In-Person School, 5 Days A Week Is Still The Goal, Biden Affirms
During a town hall in Milwaukee, President Joe Biden clarified his first 100-day plans: "I said open a majority of schools in K through eighth grade, because they’re the easiest to open, the most needed to be open in terms of the impact on children and families having to stay home."
AP:
Biden Reframes Goal On Reopening Of Elementary Schools
President Joe Biden is promising a majority of elementary schools will be open five days a week by the end of his first 100 days in office, restating his goal after his administration came under fire when aides said schools would be considered open if they held in-person learning just one day a week. Biden’s comments, during a CNN town hall in Milwaukee, marked his clearest statement yet on school reopenings. Biden had pledged in December to reopen “the majority of our schools” in his first 100 days but has since faced increasing questions about how he would define and achieve that goal, with school districts operating under a patchwork of different virtual and in-person learning arrangements nationwide. (Madhani and Jaffe, 2/17)
The Hill:
Biden Says Goal Is To Reopen Schools Five Days A Week In First 100 Days
President Biden clarified Tuesday that his goal is to have the majority of K-8 schools physically reopened five days a week by the end of his first 100 days in office as the U.S. grapples with the coronavirus pandemic. “I think we’ll be close to that at the end of the first 100 days,” Biden said during a CNN town hall in Milwaukee on Tuesday evening. “The goal will be five days a week.” (Chalfant, 2/16)
CNN:
Biden Says Teachers Should Move Up In Priority To Receive Covid-19 Vaccine
President Joe Biden said during a CNN town hall Tuesday that teachers should be moved higher on the list of those who are getting vaccinated against Covid-19. "I think that we should be vaccinating teachers. We should move them up in the hierarchy," he said. (Maxouris, 2/17)
In related news about school reopenings —
The Hill:
New CDC Guidance Ends Up Deepening Debate Over Reopening Schools
New guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is adding fuel to the fire of a raging debate over school reopening, with some experts saying the guidelines erect too many barriers to kids returning to the classroom. The Biden administration has been facing thorny questions on the issue for weeks, caught between competing forces, including experts emphasizing the safety of returning to school with precautions, and teachers unions in many places that are resistant to returning. (Sullivan, 2/16)
The Wall Street Journal:
School Reopening Pits Parents Against Teachers: “Is There A Word Beyond ‘Frustrating’?”
Patrick Cozzens had never spoken up at a school board meeting until he stood in front of a crowd of angry parents earlier this month to read a statement his 16-year-old daughter helped him to write. “I’ve watched her go from a child that has loved school, thrived at school her entire life, to one now, using her own words, who just doesn’t care anymore,” he said, his voice breaking. “What are you focused on? Get our children back!” (Maher and Calfas, 2/16)
Politico:
Newsom: California School Reopening Talks 'Stubborn' With 'More Work To Do'
Gov. Gavin Newsom conceded Tuesday that he has not yet struck a school reopening deal with legislators and school groups after having said it could arrive last week. “We are making progress and it is stubborn, the negotiation, and we continue to negotiate,” Newsom said, adding that “on schools, we still have more work to do.” (White, 2/16)
The Washington Post:
Fairfax Schools Reopen Classrooms For First Time In Months
On Tuesday, the Northern Virginia school district of 186,000 took its first major steps toward reopening, welcoming roughly 8,000 students — mostly young children with disabilities and high-schoolers enrolled in career and technical education classes — back to campus for at least one day of in-person instruction each week. (Natanson, 2/16)
Chicago Tribune:
For Pandemic-Era High School Students, The Thrill Is Gone: ‘They Took Away All Of The Joy, And Left Us With Nothing But Homework’
After Senn High School student Davion Holmes was named captain of the football team, and won a spot on the varsity basketball team, too, the lifelong athlete dreamed of spending his junior year competing on the court and gridiron with his friends and teammates. But the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a formidable rival, crushing the athletic seasons for both sports at the Chicago high school. These days, when Holmes is not behind his laptop in a Zoom classroom, he’s earning extra cash working at a neighborhood Wendy’s restaurant. (Cullotta and Keilman, 2/16)
