Garfield High School in Seattle on January 22nd, 2021. Credit: KUOW Photo/Ann Dornfeld
Seattle Public Schools delays reopening plans as teachers union agreement stalls Feb 22, 2021
In the meantime, the district and its teachers union still have yet to reach a reopening agreement.
In a statement, the Seattle Education Association said the district has not yet agreed to provide adequate Covid protections.
The union said its bargaining team is working tirelessly to reach an agreement with SPS as quickly as we can, but we re unwilling to cut corners on safety precautions in order to meet arbitrary deadlines.
The union said that staff members who are currently working with students in person, such as the small number of students receiving special education services in schools, continue to raise concerns about the lack of necessary [personal protective equipment] and failure to follow health and safety protocols.
Parents rally for return to in-person learning as group sues N.J. district
Updated Feb 23, 2021;
Posted Feb 22, 2021
Parents and students of the Maplewood School district hold a rally outside of Maplewood Town Hall on Monday to press local officials to put kids back in the classroom.George McNish | For NJ Advance Media
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Ten-year-old Peter Kaplan took the microphone and fired up the crowd of more than 100 fellow students and their parents from the South Orange-Maplewood School District.
“We’ve got to keep on going, because if we don’t now we’re going to lose,” said Peter, a 5th grader at Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood, addressing the crowd from the steps of the town’s municipal building at dinnertime on Monday. “And we can’t accept the defeat from the district, who are just bullying us the whole way, and that’s just not right.”
Seattle Public Schools delays in-person start date after negotiations with teachers stall out February 22, 2021 at 4:47 pm
Bus driver Treva White and nutritionist Shaunté Fields deliver meals to children and their families on May 6, 2020 in Seattle. (Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images)
Seattle Public Schools (SPS) announced Monday that it will be delaying its in-person start date for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, and Pathway students for at least one more week.
The initial start date for the phased-in return was originally set for March 1, and will now be pushed back to March 8.
The district blames the delay on continued negotiations with the Seattle teachers’ union over working conditions in schools. The union said Monday that it is looking to reach an agreement with the district on returning to in-person classes “as quickly as we can.”