Jan 19, 2022 - COVID

CPS facing COVID demands and allegations

Monica Eng

Kids marching — Students march to CPS headquarters last Friday. Courtesy of Alyssa Shih

Hundreds of Chicago Public School students walked out of classes late last week to demand better safety measures until COVID-19 dangers subside.

"COVID rates are just getting higher and we want to protect the kids at our school by going online," Lake View High School junior Aiden M. told Axios Friday.

Why it matters: The fight over CPS COVID safety is far from over as Chicago suffers record hospitalizations and some schools still show single digit vaccination rates.

State of play: The walkout happened amid reports of dozens of students being crammed into auditoriums with little to no supervision last week.

Axios sources also allege CPS is underreporting case and quarantine figures on its COVID dashboard. These numbers can determine if a school goes to remote learning.
CPS did not respond to multiple requests over several days seeking a direct response to any of these demands or allegations.

By the numbers: As of Tuesday night, there were 1,117 CPS adult staff and 13,236 students in quarantine.

The bottom line: Tensions between the district and its critics are likely to remain high as long as trust remains low and COVID continues to surge.

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CPS facing COVID demands and allegations

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