It’s back to school for the first lady
Employees are getting vaccines in Texas and 33 other states already
MERIDEN, Conn. — Following President Joe Biden’s call Tuesday to have every school employee get at least one vaccine shot by the end of March, the White House began a campaign to drum up support for the quick reopening of the nation’s schools by sending first lady Jill Biden and newly confirmed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on a tour of reopened campuses Wednesday.
At their first stop in Meriden — Cardona’s hometown — the secretary said quickly vaccinating teachers would be his “top priority.”
“We must continue to reopen America’s schools for in-person learning as quickly and as safely as possible,” he said at an elementary school. “The president recognizes this, which is why he took bold action yesterday to get teachers and school staff vaccinated quickly.”
The first lady, who has a doctorate in educational leadership and teaches full-time at Northern Virginia Community College, said that while the White House would be following Cardona’s lead, she and her students were impatient to return safely to classrooms.
“Teachers want to be back,” she said. “We want to be back. Last week I said to my students, ‘Hey, guys, how’re you doing?’ And they said, ‘Dr. B, we’re doing OK, but we can’t wait to be back to the classroom.’ ”
Nationally, fewer than half of students are attending public schools that offer traditional inperson instruction full time. And many teachers have rejected plans to return to the classroom without being vaccinated.
Even so, most schools already are operating at least partly in person, and evidence suggests they’re doing so relatively safely. Research shows in-school virus spread can be mitigated with simple safety measures such as masking, distancing, hand-washing and open windows.
At least 34 states, including Texas, already are vaccinating school workers to some extent, according to a New York Times database. Others were quick to fall in line after Biden announced his plan.