It is no surprise at this point that the Covid-19 pandemic has greatly affected schools all over the globe. There has been online learning, intermixed learning, and different variations of back to school learning with Covid regulations thrown in. For teachers especially, these changes have been especially difficult for the uncertainty of how future classes will pan out and how their curriculums must change to accommodate these regulations.

In Chicago, Illinois there has been quite a bit of controversy around whether or not teachers and students should even be doing in-person school while the option of online learning is still available. The Chicago Teachers Union or CTU have been actively debating with the Chicago delegates over the remainder of this school year, and what the best next step is for the nation’s third largest school district.  Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot recently mandated teachers to return back to regular schooling with full classrooms causing a lot of backlash . In an article by NBC News a teacher Kirstin Roberts stated,

“Community spread is still so high in Chicago, and so many people are sick and dying. I don’t know how to keep myself safe in an old building with so many people. I don’t understand why we have to risk our lives when we are so close to a vaccine.”

Most CTU members had come to an agreement that they would not return to school until they had received a Covid vaccine first, but luckily enough, Mayor Lightfoot released a Covid safety bill. It was a voted on plan designed  to help safely integrate teachers back into schools slowly and safely to lower the risk of Covid transmissions. This deal was confirmed and approved by the CTU and hopefully will look to normalize safe in-person schooling once more.