Winter storm cancels CPS after-school activities, knocks out power at 30 schools

Chicago’s public schools saw varying attendance and some power outages as they remained open through Friday’s winter storm, but officials canceled after-school activities and vowed to prepare for next week’s frigid temperatures.

Classes went on in 32 schools that lost electricity Friday morning with the help of backup power sources, and about half had full power restored by the afternoon, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez said. He joined a news conference with Mayor Brandon Johnson and other city officials discussing the city’s response to the storm.

Lozano Elementary in Noble Square sent its students and staff home because of its outage, officials said. Teachers at some other West Side schools reported power, heating and water problems. CPS said all schools had running water.

“Whenever we have a school that has a power shutdown, we always have an alternative school for children to go to as well as staff,” Martinez told reporters at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications’ Near West Side headquarters. “In the extreme situation that the alternative school also is having power issues, that’s when we make that decision” to send kids home.

The schools chief said the district’s “commitment to families” meant he couldn’t call off all classes Friday.

“For me to cancel school — I mean, there’s parents here in the room. I can’t do that to you with very short notice,” he said. “Everything that we saw was that this morning we felt confident in our schools being able to open.”

Attendance varied Friday — some schools were half empty and others had around 80% of their students. Martinez said he didn’t hear of any schools where too many teachers and staff were out for classes to go on.

“If a family doesn’t feel like their child should go to school, they have that option to do that,” he said. “Our commitment to those families is we’ll make sure that they have academic support, so we’ll have some makeup work for them.”

CPS said about 10 bus routes serving 40 students were disrupted.

With concerns about more heavy snow descending on the area Friday afternoon and evening, CPS canceled all district-run activities after school Friday and on Saturday and will close school buildings. Events elsewhere are still on schedule until further notice, like student testing for academic centers Saturday at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Officials said they’ll monitor forecasts this weekend for potentially dangerous wind chills Monday and Tuesday. There are no classes Monday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, but some schools have planned events. CPS said it will make a decision about those activities and Tuesday’s classes “as early as possible this weekend.”

The MLK Day seventh- and eighth-grade basketball tournament scheduled for Monday was postponed with a new date not announced. And Sullivan High School’s MLK Day basketball tournament was rescheduled from Monday to Feb. 19.

“We know that along with education, our students rely on their schools to provide meals and a safe, warm environment,” the school district wrote in an email to families. “Therefore, CPS will do everything possible to keep classes in session, as long as it is safe for students and staff.”

Martinez said engineers will be in school buildings over the weekend to test heating systems and workers will attempt to keep sidewalks and parking lots clear of ice and snow.

The Chicago Teachers Union said, “Decades of divestment and privatization means Chicago Public Schools is not prepared for climate disaster,” citing aging buildings and heating systems.

“Today we’re working nonstop to support our members, restore power in freezing buildings, and challenge leaders who believe they are allowed to keep buildings open without power in the middle of a blizzard,” the union said in a statement. “This snowstorm has made it clear there’s more to do when it comes to Chicago Public Schools building the muscle of partnering with the Chicago Teachers Union.”