Note: The event can be watched live in the video player above beginning at around 1:30 p.m.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is scheduled to speak Monday afternoon in her first public appearance since the release of video showing a Chicago police officer fatally shooting Adam Toledo.
Lightfoot is scheduled to hold a news conference at 1:30 p.m. to give an update on Chicago Public Schools' return to in-person learning. Students returned to CPS high schools Monday for the first time in more than a year after the district and the Chicago Teachers Union reached an agreement last week in negotiations over the reopening plan.
The plan includes helping students 16 and older and their families get COVID-19 vaccines, with priority given to certain ZIP codes hit hard by the pandemic, as well as more leeway for educators to work remotely in certain instances.
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The district said it was expecting about 25,929 students in grades 9 through 12 to return to classrooms beginning Monday, out of roughly 73,000 students total. About 34,015 high school students had opted to continue with remote learning while 12,916 did not respond to CPS' survey on student preference.
Lightfoot will be joined by CPS CEO Dr. Janice Jackson for the news conference at Walter Payton College Preparatory High School. The event can be watched live in the video player above.
The news conference will be Lightfoot's first public appearance since the release of body camera video on Thursday showing a Chicago police officer fatally shooting 13-year-old Adam in the Little Village neighborhood last month.
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Lightfoot addressed the video ahead of its release on Thursday, calling it "incredibly painful" in a joint statement with Adam's family as they together called for people to "express themselves peacefully."
Thousands of protesters gathered in Logan Square Friday night, moving toward Lightfoot's home as they called for change amid an ongoing investigation into the shooting that has again put Chicago at the forefront of a nationwide debate on policing and racial justice.
Lightfoot's news conference Monday also comes one day after she, in a Twitter thread, slammed unspecified “rumors” circulating online as “trash” while vowing to “continue to lead” the city.
In a thread posted Sunday morning, Lightfoot called the virtual chatter "homophobic, racist and misogynistic" as she warned anyone not willing to work with her on problems facing the city to “get out of the way.”
"If people hadn't noticed, we have major challenges in Chicago we need to address TOGETHER. This nonsense that some apparently have the luxury of indulging in has not fed one person, stopped the pandemic, housed anyone living on the street or saved one young person," Lightfoot tweeted.
"Anyone who wants to work with me to make progress, I'm ready. Even if we don't always see eye to eye, if you actually love this city and want to be part of making it better, let's do the work. The rest of you, get out of the way," she continued. "I will continue to lead a group of the willing all across our city who are about doing the people's work. The people of Chicago elected me mayor, and I will continue to serve today, tomorrow and into the future. Back to work."
