Kevin Moore is a member of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and a Chicago Public School (CPS) teacher. He was interviewed by the ISP’s Bridget Broderick and Carole Ramsden. This interview was conducted on February 1. The situation is moving quickly. For the latest updates and solidarity activities regarding the CTU’s fight for safe school reopening, visit the CTU website. For an ISP article that provides background to the current fightback, click here.
In March 2020, the CTU demanded that schools close in the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic for student and teacher safety.What has remote teaching looked like for you as a high school teacher?
It’s been really different, of course.You’re not in the classroom interacting with students face-to-face.I don’t consider myself really tech savvy, but I have had to learn how to work with this technology more.I have to give my students credit—they are doing something [online learning] that is completely unprecedented, no one has been taking high school classes in quite the same way. I’m amazed at how they do show up everyday—they’re so accountable. If their connection drops, they let me know.They ask how they are doing in class, what kind of projects they can be doing to improve their grades. And we do maintain the extracurricular activities as much as possible so that students can stay engaged and have the outlets they need.
That said, the students do face a lot of challenges.Internet access is a big problem, because every day there’s at least one student who has to drop out because their connection is spotty or they can’t get on at all.And many of my students are from households where they have to take care of a younger sibling, a baby. Or they share space with other family members and don’t have the space they need to focus on class.Some of them have to work to help out their families, so finding time for doing schoolwork is hard for them.
One thing I find difficult is how to have students form small groups. We all know small groups in a classroom is an important learning experience for students and teachers.And it’s hard to make happen successfully online.I can’t imagine how we are supposed to make that happen if we have hybrid classrooms with 8-10 students in the classroom and another 20 online. You can’t really have a small group with each student six feet apart.
What are the biggest concerns teachers, students and parents in your community express about returning to in-person classroom?
Well, parents in Black and Brown communities, which represent the majority of CPS parents, have spoken out loud and clear on the issue—in polls and in practice.Eighty percent of Black and Brown parents have chosen to not send their kids back to in-person classrooms, instead opting for remote learning. It is no coincidence that many Black and Brown parents are prioritizing safety when it is our communities that are being hardest hit by COVID as well as the lack of trust in CPS to do what is right by our parents and students.
They want to maintain online learning until it is truly safe for their children to go back to school.AND they want better resources to improve online learning—better internet access and reliable service, laptops for all students.In households with several CPS students, they have to share a laptop. Parents are pretty clear that they demand safety and equity, equal access to technology resources.Black and Brown parents need to be listened to and be respected as much as white parents who want their children’s schools opened. But Lightfoot and CPS are not listening to everyone equally.
Teachers are concerned with our own safety and our loved ones at home.That’s why the issue of ADA accommodations is so important. We have teachers whose own health is at risk [for COVID complications] but ones who also go home to their family members who are at risk. CPS has denied many staff these accommodations to work remotely due to health risks.But it’s our safety at risk.
A lot of teachers clean their classroom daily.CPS claims it will have a designated custodian clean the facility weekly.But we don’t know if they really have the staff—they said they have 100-150 custodians ready.But what happens if a custodian gets sick? Preschool teachers who did go back to their classrooms reported broken hand sanitizer dispensers and other problems.And a lot of the buildings we work in at CPS are old and not very well maintained in the first place. Even before March 2020 the ventilation and upkeep was in need of renovation.The changes that CPS has implemented don’t begin to address those building issues.
What’s your opinion on why Mayor Lightfoot is demanding return to classrooms now?
I think there are several reasons. She wants to get the city back up and running, and parents have to have somewhere for their kids to go.So she wants schools open for employees to get back to work.But I think too, she sees an opportunity to go after the teachers’ union and wants to take back some of the power she lost during our successful CTU strike in 2019.This may be the second strike under Lightfoot. And I think she wants to go after the union, break the union if she can.Right now, most communities favor our position for safe and equitable remote learning, but Lightfoot will try to push the narrative of parents demanding their kids get back to school. She’s trying to get the media behind that story.
What about schoolteachers and staff being employees and getting back to work?There was an article about a CPS employee whose child had been given accommodation for remote learning but she was not given the same accommodation to take care of him.What is she supposed to do if she is at school and her child is at home remote learning for his safety?
Exactly.There are plenty of teachers and staff who are parents, too. All the concerns they have as teachers are also concerns as parents.
Why do you think they are they doing this now? CPS has many well-paid bureaucrats who have had nearly a year to formulate a plan—what have they been doing? Why now?
That’s a good question.At first they just wanted us all to go back after the summer, with no real plan in place.It wasn’t until we protested in the summer, saying that there is no plan for safe reopening.So CPS backed off and continued remote learning. At that time CPS said all grades had to go back.Now, they put forward this staggered plan with first pre-K and special ed, then K-8, and no word precisely on when high school students and teachers are supposed to return. So it seems the only “plan” is to pit us against each other and sow disunity.
What are your impressions of union solidarity?Right now HS teachers aren’t facing reopening—just preschool, special ed, and K-8th.Has it been hard to convince high school teachers in your school of need for union solidarity?
There were some comments and some issues, but we could make the point pretty clearly that we could be next—and that is a very real possibility. CPS hasn’t said anything about high school students returning right now, but who knows what they’ll do if they can force pre-K and elementary open to be exposed to COVID?We have won most of our building to supporting our union members in pre-K to 8th because they know we could be forced back any time.So I’ve been pretty impressed with how well our teachers and union members have stood up.
You’ve mentioned before that now actions look different than the past—you now form car pickets and car caravans? What makes these successful?
I gotta say this—car caravans are fun!You get in a car with some good people and listen to some music, and drive through neighborhoods and get support.Of course protest is important, but it can and should be fun too.
Yes, it’s challenging organizing so much online, but I think we’ve really made some great connections here in the community where our school is.Before, during the 2019 strike, a lot of the actions were big rallies in the Loop. We haven’t done that yet around safe reopening.So the car caravans, pickets, and informational meetings have really allowed us to focus locally on talking to parents in the school, community organizations and businesses.I know I have had a chance to meet other union members and delegates from nearby schools, and that will lead to us being stronger and better organized.
At my neighborhood school, we organized a big car caravan with other schools. By the end, we had 60-70 cars, making stops at each school for people to speak out for safe reopening and trusting members of the community.It was powerful.We organized a virtual informational meeting for parents to address issues and concerns, and around 1500 people attended and got their questions answered.The last car caravan [Saturday, January 30], we didn’t really know it was being called. So we found out about if Friday, and a bunch of teachers organized a small local car caravan in less than 24 hours.So actions have been successful—they just look different.
What do you think about some of the “parents’ groups” demanding CPS open schools now and how they’re getting media attention. There is a press conference organized by “Get to Class” in front of the CTU president’s home tomorrow.
They have a right to speak, but they don’t speak for everyone.Like I said, Black and Brown parents – 80 percent of spoken out by NOT sending their children to in person classrooms. We face the highest rates of virus transmission, illness and death, and parents have spoken quite clearly but don’t always get the media attention. The media tends to equate one side of the struggle with the other—we’ve seen that happen during the teachers’ strike in 2019 too.You have to expect that.
What needs to happen for teachers, students and parents to feel safe, especially for those in Black and Latinx neighborhoods with some of the highest COVID rates and mortality rates?
Those are some of the questions the CTU is trying to address in this fight.We want to see vaccines available for any member who wants one.It should be organized, not everyone on their own trying to get a shot like it is now in Chicago.Regular testing to determine if there are outbreaks, especially in hard-hit neighborhoods, is very important.Ensuring buildings have ventilation systems.To be honest, personally, I don’t understand why the rush to open now, when CPS could run vaccination program, take care of buildings and internet access, and start in the fall of 2021. Students have learned to use remote learning—of course, there are obstacles and disadvantages—and changing that in the middle of February makes no sense. Just wait until the school year is over and put in the work right now to make schools safe for the fall.
Especially since the vaccines don’t provide full immunity until 2 weeks after second dosage for the ones being used in the US.If you can get one.What can we do to help and support the CTU fight for safe reopening?What do you want the public to know?
I think two things are really helpful.Use your social media to get out the narrative we are putting forward:it’s the teachers, the parents, the students who are fighting for safe schools, not Lori Lightfoot and CPS.Use social media and talk to your friends, your coworkers, your family about what the real stakes are.Two, we would appreciate your support and your new ideas for activities during these times of social distancing.So join us for a caravan, or honk if you see a CTU caravan or picket.We need your support!
How do you think CTU’s fight for safe reopening are affecting other teachers’ unions?How do you think your struggle fits into the larger context of labor and activism in this time of COVID-19?
I feel so proud when I see other teachers unions around the country say they were inspired by CTU. I’m just so proud of my union brothers and sisters. Because it’s hard—we work in front of a screen all day and yet we have to organize this fight for our safety and that of our students. I’m a little jealous when I see other school districts like Cicero win rulings in their favor.
But it goes to show we have to win our rights and our students’ and parents’ rights ourselves—we can’t count on the Pritzkers, the Lightfoots or the courts to win safe reopening of our schools.They’re our schools and we know what it takes to make them safe and make them places of learning.
One other thing we have learned in the fight—that the money is there.Always before, like in 2019 during our strike, the response to negotiating for social workers and nurses in every school was always—“we don’t have the money.” Well, now, they are not talking about money.All of a sudden, they found the money to put into building ventilation and hiring custodians.When we went to remote learning, after we demanded it, we suddenly found that there was money for laptops and internet improvements.Not enough, but it was there when we demanded it.
Obviously CPS could do more.But I think we’ve learned that when this is all over, and we’re back in the classroom with our students, we can and should have more. We know the resources are available to make our students—majority Black and Brown students—have access to the best education possible. We can’t just end with demands for safety but for much, much more.
To me this fight right now is about safety, equity and trust.We demand safe schools for everyone, and equal resources for Black and Brown students in education.But that requires CPS and the City of Chicago to trust us—trust teachers, trust parents, trust students—that we know what’s best for our learning environment.
Kevin Moore
