When Chicago Public Schools open Monday, students, parents and staff will face a different landscape than last year, which due to the Coronavirus pandemic, mostly prevented in person learning; but, this year is different both with the Delta Variant surge as well as politics.
While many parents bemoaned the pressure, and the challenges of remote learning, there were some, perhaps the minority, where students thrived, including some special needs students who welcomed the change; but, for many others it hampered both their social and emotional skills development.
CPS largely agrees that the benefits of classroom learning are the best course, but they have also frustrated some parents who want a greater level of protection from the surging Delta Variant, as well as a level of commitment that there be some contingency plans for remote learning.
They are joined by the Chicago Teachers Union who would like to see some type of plan, even an algorithm, that would protect students and teachers, if cases increase, and schools may need to close, even if only for a few weeks.
What they have received is that there will be no mandatory online health check required, and that parents are on their own judgement to create one. Added to that there is a looser path towards social distancing, with a varied view ranging from 3 to 6 feet, but with the latter maintained during lunch periods.
Masks are now mandatory from last week’s order from Illinois governor, J.B. Pritzker, who says they must be worn by everyone 2 or older, beginning Monday, and for students, “from kindergarten to college,” reported The New York Times.
Chicago is the nation’s third largest school system, and faces wide gaps in racial makeup, student family income, and also contains many homeless children, who face the pandemic in ways that other students may not.
Leading the changes, and the worries among parents and educators is that “the seven day average of newly reported Covid 19 cases in the state has tripled to 3,533 from 1,140 a month ago, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University,” and reported by The Wall Street Journal last week.
Hospitalizations have also increased at a level not seen since May, which concerns the Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike as she has seen an increase filling hospital beds to an average of almost 500 ICU beds.
As we’ve seen, most of these occur among the unvaccinated, and with school children under 12 years old, who cannot yet be vaccinated, protections are now in place from the state as well as the local level in Illinois.
Pritzker’s mask mandate is a strong measure to prevent the further spread in this population, and has so far not been a political football as in other states such as Texas, or Florida; giving relief to many.
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| Illinois Gov. Pritzker |
One development for those schools in some states that are fighting for, or rejecting, mask mandates is that insurance providers may not provide coverage for pandemic related lawsuits this school year, noted edweek.org, and that they “are also threatening to entirely drop districts hat fail to follow public health mandes, such as states’ requirements that all students wear masks.”
“Everyone has an idea of what the guidance should be. But insurance companies have the power to say, ‘We won’t cover you,’” said Helio Brasil, the superintendent of the Keyes Union school district in California. “There’s a veto power there, and I’m back at ground zero.”
“PJ Caposey, the superintendent of the Meridian school district in Illinois, has been struggling to explain to parents in his community why he’s requiring all students this fall to wear masks inside school buildings.
Earlier this summer, the district had planned to make masks optional. Even when public-health agencies were strongly recommending masks, Caposey held firm.
That changed on Aug. 4, when Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a statewide mandate for universal masking in schools to combat the surging spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19.”
“I live in a community that would prefer me to defy the governor’s order and just do school the way I want to,” Caposey said.
But, Caposey said, “If we don’t listen, the insurance companies can say we’re not going to be protected. People don’t want to believe me or don’t think that’s a good enough reason.”
There has been a steady increase in children with Covid since July, a fourfold increase according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “rising from about 38,000 cases the week ended July 22 to 180,000 the past week, according to the AAP,” in a report cited by the Journal.
An important caveat is that all who are “eligible in a household with young children get vaccinated to better protect them,” they added.
The Midwest, along with the South, has also seen a significant increase in the number of children admitted with Covid 19, reaching a peak of 282 from Aug. 12 to the 18th, yet the AAP considers these hospitalizations, and even death, uncommon.
Edging into the data, and beyond, is that many school districts are distancing themselves from “clear metrics” and have moved to a wait-and-see approach, added the Journal, and this seems to be the Chicago approach: avoiding repeated change, and subsequent anger from teachers by the very powerful CTU.
What CPS has said is that there might be a “brief pause in an entire school’s operation is a serious step, but may be necessary in some circumstances.”
Hitting the nail on the head was Jennifer Finley, the health services director at Dallas Independent School District, who in her Journal interview, said, “There’s no magic number.”
That may be the case but, “districts around the country are already seeing quarantines and closures due to the virus. More than 10,700 students and school employees in Hillsborough County, Fla., last week were either in isolation because of a positive Covid 19 test or in quarantine due to potential exposure.”
Close on the heels of the numbers is a high level of anxiety, reported The Hill, on Monday, that Boston’s Children’s Hospital has seen more children report to the hospital with symptoms of anxiety,” than pre-pandemic.
It was also noted that ”already, schools in 19 states have sent at least 90,000 students to quarantine, while others have shut down, just days and weeks into the year.”
Taking a giant leap forward was the Culver City Unified District outside of Los Angeles who are making all students over the age of 12 to get vaccinated “by mid November to help avoid closure decisions.”
New York has the largest public school system in the US and has taken a more targeted approach to the dilemma and has a plan that “will test a random sample of 10 percent of people in schools every other week,” that will focus on students, and only students, while all adults will face a vaccination requirement.
All elementary children will face required testing, with parental consent, and “only unvaccinated middle and high schoolers will be tested, reported the Times.
Monday afternoon’s news from The Hill has chilled those states that have bans on mask mandates:
“The Education Department announced on Monday that it has opened civil rights investigations into five statewide bans on mask mandates to determine whether they discriminate against students with disabilities.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent letters to school officials in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah describing how bans on universal mask requirements could prevent schools from implementing policies that protect students from COVID-19, particularly those with underlying medical conditions “related to their disability.”
Spared, for the moment, are Arkansas, Florida and Texas, “because those states are not yet enforcing their policies due to court battles or “”other state actions.””
