Chicago Teachers Union criticizes CPS COVID testing plan
CHICAGO - The Chicago Teachers Union is demanding increased COVID-19 precautions, including testing before students return to school January 3rd.
But the head of Chicago Public Schools says their procedures are working and cases in schools have been lower than in communities.
At Park Manor Elementary, teachers spent Tuesday morning handing out and collecting at-home COVID tests for students. They say 70-percent of the students at this South Side school were in quarantine, so didn't get the tests as planned before break.
"My question to the Mayor and CPS is simply, what will it take to shut down a school building if COVID is running rampant?" said Briana Hambright-Hall, CPS school counselor, during a CTU news conference.
The Chicago Teachers Union points to Park Manor as one place it says CPS is floundering in delivering critical safety protections like testing.
"The testing must include rapid testing on January 3rd. We demand rapid testing on day one of coming back from holiday break," said Taneka Griffin-Lindsey, special education assistant and CPS parent.
CPS says it distributed 150 thousand PCR at-home tests in hard-hit communities, which provide more accurate results than rapid tests. The district is now pointing other students to where they can get tested before break ends.
"Even rapid tests on Monday, unless children have symptoms, they’re not as accurate as PCR tests and here’s the reality is that if children do have symptoms, we want them to stay at home. We don’t want them to come to school, so we feel very strongly about our procedures," said Pedro Martinez, CPS CEO.
Martinez says the focus needs to be on getting more kids vaccinated.
"Tests are good but vaccinations are really the true solution. So that would be my advice to parents is start this week and the good news is if your child is already vaccinated, you’re not going to have much to worry about," said Martinez.
Martinez also said as cases rise, expect more children to be learning remotely in January, if they are unvaccinated. But he does not foresee a district-wide shutdown. The plan is to respond to cases on a class-by-class or school-by-school basis.