The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will publish guidelines on how to safely reopen schools across the country next week, but some Republican lawmakers are frustrated that the Biden administration has not taken decisive action.
President Biden promised that schools would reopen in office within the first 100 days, telling Americans he will “listen to the scientists.”
But New York Republican Representative Nicole Malliotakis wants the White House to tell teachers that because of the slow transmission speeds among young students, teachers should feel safe going back to class.
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“It would be very helpful if the president and first lady were willing to step in here and try to encourage American teachers to go back to the classrooms,” Malliotakis told Fox News’ Jon Scott on Saturday. “I could tell you, the teachers I talk to in New York City and many of those who work in our schools, they want to go back to work and parents definitely want their kids to be back in class.”
But the congresswoman’s confidence in the teacher’s determination to return to personal training runs counter to the struggles unfolding in the Chicago public school system.
The Chicago Teacher’s Union took to Twitter on Friday to say their demands to return teachers to class safefly had not been met by city officials – leading some teachers to threaten to refuse to appear in person.
Concerns about access to vaccines and the exposure of teachers to groups of students in the country’s third-largest school district have left many concerned that they could transmit the deadly coronavirus to vulnerable loved ones in the home.
But Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued an ultimatum, telling the teachers ‘union that if teachers refuse to show up for face-to-face teaching on Mondays, they will be considered absent without leave and terminated – leading some to fear the city could face a teachers’ strike. to get. on their hands.
Lightfoot has not said whether she will pursue her threat, instead she said negotiations were underway in a statement on Saturday.
“The parties have been in talks all day to determine if there is a path to a final, comprehensive agreement,” she said. “Those discussions continue.”
But while the Biden administration has so far remained silent on how to reopen schools, led by the CDC, some Republicans believe it is a political ploy to eradicate the coronavirus pandemic.
“What we see from our elected leaders is that they only want to follow the silence if it fits their story and what is politically and politically appropriate for them,” Malliotakis said Saturday. “You see this on the education front with President Biden and, by the way, you also see it with the reopening of our restaurants here in New York City.”
CDC director Rochelle Walensky told reporters earlier this week that the vaccine is not a requirement to get teachers back in the classroom.
“There is growing data to suggest that schools can reopen safely and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated to reopen safely,” Walensky said at a news conference on Wednesday. “Vaccination of teachers is not a condition for the safe reopening of schools.”
But even if teachers agree to return to personal training without receiving a vaccine, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned in January that achieving that goal “may not happen. “due to unforeseen circumstances.
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Access to vaccines is ultimately the mainstay of the reopening school debate, compelling lawmakers to realize that the public may not want to return to normalcy until widespread vaccinations become a reality.
“We need to focus on increasing the supply so that everyone who wants to get it vaccinated. And we need to reopen this economy,” Malliotakis told Fox News. “And I do not see this balanced approach and will continue to argue for it.”