School districts nationwide are working to remove police officers from campuses, but some Black and Indigenous educational leaders are resisting the push prompted by the national reckoning over racial injustice and police brutality.

In order for schools to move to fully remote instruction this fall, the city of Chicago must hit a rolling average of 400 new COVID-19 cases per day, according to new guidance from Chicago Public Schools.

It’s become one of the most pressing questions of the summer: Will schools reopen this fall, and if so, how will they do it safely? We speak with Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson.

CPS released its long-awaited reopening framework on Friday. But these plans are just preliminary recommendations, and a final decision on in-person instruction will not be made until late August.

Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said Thursday the school district must begin the 2020-21 academic year with remote learning until there are firm guidelines and protocols in place to ensure kids and staff alike are protected from COVID-19.

Chicago Public Schools is recommending school leaders schedule community town hall meetings as more and more local school councils consider votes to eliminate their resource officer programs.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools leadership say the decision to remove police officers from schools should lie with individual local school councils. Now, some schools are taking action.

President Donald Trump is pressuring schools to fully reopen in the fall. But as many teachers, parents and even some students are expressing fears over returning to school, cases of COVID-19 are rising across the country.

As the Trump administration pushes full steam ahead to force schools to resume in-person education, public health experts warn that a one-size-fits-all reopening could drive infection and death rates even higher.

Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said she “broadly” feels confident that schools will be able to offer “some” in-person classes starting in September.

A Chicago public high school on the Northwest Side has voted to remove its school resource officers amid a nationwide push to rethink police in schools following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Chicago officials failed to act after the city’s watchdog found significant problems with the program that allows Chicago police officers to patrol schools, and used a federal judge’s order requiring reforms to delay any changes, the city’s watchdog told aldermen.

During the 2019 mayoral campaign, Lori Lightfoot’s platform called for a fully elected board to replace the group appointed by the mayor, but she has yet to make good on that promise.

The Chicago Board of Education votes to keep police in schools for now. Chicago and the state enter phase four of reopening. Rumors the city’s top cop is leaving amid spikes in gun violence. 

With the possibility of remote learning returning this fall, Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday announced the launch of a $50 million program that will provide free high-speed internet to students over the next four years.

A contentious vote on police in schools. The next phase of reopening for the city and state. A plan for in-person instruction at schools in the fall. Those stories and more in this week’s roundtable.