I don't like the feeling of remote.

For students, teachers, public schools, teacher unions. Remote learning is just a bad idea in the long run.

On Wednesday Chicago public school students will be back to in-school learning.

Nobody can fault teachers for feeling frightened about the virus.

Nobody can fault parents for wanting their children in school.

Or home.

I don’t fault the Mayor for wanting schools open.

Chicago isn’t unique in trying to deal with the mess. However, we have our unique history of politics and unions and strikes and race. Most of all race.

I think part of the difficulty is a one-size-fits-all solution to the issue of remote teaching in a city where one high school on the west side has a 10% vaccination rate and a north side high school has an 85% vaccination rate.

One of the points of disagreement between CPS and the CTU are trigger numbers. How many positives are required to go remote?

Bargaining salary is a piece of cake compared to this.

Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel was famous for saying, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”

Former Chicago CPS CEO and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan thought Hurricane Katrina was the best thing to happen to New Orleans’ public schools.

He too didn’t want to let a crisis go to waste, a crisis that turned the New Orleans public schools into a private ones.

Duncan is dropping hints about running for Chicago mayor.

Trust me. He’s running.

I worry about what happens as we get control of the pandemic. Maybe it becomes endemic like the flu.

Is this a crisis that the enemies of public education and teacher unions won’t want to waste?

What happens if remote teaching becomes the norm?

The Wall Street Journal wonders too.

Virtual learning is a strategy worth exploring from a taxpayer’s perspective, especially in states such as Connecticut with declining enrollments and high per pupil costs. Transportation alone costs nearly $1,000 per transported student nationwide, federal figures show. Districts can offer virtual courses to in-person students without needing to hire an additional full-time employee.

“We’re all yearning to move forward after this difficult year,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said. “For our young people, that means being back in school with their peers.”

Ironically, in Chicago it is the Mayor who has pushed for students being back in school and the union that has pushed remote teaching.

I’m thinking those who in the past have pushed charters, vouchers and other reforms aimed at destroying public schools and teacher unions have their own plans.

I’m not remotely interested.