Miguel Cardona: Education secretary candidate lobbies for teachers to be tested and vaccinated in Senate hearing

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“There is no substitute for a classroom experience for our students, being in front of their teacher,” Cardona, Connecticut’s education commissioner, said during his confirmation hearing.

“We must therefore do all we can to reopen schools safely in a way that brings students back to their learning environment,” he added.

Cardona, whose family is originally from Puerto Rico, has had a meteoric rise to the top of Connecticut’s public education system. He started his career as a fourth grade teacher in Meriden, in the same neighborhood where he attended school. Cardona quickly became director and then deputy district superintendent before being appointed state commissioner in 2019.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is expected to forward his nomination to the full Senate for confirmation in the coming days.

President Joe Biden has pledged to reopen most K-12 schools within 100 days – a lofty goal as cases of Covid rise and teachers in parts of the country struggle against some plans to reopening.
Teacher union leaders, who back Cardona’s appointment, are pleased with Biden’s sense of urgency, but warn that the 100-day reopening schedule may need to be a goal rather than a fixed one.

Vaccination of teachers is a priority, not an obligation

Some teachers’ unions say educators should be vaccinated before returning to class.

Asked about the position of the Fairfax Education Association in Virginia, which has tweeted that there should be vaccines “for all students, families and staff,” Cardona did not say he agreed with the union group.

“We have great examples across our country of schools that are able to reopen safely and do so while following mitigation strategies,” he said, adding that he believed there was a need focus on monitoring Covid testing.

In a White House briefing on Wednesday, the director of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Rochelle Walensky, said a growing number of studies show students can return to school safely.

“Vaccinating teachers is not a prerequisite for the safe reopening of schools,” Walensky said.

Reopening of schools in Connecticut

Cardona stopped before asking for demands or deadlines for the schools to reopen. Instead, he said he would work in partnership with public health experts and provide districts with clear direction, as he did in Connecticut as the state education commissioner.

After holding this post for less than a year, Cardona was one of the early advocates of reopening schools. In June, he told districts to prepare for in-person classes in the fall. Not all school systems have been able to do this, including the New Haven neighborhood, which began reopening in January. In December, nearly 22% of Connecticut students were fully or mostly in person, 42% were using a hybrid model, and 36% were still fully or largely remote, depending on status data.

“He led the effort to reopen Connecticut schools sooner than most people thought possible and he did so in a way that did not separate teachers from students and parents,” said the Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut.

Biden calls for more federal funding

Biden argues that the ability of schools to reopen safely depends on the resources available. Calls on Congress to approve an additional $ 170 billion for K-12 schools, colleges and universities to help them operate safely in person or facilitate distance learning, as part of a relief program Larger $ 1.9 trillion covid.

Many Republicans disagree that an additional $ 170 billion is needed for schools right now. They have offered to provide $ 20 billion.
Congress previously approved $ 82 billion in aid for schools in December, which Biden said he saw as a “down payment,” as well as $ 13 billion last March.

Cardona said the funding proposed by Biden was needed to help schools recover in the long term, including money for school counselors, summer programs, extended days and hiring more teachers .

“If we really want to recover, we have to invest now,” he said.

CNN’s Jen Christensen contributed reporting.



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