Chicago Public Schools on Friday released a much-anticipated blueprint for fall instruction, saying it plans to adopt a hybrid-learning model that will bring most students back for two consecutive days of in-person classes on a rotating basis if public health officials agree it can be done safely during the coronavirus pandemic.
Under the “preliminary framework” shared Friday, students in kindergarten through 10th grade will have two days of in-person learning and two days of remote work at home, plus three hours of real-time virtual instruction each Wednesday. When at school, students will be grouped into pods of 15 to minimize contact with other classmates. The 11th and 12th graders will mostly continue to learn at home, except for those who need additional support and those in vocational programs.
“While our youngest learners will benefit from the consistency and social-emotional advantages of in-person classroom instruction, our high school juniors and seniors can benefit from being able to take their diverse, full array of course offerings that a Learn-at-Home model offers,” according to a CPS report explaining the plan. “Given the diverse scheduling needs for juniors and seniors, it is not possible to establish pods to limit interactions with other students and staff.”
The country’s third-largest school district also outlined increased hygiene protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19: 400 additional custodians have been hired to clean facilities, students will have to wear cloth masks and comply with daily temperature checks before entering school, and a supply of hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes will be available in every classroom.
Nothing in the framework is finalized — but it’s already eliciting opposition from the Chicago Teachers Union, whose vice president, Stacy Davis Gates, on Friday called it a “rushed and incomplete plan.” The union has been adamant that schools should remain virtual in the fall.
“Corporations and businesses are wanting to push parents back into the work site. It doesn’t matter to them that our students will be placed in schools that are not prepared to receive them. What the mayor has to do is tell the business community to put families first,” Davis Gates said.
But CPS says it’s committed to more community feedback, and will solicit it in five virtual meetings through the end of July, and in a new parent survey. Officials say they’ll release a final plan the first week of August and then make a decision about how classes will proceed based on public health conditions.
“We all agree collectively that the health and safety of our students and staff must come first,” CPS CEO Janice Jackson said Friday as she presented the proposal with Mayor Lori Lightfoot. “We believe that a hybrid model will be the best model to meet the needs of all of our students throughout the city. This model allows many of our students to reap the benefits that they can only achieve through in-person instruction in front of a highly qualified teacher.”
Every parent will also have the option of keeping their students home this fall. Any student, regardless of underlying medical conditions, can continue learning remotely when the school year starts Sept. 8, Lightfoot said. CPS said it will provide more information on that alternative later in July.
The mayor acknowledged that teachers might feel anxious about returning to work but said she’s confident that continued discussions will result in policies that address concerns. Additionally, CPS will release revised procedures for staff members seeking accommodations or a leave of absence because of medical or caretaking needs.
“The reality is, every time we wake up and even in our home, there is risk,” Lightfoot said. “What our job is, is to mitigate that risk. And I want everybody to know we are focused and determined to do everything possible to build a safe and nurturing learning environment for your children, whether virtual or hybrid.”
Still, the framework immediately yielded criticism from CTU and at least one City Council member.
Chicago Ald. Maria Hadden, 29th, posted on Facebook that it was “incredibly upsetting” to see the city release reopening plans “with no engagement with your elected representatives in City Council.”
“Sure, CPS says that you’ll have input, but I’m skeptical that whatever feedback they take will be integrated into their decisions,” Hadden wrote. She said CPS gave City Council members a week to hold a community meeting and provide feedback prior to Friday’s announcement. And after asking CPS for more information for weeks, Hadden said, the district was scheduled to brief the City Council Friday.
In a 24-page document, CPS outlined how it will attempt to bring students back to classrooms for the first time since schools closed in March. Key details of the preliminary framework include:
In-person learning will be available every day for students in special education clusters because of these students’ needs and the small size of their programs. Schools that have the space and staffing capacity will also prioritize in-person classes for English language learners.
Scheduling rotations are designed to limit the student population to about 50% of typical levels on any given day. Full- and half-day Pre-K programs will be held in person.
School drop-off will be staggered to avoid crowding at entrances and exits. Students will enter the building with their pods and remain in the same room, with assigned seating, for the entire day including lunchtime, unless cafeterias are large enough to accommodate social distancing.
CPS will continue providing computers to students who still need the technology to do their schoolwork. The district will extend internet hot spots to students in temporary living situations and provide free, high-speed internet to 100,000 students.
The district’s proposal to reinstate some degree of face-to-face instruction contrasts with other cities that are battling greater inclines in COVID-19 infections. California’s two largest school districts, in Los Angeles and San Diego, announced Monday that classes would continue as online-only in the fall. Public schools in Houston will delay the start of their school year and use remote instruction for the first six weeks.
New York City, meanwhile, is adopting a hybrid model that allows for in-person learning.
In the Chicago area, many suburban districts have begun to roll out their plans for the school year, with a number choosing to pursue the hybrid model. On Friday, Evanston Township High School abruptly reversed course from a few days earlier and announced online learning would continue exclusively in the fall.
For CPS, the guidelines released Friday are only preliminary plans and can change depending on the severity of the pandemic. The plans were intentionally developed with flexibility in mind so teachers can pivot to fully remote instruction if needed, officials said.
Dr. Allison Arwady, the city’s public health commissioner, said going to school in person is crucial for the social and emotional development of children, particularly those who depend on public resources for food and additional services. She said the Chicago Department of Public Health has signed off on the CPS approach, even though there’s been a recent uptick in the city’s number of confirmed COVID-19 cases following two months of steep decline.
“If one month from now, two months from now, six months from now, our local data worsened to a point where we could not support in-classroom learning or needed to dial back other interactions, we would not hesitate to make that difficult recommendation,” she said. “But right now, for so many reasons, we are pleased to be talking about school this fall.”
In the event of an outbreak in a CPS building this fall, the district will consult with state and local health experts about whether a school needs to be closed. If infections are isolated to a group of students, “it is possible that a pod would need to be quarantined based on the level of contact, rather than an entire school community,” the plan said.
Many teachers, however, remain unconvinced. The CTU has previously said it believes there is not enough time to institute a plan for in-person learning that will keep students and staff members safe, especially considering the resources that would require.
Dwayne Reed, a CPS teacher at a South Side school, called the CPS hybrid plan “dangerously stupid.”
He said it would make more sense to focus on making remote learning as good as possible, rather than ask teachers to “divide our attention between teaching in class, teaching online and staying alive. The anxiety that is going to overwhelm so many teachers’ minds is incalculable.”
Though Reed understands the inequities of remote learning, “I can’t help you fight to fix these inequities if I’m dead.”
Though CPS has guaranteed mandatory face masks, temperature checks and sanitizing protocols for schools, CTU says that’s not enough. Echoing demands from their protracted strike last fall, CTU is calling for a nurse in every school as well as a transportation plan for students. CTU also wants to ensure that all students have access to broadband and their own devices.
Patricia Brekke, the principal of Back of the Yards College Preparatory High School, who spoke at the press conference with Lightfoot and Jackson, admitted it would “not feel right to have all of my students come back to the building in the fall, no matter how much I miss them.”
But she said the hybrid model “strikes me as the right balance. … While my upperclassmen may not need to come into the building every day, it’s my hope that having some face-to-face time and instruction will help set the tone for my freshmen and sophomore students. It will help us continue to build school culture, and most importantly, it will help them how to learn at home efficiently and effectively.”
While provisions will be made for teachers who have preexisting or high-risk health conditions, Jackson said “the expectation will be that everybody else comes to work.”
The remote learning experiment that suddenly gripped the nation this spring has also provided some pointers moving forward. In the fall, CPS will implement new requirements for learning based on guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education. For now, that includes developing an attendance-tracking system for students, ensuring that each student completes a minimum of five hours of daily instruction or schoolwork and rolling out Google platforms for e-learning across the district.
