Chicago Public Schools decided late Monday night to cancel classes and after-school events Wednesday as Chicago-area residents brace for a deep-freeze that might crack the coldest ever air temperature recorded in Chicago — minus 27.
The CPS announcement also said schools will remain open Tuesday but all after-school events will be canceled.
CPS said it would decide Wednesday afternoon whether classes will be held Thursday.
The late announcement came after school and city officials had originally said they’d determine whether to close schools by Tuesday at noon. “Student safety is our top priority,” CPS CEO Janice Jackson said early Monday at a news conference at the city’s Office of Emergency Management in the West Loop.
The high temp Tuesday is only expected to reach 1 degree, according to the National Weather Service, and plunging wind chills are expected to bring dangerous cold into the area.
Meanwhile, at least one charter school in the CPS system had already announced it would be closing Wednesday and Thursday. Namaste, at 3737 N. Paulina, said Monday that “while we normally follow the actions of CPS, we feel it is best to be proactive to ensure the safety of our students and families, and to provide families with ample time to secure child care.”
If CPS cancels school Thursday, it will mean a five-day weekend for students, who don’t have classes on Friday — which has already been designated as a school-improvement day — even though the forecast is for slightly warmer temperatures.
Also at the news conference, Mayor Rahm Emanuel gathered various department heads from across the city to talk about what’s being done ahead of the cold snap.
“This is an all hands-on-deck situation,” Emanuel said.
Lisa Morrison Butler, head of Family and Support Services, said city workers and nonprofit partners are shifting into overdrive in an effort to reach the city’s homeless population and make sure they’re warm.
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Rich Guidice, OEMC executive director, suggests staying home.
“We ask everyone to limit your time outdoors and work from home if possible,” he said.
Other city officials offered a litany of tips:
• Check on elderly neighbors or call 311 to request a well-being check.
• Call 311 to request a transport to a warming shelter.
• Never use an open flame to warm freezing pipes. Use a hair dryer or heating pad.
• Never use a stove or oven to heat a residence, and report landlords who don’t keep temperatures at at least 68 degrees during the day and 66 degrees at night.
And Streets and Sanitation Commissioner John Tully had this message to motorists after ensuring all plows and salt trucks were in use Monday morning: “I promise you a better ride home.”
