Chicago Teachers Union leader partied in Puerto Rico as teachers were herded back into schools
To prevent the reopening of schools, Chicago educators must organize independently of the CTU through the formation of an Illinois Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, which will unite educators, parents, students and the broader working class, to prepare strike action to close all schools and nonessential workplaces. We urge all those who want to join this struggle toattend and help build this public meeting
on Thursday at 7 p
.
CST
today.
On December 31, Chicago news station WGN published social media posts by Chicago Teachers Union Area Vice President Sarah Chambers enjoying a vacation in Puerto Rico just days before thousands of teachers were forced back into dangerous school buildings under Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s reopening plan.
California educators, healthcare and logistics workers: Unite to stop COVID-19 and save lives now! This is the founding statement of the Northern California Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee. Join our committee today at wsws.org/edsafety.
The bipartisan “herd immunity” policy of the US government has created an unmitigated disaster and California has become the new epicenter of the pandemic. Every day, tens of thousands of Californians are infected with COVID-19, leading to more preventable deaths. Since November 19, the state has reached new records for daily infections almost every day. The Southern half of the state has entirely run out of intensive care unit (ICU) beds. Under these conditions, Democrats in the state legislature are proposing “emergency legislation” in Assembly Bill 10, not to contain the disease but rather to force schools to conduct in-person instruction.
With California having recorded more than 2 million coronavirus cases and the holidays giving us no reason to think people have been cautious and staying isolated, most California public-school students are still learning at home and will be for weeks to come. The Los Angeles Unified School District has announced that when classes resume in mid-January, they will be conducted remotely.
That makes sense right now, but it’s also reason to be more and more worried about the stalled academic, social and emotional growth of students, not to mention the impact on the families who have acted as tutors, counselors and endlessly inventive social directors to keep kids on track, and the parents and guardians struggling just to get by. Some older siblings have neglected their own schoolwork because they were needed to babysit or oversee the lessons of younger brothers and sisters.
Los Angeles Times: Teachers say remote learning is even less than it s cracked up to be madison.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from madison.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Coronavirus Stimulus Package Specifically Blocks School Choice
23 Dec 2020
The 5,600-page coronavirus stimulus bill passed by Congress Monday evening specifically blocks governors from using emergency education relief funds for school choice programs.
Page 1,865 of the 5,600-page bill states under “Restrictions” for the use of the $2.75 billion allotted for the Governors Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund, created in the earlier coronavirus relief bill in March:
Funds provided under this section shall not be used … (B) to provide or support vouchers, tuition tax credit programs, education savings accounts, scholarships, scholarship programs, or tuition-assistance programs for elementary or secondary education.
Eric Boehm wrote at Reason Tuesday the new restrictions on GEER funds come “seemingly in response to the fact that several governors used the first round of GEER funding to launch or expand school choice programs.”