The struggle between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot over how the city’s public schools should be operating in the face of the current COVID-19 spike has been a case study in neoliberal governance..... Truthout, Explaining the politics behind KSO -- full article below.
Remember - Lori Lightfoot would rather keep schools closed and deny Chicago kids any learning by remote when Chicago teachers demanded safer conditions. That's a definition of neo-liberalism.
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
There are 2 narratives out there on Covid and schools.
One is that we must keep schools open at all costs even if we risk COVID infections. That schools are the safest places. That the costs of learning loss are worse then the impact of the virus.
One is that we must keep schools open at all costs even if we risk COVID infections. That schools are the safest places. That the costs of learning loss are worse then the impact of the virus.
The other is that schools are breeding grounds for spreading the virus due to poor ventilation with machines with cheap filters, poor social distancing, bad or poorly worn masks, bad testing procedure.
Last week I wrote about how the UFT leadership and AFT leadership (good ole Randi) have fundamentally lined up with the KSO wing while the opposition as represented by United for Change is for a remote option when needed.
I'll admit that at times I'm torn but def leaning to the latter not from personal experience of course (though I'm scared of getting Covid at my age especially) but from the input coming in from many of my teacher friends, a number who have come down with Covid in the past few weeks.
With Omicron the worm seemed to turn in the media and with politicians. The mostly white parents calling for Keep Schools Open (KSO) has used parents of color as a faux prop --- oooh, we are so concerned about learning loss for the poor kids --- while the stats show that POC were more likely to keep their kids home than white parents.
With Omicron the worm seemed to turn in the media and with politicians. The mostly white parents calling for Keep Schools Open (KSO) has used parents of color as a faux prop --- oooh, we are so concerned about learning loss for the poor kids --- while the stats show that POC were more likely to keep their kids home than white parents.
Adamant Adams was about KSO at all costs has retreated a bit in the face of omicron and is willing to put a remote option on the table even if in that process teachers are getting screwed into working with little of no compensation.
James Eterno has done consistent reporting on the story: (Posted in reverse order going back to last Friday).
Here are a few links of interest over the past week.
