Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee meets as Democrats push to restart in-person classes in Chicago and other cities
The Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee in the United States held its second public meeting of 2021 on Saturday, January 30, to discuss the fight against the Biden administration’s drive to reopen schools as the coronavirus pandemic reaches a new and deadlier phase. The meeting was held as thousands of Chicago educators were battling efforts by Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot to resume in-person classes in the nation’s third largest school district.
The meeting was attended by nearly 200 people, most of them educators from all across the United States, as well as Europe, Latin America and Asia. Leading members of the Socialist Equality Party addressed the meeting as did rank-and-file educators from Chicago, Alabama and Pennsylvania. Also speaking were a nurse in Southern California, the current epicenter of the pandemic in the US, and a Baltimore Amazon
Biden is aggressively pursuing school reopenings in coordination with Democratic politicians and the teachers unions, as opposition among rank-and-file educators mounts to this homicidal policy.
Alabama teachers speak out as four more teachers die of COVID-19 this week
On Thursday, Montgomery Public Schools (MPS) piano teacher Leslye Ames, 49, became the latest educator to die from COVID-19 in the Alabama capital. Four teachers in the school district lost their lives to COVID-19 in a single week, making this the most deadly week within a deadly month for Alabama educators.
Leslye Ames, piano teacher [Credit: Facebook]
Dwayne Berry, an MPS administrator and football coach, died on Monday, January 19. “He was really loved by all the kids, all the coaches there,” MPS athletic director Patrick Fenderson told the
Alabama educators launch rank-and-file safety committee to close schools and save lives! The following is a statement from the Alabama Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, which has been established to oppose the unsafe opening of schools and nonessential workplaces, save lives and defend public education. Sign up today to join our committee at wsws.org/edsafety!
We are forming the Alabama Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee to protect our lives and the lives of our students, families and the entire community. Our health care system is in a state of crisis
. Earlier this month, the state recorded a record 5,498 new cases. Last week, COVID-19 hospitalizations topped 3,000 for the first time since the start of the pandemic, a 63 percent increase since December 4.