s educational choices, and will further inequity and disporporatiley harm vulnerable students.”

On Thursday, CPS sent a letter to all of its teachers saying that if they refuse in person work, and continue to teach remotely, then their actions would be an “illegal strike” something that the CTU denies.

The demand to work, regardless of their own health concerns, and that of their family members, in unsafe working conditions is a realistic, and necessary, option says union attorney Thad Goodchild.

Updated Jan 24, 2021 3:08 CST

Madigan out, Welch in, as Illinois Speaker of the House

Legislative history has come to an end in the Illinois state capitol of Springfield on Wednesday with the end of the speakership of Michael Madigan as he ended his 36 year tenure, or as some would call it, reign, with the election of Emanuel ‘Chris” Welch as the new Democratic Speaker of the House.

A longtime ally of  Madigan, Welch who is Black, has made history as the first in this role, and while federal headlines have dominated the local scene, as elsewhere, over the last several months, Madigan’s tenure began to crumble when reports surfaced that he was the central figure in a variation of the old “pay to play” plan when ComEd the dominant public utility provider, for most of Northern Illinois, gave a series of benefits to the speaker, so that they could enjoy greater profits, most notably through legislation that would give them greater profit, at the expense of consumers, and paid a $200 million fee as a penalty.

As is widely known, scandals and bribery in the Land of Lincoln have long been a staple in Illinois political life, most recently with the sentencing, and jailing, of Gov. Rod Blagojevich who tried to sell the vacated senate seat of Barack Obama, when he was elected U.S. president, joining the list of four of six previous governors convicted, with only Blagojevich removed from office.

There have also been a slew of Chicago aldermen who have been charged and convicted of  using public funds for home improvement, mink stoles, and luxury travel, to name but a few crimes; and, almost  nearly as common as the annual dyeing of the Chicago River green for St. Patrick’s Day.

Madigan’s departure is welcomed by many, but also raises some questions about Welch’s past that includes credible allegations of the abuse of women, and the eight term lawmaker was charged with allegedly pounding an ex-girlfriend's head, in 2002, on a kitchen counter, repeatedly, when she called him a loser; charges she later dropped after speaking with one of his relatives, reported The Chicago Tribune..

Asked Wednesday about his past treatment of women, Welch described it as one “incident (that) was over 20 years ago” and, to the Tribune, added, “People mature, they look back and would do things differently, handle situations differently,” said Welch, who didn’t directly answer a question about concerns Democratic women raised about the past allegations,” they noted.

One of the more prominent state reps, Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) Democratic Rep. voted present on Welch’s nomination for speaker.

“I did so because, at the same time that we’re ending years of scandal over allegations of sexual harassment and corruption, we have also just been made aware of troubling allegations from Speaker Welch’s past,” said Cassidy, who added she has a “great deal of respect for Speaker Welch and believe him to be a good man.”

“I have reconciled with the individual since that night,” a Welch spokeswoman said in a responding statement. “In fact, after our dispute we sought out the authorities ourselves. “Their family lives in my district and are proud supporters of my public service and work. However, I must convey my dismay over the lack of decency displayed by the GOP politicians and their urge to use this report against me.”

“It is my fervent wish that these allegations will be vigorously reviewed so that we can move forward as a unified caucus embracing this historic moment,” Cassidy said.

Avoiding this stumbling block as well as political survival proved to be tough for both, and nearly a train wreck for him to get the 60 votes needed for nomination, and the trust of a liberal core of state legislators, including Anne Williams, also of Chicago, who had thrown her name in the hat for nomination.

What was said to Williams and Cassidy is unclear, but the time for significant change has come, but there are those who doubt if it will be done. Among them House Republcan minority leader, as local public radio station, WBEZ said: ““His legacy leaves broken promises to Illinois taxpayers,” Durkin said, telling Democrats to “listen” and “this is my time to talk'' as they began to stir at the direction he was headed in his speech. “A legacy driven by absolute power and control so much that his business model forced the largest public utility in the state to enter into a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago.”

Welch spearheaded the investigation into the ComEd deals, and there was no concluding result found, leading some in the GOP to see this as a form of protection for Madigan, so that he could bow out gracefully, without results or being charged.

The former speaker was gracious in his remarks, and said in a statement, ““I wish all the best for Speaker-elect Welch as he begins a historic speakership,”. [and]“It is my sincere hope today that the caucus I leave to him and to all who will serve alongside him is stronger than when I began. And as I look at the large and diverse Democratic majority we have built—full of young leaders ready to continue moving our state forward, strong women and people of color, and members representing all parts of our state—I am confident Illinois remains in good hands.”

For his part, Welch has several items on his agenda, and said,“There are some things I would like to continue but there are some things that I would do differently. I think those things that I would do differently are going to show up and I’m going to distinguish myself,” according to media reports.

The formation of the Rules Committee will be a direct contrast to Madigan because that was the arena he held to kill bills that he did not like.

There is also pressure from the Black caucus to hold fast to an agenda, that besides the usual equity issues in education and employment, also as the Tribune noted about his predecessor, added, “Madigan is under increasing pressure from the Black Caucus to deliver on a multipronged package that includes controversial changes in policing, including restrictions on collective bargaining rights over discipline that are opposed by more moderate members.”

Racial and gender diversity is also sought as a mainstay, as is the uphill drive at legislative redistricting to maintain the power of the Democrats.

While suspicion remains about Welch, as a legacy pick by Madigan, Illinois faces a $4 billion deficit, (much from a bruising series of mistakes on pensions), along with job loss, stemming in no small part, from former governor, Bruce Rauner; but, also now, reeling from the effects of COVID; along with health care disparities and challenges, amongst the foremost.