CHICAGO (AP) — Roughly 30% of eligible Chicago Public Schools students plan to return to in-person classes when the nation’s third-largest school district begins reopening next month, officials said Wednesday.
CPS officials announced last month that the district would resume in-person learning in phases in early 2021 because remote learning wasn’t serving many students in the largely Black and Latino district where most students are low income. CPS began remote learning in March due to COVID-19.
Schools CEO Janice Jackson said about 75,000 of the roughly 240,000 eligible students in pre-kindergarten through 8th grade and in special education planned to return, according to The Chicago Sun-Times. A date for high school students hasn’t been set.
“When we talk about offering more options for parents, we’re serving a large swath of our families who believe this is the best choice for their students,” Jackson said. “And we believe we have a moral obligation to do so.”
The Chicago Teachers Unions has fought in-person learning, questioning the district’s safety protocols.
Illinois reported 7,123 new COVID-19 cases and 146 additional deaths Wednesday, according to the state’s Department of Public Health. Overall, Illinois has logged 870,600 cases and 14,655 deaths.