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The Biden administration is stepping up pressure on Republicans to stay true to their advocacy for reopening schools, which for the White House means voting for the President’s coronavirus relief package 1 , $ 9 billion.
“This COVID package, which is the top priority for him right now – things Democrats and Republicans across the country support, 70% of the public support,” White House Press Secretary Jen said. Psaki, at MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Thursday. “Are Republicans now against reopening schools?”
On Friday, 38% of public K-12 schools still offer “virtual only” classes. About 38% attend sessions entirely in-person, and the rest follow a hybrid schedule, according to Burbio, who searches school websites for data.
“But I will say on the COVID package, you know, the challenge Rachel is facing right now, as you know and you mentioned on your show, is that there is an emergency here. … If we are not in a position to plan for how we are going to reopen the schools, it cannot be a game where we wait and wait and wait and negotiate, negotiate, negotiate, ”Psaki said.
CHICAGO PARENTS PROMISE TO FOLLOW THE TEACHERS UNION IF MEMBERS STRIKE
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a study this week that transmission of the coronavirus in schools was very low, even lower than in the community when mask-wearing and social distancing measures were taken. taken.
But teacher unions in areas like Chicago and Montclair, NJ, continue to say it is not safe for their members to return to class.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain defended teacher unions when pressured by CDC study in a CNN interview, saying there was a lack of funding for security measures.
Anchor Erin Burnett asked him why “in many cases unions are overturning what studies show?”
“I don’t think unions cancel studies,” Klain replied in the Jan. 26 interview. “I think what you are seeing are schools that haven’t made the investments to keep students safe.”
Klain argued that the CDC’s study was unique to rural Wisconsin and not necessarily applicable to other communities that did not have the money to invest in smaller class sizes.
“What this study by the CDC in Wisconsin showed was the 17 rural schools that got a large grant from a private foundation to put in place the kinds of safety measures they needed – students from very small classes of about 11 or 12 distant in a rural area – they could go to school safely, ”he said.
Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion relief proposal includes $ 350 billion for state and local governments, to be split between keeping frontline workers employed and helping with vaccine distribution, testing for COVID-19, reopening schools and “maintaining other vital services”.
But Psaki stressed that Biden was unwilling to break the package down into piecemeal bills or target the legislation solely towards reopening schools.
“At the end of the day, he also has his principles and he’s not going to break this bill. He wants parts that deal with parts of the vaccine, that address ensuring that we send checks to people so they can put the food on the table and the money so that we can reopen the schools in the package is not going to break it. ”
THOUSANDS OF CHICAGO TEACHERS NOT RETURNING TO CLASSROOM AFTER A UNION VOTE
Many parents in communities like Chicago, unable to pay for child care, are at their wit’s end with virtual education 11 months after the start of the pandemic.
K-8 teachers and staff were ordered to return on Monday in an effort to prepare for the Feb. 1 opening, but those plans collapsed when the Chicago teachers’ union voted overwhelmingly for the pursuit of virtual learning and teachers challenged district orders to return after negotiations. conditions for reopening have deteriorated.
Some parents told Fox News they would sue the teachers’ union if a “strike” materializes amid the stalemate. A 2019 collective agreement prohibits union members from going on strike under contract.
Chicago Public Schools CEO Dr Janice Jackson said the district had put in place precautions to mitigate the spread and it was time to go back to class. She said that the students who were most behind with virtual learning were blacks and Latin Americans.
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“If people don’t see this as a matter of fairness, I really don’t know what else to say,” Jackson said.
Louis Casiano and Joey Wulfsohn of Fox News contributed to this report.
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