Chicago Public Schools reopens after yearlong COVID-19 shutdown: ‘When schools closed … none of us thought it would be yet another year’

“My oldest son, Miles, is a 4th grader. He really wanted to go back. We were in the car today and he was like, ‘I’m so excited, I can barely stand it,’” said Beverly resident Patrick McNulty. His second grader, Colin, was a bit more nervous with first-day jitters, so McNulty walked both boys to their designated doors, not leaving until they were comfortable saying goodbye. He said the teachers did a good job with remote learning, but it just wasn’t the same doing social interaction with the kids.