Special coverage: Conflicts over COVID safety

The first week back from winter break has been unusually uncertain for CPS students. Students entered only their fifth month back in their respective school buildings after an entire school year spent largely in front of a computer, but rising cases and panic around the Omicron variant of COVID-19 have caused the Chicago Teachers Union to vote for a return to virtual learning. Tuesday evening 73% ...

After 73% of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) voted late last night to pivot to remote learning, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) shut them down.  Before Tuesday’s vote, CPS said that if the CTU voted to switch to virtual learning, classes on Jan. 5 would be cancelled. Thus, when teachers attempted to log on to their CPS accounts to email their students or hold classes virtually today, they found o...

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students will be without learning for the third straight day tomorrow, but some Lane students will have the chance to enter the building for the first time since Tuesday. This morning, Lane sent out an email and Google form asking for students to respond if they “are interested in potentially coming into the building tomorrow for a short time for an activity.” Now...

Updated at 7:28pm on 1/8/21. On Chicago Public School’s (CPS) third day without learning, some Lane sports went back to normal with official practices. But other sports are still caught in limbo — with uncertainty clouding their future competitions. This comes after Chicago Public League Athletics announced on Twitter last night that certain high schools may resume sports Friday, Jan. 7 if ...

The regular midday commuter could be forgiven for double checking the time. It was an unusual crowd on the southbound Western express bus from Lane on Jan. 14. But no – it was around 12:45, and the group of high schoolers, toting signs and chattering with anticipation, took up the first half of the bus, well aware of the classes they were missing. The students were part of a walkout organized by...

With the great controversy and uncertainty that came with the Chicago Teachers Union’s (CTU) decision to accept Chicago Public Schools (CPS’) deal and return to in-person learning after winter break, many students felt that their opinions and feelings were overlooked. Classes for CPS students were canceled on Wednesday, Jan. 6, due to disagreements with the CTU regarding the option to convert ...

Nearly two years to the date CPS students last attended school without masks, they will have the chance to learn without a mask mandate again next Monday, March 14. The news, announced this afternoon by CPS, comes after years of back and forth between the district and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) regarding a variety of COVID-19 factors, including quarantines, remote learning and masks. “While...