Teachers' Unions Uncertain on C.D.C.'s New 3-Feet Limit - The New York Times

Teachers' Unions Uncertain on C.D.C.'s New 3-Feet Limit - The New York Times

Parents and school leaders celebrate new C.D.C. guidance lowering distance between students to 3 feet. Teachers aren’t on board yet.

Proponents of fully reopening schools got a major boost on Friday when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that elementary school students and some middle and high school students could be spaced three feet apart in classrooms.

The previous guidance of keeping most students six feet apart had in many school districts become a big obstacle to welcoming students back for full-time instruction because it severely limited capacity. Many experts now say a growing body of research shows that six feet is not much more protective than three, as long as other safety measures are in place, like mask wearing.

Public health experts, parents and school officials cheered the new recommendation. Teachers’ unions, which have used the six-foot guidance to oppose bringing children back for normal schedules, did not.

EDUCATION BRIEFING: The pandemic is upending education. Get the latest news and tips.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second-largest educators’ union, said in a statement that she would “reserve judgment” on the new guidelines pending further review of research on how the virus behaves in schools, especially those in cities or that are under-resourced. Becky Pringle, president of the largest teachers’ union, the National Education Association, raised similar concerns.

Nevertheless, the new guidance seemed to be having an immediate impact in some places. New York City, the nation’s largest school district, announced on Friday that it would give families another chance to select in-person instruction for their children. The city said that elementary schools, prekindergarten programs and CONTINUE READING: Teachers' Unions Uncertain on C.D.C.'s New 3-Feet Limit - The New York Times

Continued Deficiencies in Reopening Safety and Transparency [Open Letter] – Parents United for Public Education

Continued Deficiencies in Reopening Safety and Transparency [Open Letter] – Parents United for Public Education

Continued Deficiencies in Reopening Safety and Transparency [Open Letter]

Dr. William Hite, Superintendent, School District of Philadelphia
Philadelphia Board of Education
Philadelphia Federation of Teachers

3/7/2021

Dr. Hite, Board of Education members, and Philadelphia Federation of Teachers executive officers:

On the eve of the reopening of 53 school buildings, we are writing to share our concerns with readiness and transparency, and to request the proactive sharing of data and detailed information on facility safety, COVID testing results, and reopening progress. We want children back in school buildings only when it is safe, and it is your collective responsibility to do more to ensure that safety.

In our reviews of the information released by the district and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, we have observed that there are still numerous holes. Parents are not being given timely access to clear, detailed information with which to make decisions about returning their children to school buildings.

Here are a few examples of areas in which we see urgent deficiencies:

• Many schools have information listed in linked ventilation reports from the contractors that are not updated or reflected in the district’s ABR reports, making it hard to determine overall building status
• There is no way to know when ABR reports are updated or replaced other than checking the folder, individual reports, and linked attachments CONTINUE READING: 

Teachers are terrified that experts don't really know how risky re-opening schools is | Salon com

Teachers are terrified that experts don't really know how risky re-opening schools is | Salon.com

Teachers are terrified that experts don't really know how risky re-opening schools is

"You can’t say what is the risk" for unvaccinated teachers, Fauci tells the press

Forty-five days into President Biden's term, he and his administration have somewhat improved public health messaging compared to his predecessor's admittedly low bar. But they hit turbulence when they pressed for the return of in person school instruction, and the assertion it wasn't necessary for teachers to be vaccinated first because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) claimed that schools could be relatively safe.

The most high-profile support for this assertion is the New York City public school re-opening, which is being held up as a national model.

"Nowhere in the country has indoor, in-person learning resumed on such a large scale so safely," opined the New York Daily News recently. "And while much remains in allowing high-schoolers to return and letting remote K-8 families opt back in, the city's plan has all but been copied by the CDC on how to do it right."

The newspaper went on to credit Mayor Bill de Blasio and outgoing school chancellor Richard Caranza for the successful return of hundreds of thousands of kids to the classroom "essentially virus free."

The Daily News made no mention of the essential role played by the United Federation of Teachers, the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators and the tens of thousands of staff that implemented a complex and expensive plan that included mandatory testing of 20 percent of all of the staff and students in each school. CONTINUE READING: Teachers are terrified that experts don't really know how risky re-opening schools is | Salon.com

UTLA Votes Overwhelmingly to Demand Safe Schools Before Returning to Work | Diane Ravitch's blog

UTLA Votes Overwhelmingly to Demand Safe Schools Before Returning to Work | Diane Ravitch's blog

UTLA Votes Overwhelmingly to Demand Safe Schools Before Returning to Work

For immediate release

March 5, 2021 Media contact: Anna Bakalis / 213-305-9654

91% YES: UTLA members overwhelmingly unite behind a safe return

LOS ANGELES — UTLA members have voted overwhelmingly to resist a premature and unsafe physical return to school sites. Over five days of voting March 1 through 5 conducted by Integrity Voting Systems, 24,580 ballots were cast, with 91% Yes ballots (22,480) and 9% No (2,100). 

“This vote signals that in these most trying times, our members will not accept a rushed return that would endanger the safety of educators, students, and families,” UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said.

The vote result means members remain committed to distance learning until the three safety criteria are met:

• LA County is out of the purple tier
• Staff are either fully vaccinated or provided access to full vaccination
• Safety conditions are in place at our schools including PPE, physical distancing, improved ventilation, and daily cleaning

“Last March when educators first closed our classrooms and offices, we didn’t know that a year later we would still be physically separated from the students and communities we love,” Myart-Cruz said. “It has been a painful and difficult year for everyone. As much as CONTINUE READING: UTLA Votes Overwhelmingly to Demand Safe Schools Before Returning to Work | Diane Ravitch's blog

Audio: NPR/Ipsos Poll: Nearly One Third Of Parents May Stick With Remote Learning | 89.3 KPCC

Audio: NPR/Ipsos Poll: Nearly One Third Of Parents May Stick With Remote Learning | 89.3 KPCC

NPR/Ipsos Poll: Nearly One Third Of Parents May Stick With Remote Learning

One year after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered classrooms around the country and the world, U.S. parents are guardedly optimistic about the academic and social development of their children, an NPR/Ipsos poll finds.

But 62% of parents say their child's education has been disrupted. And, more than 4 out of 5 would like to see schools provide targeted extra services to help their kids catch up. This includes just over half of parents who support the idea of summer school.

The nation has lacked solid national data on precisely where classrooms are open to students. In our survey, half of parents said their children were learning virtually, a third were attending in person full-time, and the remainder were in person part-time. As other polls have found, Black and Hispanic parents were far more likely than white parents to say their children were all-remote — 65% for Black parents, 57% for Hispanic parents, and 38% for white parents.

In a sign of the disruptions that have become routine this school year, 43% of parents said that they had switched among virtual, in-person or hybrid since the previous fall.

It has been "a bit of a journey, to put it mildly," said Nick Ehrenberg, a father of two in Minneapolis, who was one of the parents polled. School for his children has shifted back and forth between virtual, hybrid, and virtual again due to closures and CONTINUE READING: Audio: NPR/Ipsos Poll: Nearly One Third Of Parents May Stick With Remote Learning | 89.3 KPCC

NYC Educator: To Open or Not to Open? Depends What "Open" Means

NYC Educator: To Open or Not to Open? Depends What "Open" Means

To Open or Not to Open? Depends What "Open" Means

Every day, and everywhere, you read and hear about opening the schools. Biden made it a priority, and to his credit, has managed to push out a whole lot of vaccine. He now envisions having a sufficient supply for all adult Americans by May. I spend many fun hours trying to get the vaccine, refreshing and revisiting various sites, and still feel it's a minor miracle I managed to do so. 

So Biden wants to open the schools in 100 days, and he's got 60 or 70 left. I think he can do it, actually. After all, NYC buildings are "open." Well, elementary, D75 and middle schools are, anyway. It appears that, within a matter of weeks, high schools will be "open" as well. Of course, that does not mean that we teachers are out there doing what we do. 

The NY Times is all excited about school openings, and seems to have been on a campaign for them, and against teacher union, for months. Just open the window, they say. They then give an example in which one window is open, and show what will happen. Who knows what happens if you choose a different window, or what happens when the temperature is freezing, stifling, or perhaps both, given the caprices of school temperature regulation? And hey, look at how that COVID sweeps around the teacher standing like a statue in front of the class. (The Times seems not to notice that.)

Of course, the class is socially distanced. You have only a handful of students there. So the Times, if you ignore CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: To Open or Not to Open? Depends What "Open" Means

Poll: A majority of Americans think teachers should be vaccinated before reopening schools - Vox #openonlywhensafe

Poll: A majority of Americans think teachers should be vaccinated before reopening schools - Vox

Poll: A majority of Americans think teachers should be vaccinated before reopening schools

The poll shows Americans have nuanced opinions about when — and how — to reopen schools.

Many schools have been closed since the earliest days of the pandemic, resorting to remote learning in an effort to reduce the spread of Covid-19. Now that scientists have a better understanding of how to limit infections in schools — and with vaccine distribution ramping up throughout the country — some parents, students, and educators are calling for the days of closed schools to soon be in the rearview mirror.

But a new Pew Research poll has found that a majority of Americans — 59 percent — believe that K-12 schools that have yet to open should remain closed for now, at least until all teachers who want a vaccine get one, compared to just 40 percent who say schools should reopen as quickly as possible.

The poll of 10,121 US adults (taken from February 16 to 21) also found that 61 percent of adults believe schools should make the possibility that students may fall behind with online learning central to deciding whether to reopen.

That percentage is up 13 percent from a similar July 2020 poll taken at the height of the pandemic. In last year’s poll, respondents were more concerned with preventing the spread of the virus among students (61 percent) and teachers (60 percent). Pew found respondents far less worried about these concerns in its latest poll, with 48 percent concerned with spread among teachers and 45 percent concerned about the spread among students.

The results are somewhat contradictory; if students falling behind is a key concern, that would suggest schools ought to be opened as soon as possible, given that current data suggests online learning has slowed students’ progress. However, if vaccinating all teachers who would CONTINUE READING: Poll: A majority of Americans think teachers should be vaccinated before reopening schools - Vox

Los Angeles Teachers, Parents Stand Up Against Politicians' Threats - LA Progressive

Los Angeles Teachers, Parents Stand Up Against Politicians' Threats - LA Progressive

Los Angeles Teachers, Parents Stand Up Against Politicians’ Threats

Despite pressure from local politicians, businesses, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Mayor Eric Garcetti, and the Los Angeles Times, teachers throughout California—and especially in Los Angeles—have mobilized to demand vaccinations before school reopening.

The teachers, backed by parents, have actively responded to this attack on their United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) union for demanding a full complement of safety measures. They note that this is the same lineup of forces who opposed the teachers strike 18 months ago that transformed UTLA into a much stronger union and won important victories.

On Saturday, February 20, a 100-car caravan stretched through downtown Los Angeles—sponsored by Students Deserve, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, Los Angeles Alliance for New Economy, Eastside Padres Contra Privatization, Reclaim Our Schools, and UTLA.

Cars were adorned with bilingual signs saying Not My Child, Schools Are Not Safe; End Educational Racism; Teachers Lives Matter; AND Don’t Save the Economy by Risking a Child’s Life.

Teachers, backed by parents, have actively responded to this attack on their UTLA union for demanding a full complement of safety measures.

The February 17 Los Angeles Times editorial denounced the teachers for not returning to work without vaccinations and also attacked LA school superintendent Austin Buettner for not forcing the teachers back.

The editorial also said “the union is jeopardizing its own popularity. If it continues to put the needs of students and families last.” Such hypocrisy from a newspaper that attacked the strike by teachers for improved conditions and reduce class size in the schools.

As a 17-year veteran teacher, I agree with other teachers by saying that we shall not lose our CONTINUE READING: Los Angeles Teachers, Parents Stand Up Against Politicians' Threats - LA Progressive

A road map to safely reopen our schools | by Randi Weingarten | Feb, 2021 | AFT Voices

A road map to safely reopen our schools | by Randi Weingarten | Feb, 2021 | AFT Voices

A road map to safely reopen our schools

The grim toll of the coronavirus pandemic has many measures: Twenty-eight million infections and 500,000 lives lost. Eight million more people enduring poverty, many of them children. Family businesses shuttered, weddings without guests, and epidemics of depression and isolation. The shocking one-year decline in life expectancy in the first half of 2020 alone. It’s tempting to tick through “what-ifs.” What if the last administration’s response had been competent, not chaotic? What if officials had prioritized reopening schools over bars and gyms, and used the time schools were closed to prepare them to safely reopen? But we must shift from “what if?” to “what now?”

My union has been working to safely reopen schools for nearly a year, and we welcome the sea change the new Biden administration brings. Yet some critics, in a cynical attempt to exploit families’ legitimate frustrations, spread the myth that teachers and their unions don’t want to return to in-person teaching and learning. Educators know that in-person learning is essential for children to thrive; they are asking to be safe in the midst of a once-in-a-century pandemic. With commonsense safety protocols, COVID-19 testing and vaccines, our public schools can reopen for in-person learning and can do so with the overwhelming support of teachers and support personnel.

The AFT recently polled educators, who have been working harder than ever to help our kids in this pandemic. Eighty-five percent of AFT teachers and school staff support a return to in-person learning with the science and health and safety guardrails that the AFT laid out — safeguards like masks, physical distancing, sanitizing, ventilation upgrades, testing and contact tracing. Educators also strongly approve of the Biden administration’s plan to reopen schools.

This is not to suggest that educators are not afraid of this deadly virus that spreads asymptomatically and invisibly. Our poll found that 64 percent worry they might get infected with COVID-19 at work and 71 percent fear they could infect someone in their family. Yet the vast majority are willing to return to their schools with the necessary safeguards, including priority access to the vaccine, given the essential work they do.

AFT President Randi Weingarten outside Edward T. Steel School in Philadelphia on Feb. 8, calling for health and safety upgrades to make schools safe.

Educators’ overwhelming support for a safe return to in-school learning raises the question of whether, if the federal government early in the pandemic had provided a plan to reopen schools similar to the Biden administration’s, with the resources to fund it, millions more students would be learning in person now, instead of remotely. It’s time to work with teachers and their unions to reopen schools safely for in-person instruction, instead of blaming them for the continuation of a pandemic made incalculably worse by the last administration.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued new guidelines for reopening schools. The guidelines reinforce the need for mitigation strategies to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, testing to detect asymptomatic transmission, vaccine prioritization for teachers and school staff, and accommodations for educators with pre-existing conditions and those taking care of others at risk.

Teachers unions have negotiated such health guardrails in Boston, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere — playing a critical role in enabling in-person learning to resume that other school districts could emulate.

But countless places lack the resources to implement the necessary safety provisions, because the pandemic and resulting recession have drained state and local coffers. The Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan would fund vaccinations, direct relief to families bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 crisis, and provide crucial local and state aid — including $170 billion to help schools, colleges and universities reopen and operate safely.

This funding is needed immediately to safely reopen schools for in-person teaching and learning for the remainder of this semester, and to allow schools to prepare for this summer, which can and should be a voluntary “second, second semester.” Wealthy parents have an array of summer programs for their children. All students, particularly from under-resourced communities, should have access to programs this summer for reconnection, recreation, enrichment, social and emotional support, and academic growth.

Even as we deal with the challenges at hand, we must reimagine learning beyond COVID-19 and create the conditions to help all children thrive. Rather than the traditional spring state testing, we should assess and respond to students’ wide-ranging needs; support our most vulnerable students; focus on educators’ professional learning and growth to meet these unprecedented challenges; and promote equity and excellence in all of our public schools.

As we approach one year since the first school closures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, students, families and educators are understandably frustrated. But we all want the same thing — to be together in school, with the conditions and support not only to recover from what has been lost but to thrive and grow. People are recognizing anew how important our public schools are. Let’s do what is needed to make them safe for students and staff to return.

A road map to safely reopen our schools | by Randi Weingarten | Feb, 2021 | AFT Voices

Blaming Teachers Unions for Problems Reopening Schools Is Wrong: Reopening Must Be Done Safely | janresseger #openonlywhensafe

Blaming Teachers Unions for Problems Reopening Schools Is Wrong: Reopening Must Be Done Safely | janresseger

Blaming Teachers Unions for Problems Reopening Schools Is Wrong: Reopening Must Be Done Safely

Right now, after nearly a year since life shut down for COVID-19, things feel like a chaotic mess. Children in lots of places are not in school but are instead learning remotely at home.  Unemployment is endemic. Families face unimaginable financial pressures, and if parents are working, the pressures of managing children out of school have been overwhelming. Some parents have felt obligated to quit work to supervise children learning at home, or if parents themselves are working from home, they may be struggling to manage kids learning remotely while the parents try to do their jobs.

As far as reopening schools full-time, the new Biden administration seems confused. The Washington Post‘s Cleve Wootson and Laura Meckler report: “As the country approaches the one-year mark of the pandemic’s isolation and restrictions, the Biden administration is struggling to give precise, consistent answers to two key questions: when will the pandemic truly be behind us? And short of that, when can children safely return to school? Biden himself has blamed miscommunications for some of the inconsistency, but his administration… is also grappling with the fact that science and data don’t produce answers as tidy or linear as campaign promises… For months, Biden has raised expectations that children would soon return to school… and his press secretary, Jen Psaki, recently suggested that the White House considers schools to be open if students are in school at least one day a week. But at a CNN town hall meeting Tuesday evening in Milwaukee, he clarified that he wants students back in school five days a week—while also specifying that his priority is students in grades K-8… It was an attempt to add clarity to an increasingly murky issue at the intersection of safety, education and politics.”

Education policy and politics over the past two decades have outrageously but consistently blamed educators themselves for the so-called “failure” of American public education. No CONTINUE READING: Blaming Teachers Unions for Problems Reopening Schools Is Wrong: Reopening Must Be Done Safely | janresseger

If Schools are That Important, Vaccinate All School Personnel in Short Order | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog #openonlywhensafe

If Schools are That Important, Vaccinate All School Personnel in Short Order | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

If Schools are That Important, Vaccinate All School Personnel in Short Order

I read in the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) latest guidance for schools that it believes schools should be the last to close and the first to reopen in the pandemic.

I read about how important schools are, how school attendance is critical for students’ well being, and how schools are important because schools feed many children.

I read about how vaccinating teachers is a priority, but not vaccinating should not prevent schools from opening, but that schools need to have a ready supply of substitute teachers because teachers will be exposed to COVID.

I read about how according to the latest research, school infection rates are lower than that of the surrounding community, but I did not read just how every adult who works at a school is supposed to dodge COVID exposure just from being an adult who must, to some degree (and to varying degrees), be among other adults who could expose the teacher to COVID. I also did not read about the impact of more contagious variants upon school-site COVID spread.

I read about how schools are supposed to set aside resources to promote social distancing, and cleaning/disinfecting, and for necessary supplies like masks and additional personnel, and adequate ventilation, but I know that public education is an underfunded necessity, a make-do overstretching of what is already overstretched, and that it is beyond the CDC to CONTINUE READING: If Schools are That Important, Vaccinate All School Personnel in Short Order | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog