The Biden government is increasing pressure on Republicans to stay true to their advocacy for the reopening of schools, which for the White House means voting for the president’s $ 1,900 coronavirus aid package.
“This COVID package, which is the top priority for him now – things that Democrats and Republicans across the country support, 70% of the public supports,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told Rachel Maddow of MSNBC on Thursday. -market. “Are Republicans now opposed to the reopening of schools?”
As of Friday, 38% of public elementary and high schools still offer “virtual only” classes. About 38% are participating in face-to-face sessions and the remainder on hybrid programming, according to Burbio, who analyzes school websites for data.
“But I will tell you about the COVID package, you know, the challenge you face now, Rachel, as you know and talked about it in your program, it is urgent here … If we are not able to plan how we are going to reopen schools, this one will not it can be a game where we wait and wait and wait and negotiate, negotiate, negotiate, “said Psaki.
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Researchers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a study this week that coronavirus transmission in schools was very low, even lower than in the community when mask use and social distance measures were taken.
But teachers’ unions in areas like Chicago and Montclair, NJ, continue to argue that it is not safe for their members to return to the classroom.
White House chief of staff Ron Klain defended teachers’ unions when pressed about the CDC study during an interview on CNN, saying there was a lack of funding for security measures.
Anchor Erin Burnett asked him why “are unions in many cases rejecting what studies show?”
“I don’t think the unions are rejecting the studies,” Klain replied during the January 26 interview. “I think what you’re seeing are schools that haven’t made investments to keep students safe.”
Klain argued that the CDC study was exclusive to rural Wisconsin and not necessarily applicable to other communities that did not have the money to invest in smaller classes.
“What that study in Wisconsin from CDC showed was the 17 rural schools that received a considerable amount of funding from a private foundation to implement the types of security measures they needed – students in very small classes of about 11 or 12 distant students in a rural area – they could safely go to school, “he said.
Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion relief proposal includes $ 350 billion for state and local governments, to be split between helping to keep frontline workers employed and helping with vaccine distribution, COVID-19 test, reopening of schools and “maintenance of other vital services”.
But Psaki emphasized that Biden was not willing to split the package into fragmented bills or direct legislation just to reopen schools.
“At the end of the day, he also has his principles and will not break that account. He wants pieces that address the vaccine pieces, that guarantee that we will receive checks for people to put food on the table and money so that we can reopen schools in the package will not break that. ”
THOUSANDS OF CHICAGO TEACHERS HAVE NOT RETURNED TO THE CLASSROOM AFTER THE UNION VOTE
Many parents in communities like Chicago, unable to pay for childcare, are losing their minds with virtual education 11 months after the pandemic began.
K-8 teachers and staff were forced to return on Monday in an effort to prepare for the Feb. 1 opening, but those plans fell apart when the Chicago Teachers Union voted overwhelmingly to continue virtual learning and teachers defied district orders to return after the negotiations. reopening conditions have been interrupted.
Some parents told Fox News that they would sue the teachers’ union if a “strike” occurred amid the stalemate. A 2019 collective bargaining agreement prohibits union members from striking while under contract.
Chicago Public Schools CEO Dr. Janice Jackson said the district has precautions to mitigate the spread and it is time to return to the classroom. She said that the students who were most left behind with virtual learning were blacks and Latinos.
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“If people don’t see it as a heritage issue, I really don’t know what else to say,” said Jackson.
Louis Casiano and Joey Wulfsohn of Fox News contributed to this report.