White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked on Tuesday to clarify President Joe Biden’s plan to reopen K-8 schools within 100 days of his presidency.
At an afternoon press conference, a reporter asked Psaki to “help us understand” the White House or the president’s definition of “open school”.
“Does that mean classroom teachers teaching students in the classroom or does it just mean children in classrooms with a remote screen? Help us understand, ”he asked.
Psaki said Biden’s goal was to have a “majority of schools” – that is, more than 50% – open by the 100th day of his presidency, which would be April 30.
“It means a little teaching in the classroom. So at least one day a week, I hope it will be more. And, obviously, it is the safest in every local school and district,” said Psaki.
The reporter asked Psaki what she meant by “some teaching”, to which Psaki replied, “teaching at least one day a week in most schools on the 100th day”.
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Biden has repeatedly called for “most schools” to reopen within 100 days of his presidency. At a meeting with 30 governors in December, Biden emphasized the reopening of schools as an important initial step in his next government’s plan to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m going to ask that we can open schools after a hundred days,” said Biden during the conference call. “It will cost a lot of money, but we know how to do it. If we have the money and the funding for everything from ventilation and more teachers to smaller classes – a number of things.”
In an interview before Super Bowl Sunday, Biden reiterated his call for children to return to classrooms. He also said he hoped the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would release “science-based” guidelines later this week on requirements for reopening schools – despite the agency having released guidelines in September.
CDC director Rochelle Walensky told reporters last week “there is growing data that suggests that schools can reopen safely and that the safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely. Teacher vaccination does not is a prerequisite for the safe reopening of schools. “
In an interview with Fox News, Dr. Marc Siegel, a professor of medicine, said that “there is a lot of mix between what the White House says and what the CDC says.”
He added that any update to his guidelines should reflect changing circumstances in the pandemic.
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“Taking classes in the classroom one day a week … may be enough to introduce you to your teacher, but it is not enough to overcome the drastic socialization damage we are seeing with the closure of the school.”
Thomas Barrabi of Fox News contributed to this report.