Lawsuit in San Francisco, threats of strike in Chicago: the pressure has been increasing for several days in the United States on teachers and their unions to obtain the rapid reopening of schools, many of which have been completely closed for eleven months because of the pandemic .
Reluctant, most education professionals highlight the danger of dismissing teachers, sometimes elderly and at risk, in contact with hundreds of students, especially if they have not been vaccinated.
On the other hand, a growing number of elected officials and parents forced to stay at home to watch their offspring plead the cause of children, multiplying the examples of dropping out of school and psychological distress, particularly in already disadvantaged populations.
It is estimated that about half of America’s 55 million students have not returned to class since March 2020.
The situations are very diverse according to the States, the nature of the schools (public, private, religious), etc.
“A large majority of the 1.5 million students in Los Angeles County have not been physically in school for nearly a year,” lamented the Southern California Pediatric Association, calling for a “Immediate reopening of schools”.
For the organization, which represents some 1,500 caregivers, keeping young people away from classes simply does them more harm than good, even in times of Covid-19.
On Wednesday, the new head of the federal health authorities hammered home the point when she said during a press briefing at the White House: “A growing number of data suggest that schools may reopen” despite the pandemic which remains well established in the country , 135,000 new cases daily on average over the last seven days.
“Vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite,” insisted Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
According to many experts, children under the age of twelve do not seem to transmit the coronavirus as much as adults and the severity of their symptoms is also less.
“The consensus now is that the reopening of schools makes sense,” said the Los Angeles Times the Dr Eric Toner, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Specialist.
“Not the means”
This medical “consensus” is still far from materializing in the field.
“No one wants to see students in class more than educators,” Claudia Briggs, a spokesperson for the California Teachers’ Association, told AFP.
“For this to happen, a series of security measures must be put in place,” including adequate ventilation of the premises, small classes, testing and tracing programs for teachers but also young people, said the Minister. union, which claims more than 300,000 members.
“School districts have said they cannot afford it” and the arrival of new variants of the virus further accentuates the risks, says Mme Briggs.
“For all these reasons, it is necessary that all employees who must be physically present have received a vaccine before the students return” in the establishments, she concludes.
Same story in Chicago, the third school district in the United States, where teachers and the municipality have engaged in a standoff, threatening each other with strike and virtual lockout respectively: teachers who refuse to physically teach would be denied access to the distance education system.
As a result of this dialogue of the deaf, lawsuits against school authorities and teachers’ unions are increasing across the country.
The San Francisco attorney, backed by the city’s mayor, even sued his own school district on Wednesday in an attempt to force him to reopen public schools.
The pupils “suffer” and “are being transformed into“ Zoom-bies ”with the school via the internet. It is enough like that, launched the prosecutor, affirming that nearly 90% of the schools of the county close to Marin had already started again accepting children.
President Joe Biden announced upon taking office that he wanted most schools and colleges across the country to be able to reopen by the end of April.
In his plan to fight Covid-19, he has provided $ 130 billion for a “safe reopening”. But this plan has not yet been adopted by parliamentarians and, if teachers remain inflexible, the schedule desired by the president risks being hampered by the slowness of vaccinations.
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