Philadelphia teachers union endorses bogus claims of school renovations as cover for reopening schools
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the network of Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committees.
As the March 1 start date nears for the first phase of reopening for the School District of Philadelphia (SDP), the eighteenth largest in the country, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) is continuing to provide political cover for the school district’s reopening plans, worked out with the union behind closed doors.
The PFT, while posing as “concerned” about certain elements of the reopening plans, claims falsely that schools can be made safe through updates to decrepit school buildings, in particular, improved ventilation systems. In comments before the Pennsylvania House of Representatives’ Education Committee, PFT Legislative Representative Hillary Linardopoulos said, “Let’s be clear: our goal at [the PFT] has been, and will continue to be, to reopen buildings, be
Chicago elementary teachers begin returning to classrooms under near-total media blackout
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our committee.
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) teachers for kindergarten through fifth grades began returning to schools on Monday, a consequence of the sellout agreement the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) concluded with the district. With their students scheduled to return next week, the danger facing teachers and other workers is likely to escalate further as new variants of the COVID-19 virus are provided ample opportunities to infect new hosts. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health contact tracing data, schools have become the number one potential exposure locations, overtaking all other categories.
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“The thing about common sense is that it’s often wrong,” Sarah Jaffe writes in her recent book
Work Won’t Love You Back. In the book part labor history, part collection of profiles of workers Jaffe takes aim at some entrenched American ideas about the daily grind.
Many of us were raised to aspire to turn our passion into a paycheck, but Jaffe writes that the whole notion of work as something we enjoy spending our time doing is rather new. Even if there is joy in the work, she says that this can often blur the line between labor and love in a way that rarely benefits workers.
Corporate media and both big business parties press to reopen schools in California
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In California, there is a concerted push by the corporate media and both big business parties to reopen schools statewide. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom aims to resume in-person instruction by April, in line with the Biden administration’s timeline and as part of a broader effort to completely reopen nonessential workplaces across the state.
The mainstream media is fabricating the false narrative that the overwhelming majority of parents demand that schools reopen. Headlines in the
Los Angeles Times and other papers have highlighted the position of a right-wing minority of parents calling for reopening, while exploiting the mental health crisis facing students as a battering ram for this campaign. Other columns have questioned the need for vaccinating teachers and downplayed the new and more infectious COVID-19 variants spreading throughout the country.
Los Angeles Unified School District moves to reopen schools for in-person instruction
on Thursday, February 25,
to
the network of Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committees.
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent Austin Beutner announced on Monday that some in-person teaching will resume next week, with a broader reopening planned for April 9. The school district is the second largest in the nation, with 665,000 students and roughly 60,000 staff, including 26,500 teachers.
Among the in-person services which will resume next week are child care, special education, and some athletic and tutoring activities, based on the terms of an agreement reached last October between the school district and the teachers union, the United Teachers Los Angeles.