In rebuke to Trump, Los Angeles teachers’ union says campuses should stay closed for start of school year
“It is time to take a stand against Trump’s dangerous, anti-science agenda that puts the lives of our members, our students, and our families at risk,” UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said in a statement. “We all want to physically open schools and be back with our students, but lives hang in the balance. Safety has to be the priority. We need to get this right for our communities.”
David Baca, chief of schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, told a virtual meeting of parents on Thursday that district leaders still don’t know how the school year will start — and he said, “We still do not have a date for when we will have a decision.”
And, in a sign that district leaders are concerned that schools cannot safely open in August, the Los Angeles Times reported this week that L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer told school district superintendents that it is possible that schools will have to do remote learning in the fall because of surging coronavirus infections. The conversation was not intended to be made public but the Times obtained a copy of the audio.
After Trump said schools should open, some superintendents and governors pushed back, saying the president doesn’t decide when and how to reopen the nation’s schools that were closed this past spring when the pandemic hit. New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) told reporters Wednesday that Trump has no authority over when schools open because that is “a state decision, period.” Some superintendents said it was a local decision.
The UTLA is the second-largest local teachers’ union in the country, with more than 33,000 members CONTINUE READING: Los Angeles teachers union: Don’t open school buildings - The Washington Post
