Catholic School Teachers Demand Remote Start To School Year

WILMETTE, IL — As the first of about 70,000 students begin to return to the roughly 200 Catholic schools in Lake and Cook counties, a group of teachers demanded the Archdiocese of Chicago start the year with fully remote learning and more meaningfully include teachers in crafting reopening plans.

While Chicago Public Schools and many other public school districts with unionized teaching staff have opted to begin the school year with fully remote instruction, Chicago area Catholic schools, where teachers are not unionized, are set to start the year with full-time, in-person learning. Classes at some schools have already begun, and at least one teacher who requested the opportunity to teach remotely has reportedly found herself out of a job.

Calling themselves Arch Teachers for a Safe Return, representatives of the newly formed group said it represents hundreds of local Catholic school teachers at more than 35 schools in the archdiocese. They gave the archdiocese until Tuesday to respond to their two demands, without specifying what would happen if they were not met.

James Cahill, a teacher at St. Francis Xavier School in Wilmette, said his school was well-resourced and had a community of well-educated parents offering to assist. But that's not the case in every school, especially those in marginalized communities.

"Teaching at a Catholic school was not out of convenience, and it was certainly not because of money," Cahill said. "It was an intentional choice. I believe deeply in the value and in the mission of Catholic education. I believe in the doctrines, the social teachings and the core values of our faith and of our church."

One of those doctrines, Cahill said, was the value of human life. He warned in-person learning could put human life in jeopardy.

"Now is the wrong time to gather hundreds of human beings into enclosed spaces," he said. "The decision to do so boggles the mind, defies science and potentially endangers the lives of students, of teachers, staff and all of our students and communities."

The Archdiocese of Chicago released its re-opening plan last month and provided an update July 31. Administrators said they would work closely with state officials to determine whether they can keep offering in-person instruction amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. And individual buildings may need to be closed "if numerous cases appear in a single school," according to the archdiocese.

RELATED: Archdiocese of Chicago Unveils Catholic School Reopening Plan

Cahill said he has seen, and teachers at many schools have reported, desks in classrooms spaced just 3 or 4 feet apart, instead of the 6 feet recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and required by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The 31-year-old teacher said he was afraid of unwittingly becoming an asymptomatic carrier and infecting others more than he was concerned about complications of the virus or his own safety.

"The fear that so many teachers feel, whether for their own health or for that of others, is a real fear and it is a logical fear based on the grim statistics and the outbreaks we have already seen at such schools and districts that have chosen to reopen across the country," Cahill said.

That includes the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, which he described as the "nation's flagship university."

At least one of Cahill's colleagues has already been terminated after refusing to return to school at St. Francis Xavier. Two days after 63-year-old Elaine Sage did not show up to work on Monday, she received word that the archdiocese had released her from her contract, the Chicago Tribune reported.

“Unfortunately, sometimes serving the needs of many precludes the ability to meet the needs of others, especially in times like these," school administrators told Sage, according to a copy of a letter she provided the Tribune. "In this case, a fully remote program would compromise the academic, spiritual, and emotional well-being of our children. As we are returning to in-person instruction, it is critical that our teachers be available to teach in-person for classes that are in-person.”

RELATED: Most Schools Going Virtual In Chicago Area, With Some Exceptions

At the state's largest Catholic high school, Loyola Academy in Wilmette, school began last week. According to a school spokesperson, seven students' families have opted for fully remote learning, 15 faculty members have sought accommodations for fully remote learning and none have been let go as a result of not declining to take part in remote learning.

Lauren Welsh, who teaches 6th grade at Immaculate Conception St. Joseph in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood, said she was at a high risk of complications from contracting the coronavirus. Speaking at the news conference, she expressed concern that administrators were "cherry-picking" data to justify in-person learning.

"No one should have to risk their life or their health just to go to work," Welsh said. She believes there needs to be a baseline of testing to provide a safe environment for all students in the archdiocese.

"My biggest concern is not knowing who or what is safe. Even with the most precautions possible, how do we fully protect against asymptomatic carriers? Teachers or staff or students, any of us could be carriers," Welsh told reporters. "The fact that asymptomatic spreading exists means that in-person learning is inherently dangerous. We must go remote."

Educational institutions are among the organizations declared "essential" under Gov. J.B. Pritzker's executive orders issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools are also subject to recent emergency rules introduced by Pritzker's administration, which require administrators to contact parents when there are coronavirus clusters detected and allow local health authorities to force the closure of public or private schools who do not follow public health requirements.

In a statement, archdiocese officials said its reopening plan meets state requirements and was developed with input from teachers as well as health experts. They said school administrators would make adjustments as the school year progresses.

"The Office of Catholic Schools employs more than 5,000 in administrative, teaching and staff positions. They have worked together to respond to this extraordinary challenge and continue our education mission. The opening of more than 70 schools this week has been greeted with enthusiasm by our families, students and teachers," their statement said. "The mixture of in-person and on-line learning they offer differs from school to school and responds to parent choice. If families choose remote learning, they are accommodated."

An archdiocese spokesperson said each school contracts separately with its teachers and did not say how many have been terminated because of their refusal to go along with its in-person learning plan or the number who have received accommodations to teach remotely. More than 85 percent of students' families have opted for in-person learning so far, although those numbers will not be final until mid-September.

"Our Office of Catholic School has repeatedly directed employees with concerns to speak with their principals or send their concerns to the Archdiocese for response," the archdiocese's statement continued. "We have diligently responded to principal and employee concerns brought to our attention. However, we cannot accommodate all requests. Given the preference of a majority of families for in-person learning, remote teaching opportunities are limited. To the extent possible, teachers who choose to work remotely are accommodated either at their original school or by applying to another school with remote teaching opportunities."