A Chicago public school teacher battling cancer joined Tucker Carlson on Fox News Wednesday night to discuss why he refuses to return to virtual learning despite the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) voting to forgo in-person classes, allegedly to ease the spread of the Omicron variant.
Joe Ocol, a teacher and chess coach, explained to Carlson that the CTU is using remote learning as leverage for City Hall to meet their demands.
"I joined the Chicago public schools as a teacher first and foremost and I believe my role should be inside the classroom with my students," Ocol told "Tucker Carlson Tonight." "I did not join CPS to be a union member."
"I believe that there are ways to fight City Hall. You don't dangle the plight of the kids in the middle of the fight just to seek your demands," Ocol said. "There are other ways. I have nothing against the union. But I have something against people using the union as a tool for political gain."
The teacher said that despite his current battle with cancer he wants to continue in-person learning to make a difference in his students' lives.
"Despite my battling cancer, I still have a role to play right now," Ocol said. "I just want to make my life relevant somehow. The thought that I can still be of service to my students and I can touch their lives and make a difference in their lives."
In addition to impacting the lives of his students, Ocol said it's important to continue in-person learning so students don't continue to regress.
"I have done the remote learning for more than a year with the students. I have seen the limitations and the challenges that a teacher has with remote learning. It's not really effective," the teacher explained.
Adding, "I feel it's not also fair to the parents. The parents need to be with the students when they should be earning a living."
Regarding school closures, Joseph Ocol explained that there are many Chicago schools without a single case of COVID and shutting down classes shouldn't be a one-size-fits-all approach.
"There are schools without COVID. I have 82 students in my classroom and I am not aware of anyone having COVID. I am not aware of a teacher having COVID in my school," Ocol explained. "I think the union has to look at this on a school to school basis. It should not be in a sweeping way because this is unfair to the students and to the parents."
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