What CPS is Thankful for This Year

Thanksgiving is always one of the first opportunities for students to share the highs and lows of the first few months of the school year with their friends and family. By November, they already have an abundance of stories about what happened in the classroom, on the playground, in the lunchroom, and everywhere in between. 

This year, they’ll still have stories to share, but they might be about new technology they had to adapt to or the time their teacher’s cat made an uninvited appearance in their virtual classroom. We know our parents will certainly have stories to share about the mountains they had to move to make sure this school year went smoothly. 

And while Thanksgiving won’t be the time to tell those stories to your relatives around a big table, it can still be the time to reflect on them and celebrate the small victories rather than the disappointments of this year. 

Here are some of the stories that have defined 2020 for our district. 

This year has been the year that our food service workers, custodians, security guards and nurses stepped up to take on new responsibilities in support of their school communities. Thank you to all of these workers for your selflessness and dedication.

This has been the year that our parents have needed to play a bigger role in the school day and navigate uncertainty unlike ever before. Thank you to our parents for your flexibility and resilience. 

This has been the year that our teachers have redefined what it means to create engaging and fun educational experiences for our students. Thank you to our teachers for your creativity and brilliance. 

This has been the year that our principals, assistant principals, counselors, clerks, and other school staff have worked tirelessly to meet every need of their parents and families. Thank you to our principals and their teams for your work ethic and tenacity. 

Finally, this has been the year that our students have had to approach learning in an entirely new way. Despite the pandemic, our students have won awards, created awesome projects, composed poems, prioritized civic engagement, graduated, made beautiful artwork, written books, completed service projects, and accomplished so much more. Thank you to our students for going above and beyond both inside and outside of the classroom. 

To every member of the CPS family, we hope you have a restful and safe Thanksgiving break. Thank you for sticking with us through a year unlike any other.