Act I: Social Emotional Learning

In the first part of this two-part podcast, we talk to three educators from Chicago’s South Side to learn how student-teacher relationships have been disrupted during COVID-19 and how teachers are working to fix them.

Act II: Reopening Attitudes in Pilsen

In the second part of this two-part podcast, we travel to Pilsen, a predominantly Mexican neighborhood on the lower west side of Chicago to see how community members and leaders feel about reopening public schools.

Act III: Food Insecurity

On March 17, 2020, all public schools in Illinois closed in-person instruction. This led to a host of various remote learning challenges, including greater food insecurity as a result of not receiving free or reduced-price school meals. This article explores both the challenges and successes of CPS’s “Grab N Go” meal distribution sites, which were open every day of the week for any CPS families to pick up food.