More than 500 parents have joined a grass-roots organization called the Chicago Parents Collective, which is asking the district to reopen schools and hosted a rally Sunday in Humboldt Park. Another parent-led coalition, CPS Sick-Out, asked Chicagoans to call their children in sick on Monday. One mother said, “It really feels like we’re screaming into the void and nothing is happening.”

The January spike in murders comes after slayings in Chicago soared in 2020 after three years of declining violence. January also saw an increase in shooting incidents compared to the same month last year, police said.

Hazel Crest Police Chief Mitchell Davis is one in a group from 30 suburban towns that have vowed to share strategies. “Quite often the offenders are coming from the suburbs and going to the city and vice versa. It’s about providing opportunities and being proactive for these young folks that are out there, committing these crimes, because quite often the same groups of people are doing them over and over again.”

In contrast to the archdiocesan students, schools with predominantly white students who took the i-Ready exam lost an average of one to three months of learning over the spring of 2020 closures, and schools with predominantly Black and Latino students fell further behind, losing three to five months.

A statement from CPS reads, in part, “We have secured agreement on one other open issue and made substantial progress on a framework that we hope will address the remaining issues. We are calling for a 48-hour cooling off period that will hopefully lead to a final resolution on all open issues.”

With 84% of CPS students being Black or Latino, those communities depend on Chicago Public Schools; Fights between CPS and CTU have come down to how best to serve minority students. Among the key players in the battle are Black women; Mayor Lightfoot, CPS CEO Janice Jackson and CTU VP Stacy Davis Gates. In their war of words, Lightfoot, Jackson and Davis Gates use race.

“We’re heartbroken.” said Mary Beth Sheehan, a member of the parade committee. “The parade has been going continuously since 1979. This is a time when people have a great need for cheer in their lives.”

Asked if the White House has a role to play in mediating the negotiations to get kids back to school, press secretary Jen Psaki said: “We will certainly remain in touch with a range of parties but, again, we hope that they can come to common ground soon.”

The city’s teachers union is demanding that educators be vaccinated before returning to the classroom.

“Good morning, Chicago!” one parent posted on Facebook. “Today is the day CPS parents are keeping kids out of class (remote and in-person) for the #CPSSickOut. Why? Because our families are SICK and tired of this failed CPS reopening plan. There has been no parent voice in decision-making.”

“If wealthy developers come out of this crisis on top like they did the last one, we will need these policies to make sure poor, working- and middle-class Chicagoans of all colors don’t get left behind,” said Lamont Burnett, organizer with ONE Northside and a member of the city’s affordable requirements task force.

Region 7 marks the seventh region in the state to move back to that level since the state began allowing regions to move forward in mid-January. Regions 8, 9 and 10 are all in Tier 1 mitigations, while Region 4, located in southwest Illinois, remains in Tier 2.

CTU takes credit for triggering multiple teachers’ union strikes around the nation in recent years, claiming its 2012 strike, “changed the future of organizing.” That strike also forced the closure of 50 schools and the layoff of thousands of teachers so Chicago Public Schools could cut costs to compensate for satisfying the union’s expensive demands.

The district will reimburse a total of $10 million, so the owner of a $400,000 home will be reimbursed between $275 and $300.

Some of those failed measures include a lack of cleaning supplies and proper social distancing as well as a “poorly implemented and incomplete” isolation and quarantine process, according to a proposed class-action lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in Chicago. Officials also allegedly turned “a blind eye” to staff who didn’t wear masks and ignored some people in custody who asked for tests.

“Teachers used to have high respect in our society and they deserved it. But the Teachers Unions have caused so much damage to the respect of teachers that it will take decades to get back that respect.”

The first, last and only source on the subject is the Municipal Code of Chicago. And section 10-8-190 clearly states: “Any person who removes snow or ice from the public sidewalk or street, shall not, as a result of his acts or omissions in such removal, be liable for civil damages.”