State agency sets up panel to study reopening office buildings
Gentex Corp.
The Zeeland headquarters of Gentex Corp. remains empty as employees for the automotive and aerospace industry supplier continue working from home because of the Michigan Occupational Safety & Health Administration s prohibition on in-person office work if it can be feasibly done from home.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer s administration has formed a workgroup of government, business and labor leaders to make recommendations for allowing workers to return to office buildings after a year of remote work due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The emergency workplace rules the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration put in place in October during the fall surge in COVID-19 cases expires April 14, adding pressure on the workgroup to come up with recommendations on how to regulate office work for the next six months.
Democrats have long professed to be staunch supporters of public education and against school choice, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., struck an 11th-hour deal to fund almost $3 billion for private schools, The New York Times reported Sunday.
The $2.75 billion for private schools came together from Schumer after aggressive Orthodox Jewish lobbying and rare support from American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, according to the Times.
Notably, though, Democrats excoriated Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for fitting in funding for private schools in past stimulus bills last year, only to turn around and do the same thing with Biden’s $1.9 trillion spending package signed by President Joe Biden on Thursday.
Massachusetts Teachers’ Unions Push for Delay in Return to In-School Learning: ‘This Whole Process Is Being Rushed’
15 Mar 2021
Massachusetts teachers’ unions are backing a piece of emergency legislation filed by state lawmakers that would block the Bay State’s education commissioner from mandating that all districts return to in-person learning by April 5.
“This whole process is being rushed, being pushed by unelected bureaucrats who are out of touch with reality,” said Merrie Najimy, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), reported the
Boston Globe Sunday. “They don’t understand the amount of change that has to happen in the next couple of weeks to be ready.”
Charter schools deserve equitable funding
Tatiana Epanchin and Amanda Gardener
Your turn
We are leaders at three Puget Sound charter public school networks. Charter schools are a type of public school that are non-profit, publicly funded, staffed by certified teachers, and held accountable to state and national standards. In exchange for higher levels of accountability, our schools have more flexibility than traditional public schools to take creative approaches, personalize learning, and give students from all backgrounds the chance to go to a great school that works for them.
Our schools are designed to disrupt cycles of poverty and injustice. They are free, open to all, and focus on serving limited-income families and Global Majority students (i.e., Black, Brown, Indigenous, and students of color). In fact, Washington’s charter school law prioritizes schools designed to expand opportunities for systemically underserved students, and our student demographics show that we are
The pandemic has upended almost every aspect of school. Educators are rethinking instruction, testing, teacher preparation, the role of technology, attendance and even the length of a school day and structure of a school year.