As students disembarked yellow buses at socially distanced stops Monday morning outside Southside Occupational Academy High School, a staff member took their temperatures with a handheld scanner. Once cleared, each
‘Scraping the bottom of the barrel’: Richmond Childcare Funding Runs Low
City officials discussed the need for more childcare funding during a meeting of the education committee on Thursday. (Photo: Crixell Matthews/VPM)
Richmond’s emergency childcare program may not make it through March unless the city can get its hands on more funding. The program was started with almost $3 million of CARES Act funding, but the latest stimulus bill did not give localities more for childcare.
The first round of coronavirus relief funding came with an expiration date of Dec. 31, so in the case of Richmond, the city had until then to spend $40 million. Eva Colen, the city’s senior policy adviser, says the new stimulus bill extended that deadline.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
The City Council’s Education Committee will hold a hearing Monday to question schools and health officials a week after nearly three-quarters of Chicago aldermen said they were “deeply concerned” with the city’s school reopening plan,
The virtual hearing is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. the same day the first Chicago Public Schools students return to classrooms after schools closed 10 months ago because of the coronavirus pandemic. The plan to reopen classrooms as the virus still rages through the city at levels comparable to the spring has concerned families and teachers who don’t trust schools will be safe.