Major school districts press to reopen throughout Washington D.C. metro area
In lockstep with President Joe Biden’s push to reopen schools across the United States, school systems throughout the broader Washington D.C. metropolitan area have reopened or are in the process of reopening. The return to schools follows separate announcements by the governors of Virginia and Maryland calling on all schools to reopen in March.
Washington, DC (Source: Wikipedia/Library of Congress)
On January 21, the day after Biden was inaugurated, Maryland’s Republican Governor Larry Hogan announced in a bullying speech that all Maryland schools should return to at least hybrid instruction by March 1 and threatened action against teachers who did not return. During his press conference, Hogan pointed to Chicago, where the city locked out and withheld pay from teachers who did not return to schools, as well as South Carolina, where the state threatened to take away educators’ teaching licenses.
Following Tuesday’s vote, union members and the American Federation of Teachers sent a letter to city officials that outlined six coronavirus-related requests.
Educators want the city to create a “situation room” to respond to emergency issues within 24 hours and to require a 24-hour immediate shut down for deep cleaning of any school where a coronavirus exposure has been confirmed, among other items.
The letter also mentioned Helen Marie White, a Ballou STAY Opportunity Academy teacher who died of the virus over the weekend.
“We must make sure schools are safe. What keeps me up at night is that the district is putting the health of our city’s educators and students at risk with in-school learning because of continuing exposures in schools, numerous reports of violations of agreed-upon safety protocols and, tragically, the death of a beloved teacher,” Elizabeth Davis, union president, said. “Our teachers are pleading with the mayor and chancellor to wake up to the
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In response to the COVID-related death of a D.C. school teacher, the Washington Teacher’s Union is demanding changes at DC Public Schools.
Helen Marie White was a beloved cosmetology teacher at Ballou Stay Opportunity Academy, an alternative adult program. While it is unclear where or how the teacher contracted the virus, according to Ballou Stay Principal Cara Fuller, White was among the first volunteers to return to the classroom in the fall.
“She was excited and willing to come in to teach a craft that she loved,” Fuller said.
Shadow seekers, billionaire tax, vaccines for cabbies: News from around our 50 states From USA TODAY Network and wire reports, USA TODAY
Alabama
Montgomery: The state on Monday launched an online portal for people to check their eligibility for COVID-19 vaccinations and make appointments. The Alabama Department of Public Health said the site at alcovidvaccine.gov will allow those eligible to make an appointment if shots are available in their county of choice. The portal also provides information about additional drive-thru and walk-in clinics being offered. Starting next Monday, Alabama will expand who is eligible for the vaccine to everyone 65 and older, educators, court officials, corrections officers, postal employees, grocery store workers, some manufacturing workers, public transit workers, agriculture employees, state legislators and constitutional officers. Currently, only people 75 and older, first responders, health care workers and long-term care reside
Washington D.C. public schools begin in-person instruction as Virginia teachers resist return
Public school teachers in Washington D.C. have been ordered back to in-person classes this week after an arbitration court on Saturday ruled against a last-minute complaint filed by the teachers union.
On Sunday, a major snowstorm forced the city to backtrack on its plans for Monday in-person classes. With consummate cynicism, Democratic Mayor Muriel E. Bowser resisted canceling classes until the last moment, even as the city declared a citywide emergency, which will last until Tuesday. Students and teachers have been told to be in class Tuesday.