chicagotribune--2020-08-12--Vito & Nick’s celebrates 100 years in Chicago with the best tavern-style pizza in the city

After 67 years or so in the family business , George stayed at home through the first phases of the @ @ @ @ @ a good opportunity to show my sons how everything else is done , not just @ @ @ @ @ said .
Her sons and grandchildren went over to her house , carefully following those @ @ @ @ @ learn about the sauce and other details refined over decades .

Vito & Nick's opened in the Ashburn neighborhood in 1965. It was founded as a tavern in Lawndale in 1920, and moved a few times over the years. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Vito & Nick’s, the iconic tavern-style pizzeria on the Southwest Side of Chicago, celebrates its 100th anniversary Thursday — finally. The pandemic postponed the party about six weeks. That’s just a blip for a family business that has survived a century, largely on a crackly thin crust, voted best in the city.
The men in the family have historically had top billing, but it was one woman who created the pizza legacy, and another who is guiding it into the future, coronavirus be damned.
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“The original recipe from my grandmother is still in use,” said Rose Barraco George, 73, third-generation owner of the restaurant in the Ashburn neighborhood. Vito was her grandfather. Nick was her father.
[ 16 cult pizzas in Chicago you don’t know — unless you’re part of the cult ]
The story behind Vito & Nick’s looks at one business, founded by immigrants 100 years ago. Theirs is a complicated family legend of enduring everything, including the early days of this pandemic. It’s our intertwined story too, that we continue to share in pizza and beer.
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George started working on the pizza line at 6 or 7 years old. Her training started even earlier. “My grandmother, she’d say to me, ‘You stand there and watch me. You can’t touch, but you watch,’” she said. “For God’s sake I must have watched for years and then all of a sudden she said, ‘Now it’s your turn. I’m going to watch.’ And that’s how I learned.”
Julian Morales makes a pizza at Vito & Nick's in Chicago on Aug. 6, 2020. The 100-year-old pizzeria will host a party to celebrate its anniversary and expects 300 people. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Weathering the pandemic
After 67 years or so in the family business, George stayed at home through the first phases of the pandemic. “It was a good opportunity to show my sons how everything else is done, not just the dough,” she said. Her sons and grandchildren went over to her house, carefully following those early disinfecting protocols, to learn about the sauce and other details refined over decades.
Slowly she went back to work. “I would go in early in the morning before we opened.”
During the statewide dining room closure ordered in March, George kept the pizzeria open for takeout, but not delivery, which they’ve never done. “My dad always said, ‘If they want my pizza, they’ll come and get it,’” she said. “And we’re still cash only.”
[ How to order the most delicious deep-dish pizza with tips from real Chicagoans ]
“Thank God carry out was doing well,” said George. “So many people opened the hatch of their trunk to sit on the edge to eat a pizza in our parking lot. It amazed me.” Still, like just about every restaurant, staff was relatively minimal. “The only ones working were my sons, grandchildren and two nephews.”
George reopened indoor dining on July 6. That night someone tried to walk in with 30 people, exceeding their 25 person capacity.
Rose Barraco George, 73, owner of Vito & Nick's Pizzeria in Chicago puts a mushroom pizza into the oven Aug. 6, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Last week she started coming back when customers were around. “I’m extremely careful,” said George. “Number one, you have to use protection. I wear a mask. I try and keep my distance from people. You can’t be so tough.”
Then a big funeral luncheon showed up unexpectedly. “I had to lock the doors,” she said. “I hated doing that, but how else am I going to get it through their skull?”
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A pizza family’s past
In 1920, her then 26- and 24-year-old grandparents, Vito and Mary Barraco, opened a tavern in the Lawndale neighborhood at 2708 W. Congress Parkway. That side of the street no longer exists. The Eisenhower Expressway now runs through the site.
“It looked like a speakeasy,” said George. You can see a photo of the founding family business at Vito and Nick’s in a newly hung gallery that spans the dining room. “From there they moved to 80th and Halsted, and opened Vito’s Tavern. My grandmother had a couple of sandwiches, like meatballs and sausage. Then they moved to 79th and Carpenter. That’s where the pizza began 75 years ago.”
Nick Barraco had just returned from World War II with an English war bride. He served as an American Army Air Forces medic, and she served in the British Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, said George. “My mother was also Mary Barraco, but her parents were from Ireland.”
[ Chicago's best pizzas: Great pies of all shapes and sizes. ]
“My grandparents were both Sicilian on my father’s side,” she said. Her grandfather was born in 1894 in Marsala. Her grandmother was born in 1896 in Capo d’Orlando. They met and married, though, on the West Side of Chicago.
“When we were kids my grandmother used to make this Sicilian-style pizza with a thicker crust and rectangular in a pan,” said George. That was only at home. They never sold that style at the restaurant. “My grandmother passed in ’65 when we opened up.”
That’s the year they opened Vito & Nick’s, later known to a certain generation of South Siders as Nick & Vito’s.
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“When my grandfather was alive, everyone saw him so it was ‘Vito, Vito, Vito,’” said George. “He passed in ’76. After, they’d see my father so it was ‘Nick, Nick, Nick’ so it became Nick & Vito’s to South Side people. In the phone directory, my dad put it both ways: Vito & Nick’s, and Nick & Vito’s.”
Whatever you call it, walk in today, past the original neon Old Style sign in front, and it’s pure physical theater with pizza. Cooks toss wooden peels with casual precision. They flatten dough impossibly thin. Ruddy red sauce paints the canvas. They pinch and place fatty raw sausage furiously fast. A hailstorm of cheese hits before a shove into the oven. Pizza emerges, then is cut into approximate squares. You’ll never not have an electrifying, life affirming, crisp and crackling crust.
A pizza comes out of the oven at Vito & Nick's in Chicago Aug. 6, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
A centennial party at last
The 100th anniversary party will be held outside in the parking lot. Like at the restaurant, seven days a week, it’s no reservations; first come, first served.
“I’m having a real small menu,” said George. “It’s only pizza with a few appetizers. I could seat a thousand people in that parking lot, but I won’t. I’m only going to put 300 or less, widely distributed. Tables are going to be about 10 feet apart. "
A 40-foot stage will showcase entertainment including a Blues Brothers tribute band complete with the Bluesmobile car.
George will also announce from stage their new franchising program, which will include everything for a business to make their pizzas, from the dough to sauce to fatty fennel sausage, but not the secret family recipes of course.
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Free parking will be available across the street in the old CVS, and at the Hometown Plaza strip mall with a shuttle bus.
“I’m going to constantly be on the PA telling people to please social distance,” said George. “Wear your mask. If you’re eating or drinking, then sit. If you’re not, please put your mask back on.”
“I just bought a thousand masks,” she said. “I’m praying to God they really listen and I’m going to do my damnedest to make sure they do.”
8433 S. Pulaski Road, 773-735-2050, vitoandnicks.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-12--After tribute to slain teen activist Caleb Reed, Mather High council votes out school resource offic

After tribute to slain teen activist Caleb Reed, Mather High council votes out school resource officer

As Mather ’ s discussion went on , several other LSCs around the city were meeting to take the same @ @ @ @ @ School two miles east , which also chose not to keep officers .
At least @ @ @ @ @ had already voted to remove school-based officers , including the district ’ s biggest school @ @ @ @ @ more than 4,000 students .
But of 72 district-run schools that had assigned officers last @ @ @ @ @ to keep them .

Still feeling “a little scattered” from Caleb Reed’s wake earlier Tuesday, Mather High School counselor Paige Stenzel logged in to the Local School Council meeting to support the removal of police officers from campus, a cause that absorbed the final weeks of Reed’s life.
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Since Reed, 17, was found on a West Rogers Park sidewalk with a gunshot wound to his head on July 31, community leaders including Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, vowed to pursue the change Reed had been fighting for.
After paying tribute to Reed, Mather’s Local School Council on Tuesday voted 6-4 against retaining officers at the school attended by more than 1,600 students.
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Before casting his “no” vote, Principal Peter Auffant said the dilemma had caused him sleepless nights.
Caleb Reed speaks outside City Hall in June in support of an ordinance to end Chicago Public Schools' contract with police. He was found shot to death July 31. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
”My stomach turns as I continue to think about the weight of this decision,” Auffant said. “The weight of this decision is falling on LSCs across the city.”
Ultimately, Auffant said he had concerns about police presence in the school, and he wanted to make sure that any response to students’ behavior helped them grow into better versions of themselves.
Auffant started the meeting by asking for a moment of silence over the recent deaths of Reed and another Mather student.
“It has been a fairly trying time for the entire community and not being with everybody, it has been hard for students, it has been hard for staff. ... it has been difficult for me, to find some healing,” Auffant said.
Reed was highly regarded as an activist and leader with Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, a coalition of community organizations advocating for racial justice in the education system.
Some of his friends, current and former Mather students, spoke during the public comment time Tuesday and in a town hall on school police held earlier in the afternoon.
“I’m still hurt about Caleb’s life,” said one recent graduate who identified as Latinx and gender fluid, and suffering from depression and anxiety. “Right now I’m traumatized about my friend passing away... Caleb was fighting for more mental health resources, stopping gun violence, stopping whatever that’s negative.”
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Mather student Derriana Ford, Reed’s girlfriend for the past three years and another VOYCE member, spoke briefly to the council, asking them to vote out police and reinvest in students.
“I’m going through something. I just lost my boyfriend. I don’t want to get emotional but we really need to start thinking about our students,” Ford said. “We are telling you one thing, but you guys aren’t listening.”
VOYCE applauded the LSC’s decision in a statement late Tuesday, adding that youth leaders have been organizing to end police spending in schools for a long time.
“We are more than pleased with the results,” said Electa Bay, a Mather grandparent who also spoke at the meeting. “This is an important and poignant victory, as we will be saying our final goodbyes to Caleb tomorrow at his funeral. Having [police] out of the school was part of Caleb’s legacy and it’s so beautiful to see that we accomplished that.”
One speaker said the council members needed to consider Mather’s goals.
“If the goal is to reduce harms of students of color ... what is the most direct impact, the most direct thing that we can do?” she asked. “Or is our goal to ensure that white teachers are comfortable?”
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Jasmine Bradley, left, and Jermaine Pleasant attend an Aug. 3 vigil for their brother, slain teen activist Caleb Reed. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
One of the four votes to keep officers, council member Mary Vesic said she believed the school resource officer program, was valuable and could be improved with enough work, including meetings with the officers.
“Without that, we won’t be successful,” Vesic said. “... I’m willing to put in the work.”
Diane Munoz, a Mather teacher, spoke in support of keeping officers if they were trained and used properly.
“We are a culture of building relationships,” she said, adding that from her experience in CPS, “once you give things up, it’s hard to get them back.”
But others questioned whether the school’s current officers really have relationships with students, saying they mostly sit in an office all day.
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“I don’t think the SROs have done themselves a favor by not building relationships intentionally with our students,” Auffant said.
Teacher and LSC member Craig MacFarland, who voted in favor of officers, said while they don’t seem to interact much with students, “they are a nice safety net.”
Michael Krantz-Perlman, a special education teacher at nearby Boone Elementary, said when he takes his students on field trips to Mather, they ask him if those are real police and why they’re there.
“CPD has a history of working with” federal immigration authorities, he said during the town hall meeting. “They have a lot of fear when they walk in the doors and see an actual police officer with a weapon. My students have had various experiences with ICE, deportations with their families.”
Mourners gather in Chicago on Aug. 3 to memorialize Mather High student Caleb Reed. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Jasmine Bradley, left, comforts her brother Jermaine Pleasant during press conference outside Mather High School on Aug. 4, held to memorialize their brother, Caleb Reed. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Multiple special education educators spoke about their students having disproportionately high rates of police intervention.
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At Mather, students with individualized education plans were the subjects of 45% of police notifications, though they are only 15% of the school’s population, according to data presented by administrators. Districtwide, students with IEPs accounted for 35% of police notifications during the 2018-19 school year.
Mather administrators also presented community survey results, which had 561 responses. The majority of students, parents and staff who responded favored retaining officers, while most community members wanted them removed.
An LSC member who voted against keeping officers, Judith Acosta, said she knows families who had difficulty accessing the surveys and did not participate.
“I am Hispanic and believe me, I know how fearful it is to see a cop,” Acosta said. She recalled instances of driving with Latino children in the car who start shaking when they see police behind them.
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Boone parent Cassandra Kaczocha said her family has experienced anti-Black racism in CPS, from teachers who won’t make eye contact with her husband to treatment of her son.
“Raising a Black boy with learning differences, he’s the most impacted by having police in schools,” Kaczocha said. “All the data in CPS, in Mather, tells me he is the key stakeholder here. Black boys, Black girls with learning differences are the ones most likely to get arrested.”
As Mather’s discussion went on, several other LSCs around the city were meeting to take the same vote, including Senn High School two miles east, which also chose not to keep officers. At least eight other CPS high schools had already voted to remove school-based officers, including the district’s biggest school, Lane Tech, with more than 4,000 students. But of 72 district-run schools that had assigned officers last year, more have decided to keep them.
CPS’s new proposed budget would cut the spending for officers by more than half, in part because schools will remain closed at least until November because of COVID-19.
That means the district “is planning to continue spending $15 million on a program that criminalizes students, especially Black youth,” VOYCE leaders said in their statement, pushing for the removal of police from all schools and “a full reinvestment of those dollars on mental-health services.”
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The district’s current $33 million contract with the Chicago Police Department expires this month, and the Board of Education is expected to consider a new agreement at its Aug. 26 meeting. In defending the use of police in schools, CPS and city officials have emphasized the power given to LSCs, who were asked to vote on the practice by this Friday. But others have argued that it’s a false choice when schools aren’t presented with alternatives for spending the money that pays for officers.
Funding for the police contract comes out of the CPS budget, rather than individual school budgets. CPS officials this week said the reduction in spending on school police will “allow the district to support the significant investments it is making in other areas.”
At Mather, the transition to security without stationed officers will require community involvement, Auffant said, asking those present to stay for the rest of the meeting and continue to participate in matters such as budgeting and programming as much as they had regarding school police.
“The expectation is not that this is a one-and-done,” Auffant said. “That you’re here to support the school.”
hleone@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-12--Police: Three men attack, carjack driver at gunpoint Monday night in Oak Park

According to police , the man who attacked the driver is described as being Black , with a thin build @ @ @ @ @ 10-inches tall and was wearing a surgical mask , a red sweatshirt with a hood @ @ @ @ @ man is described as Black , about 20-years-old , with a thin build and was @ @ @ @ @ T-shirt , police said .

A Berwyn resident who had just parked his car in Oak Park was attacked and robbed at gunpoint during a Monday night robbery, police said.
The driver had just parked his 2015 Ford Edge in the 500 block of Wesley Avenue when three men approached him shortly after 10 p.m., police said.
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According to police, one of the men pointed a handgun at the driver and demanded his property. One of the other men then hit the driver and the gunman stole a cellphone and wallet from the driver, police said.
The three men then got into the driver’s car and drove north on Wesley Avenue, police said. Total estimated loss was $15,000.
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Police said the gunman is described as being Black, in his 20s, with a thin build, short hair in an afro style and was wearing a surgical mask, black shirt and jeans.
According to police, the man who attacked the driver is described as being Black, with a thin build, standing about 5-feet, 10-inches tall and was wearing a surgical mask, a red sweatshirt with a hood and jeans. The third man is described as Black, about 20-years-old, with a thin build and was wearing a surgical mask and T-shirt, police said.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Oak Park Police Department at 708-386-3800. Crime tips may also be provided anonymously at 708-434-1636 or online at www.oak-park.us/crimetip.
sschering@pioneerlocal.com
Twitter: @steveschering


chicagotribune--2020-08-12--Having an eating disorder during coronavirus is like being ‘in a maze blindfolded’

“ Every single day , there is some thought that makes it hard , ” Janicki says .
“ I @ @ @ @ @ to recognize that from me .
...
Sometimes it ’ s easy to get through @ @ @ @ @ s not .
There is no way you can go through this alone .
The @ @ @ @ @ it is that I am in a maze blindfolded trying to get through this maze @ @ @ @ @ around me without blindfolds helping me get through the maze .
”

April 24 was an important date for Brianna Janicki. It’s the day she began recovery from anorexia.
The 19-year-old nursing student at the University of Wisconsin at Parkside said her eating disorder began last year when she got sick from a parasite after a trip abroad. While she was sick, she lost a lot of weight and had a restricted diet to reintroduce food to her system. She says her doctor told her to weigh herself every day to get her weight back to what it was before.
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“I knew how to manipulate my weight to make myself smaller,” she says. “I was working out excessively. I was really watching what I ate. I would go to school and lie about what I was doing. My friends were concerned about me, but I denied it because I didn’t want to admit (I had a problem).”
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Janicki was sent to quarantine at her parents’ house in Naperville after her college campus closed. She says her parents noticed she wasn’t well, but she again denied there was a problem. Until April 24, when she broke down and admitted she needed to be in recovery for her eating disorder.
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Nineteen-year-old Brianna Janicki admitted in April that she needed help with her eating disorder. To help herself cope, Janicki says she journals and writes poetry to get her thoughts out in a creative way. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Janicki says having an eating disorder during this time has been a struggle. And she’s not alone. A study in the International Journal of Eating Disorders looked at the early impact of coronavirus. The study of 1,000 people from the United States and the Netherlands found that those with anorexia were restricting themselves more and feared being able to find foods consistent with their meal plan, while those with bulimia and binge eating disorder reported increases in their binge eating episodes and urges to binge.
Ellen Astrachan-Fletcher, a certified eating disorder specialist and regional clinical director of Eating Recovery Center in Illinois, says the study’s findings are similar to what she’s seen in patients during the pandemic.
“Absolutely, this is very consistent to what we are seeing, and I think that to a great degree,” she says. “The hardest component that’s been going on is isolation. They need connection for recovery. Connection is a huge component of mental well-being, if we don’t have connection we don’t do well.”
Janicki agrees and says it’s very easy to isolate from other people.
“When I first started recovery, I started talking to a dietitian over video chat,” she says. “Then I began doing therapy, and because it’s not the same as in-person treatment, it’s a lot easier to find loopholes. That’s the truth of it. My family and friends support me to help me not set back.”
Astrachan-Fletcher says people who exhibit more anorexic tendencies feel more comfortable isolating, and that is the complete opposite of what they need.
“When they are isolated, they don’t have support or accountability to keep those eating disordered thoughts away,” Astrachan-Fletcher says. “Without support, they think those thoughts are natural. This is why we encourage patients to virtually create a support group. Invite your friends for a virtual lunch, or call your parents and have them join for dinner. This is not for them to tell you what to eat, but to give you the support your body needs.”
Janicki says her relationship with food has gotten better, but eating still causes her anxiety. She says the real battle is separating her true thoughts from her eating disordered thoughts.
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“Every single day, there is some thought that makes it hard,” Janicki says. “I have people who know how to recognize that from me. ... Sometimes it’s easy to get through, and sometimes it’s not. There is no way you can go through this alone. The way that I think about it is that I am in a maze blindfolded trying to get through this maze, and there are people around me without blindfolds helping me get through the maze.”
These days, to help herself cope, Janicki says she journals and writes poetry to get her thoughts out in a creative way. She also practices kickboxing, not for exercise but for mental health and strength.
To spot disordered eating, Astrachan-Fletcher says to look for when the person prioritizes going for a workout over having a virtual date with friends or the person is rigidly trying to adhere to food rules.
“Other signs you’d see are agitation, depression and withdrawal,” Astrachan-Fletcher says. “If someone is struggling, reach out and connect. Share concern and encourage the person to recognize that they are not alone, even if they are sheltering in place alone.”
If you or someone is struggling with an eating disorder, call the National Eating Disorders Association, 800-931-2237.
hgreenspan@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-12--Girl, 4, dies after Gage Park house fire that also displaced 9 other residents

About 4:15 a.m. police and firefighters were called to the 5700 block of South Washtenaw Avenue , in the South @ @ @ @ @ , according to a statement from Chicago police .
The home was on fire and @ @ @ @ @ unresponsive ” by Chicago firefighters “ in the first-floor bedroom , ” according to police @

Peter Nickeas, Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas

Chicago fire and police investigators at the scene of a fatal fire in the 5700 block of South Washtenaw Avenue on Aug. 12, 2020. A 4-year-old died in the fire. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
A 4-year-old girl was found unresponsive in the room where a fire started early Wednesday in a Southwest Side home and was later pronounced dead, authorities said.
About 4:15 a.m. police and firefighters were called to the 5700 block of South Washtenaw Avenue, in the South Side neighborhood of Gage Park, according to a statement from Chicago police. The home was on fire and the girl was “discovered unresponsive” by Chicago firefighters “in the first-floor bedroom,” according to police.
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The 4-year-old was taken to Holy Cross Hospital where she died, according to police.
One firefighter suffered injuries while searching the home, but was doing all right, fire officials said in a morning news conference.
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The girl was visiting the home where the fire took place, and the fire appears to have started in the room where she was sleeping, according to Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
Preliminary investigation points to the fire being electrical in origin, Langford said. There were no working smoke detectors found in the home, and firefighters heard no smoke alarms when they entered the home, he said.
Family members tried to rescue the girl when they became aware of the fire, but the smoke was too heavy for them, Langford said.
Firefighters arrived on-scene four minutes after the first call, and found the girl in the bedroom, he said. They passed the girl out a window to a battalion chief, and firefighters began working to try to save her life.
Neighbor Jorge McKoy, 73, said he saw the firefighters carrying the girl and immediately starting CPR on her. He saw two firefighters with the girl, one carrying her, one doing chest compressions, he said.
“Despite the best efforts the young girl rescued has died,” the Fire Department posted on social media.
CFD will distribute smoke alarms and safety information at the scene of the fatal fire on Washtenaw at 10 this morning. Despite the best efforts the young girl rescued has died. — Chicago Fire Media (@CFDMedia) August 12, 2020
There were nine other people in the home, but no one else reported injuries, according to police.
A death investigation has been launched, officials said. Detectives, firefighters and arson investigators will work together to determine what sparked the fire.
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Police said “the home is uninhabitable,” and the other occupants were displaced but “have found other shelter,” as of Wednesday morning.
Firefighters found a bracket for a smoke detector on the first floor of the home, but no smoke detector, and a smoke detector on the second floor that wasn’t working, Langford said.
Check back for updates.
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-08-12--‘Everything is a risk vs. benefit equation these days and it is exhausting’ — What 29 Chicago-area p

‘Everything is a risk vs. benefit equation these days and it is exhausting’ — What 29 Chicago-area parents have to say about going back to school

That I ’ m paying tuition for private school ( we have always been private , this isn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ E-learning for elementary kids doesn ’ t work .
I would prefer a home-school program @ @ @ @ @ home .
If I didn ’ t know how well my 5-year-old daughter did the @ @ @ @ @ last year , I would have taken her for an ADD assessment in April .
@ @ @ @ @ on that screen for 30 seconds .
Their little brains aren ’ t built for @ @ @ @ @ in their behaviors .
I recommend taking a look at the increase in ADD diagnoses @ @ @ @ @ .
I ’ m going to guess it ’ s off the charts .

Going back to school is “very safe.”
“In-person school is not safe. Period.”
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“Going back is more risk than reward, ultimately.”
“We have to take calculated risks as we move forward.”
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The Tribune surveyed parents on how they look at going back to school virtually or in-person in the fall and the answers, like the quotes above, cover a complete range of approaches, reactions and emotions.
More than 75 people from across the area responded and shared their thoughts, worries and plans about returning to school. There was anger, understanding, patience and frustration.
The answers illustrate that deciding how to handle the risks of a pandemic, the needs of a family, the responsibilities of parenting is not easy and not uniform. Here are some of the answers from the survey.
(Jemal R. Brinson)
Are you satisfied with how your school is communicating its plans to deal with COVID-19?
I am more than satisfied, I think they are handling it in the best way they can. They have had weekly meetings over Zoom for as long as I can remember, send out frequent email updates and have been extremely transparent about the whole process.
How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
I think given the smaller class sizes, schools are about as safe as any other activity. I think with all students and staff wearing masks, everyone is as safe as they can be. Obviously not as safe as if everyone were to just be at home, but I think we have to take calculated risks as we move forward and I don’t think my child attending school two days a week, as is offered in our district, is a bad compromise.
Do you think remote learning is the right choice?
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I think for some students, it is the right choice. But it’s not the right choice for everyone. There are students who are able to learn easily in a remote setting, and those who really need the face to face instruction. I think a lot of it depends on how involved the parents are. If they can embrace a true home-school situation, I think most students would thrive. But when we’re juggling working from home and trying to home-school, that’s where things get very difficult.
— Beth Houston (seventh grader, Chicago Heights)
(Jemal R. Brinson)
Are you more worried about your child’s academic growth if he/she has prolonged remote learning this school year?
Yes, the spring was not ideal despite a tutor shared with one family. It is difficult to keep them focused on a screen for the remote learning. Learning in a very small group resulted in more competition between the kids than a larger group seems to generate.
What are you most worried about with going back to school?
No specific worry
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How would you rate your safety concerns about going back to in-person school?
Very low
— Nicolas Raucourt (first grader, Chicago)
How is your school handing the pandemic?
Combination.
Are you satisfied with how your school is communicating its plans to deal with COVID-19?
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Our district has been quite open and responsive to questions as they arise.
How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
It is definitely risky. Our kids will be with half of their peers for six hours, two days a week. It is less safe than going to a doctor or orthodontist appointment and much less safe than a meal out or outdoor activity.
What do your kids think about it?
My older two have autism and want the routine of school. They are high schoolers and want to be in person. My neurotypical middle schooler craves social interaction and longs for a teacher in front of him to teach and explain and answer questions. He wanted the option of doing the hybrid model.
Is there anything different you are going to do from the spring? If so, what?
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We are remote learning two days a week. We will put desks in their rooms so they can have dedicated space for Zoom calls and work. Headphones and white boards are a must.
Do you think remote learning is the right choice?
I do think it is a valid choice because our kids' health is important, as is the health of our society.
— Lisa Smith (sixth, ninth and 11th graders, Lake Zurich)
(Jemal R. Brinson)
How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
In-person school is not safe. Period. I know schools are doing everything to make safe learning environments, but I honestly do not believe it’s possible.
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Is there anything different you are going to do from the spring? If so, what?
Yes!!! They will both have their own work spaces outside of their rooms. It will be difficult because all of us will be working remotely but we have to get them out and make it feel like a real school day. We will also monitor their work more.
If you are planning for remote learning, who in your household is primarily responsible for supervising it?
Both my husband and I work, so truly we will be monitoring.
Do you think remote learning is the right choice?
I honestly think it’s the only choice at this moment.
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Do you have concerns about balancing work and home if your children do not return to school or return on a partial schedule?
Absolutely. But we need to remember that we’re all making the best of a very difficult situation. I have to teach from home while my kids are trying to learn from home. But we are going to do our best.
— Stacey Hendricks (seventh and 10th graders, Oak Park)
How is your school handing the pandemic?
Combination.
Are you satisfied with how your school is communicating its plans to deal with COVID-19?
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Mostly.
How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
Moderately safe.
What do your kids think about it?
They want to go back.
What are you most worried about with going back to school?
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Exposing elderly grandparents.
— Nicole Goodfellow (10th, 12th graders and pre-K, Oak Lawn)
How is your school handing the pandemic?
Remote learning.
Are you satisfied with how your school is communicating its plans to deal with COVID-19?
No, not at all. The school’s solution is to go remote. The school district had a plan for parents to choose eLearning or in-person until last week, when the district announced school is going all remote. Only 30% signed up for eLearning before the change. Parents and taxpayers’ wishes do not matter.
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How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
I understand there’s risk everywhere you go. I would send my child to school if a hybrid option was offered. I consider education to be essential and worth the risk. I have a 5-year-old who needs to learn in person. Almost everything is open that’s not essential but schools are closed because the risk is too high. We have our priorities backward!
— Viola Houle (kindergartner, Mount Prospect)
(Jemal R. Brinson)
Are you satisfied with how your school is communicating its plans to deal with COVID-19?
It would be nice to have more certainty around these decisions but that can’t be helped. The school is doing a great job of keeping us in the loop.
How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
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I believe if bars and gyms can be open and conduct business indoors then schools are a no-brainer for in-person learning
Is there anything different you are going to do from the spring? If so, what?
We are researching online high schools and won’t hesitate to pull our freshman out of his public high school if we feel remote learning isn’t working.
— Jennifer Pettersen (ninth grader and college freshman, Lake Bluff)
How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
Safer than going to an indoor bar, less safe than going to grocery store. More risk than reward, ultimately.
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What do your kids think about it?
Our 7-year-old wants to go back.
Is there anything different you are going to do from the spring? If so, what?
Not much. I just hope the quality of remote instruction, particularly in-person Google chat increases, as there was two hours of virtual classroom a week at our school.
Do you have concerns about balancing work and home if your children do not return to school or return on a partial schedule?
Slight concerns. I have a job that is not centered on meetings, so I can, more often than not, pause what I’m doing in order to help my daughter out. The hard part is what to do when she doesn’t have schoolwork.
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— Michael Bennett (second grader, Chicago)
(Jemal R. Brinson)
How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
Having an autoimmune disease, my family is already on high alert. Although there are many negatives with them being socially and educationally distant from everyone, they are in the safety of our home until there is a progress in beating the pandemic.
Is there anything different you are going to do from the spring? If so, what?
I have had to quit my day job to be home to help them navigate. We have set up a special room for their learning. In the spring we were more lax because it was stressful. Now we will be strict in adhering to a schedule. We will also try to find ways to bring them some other activities in their life. Still trying to figure that out.
Are you more worried about your child’s academic growth if he/she has prolonged remote learning this school year?
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I am worried about all three, but I also trust that I will be able to be there to help them.
Do you think remote learning is the right choice?
Yes.
— Heather Moran (ninth grader, freshman and junior in college, Wauconda)
How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
We have been able to maintain physical distancing for nearly all activities thus far. To me, in-person schooling is risky because it will be very difficult to maintain distancing and keep face masks on properly, while providing a nurturing environment for learning.
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Is there anything different you are going to do from the spring? If so, what?
Yes. Remote learning will be different with more live, teacher-led instruction. We will have dedicated space for our kids like a classroom.
If you are planning for remote learning, who in your household is primarily responsible for supervising it?
Both parents will help while we are both working.
Do you have concerns about balancing work and home if your children do not return to school or return on a partial schedule?
Of course. But it’s worth it.
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— Kristin Kirby (third grader and kindergartner, Naperville)
(Jemal R. Brinson)
What do your kids think about it?
Our kids have been awesome. They get it and have not complained. They are disappointed, however they understand the science behind our decisions. We have a daughter who is 15 and a son who is 18. Our daughter will be a sophomore at Naperville North High School. Our son was to be a freshman at Western Michigan in the Lee Honors Program, but is now registered at COD all online.
If you are planning for remote learning, who in your household is primarily responsible for supervising it?
Our kids are of an age that they can do it themselves. If they need help, their mom is the primary person to assist them.
Are you more worried about your child’s academic growth if he/she has prolonged remote learning this school year?
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I wish our district had looked to online academies for guidance. I am concerned our teachers are lacking resources and training for this environment. That is a long-winded way of saying, yes I am concerned. Our daughter is amazing at self guided. Not so certain about how our son is going to fare with this process.
Do you think remote learning is the right choice?
YES!!! I am terrified of the district saying we HAVE to go to in person. We have discussed doing an online academy and dropping out of our school system, which would be horrible.
— Ann Marie Crew (10th grader and freshman in college, Lisle)
Are you satisfied with how your school is communicating its plans to deal with COVID-19?
Disappointed. Majority of parents want in person and yet the in-person option is a strange mix of watching class virtually and a facilitating teacher on hand. Tough for a kindergartner.
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How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
Very safe, all the reports have shown our kids are safe.
What do your kids think about it?
He just wants to go to school
— Mary Birkhauser (kindergartner, Lake Forest)
(Jemal R. Brinson)
How is your school handing the pandemic?
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In person.
What are you most worried about with going back to school?
That we will switch back to remote learning at some point.
How would you rate your safety concerns about going back to in-person school?
Extremely low. My son has been at day care since June 1 and they have done a great job at managing COVID restrictions, and there have been no staff or student COVID infections.
What changes is your school making for safety?
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Masks, social distancing, smaller classes, kids stay with the same group all day.
— Kristina Dougherty (first grader, Wheaton)
How is your school handing the pandemic?
Combination.
Are you satisfied with how your school is communicating its plans to deal with COVID-19?
Yes, our school has effectively communicated the process: from survey, asking for volunteers for a task force, and then publishing regular updates and school board meeting times.
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How would you rate your safety concerns about going back to in-person school?
I am concerned for his safety but believe the school has put into place all appropriate safety measures. If it appears there is a gap, I will transition him to remote. I fully support our district’s commitment to attempt a hybrid option.
— Colleen Halloran (12th grader, Downers Grove)
(Jemal R. Brinson)
How is your school handing the pandemic?
In person.
How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
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Not safe. I’m sure the school will make every effort but that won’t be enough.
Are you worried about your child’s mental health if he/she has prolonged remote learning this school year?
Absolutely. Both kids miss being around their classmates — they are lonely.
Are you more worried about your child’s academic growth if he/she has prolonged remote learning this school year?
Yes, I don’t think they retain as much of what they learn when it’s taught online. Their schoolteachers were very engaging, so to be home is a real loss.
— Jane Jeffries (sixth and eighth graders, Oak Park)
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Do you think remote learning is the right choice?
Not how it is currently structured. If it was a real, robust program, it would be a better choice.
Is your employer flexible about your work/life balance considering the school situation?
Yes, to the extent possible for me. I can work remotely for part of the week, but still need to work on-site for a significant amount of time due to the nature of my work.
My spouse works from home, but the nature of his job means any cut back in his time results in a cut back in his pay.
— Amanda Shanbaum (fifth and ninth graders, Chicago)
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(Jemal R. Brinson)
How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
This is a case of the school district promising more than it can deliver. Have the HVAC systems been cleaned and sanitized ? Can some classes be held outside? Are PPE materials readily available? Have staff been properly trained to handle this new normal of enforcing masking and social distancing?
— Wanda Higgins (kindergartner, Peoria)
Do you have concerns about balancing work and home if your children do not return to school or return on a partial schedule?
Absolutely. It terrifies me that I might lose my job. They have been flexible allowing me to work remotely but I am not sure how long this will last, nor do I know how much I will have to participate/oversee the remote learning of my second grader.
Is your employer flexible about your work/life balance considering the school situation?
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So far but unsure how long this will last. Also unsure how much participation and overseeing remote learning will require. Can I even work from home if I am having to assist my second grader all day.
— Kerstin Nikolich (second grader, Gilberts, Ill.)
How is your school handing the pandemic?
Remote learning for my oldest’s high school. We have since decided to transfer to a private school in order to hopefully give her more in-person options. This is not easy on our family, but we feel this is the best thing we can do right now for her.
Our two daughters in junior high are doing a hybrid plan and we are very proud of our district and how they are thinking outside the box to get the girls into school. They have even rented large tents to provide outside learning options for our kids.
How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
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Very safe. Desks spread apart, masks on, constant hand washing. Much safer than letting the kids congregate outside of school.
Do you have concerns about balancing work and home if your children do not return to school or return on a partial schedule?
I work part time. But as far as life at home, we are going on six months and you can imagine what being home for six months with 3 teenage girls is like.
— Julie Heatherly (sixth, seventh and 10th graders, Western Springs)
(Jemal R. Brinson)
Do you have concerns about balancing work and home if your children do not return to school or return on a partial schedule?
Yes — both parents work full time.
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Do you have to change hours or shifts at work to accommodate school changes?
Yes — work from home and might have to hire help during the daytime.
What do your kids think about it?
They want to be back in school.
— Jill Duffy-Baricovich (kindergardener and fourth grader, Chicago)
Is there anything different you are going to do from the spring? If so, what?
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I will be watching the teachers very closely, monitoring the teachers’ involvement and the quality of education they are providing, and I will be much more vocal about my expectations and dismay, if needed.
Do you think remote learning is the right choice?
Absolutely not.
— Doris Appel (10th grader, Glenview)
How is your school handing the pandemic?
Remote learning.
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What do your kids think about it?
My children (third and fifth grader) were pretty devastated. One started crying right away. The other one (who always keeps her emotions hidden) was just very sad.
Do you think remote learning is the right choice?
Absolutely NOT!!! I am still appalled at our district’s decision — and I know for a fact that most of my neighbors and friends are feeling exact the same about this if not worse.
Do you have concerns about balancing work and home if your children do not return to school or return on a partial schedule?
Yes, absolutely! I have four children — on top of it we have a family business to run! And then of course never-ending house chores ...
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— Natasha Kuzmenko (third and fifth graders, Buffalo Grove)
(Jemal R. Brinson)
Are you satisfied with how your school is communicating its plans to deal with COVID-19?
No. Teachers need to man up just like all other workers did when we were in lockdown. They went to school to teach our kids, so they should be doing that. Parents cannot stay home to be teachers.
How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
They are fine. Schools need to put precautions in place for COVID and kids need to learn to adapt.
How would you rate your safety concerns about going back to in-person school?
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Little. He knows to stay clean and avoid others.
— Matt Burnett (fifth grader, Round Lake)
How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
Safer then going to Walmart, safer then going to bars and restaurants. With the right measures it can be extremely safe.
Are you more worried about your child’s academic growth if he/she has prolonged remote learning this school year?
More than anything. Remote can never be as good. Period.
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— Jeffery Kelly (sixth grader, Chicago)
Is there anything different you are going to do from the spring? If so, what?
He will have a teacher remote teaching him every day.
Do you have concerns about balancing work and home if your children do not return to school or return on a partial schedule?
No, because we did this once in the spring and we can do it again.
— Erin Janiszewski (kindergartner, Oak Lawn)
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How is your school handing the pandemic?
In person.
How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
Safer than bars, restaurants, protests, and mass summer gatherings. Definitely safer than getting your hair cut and nails done.
What are you most worried about with going back to school?
That we will get one to two weeks in and (Gov. J.B.) Pritzker shuts us all down.
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That I’m paying tuition for private school (we have always been private, this isn’t new) for e-learning. E-learning for elementary kids doesn’t work. I would prefer a home-school program if we have to be home. If I didn’t know how well my 5-year-old daughter did the first six months of kindergarten last year, I would have taken her for an ADD assessment in April. She couldn’t focus on that screen for 30 seconds. Their little brains aren’t built for it and it comes out in their behaviors. I recommend taking a look at the increase in ADD diagnoses and med prescriptions by November. I’m going to guess it’s off the charts.
— Kim Brooks (first, sixth and eighth graders, Chicago)
(Jemal R. Brinson)
Are you worried about your child’s mental health if he/she has prolonged remote learning this school year?
Yes, he is 6 years old, we do everything we can to limit his screen time, and now we're supposed to plop him in front of an iPad all day?
Do you think remote learning is the right choice?
Not for my son, though it might be for others. Everything is a risk vs. benefit equation these days and it is exhausting. What is most frustrating to me is how politicized it has become. Some who are supportive of remote learning talk about “the science” as if research is absolutely clear that in-person school is going to kill people and anyone who doesn’t agree with them is reckless and irresponsible. However public health officials like the Chicago Department of Public Health and the American Academy of Pediatrics have been encouraging safe ways to conduct in-person school. I don’t think those groups are science deniers.
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Do you think in-person school is the right choice?
Yes. For my family the great benefit of in-person school far outweighs the low risk of my 6-year-old contracting COVID. I wish the federal government would help make schools safer by funding testing, contact tracing, ventilation, air filtration, and smaller class sizes. I’m concerned that remote learning is going to significantly widen education gaps. Private schools are more likely to be able to provide in-person school safely by providing COVID testing for teachers and students, keeping small class sizes to limit exposure, and using facilities with more flexibility to accommodate safety protocols. Kids in public schools will fall further behind as they are left to fumble through remote learning again.
Do you have concerns about balancing work and home if your children do not return to school or return on a partial schedule?
Yes, I work in an emergency room. We have a 6-year-old, 3-year-old, and an infant. It’s not fair to have to put all the burden on my wife to home-school my son again while she is trying to care for the younger kids too.
— Scott Dresden (first grader, Chicago)
Is there anything different you are going to do from the spring? If so, what?
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In the spring I took time off to help with school and any technical glitches. We will try to do the same and be available as much as possible.
Are you worried about your child’s mental health if he/she has prolonged remote learning this school year?
My kids are coping well. I hope they won’t need to do the whole school year. But I think at least the first quarter should be remote.
— Melissa Soto (fifth and eighth graders, Chicago)
How safe do you consider school compared with other activities during the pandemic?
More risky because I can’t control the contact pool.
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Are you worried about your child’s mental health if he/she has prolonged remote learning this school year?
Not at all.
Are you more worried about your child’s academic growth if he/she has prolonged remote learning this school year?
No. They can catch up.
Do you think remote learning is the right choice?
Absolutely.
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— Mackenzie Wardyn (fourth and seventh graders, Chicago)


chicagotribune--2020-08-12--Column: What did we learn from the killing of George Floyd? The police shooting in Englewood shows n

Column: What did we learn from the killing of George Floyd? The police shooting in Englewood shows not very much.

Before any of the facts of the shooting could be verified , the campaign began — as it always does @ @ @ @ @ as a menace who deserved exactly what he got .
We seemed to forget everything @ @ @ @ @ about the importance of looking at police shootings with skepticism and examining each with a @ @ @

Officers stand near crime scene tape after an argument erupted between police and residents after Latrell Allen was shot three times by CPD officers after he allegedly fired several rounds at two officers near the 5700 block of South Racine Avenue in the Englewood neighborhood on Aug. 9, 2020. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
After months of protests and civil unrest over the police killing of George Floyd, Chicagoans were tested Monday on what we have learned.
We failed miserably.
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In our collective anger over the looting that occurred in the aftermath of a police shooting in Englewood, we lost focus on the most important thing — human life.
Police shot another Black man on Sunday. This time it wasn’t fatal, but we all know it could have been. Many African Americans are rightfully angry.
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It is understandable why others are upset that one of the most beautiful parts of our city was ripped apart. No one wants to see Chicago thrown into a chaotic free fall. We want the looters brought to justice, and we never want to see this happen again.
But it most certainly will — if we refuse to address why it happened in the first place.
Before any of the facts of the shooting could be verified, the campaign began — as it always does — to paint the victim as a menace who deserved exactly what he got. We seemed to forget everything we’d learned recently about the importance of looking at police shootings with skepticism and examining each with a critical eye.
Perhaps 20-year-old Latrell Allen did shoot officers as they pursued him on foot. Maybe the yet unidentified cop had no choice but to return fire. In fact, maybe everything the police said about the incident is true, but we don’t know for sure because they weren’t wearing mandatory body cameras.
That’s a big problem, and it’s unacceptable.
There are always two sides to a story. And when it comes to encounters between police officers and Black men, the story inevitably is more complex than it might initially appear. When relations between the community and law enforcement already are fragile, a police shooting can take some to the breaking point.
Police officials must be careful not to further fan the flames of discontent. That apparently didn’t happen Sunday or Monday.
Police Superintendent David Brown was quick to unequivocally connect the looting in the Loop to the shooting and subsequent standoff between police and residents in Englewood. Though the Civilian Office of Police Accountability was still investigating the shooting, Brown rattled off details Monday as if they were facts.
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In truth, he was only repeating at the time what the cops who did the shooting said. Recent history has proven that offending officers don’t always tell the truth.
What we know for certain is that police shot Allen five times, and he is recovering at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
Though there were conflicting witness accounts of the shooting, authorities immediately charged Allen with attempted murder. Prosecutors said Tuesday that police pursued him because he matched the description of a man with a gun who was trying to start a fight in a park where children were playing. Bond was set at $1 million.
Police insist that Allen fired a gun at officers multiple times, even tweeting a picture of his discarded weapon on the ground. One witness, however, said Allen was unarmed and was pleading for his life. Tenisha Caldwell told CBS 2 that Allen was crying and holding up his hands. He was asking, “Why you keep shooting me?”
Clearly, either the witness is lying or the police are lying. Whom people choose to believe largely depends on their perspective on crime and whether police should be given the benefit of the doubt.
There is, of course, no right or wrong answer when no one other that the people involved knows exactly what happened. The only hope of getting at the truth anytime soon is if a bystander did what police officers failed to do — capture it all on video.
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It is for that reason body cameras were made mandatory for all patrol officers as part of reforms enacted after then police Officer Jason Van Dyke murdered Laquan McDonald.
There have been several cases across the country recently in which police initially gave an account of a shooting and the body camera or other video proved it to be a lie. At times, the video substantiated the officer’s version.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday said the specialty team officers weren’t assigned body cameras due to the recent CPD reorganization and a shortage related to the city’s camera purchasing contract.
But just two months ago, she stressed the importance of body cams. She vowed that officers who don’t abide by the rules would be disciplined and, when appropriate, fired from the department. This clearly was a crucial breakdown in the system.
Chicagoans also need to know the truth about the standoff Sunday between Englewood residents and police after the shooting. Misinformation spread quickly, as it often does when people don’t trust police. Tempers flared, emotions peaked and a community that has suffered numerous police shootings was again on edge.
We saw pictures of dozens of cops facing off with residents, the two sides separated by a string of yellow tape. Police officials were quick to report that one officer was hit with pepper spray and another suffered a minor shoulder injury. We were even told that a police car window was shattered by a brick.
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Authorities, however, failed to mention that the officers might have helped to escalate tensions. Black Lives Matter Chicago issued a statement Tuesday saying that residents were traumatized over the shooting and wanted to protect members of the community from harm, but CPD was only interested in protecting itself.
According to the statement, the officers responded with assault rifles, tear gas and batons. “These cops intimidated and beat people for nothing more than being at the scene of CPD violence,” it said.
South Side community activist Joseph Williams described in a video posted on Twitter how police grabbed a young man from the group, ripped his shirt and threw him on the ground.
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“All the police rushed out behind and started to chase people left to right, pulling out their sticks and trying to punch people, swinging on people,” Williams said.
“It’s just sad that you going to come into a community … where police already just shot a young man, now you going to fight them and whoop on the community at the same time. It’s got to be a better approach.”
Regardless of who is telling the truth about the shooting, one thing is certain. The absence of body cameras worsened the relationship between police and some members of the community.
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As long as such animosity exists, there will never be peace.
This column was edited at 9:20 a.m. on Aug. 12, 2020, to correct the manner of George Floyd’s death.
dglanton@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @dahleeng


chicagotribune--2020-08-12--Sumner Redstone, who built media empire including CBS and Viacom, dies at age 97

Besides being ruthless , Redstone was known for being doggedly determined .
In 1979 , he survived a fire at @ @ @ @ @ Hotel by gripping a third-floor window ledge with his right arm still inside .
He @ @ @ @ @ his body , his right wrist was nearly severed , and he was told he @ @ @ @ @ But he eventually recovered , and even was able to play tennis by strapping the @ @ @ @ @

Sumner Redstone attends the premiere of "Seven Psychopaths" in Los Angeles in 2012. (Matt Sayles / AP)
Sumner Redstone, who built a media empire from his family's drive-in movie chain, has died. He was 97.
ViacomCBS Inc., which he lead for decades, remembered Redstone for his “unparalleled passion to win, his endless intellectual curiosity, and his complete dedication to the company.”
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Redstone built the company through aggressive acquisitions, but many headlines with his name focused on severed ties with wives, actors and executives. In multiple interviews, he said he’d never die.
His tight-fisted grip on the National Amusements theater chain, which controlled CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. through voting stock, was passed to his daughter Shari Redstone, who battled top executives to re-merge the two entities that split in 2006.
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Sumner Redstone’s battles with his own family were as dramatic as his corporate maneuvers. Son Brent Redstone once sued his father to break up his media empire — then settled for a princely sum to give up his voting shares.
Redstone, a lanky man with a thick Boston accent, was married and divorced twice — first to Phyllis Gloria Raphael, mother of his children Shari and Brent — then to schoolteacher Paula Fortunato, a woman 39 years his junior.
Under his watch, Viacom became one of the nation’s media titans, home to pay TV channels MTV and Comedy Central and movie studio Paramount Pictures. Redstone often told interviewers, “content is king.”
And he was right. Despite sagging TV ratings at Viacom, his vast shareholdings in Viacom and CBS led Forbes magazine to estimate his net worth at $4.6 billion.
Besides being ruthless, Redstone was known for being doggedly determined. In 1979, he survived a fire at Boston’s Copley Plaza Hotel by gripping a third-floor window ledge with his right arm still inside. He suffered third-degree burns over half his body, his right wrist was nearly severed, and he was told he would never walk again. But he eventually recovered, and even was able to play tennis by strapping the racket to his wrist.
“I intend to live forever!” he told Upstart Business Journal in 2009.
Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone smiles during the announcement of a merger between CBS and Viacom in New York in 1999. (Suzanne Plunkett/AP)
Born in 1923 in Boston, Redstone was the oldest son of Michael and Belle Rothstein, who changed the family name to Redstone.
Redstone graduated first in his class from Boston Latin School in 1940 and completed his education at Harvard in less than three years. He was selected to work on an Army intelligence team during World War II that cracked Japan’s military codes.
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After three years in the Army he went to Harvard Law School and became a partner at a Washington law firm. He gave it up to join his father’s drive-in movie business in 1954. Redstone grew it into a major chain of multi-screen movie houses called National Amusements Inc.
The privately held company became the base for his media empire, and the source of all his family’s feuds.
He made a killing by trading in the stocks of Hollywood studios and in 1987 — the year he turned 64 — bought Viacom in a hostile takeover for $3.4 billion, most of it borrowed, ousting founder Ralph Baruch as chairman.
Critics said that a cable network based on music videos was doomed, but Redstone disagreed, and rebuffed efforts from the company’s bankers to unload the fledgling MTV. Instead, he expanded its reach, bringing it into Europe, Asia, Latin America and Russia.
Redstone next went after Paramount Pictures, a four-year process that ended with a friendly offer from Viacom for $10 billion in 1993. He scooped up the Blockbuster video rental chain for its then-healthy cash flow, not knowing then that videotape rentals would collapse.
Viacom then swallowed CBS Corp. for $34.5 billion in September 1999, then the largest media merger until the AOL-Time Warner union came months later.
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The deal brought Redstone together with CBS chief Mel Karmazin, another tough-talking executive from humble origins. By June 2004, Karmazin was out, later to become head of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. CBS and Viacom were split into two public companies both under his control in 2006.
Another victim of Redstone’s rise: Tom Cruise, whose couch-jumping on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and embrace of Scientology led Redstone to cut short a deal with Cruise and his production company.
“We don’t think that someone who effectuates creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot,” he told The Wall Street Journal in 2006. The two later patched things up ahead of the making of “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.”
By 2010, Redstone’s hand in the business became unwelcome. He shepherded onto TV a show featuring a scantily-clad girl group, the Electric Barbarellas, over protests from within. The day it aired, MTV Networks CEO Judy McGrath resigned. Then he was scandalized further after reporter Peter Lauria made public a voicemail in which Redstone offered to bribe him to reveal the leaker of the story about his meddling.
Redstone clashed with his two children. He bought son Brent’s stake in National Amusements to settle a lawsuit in 2007. And after favoring daughter Shari as his successor, they hit a cold patch.
In May 2015, he released a statement saying that after he dies, his ownership stakes in CBS and Viacom, through National Amusements, would be managed by a seven-person trust. The trust listed as trustees Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, daughter Shari, her son Tyler Korff, and four lawyers. It is for the benefit of his five grandchildren. Shari was alone in opposing Dauman’s re-election to Viacom’s board in February 2016, and Redstone kicked Dauman and board member George Abrams out of the trust in May amid legal squabbling.
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In late 2015, former companion Manuela Herzer sued Redstone after he kicked her out of his estate. The suit revealed a strange, secluded life in his Beverly Park mansion that included frequent demands for sex and steak.
Media titan Sumner Redstone and his daughter Shari in 2012. (Katy Winn/AP)
The suit alleged Redstone was hospitalized numerous times in 2014, leaving him with a feeding tube, catheter and severe speech impediments. Herzer described him as a “living ghost.” A judge rejected the suit, but Herzer continued to pursue legal action against Shari Redstone, alleging criminal racketeering.
Daughter Shari Redstone was locked in a legal battle to merge CBS and Viacom. In May 2018, she sued CBS for trying to strip her of control in a series of maneuvers orchestrated by CBS CEO Les Moonves, who has opposed the merger because it would be detrimental to non-Redstone CBS shareholders.
Her aim was reportedly to re-unite the companies and then sell them off or merge them with a third company.
Moonves was fired by the board after The New Yorker reported on allegations that he has assaulted multiple women; Moonves has denied the reports.
CBS and Viacom agreed to merge in 2019, undoing the split Redstone had carried out 13 years earlier. National Amusements gave unanimous approval to the deal, with Redstone among the directors voting in favor.


chicagotribune--2020-08-12--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened on Aug. 11 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

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Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
The Chicago Department of Public Health on Tuesday removed Iowa, Kansas and Utah from the city’s travel quarantine list. Currently visitors or residents returning from 20 states and territories are ordered to self-quarantine for 14 days when they arrive in the city to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
The announcement came as Illinois public health officials on Tuesday announced 1,549 new confirmed case of COVID-19 and 20 additional deaths. The state has now reported 196,948 cases overall and 7,657 confirmed deaths.
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Meanwhile, the Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the state’s request for a stay in a downstate legal challenge to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s coronavirus-related executive orders. The state’s highest court also indicated it would consider the state’s request that it determine whether Pritzker has the power to issue continued emergency orders due to the pandemic.
Also on Tuesday, the Big Ten became the first Power Five conference to postpone its fall season because of concerns about competing during the pandemic. The move likely will reverberate throughout sports as conferences and universities grapple with the financial fallout of a canceled sports season and the risk of coronavirus breakouts on campuses.
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[ COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: A daily update on key metrics in your area ]
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
[ Illinois’ new COVID-19 plan: How the state will manage any outbreaks in 3 charts ]
[ Illinois coronavirus graphs: The latest on deaths, confirmed cases, tests and more ]
Here’s what’s happening Tuesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7:20 p.m.: Pritzker’s rule to penalize businesses that don’t enforce face mask rule withstands GOP challenge in legislative panel vote
A panel of state lawmakers on Tuesday let stand Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s emergency rule that would fine businesses up to $2,500 for not enforcing mandatory face mask rules.
Pritzker’s emergency rule first survived by a 6-5 vote by the bipartisan rule-making panel to block it, which would have required eight votes. The legislative panel then adopted a certification of no objection to the rule Pritzker’s administration filed on Friday.
“We think as we’re seeing (coronavirus case) numbers tick up now, it’s a very critical moment and it’s important to have this in place,” Pritzker’s top attorney, Ann Spillane, told lawmakers before their vote.
After the vote by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Pritzker issued a statement saying the rule “will help ensure that the minority of people who refuse to act responsibly won’t take our state backward.”
Read more here. —Jamie Munks
7 p.m.: What’s keeping Washington from a coronavirus relief deal, explained
Hopes that talks on a huge COVID-19 relief deal would generate an agreement soon are fizzling, with both the Trump administration negotiating team and top congressional Democrats adopting hard lines and testy attitudes.
Now that President Donald Trump has issued a series of executive edicts and the national political conventions are set to begin, consuming the attention of both Trump and top Democrats, the talks seem to be on an indefinite pause. The urgency has evaporated now that rank-and-file lawmakers have been set free for the August recess, and while both sides still want an agreement — and pressure is likely to remain high — it’s looking more like a September legislating effort than an August one.
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The impasse leaves millions of jobless people without a $600-per-week pandemic bonus jobless benefit that has helped families stay afloat, leaves state and local governments seeking fiscal relief high and dry, and holds back a more than $100 billion school aid package. Money for other priorities, including the election, may come too late, if at all.
Still, it’s not like Washington politicians to leave so much money on the table. No one is giving up on an accord, though near-term prospects aren’t promising.
Based on weeks of reporting on the talks, here’s a look at the key obstacles to an agreement. —The Associated Press
6:13 p.m.: ‘A smoking gun’: Scientists have confirmation of infectious coronavirus retrieved from hospital air
Skeptics of the notion that the coronavirus spreads through the air — including many expert advisers to the World Health Organization — have held out for one missing piece of evidence: proof that floating respiratory droplets called aerosols contain live virus and not just fragments of genetic material.
Now a team of virologists and aerosol scientists has produced exactly that: confirmation of infectious virus in the air.
“This is what people have been clamoring for,” said Linsey Marr, an expert in airborne spread of viruses who was not involved in the work. “It’s unambiguous evidence that there is infectious virus in aerosols.”
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Read more here. —The New York Times
5:47 p.m.: Cook County clerk’s Loop office to reopen Wednesday after employee tests positive for COVID-19
A Cook County clerk’s office employee tested positive for coronavirus, shutting down the Loop office on Tuesday.
The employee last worked on the 5th floor of 69 W. Washington St. on Aug. 6, according to clerk’s office spokesman John Mirkovic. As the employee quarantined after the test result, cleaning crews swept through the floor to prepare it for reopening on Wednesday, Mirkovic said.
The office, which was closed starting early morning Tuesday, will open its lobby back up to visitors Wednesday morning.
—Alice Yin
5:15 p.m.: Gary to reopen beaches Friday at reduced capacity
Gary will partly reopen beaches starting Friday, Mayor Jerome Prince said.
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Marquette Park’s shelters and parking lots are limited to 75% capacity, he said. Gary Police and Lake County Sheriff’s deputies will turn away crowds over the limit, he said.
“I’m confident we have developed a plan to provide access to our beautiful beaches and parks while still controlling the number of people visiting the sites, which is important in our fight against the spread of the virus,” Prince said in a statement.
This phase goes through at least Labor Day, he said. The city announced a temporary two-week closure July 28, citing some crowding and public health concerns.
However, the move faced some criticism on social media as Marquette Park remained a popular spot to get outdoor exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other posts appeared to show some Miller residents using the beach.
Read more here. —Meredith Colias-Pete
4:23 p.m.: Growth of new COVID-19 cases trending downward in some suburbs, increasing in others, new data shows
Some north and west suburban suburbs are seeing the growth of COVID-19 cases trending downward, though new cases are still being reported, according to new data from the Cook County Department of Public Health.
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In addition to reporting cumulative cases of COVID-19 within suburban Cook County on its website, the health department has added a “recent percent change” in new cases by municipality. According to the health department, the percentage change is calculated “by comparing counts from the past 14 days to the 14 days preceding that …. Negative numbers mean a town is likely trending down in new cases reported. Positive numbers mean a town is likely trending up.”
The communities of Park Ridge, Niles, Des Plaines, Glenview and River Forest saw percentage decreases under this calculation, while the communities of Morton Grove, Lincolnwood, Franklin Park, Harwood Heights, Norridge, River Grove and Northlake saw increases, according to the health department.
Not included in the county’s percent change calculation are Evanston, Oak Park and Skokie, which are monitoring COVID-19 cases through their own health departments.
Read more here. —Jennifer Johnson
4:09 p.m.: New Trier High alumni ask school to move to remote learning, say in-person classes are ‘too great a gamble’ given COVID-19 risk
With just weeks before the first day of classes at New Trier High School, a group of alumni say teachers’ COVID-19 safety concerns demand that the school board “immediately reverse course” from plans to start the new school year with in-person instruction.
In a letter addressed to New Trier High School Superintendent Paul Sally and the school board, members of a grassroots organization “Trevs for Teachers” said they stand in “solidarity” with the high school’s teachers union “and in total opposition to the administration’s suggested hybrid opening format for the 2020-2021 school year.”
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The school board is expected to report on the fall reopening plans at a special meeting at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Read more here. —Karen Ann Cullotta
3:55 p.m.: Despite the coronavirus, the Blackwell family reunion continues — 112 years and counting
BBQ and family reunions are to summer as fruitcake and carols are to Christmas.
The Blackwell family reunion celebrated its 112th event last weekend. Determined not to let the tradition go by the wayside due to COVID-19, Chatham resident and Chicago host Theresa Wearring held the first virtual reunion, where relatives reveled in seeing one another, catching up, breaking bread and playing games. Family members from five states made an appearance.
For 111 years, they’d celebrated with the smell of various dishes wafting over banquet halls or parks (desserts like banana strawberry pudding and blackberry dumplings), the cacophony of voices of family members being heard over music playing in the background. Young cousins running around tables playing with cousins they only get to see once a year. Nieces and nephews going around getting reacquainted with their aunts and uncles from around the country.
The Blackwell family rotates locations where different chapters exist: Georgia, Maryland, California, Ohio and Chicago/Detroit. Then coronavirus came on the scene, and the gathering that started in 1908 was threatened. Some Blackwells were thinking “uh-oh.” But Wearring, president of the Chicago/Detroit chapter, was not having it.
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Read more here. —Darcel Rockett
3:22 p.m.: Pritzker’s rule to penalize businesses that don’t enforce face mask rule withstands GOP challenge in legislative panel vote
A bipartisan panel of state lawmakers on Tuesday let stand Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s emergency rule that would penalize businesses with fines of up to $2,500 for not enforcing mandatory face mask rules.
A move to suspend the rule was voted down 6-5 by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules after Republican lawmakers detailed their concerns and contended the issue should be handled legislatively, rather than through the rule-making process.
That motion would have needed eight yes votes to pass. The divided legislative panel ultimately adopted a certification of no objection to the emergency rule Pritzker’s administration filed on Friday.
Pritzker issued a mask mandate May 1 for people over the age of 2 in most public settings, but enforcing it has proved to be a challenge. The rule sets out a three-step process, with the third step ultimately being the fine.
”We think as we’re seeing numbers tick up now, it’s a very critical moment and it’s important to have this in place,” Pritzker’s top attorney Ann Spillane told lawmakers before their vote on Tuesday.
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Businesses that don’t enforce a mask mandate in their establishment will first be given a written notice. If they don’t then voluntarily comply, they will be ordered to have patrons leave their property in order to come into compliance with public health guidance.
If businesses still do not comply, they can be given a Class A misdemeanor, subject to a fine of $75 to $2,500.
State Sen. Paul Schimpf, a Republican from Waterloo, questioned whether the rule would have the intended effect for people who continue to refuse to wear masks in public.
”Honestly, having talked with some of the Illinoisans who refuse to wear masks, passing this administrative rule is not going to make people more likely to wear a mask,” Schimpf said.
”What is going to make people more likely to wear a mask is if the governor says ‘you know what, this really is an emergency. This is something that is appropriate for a special session,’ " Schimpf said. “And then if you have a mask mandate that is put in place, subject to the legislative process that has the full support of the rule of law, then I believe people will take this much more seriously.”
—Jamie Munks
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2:12 p.m.: Big Ten postpones the 2020 football season — becoming the first Power Five conference to suspend fall sports
The Big Ten became the first Power Five conference to postpone its fall season because of concerns about competing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The move likely will reverberate throughout sports as conferences and universities grapple with the financial fallout of a canceled sports season and the risk of coronavirus breakouts on campuses.
The Big Ten reportedly plans to move its season to the spring.
Read more here. —Shannon Ryan
1:05 p.m.: State Supreme Court grants Pritzker a stay in downstate legal challenge to COVID-19 orders
The Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the state’s request for a stay in a downstate legal challenge to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s coronavirus-related executive orders.
The state’s highest court also indicated it would consider the state’s request that it determine whether Pritzker has the power to issue continued emergency orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Pritzker’s emergency orders have been subject to legal challenges by religious groups, businesses and state lawmakers. In the Clay County case, Republican Rep. Darren Bailey, of Xenia, sued Pritzker over his statewide mandates related to COVID-19, alleging they are an overreach of his powers under state law.Courts have largely upheld Pritzker’s executive actions, with the exception of Clay County Circuit Judge Michael McHaney, who ruled last month that the governor’s powers to issue emergency orders ended on July 2.
Read more here. —Jamie Munks
12:35 p.m.: How Chicago chefs, even Michelin-starred ones, are embracing the walk-up window during pandemic
Even in a year when the word unprecedented has been used so much it’s starting to lose meaning, who could have predicted that a Michelin-starred chef would open a pizza joint with no indoor seating?
Yet, the recently opened Pizza Friendly Pizza (1039 N. Western Ave.) features the talents of Noah Sandoval, who landed two Michelin stars at Oriole and picked up accolades as the executive chef at Kumiko.
Sandoval certainly isn’t alone in making the transition to this kind of restaurant. After the coronavirus pandemic upended Chicago’s restaurant scene earlier this year, chefs have been trying to figure out how best to pivot. And street food, where dishes are served through a walk-up window to patrons standing outside, suddenly seems like a good bet. From bagels to Korean food to fried chicken, chefs and restaurant owners are offering foods Chicagoans crave, all from pass-through windows.
Read more here. —Nick Kindelsperger
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12 p.m.: Summer jobs for teens, college students vanishing during the pandemic
The iconic summer job for high school and college students has been on the wane for nearly 20 years. But the pandemic is squeezing even more young people out of the workforce.
Some are borrowing more money. Others have turned to pick-up jobs like Instacart, only to compete with older people who are similarly sidelined.
“They’re at the very bottom of the labor queue. And when things get tough, they get pushed out very quickly,” said Paul Harrington, a Drexel University education professor and director of the Center for Labor Markets and Policy. “And that’s why we expect a historically low unemployment summer jobs rate.”
The unemployment rate for people ages 16 to 24 was 18.5% in July compared with 9.1% the same month last year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers released Friday.
A fuller picture will emerge on Aug. 18 when the bureau releases figures on 2020 summer youth employment. But it’s already clear that many jobs have vanished.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
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10:50 a.m.: Iowa, Kansas, Utah removed from Chicago’s travel quarantine list
The Chicago Department of Public Health on Tuesday removed Iowa, Kansas and Utah from the city’s travel quarantine list. Currently visitors or residents returning from 20 states and territories are ordered to self-quarantine for 14 days when they arrive in the city to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
The states and territories currently affected by the order are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Officials said Wisconsin and Nebraska could be removed from the order next week if their case numbers remain low.
—Chicago Tribune staff
[ Traveling outside Illinois? Chicago takes three states off quarantine list, but 19 states & Puerto Rico are still on. Here’s what you need to know to avoid a large fine. ]
10 a.m.: The ‘summer slide’ was tough before COVID-19, but getting kids in back-to-school mode is extra tough this year. Here are some tips to get you started.
Even before the pandemic prompted school closures in the spring, education researchers were concerned about the so-called “summer slide,” a term used to describe skills and knowledge lost in the break between school years.
A study published last month in the American Educational Research Journal found 52% of U.S. students experience learning losses in the five summers between the first and sixth grades. The typical student loses 17% to 28% of school-year gains in English language arts and 25% to 34% of school-year gains in math during the following summer, according to the study, which analyzed more than 200 million test scores recorded between 2008 and 2016.
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It’s too early to tell what this year’s summer slide numbers will look like, especially as Chicago-area schools, libraries, museums and other places kids may have gone to continue learning have been closed for at least part of the summer. Education specialists suggest a number of ways to prepare children for the new school year, including frequently reading with them, incorporating math into their everyday activities and practicing skills they should already know.
Read more here. —Tracy Swartz
8:50 a.m.: After weighing the COVID-19 risks, these college students are heading to campus. ‘I hope it doesn’t get worse.’
Elmwood Park resident Natalie Maite said she’s “not nervous” about living on campus at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisc., despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maite, who graduated from Trinity High School, said she will live in the campus dorms, which require her to wear a mask when walking through the hallways.
She’s one of several local college students who weighed the risks of COVID-19, which lurk in cramped college dorm rooms, communal bathrooms, enormous lecture halls and big dining hall buffets, and decided that learning on campus was worth the gamble.
Read more here. —Steve Schering, Pioneer Press
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8:40 a.m.: Wisconsin holding another primary election today, with about 900,000 voters requesting absentee ballots
Wisconsin's second statewide election since the coronavirus began came with far more time to prepare than the first, with election officials hoping for a correspondingly smoother result in Tuesday's primary.
The state's presidential primary in April was a messy affair, with municipalities forced to shut down polling sites after workers refused to show up out of fear of contracting the virus. The postal system was overwhelmed with absentee ballots.
Absentee voting has again been intense, with some 900,000 such ballots requested by people looking to avoid in-person voting. That compares with around 123,000 in the primary two years ago.
Gov. Tony Evers has activated the National Guard to help staff polling sites. Officials in Milwaukee expected to be able to run about 170 polling sites after offering just five in April. They offered poll workers an additional $100 and launched a recruiting effort, said Julietta Henry, director of the Milwaukee County Election Commission.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
8 a.m.: Goose Island’s 2020 Bourbon County lineup announced — but amid coronavirus, crowds for release may be less than stout
The Bourbon County show must go on.
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Exactly how it will go on during the coronavirus pandemic is unclear. But as it has for the past 10 years, Goose Island Beer Co. will release its flock of barrel-aged Bourbon County beers the day after Thanksgiving across Chicago and beyond.
The release can attract long lines and thick crowds, both at stores and at Goose Island’s Clybourn Avenue taproom, where the beers are typically tapped throughout the day and the brewery hosts pricey guided tastings.
But if the COVID-19 pandemic persists into November — which seems likelier than not — those crowds may become a public health hazard. With more than three months until the Nov. 27 release, Goose Island president Todd Ahsmann said it was too soon to predict what tweaks may be made to the release.
Read more here. —Josh Noel
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
Here are four things that happened related to COVID-19 on Monday.


chicagotribune--2020-08-11--New Trier alumni ask high school to move to remote learning, say in-person classes are ‘too great a

New Trier alumni ask high school to move to remote learning, say in-person classes are ‘too great a gamble’ given COVID-19 risk

Yet the group of New Trier graduates , in a Monday letter to school officials , wrote : “ As @ @ @ @ @ foundation of our intellect , our service , and our integrity as American citizens to @ @ @ @ @ in us as youth .
While we agree that in-person instruction should be the eventual @ @ @ @ @ demanding our teachers put themselves , their families , and their own communities at risk @ @ @ @ @ that flies in the face of New Trier ’ s own motto .
To do @ @ @ @ @ stature and dignity of our storied alma mater .
”

With just weeks before the first day of classes at New Trier High School, a group of alumni say teachers’ COVID-19 safety concerns demand that the school board “immediately reverse course” from plans to start the new school year with in-person instruction.
In a letter addressed to New Trier High School Superintendent Paul Sally and the school board, members of a grassroots organization Trevs for Teachers said they stand in “solidarity” with the high school’s teachers union “and in total opposition to the administration’s suggested hybrid opening format for the 2020-2021 school year.”
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The school board is expected to report on the fall reopening plans at a special meeting at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
School officials have said their campuses in Winnetka and Northfield will have a “smart start” that combines in-person and remote learning, a gradual approach so students and staff can become accustomed to the various safety protocols that will be in place.
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Yet the group of New Trier graduates, in a Monday letter to school officials, wrote: “As alumni, we attribute the foundation of our intellect, our service, and our integrity as American citizens to the lessons these educators instilled in us as youth. While we agree that in-person instruction should be the eventual goal for the township, demanding our teachers put themselves, their families, and their own communities at risk cries out as an injustice that flies in the face of New Trier’s own motto. To do so is entirely beneath the stature and dignity of our storied alma mater.”
Officials at the high school did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.
But in a letter to the community written by two New Trier teachers, despite the high school’s tradition of offering a supportive and respectful workplace, rising concerns about returning to in-person learning this fall — including the impact on teachers with children — have allegedly been discounted.
“In mid-July, we watched with mounting anxiety as public high schools around the state dominoed, each making successive headlines by scrapping in-person instructional models and committing to remote instruction for at least the first quarter of the year,” the teachers wrote. “Panic struck when the elementary schools our children respectively attended followed suit, while New Trier stood resolute in its plan to offer in-person instruction.”
After the high school’s human resources department allegedly asked faculty members to complete an application explaining why they were reluctant to teach in person, the teachers said they “dutifully filled out the forms and encouraged staff to answer questions that revealed information about personal health, marital status, children’s learning disabilities, and family finances. Although this did not feel good and implicitly forced us to compete in the ‘Tragedy Olympics’ with our colleagues — whose home life is the hardest? — we trusted our institution.”
The teachers said they were hopeful New Trier officials would see the value in granting their request to teach remotely, “while also allowing us to supervise our children, none of whom are legally allowed to be left home alone.”
“You can imagine our disappointment when, one by one, we received calls with a dismal outlook: no teacher would receive full remote accommodations for childcare or the health and well-being of a dependent,” the teachers wrote. “At best, we would be given some days to work remotely, and we’d be expected to ‘make it work’ for the remaining days. ... Who will take care of the almost 200 children of faculty and staff members, each of whom was similarly denied a childcare accommodation?”
Last month, officials with the high school’s teachers union said in a statement that a recent poll of its staff found “an overwhelming majority of New Trier faculty voiced opposition to a hybrid re-opening of the 2020-2021 school year.”
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“Due to significant concerns over the continued growth of COVID-19 infections locally and around the country, the NTHSEA believes that the use of the planned hybrid format poses a significant risk to student, staff and faculty health and safety,” union officials said in a July 24 statement.
“No matter how many precautions are taken, in-person learning at this time will inevitably lead to the spread of avoidable illness and, potentially, death among our students, staff and community,” union officials said, calling for remote learning to begin the new school year.
Members of the group supporting the union’s opposition to reopening the high school’s two campuses in the fall said they “reject the notion that remote learning will be a greater detriment to students than the stress and hazards posed by returning to campus.”
“We call upon the Board of Education to immediately reverse course, in the interest of saving lives, and suspend in-person instruction for the beginning of this school year,” the group said in their Monday statement. “There is no just cause to place any member of the New Trier family at undue risk. The threat of even one person’s death, be it faculty, staff, student, or neighbor is too great a gamble.”
New Trier is among a small group of North Shore school districts, including those in Winnetka, Wilmette and Lake Forest, where officials are still considering preliminary plans to welcome students back into classrooms later this month.
Citing safety concerns, teachers with Riverside Brookfield Township District 208 are expected to gather at a rally before the school board’s Tuesday night meeting, asking officials to start the school year with full remote learning, rather than a hybrid plan under consideration.
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Despite surveys showing a majority of parents in many suburban districts favor reopening schools, officials in Arlington Heights, Barrington and Evanston recently abandoned earlier plans to reopen schools and announced they will begin the school year with remote instruction.
kcullotta@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @kcullotta