Chicago, Ill. Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot, the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced that the 2020-21 CPS school year will begin remotely on September 8. 

The decision to go remote was based on trends in public health data and survey results from parents which indicate that a large percentage of parents are not yet comfortable sending their children to school, said CPS, and as Chicago has seen an uptick in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks that has public health officials concerned about the implications for in-person learning. The district will implement remote learning through the first quarter and work with CDPH to determine if it is safe to open with a hybrid learning model in the second quarter, which begins on November 9.