Pressure builds on school systems to reopen
CONCORD, N.H. — Pressure is building on school systems around the U.S. to reopen classrooms to students who have been learning online for nearly a year, pitting politicians against teachers who have yet to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
In Chicago, the rancor is so great that teachers are on the brink of striking. In California, a frustrated Gov. Gavin Newsom implored schools to find a way to reopen. In Cincinnati, some students returned to classrooms Tuesday after a judge threw out a teachers union lawsuit over safety concerns.
While some communities maintain that online classes remain the safest option for everyone, some parents, with backing from politicians and administrators, have complained their children’s education is suffering from sitting at home in front of their computers and the isolation is damaging them emotionally.
In Nashua, New Hampshire, the school board voted to stick with remote learning for most students until the city meets certain targets on infections, hospitalizations and tests coming back positive for the coronavirus.
Alicia Houston, whose sons are in sixth and 10th grade, said her biggest frustration is “not being able to help my children effectively,” even though she has quit her job to attempt just that.
“Watching them become a little bit darker,” she said last week. “Watching them fall apart. The emotional and mental health piece is one of the most important pieces. A trauma like this is not something they’re necessarily going to recover from right away.”
Some families and their supporters have argued, too, that reopening schools would enable parents to go back to work instead of staying home to oversee their children’s education.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a recent study that there is little evidence of the virus spreading at schools when precautions are taken, such as masks, distancing and proper ventilation.
But many teachers have balked at returning without
getting vaccinated first against the scourge that has killed over 440,000 Americans.
Kathryn Person, a high school teacher in Chicago, wants to continue teaching remotely so she doesn’t risk the health of her 91-year-old grandmother and an aunt battling lung cancer. Person said she trusts the union will fight school officials if they try to punish teachers who won’t go back.
“If they try to retaliate, when that happens we will go on strike,” she said.
In California, with 6 million public school students, teachers unions say they won’t send their members into an unsafe situation.
Newsom, a Democrat, has said he will not force schools to reopen but instead wants to give them an incentive and proposed a $2 billion plan met with criticism from superintendents, unions and lawmakers. It would give schools extra funding for COVID-19 testing and other safety measures if they resume in-person classes. Schools that reopen sooner would get more money.
Newsom told educators he is willing to negotiate but that certain demands, including the call by unions to have all teachers vaccinated before school starts, are unrealistic given the shortage of shots.
The biggest districts, including Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, say the plan sets unrealistic rules and timelines.
“The virus is in charge right now and it does not own a calendar,” the 300,000-member California Teachers Association warned in a letter. “We cannot just pick an artificial calendar date and expect to flip a switch on reopening every school for in-person instruction.”
President Joe Biden’s administration and Republican senators have dueling proposals for stimulus packages that would distribute billions of dollars to help schools get children back into classrooms.
About 10,000 Chicago teachers and staff and 62,000 students in kindergarten through eighth grade were supposed to return to school Monday for the first time since last March. But the Chicago school system extended remote learning for two more days and called for a cooling-off period in negotiations with the teachers union.