Two mothers with children at the same Chicago Public Schools site have died of COVID-19 after 11 of 17 of the classrooms at Jensen Elementary School were in quarantine due to reported cases of the virus, according to the Chicago Teachers Union.
“Both mothers had children sent home from quarantined Jensen classrooms,” the union wrote on its website Tuesday. “One mother complained bitterly on social media that she was never contacted by a contact tracer. Within a week she was dead.” Shenitha “Angel” Curry died last week, just before her 44th birthday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. On a GoFundMe page, her sister Jasyma Johnson blamed the district for Curry’s death.
Johnson wrote that when Chicago Public Schools reopened last month, her sister, who was unvaccinated, had no choice but to send her daughter back to school. Although the district claims on its website that “families can choose whether they want their child to go to school a few days a week or continue learning at home,” in actuality, students had to meet stringent criteria to opt out of in-person learning.
Johnson wrote:
The teachers’ union wrote in its post:
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American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten joined union leaders on Wednesday in again advocating for added measures to protect students, teachers, and the overall school community. "The money is there," Weingarten said outside of Englewood STEM High School on Chicago's South Side. "You see the motivation is there. What’s not there is an administration that wants to work with the teachers and the students to get this done.”
Following months of virtual learning resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been on a crusade to rush students and teachers back to school for months now, against the urgings of the teachers union. Its leaders have repeatedly expressed concerns over the health of teachers and staff members, specifically at schools that have for decades gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to resources, like those on Chicago’s South and West sides.
“Those teachers need to be there” for students, Lightfoot said back in January when negotiations with the union were failing to net an agreement leading to schools safely reopening. The mayor issued the vague threat then that if teachers weren’t there for students, “we will take further action.” As someone who comes from a long line of educators in Chicago Public Schools and graduated from a high school in the district, it’s hard for me to believe the issue of reopening schools was simply a matter of teachers not wanting to be there for their students. The mere suggestion was offensive.
Union leaders wrote to parents in an open letter the Chicago Sun-Times obtained in February:
“We love your children. We desperately want to be back in classrooms with them, but we are not willing to accept the inevitable illness and death a reckless reopening will inflict on our city.”
Chicago schools fully reopened in August, more than a month before a city requirement that all city employees be vaccinated was set to go into effect. That policy goes into effect on Oct. 15, according to a news release from the mayor’s office. “As cases of COVID-19 continue to rise, we must take every step necessary and at our disposal to keep everyone in our city safe and healthy,” Lightfoot said in a news release. “Getting vaccinated has been proven to be the best way to achieve that and make it possible to recover from this devastating pandemic. And so, we have decided to join other municipalities and government agencies across the nation, including the U.S. military, who are making this decision to protect the people who are keeping our cities and country moving. We have also been in close communication with our partners in the labor movement to create a vaccination policy that is workable, fair and effective.”
It’s unclear why school reopening plans haven’t been more closely tied to a vaccination policy or an increase in vaccination rates in the most at-risk communities. Less than half of people in Black and Latino communities in Chicago are vaccinated, the nonprofit news site Block Club Chicago reported based on public health data. "In most parts of Belmont Cragin (which has a population that is more than 80% Hispanic), the vaccination rates are close to the citywide average of 56 percent, city data shows. But in the 60644 ZIP code, which covers roughly the southern half of Austin, just 38 percent of residents are fully vaccinated," journalist Pascal Sabino wrote. “In Austin’s second-largest ZIP code, 60651, under 48 percent of residents are vaccinated." The city’s Austin community has a population that is more than 75% Black, according to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.
East Garfield Park, the neighborhood that Jensen Elementary is located in, has a population that is nearly 90% Black, and 55% of the population has received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination, according to an ABC 7 Chicago tracker. Just less than 50% of the community received both doses.
Chicago Teachers Union recording secretary Christel Williams Hayes said during a news conference with other union leaders that she’s from the West Side of Chicago and she knows it has long received fewer resources than other areas of the city. “I know what we’re dealing with over here,” she said, demanding the mayor “step it up over here.”
“We have to understand there are grandparents that are raising children in this community that could be contracting this virus and nobody’s taking this serious,” Hayes said. “We need the mayor to pay attention.”
“Both mothers had children sent home from quarantined Jensen classrooms,” the union wrote on its website Tuesday. “One mother complained bitterly on social media that she was never contacted by a contact tracer. Within a week she was dead.” Shenitha “Angel” Curry died last week, just before her 44th birthday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. On a GoFundMe page, her sister Jasyma Johnson blamed the district for Curry’s death.
Johnson wrote that when Chicago Public Schools reopened last month, her sister, who was unvaccinated, had no choice but to send her daughter back to school. Although the district claims on its website that “families can choose whether they want their child to go to school a few days a week or continue learning at home,” in actuality, students had to meet stringent criteria to opt out of in-person learning.
Johnson wrote:
The teachers’ union wrote in its post:
Facebook Content
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten joined union leaders on Wednesday in again advocating for added measures to protect students, teachers, and the overall school community. "The money is there," Weingarten said outside of Englewood STEM High School on Chicago's South Side. "You see the motivation is there. What’s not there is an administration that wants to work with the teachers and the students to get this done.”
Following months of virtual learning resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been on a crusade to rush students and teachers back to school for months now, against the urgings of the teachers union. Its leaders have repeatedly expressed concerns over the health of teachers and staff members, specifically at schools that have for decades gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to resources, like those on Chicago’s South and West sides.
“Those teachers need to be there” for students, Lightfoot said back in January when negotiations with the union were failing to net an agreement leading to schools safely reopening. The mayor issued the vague threat then that if teachers weren’t there for students, “we will take further action.” As someone who comes from a long line of educators in Chicago Public Schools and graduated from a high school in the district, it’s hard for me to believe the issue of reopening schools was simply a matter of teachers not wanting to be there for their students. The mere suggestion was offensive.
Union leaders wrote to parents in an open letter the Chicago Sun-Times obtained in February:
“We love your children. We desperately want to be back in classrooms with them, but we are not willing to accept the inevitable illness and death a reckless reopening will inflict on our city.”
Chicago schools fully reopened in August, more than a month before a city requirement that all city employees be vaccinated was set to go into effect. That policy goes into effect on Oct. 15, according to a news release from the mayor’s office. “As cases of COVID-19 continue to rise, we must take every step necessary and at our disposal to keep everyone in our city safe and healthy,” Lightfoot said in a news release. “Getting vaccinated has been proven to be the best way to achieve that and make it possible to recover from this devastating pandemic. And so, we have decided to join other municipalities and government agencies across the nation, including the U.S. military, who are making this decision to protect the people who are keeping our cities and country moving. We have also been in close communication with our partners in the labor movement to create a vaccination policy that is workable, fair and effective.”
It’s unclear why school reopening plans haven’t been more closely tied to a vaccination policy or an increase in vaccination rates in the most at-risk communities. Less than half of people in Black and Latino communities in Chicago are vaccinated, the nonprofit news site Block Club Chicago reported based on public health data. "In most parts of Belmont Cragin (which has a population that is more than 80% Hispanic), the vaccination rates are close to the citywide average of 56 percent, city data shows. But in the 60644 ZIP code, which covers roughly the southern half of Austin, just 38 percent of residents are fully vaccinated," journalist Pascal Sabino wrote. “In Austin’s second-largest ZIP code, 60651, under 48 percent of residents are vaccinated." The city’s Austin community has a population that is more than 75% Black, according to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.
East Garfield Park, the neighborhood that Jensen Elementary is located in, has a population that is nearly 90% Black, and 55% of the population has received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination, according to an ABC 7 Chicago tracker. Just less than 50% of the community received both doses.
Chicago Teachers Union recording secretary Christel Williams Hayes said during a news conference with other union leaders that she’s from the West Side of Chicago and she knows it has long received fewer resources than other areas of the city. “I know what we’re dealing with over here,” she said, demanding the mayor “step it up over here.”
“We have to understand there are grandparents that are raising children in this community that could be contracting this virus and nobody’s taking this serious,” Hayes said. “We need the mayor to pay attention.”