Chicago’s Public School Meltdown
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 11 January 2022
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Chicago Public Schools canceled classes for three consecutive days this year, following a vote by the teachers union to defy in-person teaching orders amid a rise in COVID-19 cases. The union wants additional safety measures in place as teachers and students return to school. Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the union’s actions are “illegal,” and the public schools system said the refusal to teach in-person amounted to a strike.
How will the showdown end? And when will students get back into the classroom?
Guest: Sarah Karp, education reporter at WBEZ in Chicago.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode is brought to you by Bose. |
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| 0:24.1 | Sound, shape to you, visit Bose to learn more. |
| 0:30.8 | Hey everyone, the show today is about Chicago's public schools |
| 0:34.4 | and how a dispute between teachers and the city's mayor |
| 0:37.9 | meant school was shut down for days. |
| 0:41.4 | Right as we were putting the final touches on this show, |
| 0:44.2 | however, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a deal with teachers. |
| 0:48.7 | It's going to reopen schools on Wednesday, |
| 0:51.0 | but today's show is still worth listening to |
| 0:53.4 | because it explains why reaching that agreement has been so hard. |
| 0:58.4 | All right, here we go. |
| 1:04.0 | Sunday night, Sarah Carp was so busy, |
| 1:08.0 | she slept next to her phone with the notifications still dinging. |
| 1:12.6 | This has been like a marathon right now. |
| 1:14.7 | It's like, I've been on... |
| 1:17.1 | I've been working since I don't know why. |
... |
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