Column: Chicago Public Schools and Lightfoot should have seen school closures coming, not sought normalcy in abnormal times

Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez discusses the possibility of a Chicago Teachers Union vote for teachers to work remotely during the current COVID-19 surge with Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Jan. 4, 2022.

Even before the omicron variant started spreading, anyone paying attention to the nature of the pandemic knew the weeks following the end-of-year holidays were going to be problematic. Then once omicron hit America, doing to us exactly what it was already doing to other countries, Chicago Public Schools officials and Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her administration had to know the month of January would be even worse than expected.

But that desire for normalcy doesn’t jibe with the unpredictability of a virus. The problem we’ve had, almost from the start, is a lack of patience and an unwillingness to accept that sometimes our understanding of new things evolves, and circumstances change. The pandemic seemed to be receding, but now, with omicron and the colder winter months, it has surged again. Some can’t handle that concept and say we just need to open up everything and live our lives.

Again, YOUR kids may be just fine. But it will quickly become impossible to keep the school open because you’re going to have too many adults out sick. Kids will get sick as well, and they’ll go home and spread it to other adults who may then have to miss work, and on and on it goes.But we knew this was coming. The fact that school officials and the Lightfoot administration seemed focused solely on keeping kids in class explains why parents and students are currently having to wrestle this bear.

RexHuppke With midterms around the corner Biden’s cdc finally acknowledges cloth masks don’t work, lockdowns harm children, and 94% of deaths with covid had 3 or more co-morbidities. Prob a coincidence

RexHuppke “Boneheaded” is a perfect description for *this* whole damn mess.

RexHuppke Agree 100% with RexHuppke ...his is always a voice of reason and decency (+ gotta love his humor, too :). All this is especially needed now in this upside down /dysfunctional world. (Give that man a raise!) ✨😎

RexHuppke You said that the Omnicron variant is infecting those who are vaccinated, yet you ask for students to all get vaccinated or else it would race through schools.

RexHuppke Just go back to normal. No mask mandates. No vaccine mandates. This insanity has to end

RexHuppke I wish the Mayor had the guts to just say, 'we can't afford what you want'. Because the CPS can't afford it. It costs millions of dollars. The mayor should say, 'can't afford it unless we raise property taxes.

RexHuppke What the CTU is asking is almost impossible to fulfill. The CPS is having problems getting staffers to stay and the 'cleanliness' requires janitorial service. More janitors and cleaners. They want MORE testing. That means more money and having nurses available. The hospitals

RexHuppke Keeping schools closed is a great thing to run on for Democrats, right? heh

RexHuppke Has anyone seen Fauci recently? Has anybody seen Harry Belafonte recently?

RexHuppke This Chicago-centric point-of-view is not a right vs. left issue. It is an issue of proper planning. The CPS and the union did little to nothing. Both are reactionary. They gotta do better.

RexHuppke CPS spends 29,000 dollars/student for what? This is beyond child abuse

RexHuppke I have a feeling the real Rex Huppke is roped to a chair in basement somewhere on the north shore…..and he’s going to be pretty ticked when he sees his name attached to this article after the escape.

RexHuppke They think they have dumbed down enough citizens to make a run at democracy. Maybe they have!

RexHuppke Hey Rex the wonder reporter tell us about the average reading scores of CPS students ? Or maybe the math scores of CPS students ? ONLY 26 % of 11th graders read or do math at grade level . Wonderful job by the incompetent CTU!! . Come Rexxy tell us that story

RexHuppke

RexHuppke REX HUPPE is a left wing DEMOC-RAT Opinion dude for the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. I'm shocked he wrote this.

RexHuppke It’s time to get in the way back machine and do what Reagan did with the air traffic controllers.

RexHuppke Totally shocking that the Chicago Tribune allowed someone to write this. Rex is probably getting fired or having a pay raise. Nonetheless, it is the truth; the question is, “where does the Buck stop?” In Chicago or at the White House? Thumbs up for Rex, a columnist with backbone.

RexHuppke If you send your kids to a CPS school you’re an idiot. It’s borderline child neglect.

RexHuppke

RexHuppke

RexHuppke Reminder

RexHuppke Boneheaded handling? Really? What about the boneheaded politicians who tell their boneheaded followers to ignore it?

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