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Chicago mayor blames Trump administration for impasse between schools, teachers union
CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot again made an appearance on national television Tuesday to provide a status report of ongoing negotiations between the country’s third-largest school district and the Chicago Teachers Union. But although she told MSNBC Monday that the issue was “uniquely local,” during a Tuesday appearance on CNN’s “New Day,” she instead laid blame far beyond the scope of the city’s dueling factions. Lightfoot didn’t invoke the name of the nation’s 45th president, but she suggested the ongoing impasse between Chicago Public Schools and CTU, over whether it is safe to return to in...
Chicago Tribune
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‘We’re afraid for our lives’: Chicago teachers rejecting return to classrooms
CHICAGO — Chicago Teachers Union members who are refusing to return to the classroom said Monday they’re worried about losing their jobs but they believe that reopening schools is a greater risk. “We’re afraid for our lives. We don’t want to lose our jobs. The fear of losing our jobs is real. Many of us are the sole income earners in our homes,” Chicago Public Schools teacher Lori Torres said. “But the fear of this virus is greater than that fear.” Torres and other union members spoke at a news conference early Monday, a day after the union announced that some of its members would not report t...
Chicago Tribune
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An attorney who defends students with disabilities shares some advice for parents
SEATTLE – Education attorney Shannon McMinimee has a rare, 30,000-foot view of Washington state's school system. Splitting her time between Seattle and her hometown in the Yakima Valley, McMinimee has spent the past nine months trying to negotiate services for children with disabilities in urban and rural districts with widely varying policies on reopening. Since last spring, she's filed approximately a dozen legal challenges against school districts for failing to provide accommodations for students. "They really run the gamut," said McMinimee, an attorney at Cedar Law PLLC. In some cases, sh...
The Seattle Times