As the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools
continue to discuss what school will look like when it resumes in the fall,
Chicago Department of Public Health Director Dr. Allison Arwady says that her
department is carefully evaluating how to best keep children safe later this
year.

During a Facebook Live discussion Tuesday, Arwady says she
is in favor of in-person instruction if it can be done safely.

“I personally am in favor of having children in school,” she
said. “(If) the child is at school wearing a mask with the social distancing
and appropriate procedures in place, I honestly do not think the risk of spread
is significant. I wouldn’t be promoting this if I thought it was.”

Even still, Arwady says that the current rise in coronavirus
case numbers in the city and throughout the state have her carefully evaluating
all options.

“The more our numbers are going up in Chicago, the more
concern I have about this because as our cases increase, the risk of people
having COVID, especially asymptomatic-COVID, does go up,” she said.

That increase in cases has led to the current state of
negotiations between the CTU and CPS. Teachers have been pushing hard for a
return to remote-learning for the beginning of the school year, while CPS has
been evaluating a number of potential options, including a hybrid approach that
blends in-person and remote learning.

As a result of the stalemate, CTU’s House of Delegates is
expected to meet next week to call for a strike vote if CPS moves ahead with
plans for in-person learning.

As that decision nears, Arwady says her department is
continuing to evaluate all options, and hopes that kids can be safely welcomed
back to school sooner rather than later.

“It will be a local decision based on what our local
outbreak looks like, and our numbers are on the way up, so I have some concern
there,” she said. “If the outbreak is broadly in control, I feel pretty
strongly that there are benefits to in-person education, especially for younger
children who don’t learn well from screens, and all of the social emotional benefits
and all the other things that we’ve talked about.”