Toys were back in use, class introductions were underway and playgrounds were in full swing Monday on the first day back for Chicago Public Schools students, while concerns grew about schools’ readiness for this week’s heatwave.
Another year removed from pandemic remote learning, returning to classes felt like second nature for students who immediately hit the ground running. And neighborhoods sounded like the first day of school: Laughing kids ran in excited to see their friends, crossing guards helped families cross the street and parents’ “I love you’s” sent their children on their way.
Balloons and beds of flowers welcomed kids at Beidler Elementary in East Garfield Park on the West Side. Kids showed up in their kelly green polo shirts, and air conditioners ran at full blast — school staff said the AC had been going since Friday to prepare for the high temperatures this week.
Michael Riggians is starting eighth grade at Beidler and looking forward to “fun things” this school year.
“Recess. That’s about it right there,” he said. “Reading, I actually like reading.”
Michael spent his summer working for a summer program at Malcolm X College, where he made cakes and cupcakes. So he only had a little bit of time for fun, but he made do.
“I went outside a lot and threw water balloons at my little brother,” Michael said.
His brother, Marshawn, is heading into fifth grade and had a blast over the summer — despite being the target of water balloons — which was too short for him.
“All I really did was go outside, play the game, go to sleep all day,” he said. “Everything good.”
Beidler was the first of three stops for Mayor Brandon Johnson to start his first full school year in office. In an unusual — but not surprising — move, Johnson was flanked by Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates in a showcase of the newfound unity between the union and mayor’s office now controlled by one of its own. CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, SEIU 73 President Dian Palmer and deputy mayor for education Jen Johnson, also a former CTU official, toured schools with them.
“Doesn’t it feel good to actually have a collaborative approach to governance in the city of Chicago?” Johnson said of the city’s relationship with the CTU and SEIU. “Some people have become accustomed to the kind of divisive dynamics that have been the prevailing form of governance. But the city of Chicago voted for me to bring people together.”
Kids at a few schools got a glimpse of that relationship Monday as well as Mr. Johnson the teacher, from his jokes to his answers to students’ questions.
Johnson sat in a kiddie chair with preschoolers who were playing with Magna-Tiles at Brighton Park Elementary, a small neighborhood school on the Southwest Side.
“I really like this container here,” he said, pointing to a boy’s construction.”
Only a minute into talking to kids at another table, a girl who was busy at play told the mayor, “I need more space!” Johnson said, “I believe you!” and got up.
In a kindergarten bilingual classroom, kids were matching alphabet tiles and sorting small toy vehicles by their colors. A girl looked up from her activity to tell Johnson, “You look like my dad!”
Brighton Park is one of many schools across the city that have enrolled migrant children who have arrived on buses from the southern border. Teachers in the bilingual classroom, speaking both Spanish and English, encouraged their students as they worked on fine motor skills by using tweezers to pick up cotton balls and other similar activities.
“We just have a lot of members of our school community who are just really passionate about helping our newcomers,” Principal Sara Haas said. “Making sure that they have uniforms, they have access to school supplies, that we remove any and all barriers for them to be welcomed into the school.”
Johnson and company then headed to Kenwood Academy High School, where his son started 10th grade Monday. Speaking to teacher Jennifer Jilek-Watson’s 11th grade AP social studies capstone class, he asked the kids to do him a favor.
“So, my son doesn’t talk to me,” Johnson joked. “So I want to embarrass him because he doesn’t think I’m cool. But if you all think I’m cool, it’ll make his life miserable. And that’s the goal of parenting, is to make our children’s lives miserable.”
Johnson pointed out that he, Davis Gates and Johnson all taught social studies at CPS.
“Social studies teachers rule and rock the world,” he told the class.
In a Kenwood math class, Johnson told kids to never lose their “wonder and joy and curiosity” for learning.
“Everything in us is committed to investing in you,” Johnson told students. “We send our kids to the public schools. We are products of public education. We’re teachers in the public school system.”
He also thanked the “young brothers in here who are growing mohawks. Keep doing that,” joking about boys copying his hairstyle. Some kids laughed; others gave a familiar teenager eye roll.
A student named Willow raised her hand to ask a question: “As the mayor, what’s your day-to-day, what do you do? I get that you make decisions, but like you don’t do that all the time.”
“That’s a very good question,” Johnson said. “There are a variety of issues that I’m constantly dealing with. Whether it’s dealing with migrants that are coming to the city of Chicago, whether it’s dealing with public safety, contracts. It’s going to be really hot on Wednesday and Thursday so we’re already figuring it out.
“Most of the day-to-day is listening to people and then usually what happens after we listen to each other is I get two to three options that I get to pick from which decision to make.”
Later speaking to Principal Karen Calloway and reporters in the library, Johnson said it’s “remarkable to see the same level of energy across the whole city of Chicago” on the first day of school.
“I don’t know what was more exciting, the 400,000 people at Lollapalooza or the 300,000 kids who are coming back to Chicago Public Schools,” Johnson said.
“Our parents trust us to get it right. And our school district is being led by parents and products of public education. So we know exactly what parents are experiencing right now. There’s excitement and hope, and they’re counting on us to work together.”
The “oppressive” heat bearing down on Chicago this week will be a test for Johnson and CPS. There are complaints every year about broken AC systems in aging school buildings, but this year the concerns are exacerbated because of the heatwave — with heat indices that could reach 115 degrees — and the school system’s mid-August return. Prior to the pandemic, CPS long stuck with a post-Labor Day return even when suburban districts started earlier.
Martinez, the schools chief, said all schools had working AC to start the week and would be ready for the heat.
“Our team has been working around the clock, all of last week, this weekend,” he said. “Any systems that are having issues, we’re getting those resolved over the weekend, on Friday. Of course, our buildings are old, so for our families, we have a lot of window units.
“We’re going to continue to keep an ear out for any school that’s having any issues, but hopefully the heat will pass over a few days and we’ll continue forward.”
Davis Gates said Monday that the union had warned CPS leaders against moving the start of the school year earlier into August because of the threat posed by heat waves like the one hitting the city this week.
“The calendar was done very haphazardly without any type of democracy or input or collaboration, and so now you have a calendar that has children in school buildings that perhaps should not be in those school buildings,” Davis Gates said outside Kenwood Academy High School, where she had just finished visiting with Johnson and Martinez.
Asked if she would address the concerns with Martinez, who made the decision on the earlier start, Davis Gates blamed former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration. And she said the current calendar came without negotiation, but that’ll change now that state lawmakers granted the CTU its full bargaining rights.
“I would like to call Pedro back to the table on that right now. What I think the calendar we have right now shows us is that without the type of collaboration that a bargaining table yields, you get calendars that don’t make a lot of sense to a city that’s experiencing climate catastrophe.”
Davis Gates said CPS should open cooling centers in schools this week. And she blamed past mayors for neglecting the school system’s failing infrastructure.
CPS spokeswoman Mary Fergus didn’t directly address Davis Gates’ comments. She said the district is working with schools to ensure they stay cool, and backup portable AC units are available in case of breakdowns.
The district asked for public input when it moved the start of the school year into August for the first time in 2021. More than 3,000 responses included some parents worried the pre-Labor Day start would translate to bad attendance to start the year, while others were happy to see kids back in school after a tough year because of the pandemic.
Families were particularly relieved and excited for the new school year at Urban Prep Academy, the all-boys, mostly Black public high school that has been allowed to temporarily stay open while CPS tries to revoke its charter.
“It took a lot of stress off of me,” said mother Katina Harold, who drove her son to the school at 521 E. 35th St.
Until a month ago, it was unclear if Urban Prep would be operating under the same name. CPS revoked the school’s charter last October. The school district had planned to reopen its two campuses at the same locations under different leadership and a new name but with the same mission.
In late July, the school won the right to continue operating. A Cook County judge ruled that CPS violated a moratorium of school closings by revoking the charter of Urban Prep, which has been operating since 2002.
Dennis Lacewell, the school’s chief academic officer, said, “We’re very happy about the victory.”
Lacewell greeted parents and students this morning outside the school’s entrance. He said 95% of students have remained with the school since October, when the uncertainty over the charter began.
“Our families are just thrilled that we didn’t give up,” Lacewell said. “They wanted this option for their boys. Black boys need a viable option, and we are proven proof-positive as far as our work.”
Chrystal Harris dropped off her son, incoming junior Bobby Wilson, at the front door and reflected on the school’s other scandals last year. She said she has faith in the school’s leadership, which she described as “pretty great.”
“There’s always a bump in the road,” Harris said. “But as long as they allow the kids to come back to schools, that’s all that matters.”
