[ad_1]
More California elementary school students could start returning to their classrooms by spring if Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers resolve their differences when teachers and staff receive the COVID-19 vaccination, an agreement the governor suggested Monday could be concluded in the coming days.
The moves in Sacramento come as school officials and political leaders face growing pressure to reopen campuses that have been largely closed for 11 months, with political wrangling erupting in recent days in Los Angeles and in San Francisco.
However, it is becoming clear that even a gradual reopening of campuses will be directly linked to a contentious issue: should educators have a guaranteed place in the queue for COVID-19 vaccinations when there is not enough? doses for everyone?
Los Angeles school chief Austin Beutner launched his own political salute on the vaccine issue on Monday, saying if he gets 25,000 COVID-19 vaccines he could reopen elementary schools for a quarter of million children as soon as the county’s general health permits.
Pressed by a severe shortage of vaccines, county health officials responded that they would not provide them – at least not for a few weeks.
Newsom acknowledged on Monday that its efforts to quickly open campuses – and reduce an academic and emotional catastrophe for students – would require additional measures. He said he hoped an agreement between his office and the Legislature would see the light of day within days.
“We hope to get there this week, and we can report some of that progress,” Newsom said of a possible deal with lawmakers. “This includes a prioritization framework to vaccinate our teachers.”
Under current state guidelines, school employees can receive a vaccine, but it is up to local health agencies to decide when they can make appointments. LA County officials are not yet allowing teachers to be vaccinated unless they are qualified in another category, such as those aged 65 and over. On the other hand, Long Beach, which has its own health service, allows teachers to be vaccinated, but most teachers have struggled to get appointments and those vaccinated are not necessarily the most needed. for quick reopening.
Citing the local option of vaccinating teachers, the governor insisted that teachers have already been prioritized, but “we want to clarify this further and this will be part of what we hope to announce.”
Interviews with legislative sources suggest that lawmakers on Capitol Hill want a deal with the governor to give teachers and school staff the option of receiving the vaccine in stages before returning to class in a pattern that allows for gradual reopening – with the youngest students. perhaps among the first to return.
If such a deal comes to fruition, it will closely follow what the teachers’ unions have called for and would appeal to many school district leaders as well.
At the same time, by only offering vaccinations to a limited group of educators, state officials hope to appease advocates outside of education – who represent other groups with strong status claims. priority.
Beutner reiterated his call for vaccines by pinning a number: 25,000 doses.
“There are about a quarter of a million students in preschools and elementary schools in Los Angeles Unified,” Beutner said on his weekly show. “To vaccinate everyone who works in these schools who are not already eligible, we would need to vaccinate around 25,000 people. You heard that right – vaccinating 25,000 people will allow us to reopen elementary school classrooms for 250,000 children and help their family members, over half a million, start on their path to life. recovery and allow many of them to return to work.
This 25,000 target would include principals, teachers, bus drivers, guards and librarians – school nurses already have access to vaccines.
Even as campuses in other states and parts of California have opened without access to vaccines, their availability has become a sticking point. And timing is essential as the school year goes by. On the one hand, infection rates are dropping rapidly across California, increasing the likelihood of faster reopens. Against this is the long time it takes to achieve full immunity after inoculation, about five to six weeks after the first dose.
Some experts and officials have said that an in-person school year could become a lost cause if teachers don’t have the first dose on their hands by March 1.
For Newsom, the ground has changed even since last week, when he insisted vaccines were not essential to reopen. As proof, he pointed to statements made the same day by President Biden and the new head of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But Newsom was already rowing against a strong political current in a state where teachers’ unions are among the most influential groups. His Dec. 30 proposal for $ 2 billion in grants to encourage campus openings received a lukewarm response from lawmakers last month.
Education advocates have also expressed concern about the long-term costs of coronavirus testing – which President Biden officials deem essential. Even though federal and state coronavirus aid has totaled billions of dollars, school district leaders fear there is too little left to deal with long-term learning loss and the harms of social isolation .
Members of the Senate and State Assembly met over the weekend and beyond in “advanced conversations” about funding the reopening of campuses, sources involved in the negotiations said.
As part of a plan assembled in the Legislature, employees would receive vaccines before returning to in-person learning. Teacher unions are also pressing lawmakers for immediate access to vaccines for teachers already working on campus. The sources requested anonymity as they were not authorized to reveal details of the talks. Another point under consideration would leave the discretion of the reopening to officials of the local school district.
Newsom supported a gradual reopening from the start, but did not support vaccinations as a precondition. The administration also wants the flexibility of county districts in the purple level – the state’s rating for areas with the worst health crisis – to reopen.
Most Los Angeles County school districts have halted in-person services from December and January at the request of county health officials amid the dangerous increase in coronavirus cases.
But since Feb. 1, with the county’s blessing, several school districts have resumed in-person teaching using previously approved waivers to serve transitional kindergarten to grade two students. These districts and others are also taking advantage of state rules that allow up to 25% of a school’s enrollment to be reduced at any given time to help students with special needs, such as those learning the English or students with disabilities.
LA City Councilor Joe Buscaino said last week he would ask the city to sue LA Unified to force a faster reopening, modeling his strategy on a lawsuit filed last week by San Francisco against its own school system .
In San Francisco, teachers and school district leaders reached a tentative agreement over the weekend covering key details of a return to campus. The pact presents scenarios for health conditions that are not yet met.
For the reopening of the K-12 campuses, the deal would require San Francisco to enter the state’s red level for coronavirus health measures and that returning teachers be vaccinated, according to the union-affiliated California Federation of Teachers. local. Below the red level, the seven-day average of daily infections would be 4 to 7 cases per 100,000 population.
San Francisco’s case rate – adjusted for a statewide comparison – is 12.5 per 100,000.
The San Francisco Interim Accord is stricter than the recently revised state guidelines, instead building on an earlier version of state rules. The state’s current standard for reopening elementary schools is 25 per 100,000 with no vaccinations required, which means San Francisco Unified is eligible to fully reopen its elementary schools without further delay. The grade 7 to 12 standard – 7 cases per 100,000 – was not met.
The proposed San Francisco deal would allow schools to reopen without vaccinating teachers if the city hits the orange level, which would be 1 to 3.9 new cases per 100,000 residents per day.
The adjusted case rate in LA County is 38.7 per 100,000.
Union leaders hold higher standards than the state – even when teachers are vaccinated – as a measure to protect the families of the students they serve, said Jeff Freitas, president of the California Federation of Teachers.
It could take several months for vaccines to be approved and available for children under 16.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention joined the Biden administration last week in reaffirming that campuses could reopen without teacher vaccinations provided strict safety protocols are followed. The conclusions regarding safe schools data were hotly debated.
[ad_2]
Source link