Alexandra Jaffe February 17, 2021 - 3:51 PM
WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden is in a political firestorm over how and when to get more schools open amid the coronavirus pandemic, with Republicans seizing on confusion surrounding Biden s goal to reopen a majority of schools within his first 100 days to paint the president as beholden to teachersâ unions at the expense of American families.
His administration in recent weeks has sent muddled and at times contradictory messages about Biden s goal. On Tuesday night, the president said his 100-day goal was to have most elementary schools open five days a week, seeming to conflict with his own press secretary, who had said last week that schools would be considered âopenâ if they held in-person classes even one day a week.
Muddled promises on schools pose political problem for Biden
By ALEXANDRA JAFFEFebruary 18, 2021 GMT
WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden is in a political firestorm over how and when to get more schools open amid the coronavirus pandemic, with Republicans seizing on confusion surrounding Biden’s goal to reopen a majority of schools within his first 100 days to paint the president as beholden to teachers’ unions at the expense of American families.
His administration in recent weeks has sent muddled and at times contradictory messages about Biden’s goal. On Tuesday night, the president said his 100-day goal was to have most elementary schools open five days a week, seeming to conflict with his own press secretary, who had said last week that schools would be considered “open” if they held in-person classes even one day a week.
President Joe Biden is in a political firestorm over how and when to get more schools open during the coronavirus pandemic, with Republicans seizing on
Contact tracing in combination with isolation and quarantine.
The Department of Education guidance provides detailed implementation suggestions for each of these strategies, many of which will sound familiar as Illinois school districts are already taking many of these steps. The CDC also explains that the first two strategies are the most critical, and that additional strategies that can provide increased protection, but are not prerequisites for reopening, include screening testing and vaccination of teachers and staff.
The CDC guidance then categorizes communities into levels of transmission risk. The following chart, from the CDC guidance, provides the relevant metrics. Note that if a county is in two different levels, the higher level should be used.
Carol Kelley
Princeton school officials announced on Thursday afternoon that Carol Kelley, the superintendent of a PreK-eighth grade district in the Chicago area, has been selected to lead the Princeton Public Schools. She will begin her new post as superintendent on July 1. She will be the second African American named to the top post in Princeton’s public schools. Edith Francis was the first African American superintendent for the Princeton school district.
Kelley will be paid $240,000 per year to lead the district that serves about 3,800 students.
In an unusual move, an announcement was made about the hire before the school board actually takes a vote on the move at a special public meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday night. The agenda for the special meeting was not posted on the district’s website as of 3:45 p.m. on Thursday.