Dr. Biden hi, how are you . Hello. Dr. Biden how are you today . Tough, right . It is. Dr. Biden i know that. I know that having taught for 30 something years. Oh, great. Where do you come from . Dr. Biden, one of the challenges of free opening [inaudible]. And you are trying to build that community. There are a lot of obstacles. Dr. Biden what will you do at this table . This is the small group work. Everything is based on the numbers. You are looking at a classroom that has 20 students typically in the room. Then the normal challenges around hybrid instruction. We have roughly 400 rooms across the district. What are you going to do . Its for the families dont dont have the other options. And then in the building is there certain seating . I can see how this is going to be a challenge. Thank you so much. Thank you. Make sure they learn their adverbs. Dr. Biden . Hes been very instrumental in getting the commission. Hello, welcome. Welcome. Dr. Biden hi. How are you . Im jill. Whatever you are. Youre the coolest teacher ever. I wanted to teach in a classroom so i could have access to all my materials. In the event they do come back i will be able to show them what the classroom will look like and how we will run it and everything like that. How they can manage when they get here. Think every have the kidst back. I feel the exact same way. I am dying to get back to my classroom and students. Its good. We will make it happen. Teachers are such a positive influence in childrens lives. Kids miss being in school and seeing their friends. And they miss us as well. Thank you for allowing me to come in. Thanks to the press for covering it. There is so much anxiety out now without reopening schools. I appreciate that you care about the issues. Hello, everybody. Good morning. The students love her. She helps with counsel and Mental Health. Structural things in school and things like that. Dr. Biden have you done that all summer long . I met with children. It is very interesting and good at the same time. Dr. Biden i would love to hear your story. Just what you come up against them some of the challenges you have faith and the challenges the kids have faced, right . Yes, them and their families. Biden . Dr. Biden its all about partnership as well. Families have the opportunity to focus on the home. To have food connection. We are bringing them food. She is also helping to provide care. Students who are feeling overwhelmed. What are the biggest complaints you hear from the kids . They all want to be back in school. Toy really are struggling figure this out. Its not a technology issue. Its more all of the service we have set up for families in need. Together. N cap toledo its hard like this. They are so excited and we cannot welcome them in. You dont do it for any other reason. So we are looking forward to those immediate firstday connections. Dr. Biden whether they are six or 26 they still want it. They still want back. Good afternoon, everyone. I am the superintendent of schools for the school district. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you all. More importantly, think dr. Jill biden for coming out today. To engage with educators and families to see what the plan is on reopening schools. While we are real burning remotely dr. Bright biden was able to take a tour to see the plan and the support services we have in place and engage our educators and school leaders. Thankt further ado, and you dr. Biden for joining us here today. Dr. Jill biden. Dr. Biden thanks. Green. Ou superintendent superintendent green and principal ashton, inc. He so much for the tour through your school. It is wonderful to see how hard you are working to support your students and give them a sense of security. To see all the different classrooms and i was a Public School teacher for so many years. Its so nice to feel like im home again. So thank you for all that you have done here. Thank you to all of you who took ,e into your classrooms and even after 30 years of teaching actually, im on year 36, i still get excited. Im sure you do at the start of a new school year. I love the possibility of brandnew clean notebooks. I saw you have all the backpacks and that things that the kids love them the freshly waxed floors. The things we always at forward to only go back. And i love the sounds of the classroom. The quiet just before your Students Walk in as you are gathering yourself to greet them. Bouncingurmur of ideas backandforth as we explore the world with our students. And the laughter, and the tiny moments of surprise that you find and materials that you have taught a million times. A few weeks ago i spoke to the American People from a classroom where i used to teach. One of my students is here, which is so great to see. I chose that space because i wanted to lift up our profession. And teaching is so much more than a job to me and to you. Its really cool we are. And educators that ive met across this country are telling me exactly the same thing. So this year, the feelings that i just described about getting back into school, they have turned from excitement into anxiety. Playgrounds are still. Some classrooms are dark. Spaces that used to fill them, and now we just see them on screen. Boxes on screen. While other classrooms are open their full of unknowns. Summer long friends, families and educators keep calling me and takes a me and saying, hey, our schools going to reopen, and should we send our kids if schools do reopen . Parents are asking me how am i supposed to juggle work and teaching my kids and helping them learn . And how do a keep my family safe . Here at shortly to academy, School Starts remotely next week , and there are going to be challenges. And you serve the students who are feeling the pandemic the most. I know there are a lot of areators and parents who losing sleep, like, what should we do, how is this going to work . And what i have seen today, the educators here are finding ways to meet this challenge. And you are still making sure that the kids get the breakfast and the lunches that they need. And you are making sure that they have the technology that they need to keep up. Exciting for those kids to get their laptop. I know that the educators here today are bringing every bit of of care and love to the work. Because thats what teachers do. They find ways to make things work. To see the beauties in the challenges and to mentor and guide children, even through chaos. And across this country, it educators and parents, first responders, americans of all walks of life are putting their shoulders back and fighting for each other. And we have not given up. Need leadership. Leadership worthy of our nation and worthy of all of you. So thats why im out here visiting schools because i want to let america know about joes plan to reopen. And he knows that schools are going to need the funds to keep staff and students safe and provide them with protective gear. That is what we need. And going to make sure that your classrooms are socially distanced and your superintendents showed me how difficult it is when you have 20 kids in a classroom and you just have a couple tables. How youre going to figure this out, its tough. Its tough when you have 20 kids in that classroom. Obviously we need broadband across the country. Kids in areas who dont have it. Old students and educators will need more Mental Health services. Like i talked to valerie and the Health Center and she told me about the Mental Health room for the kids and how i talked to the. Eachers in the front the psychologists who are telling me that all summer long they met with the kids and they met with their families and they helped them through some of the problems that they are having. So, going forward, we will have to we will have to change this status quo. You all know this. Because this pandemic has shined a bright light on the systemic inequities in our education system. Knowere going to need to the best practices in the gaps of what we are going to do going forward. Hewhen joe is president , it and Vice President , Kamala Harris are going to make sure that we do all those things. Thatost of all, joe knows the best policies dont come from politicians. They come from educators like you. You are the professional. You know what works and what does not work. And joe is going to listen. And i think that is the most important part. That we as educators are finally going to be listened to. Thats why im here today. Im doing a twoweek city tour going from place to place to see some of the challenges and to better understand what each community needs. Whether its serving students of color, english language learners, students with disabilities or low income families. And we are going to talk about technology and Food Insecurity and Mental Health support. And and im going to take your comments, what you had to say. What all the educators across america had to say and take that back to our campaign so that we that weon day one are ready on day one to turn this around. To turn this around. I want to thank you all for being here today and telling me your story. Now i will pass it over to the superintendent. Again, we have a number of guests joining us here today. I start off on my right. Kelly, a Kindergarten Teacher here in the school district, but also serves as our local Education Association president , your former student. Has been 20elly, it years and you are saying to yourself, oh my gosh, she looks exactly the same. It has been a long time. It is nice to see you. The School Counselor here. Who is aesiree Community Ally and Community Partner. She is the psych coordinator. Stephanie ingram, the president of the delaware state education. Met in his, you classroom. The fearless leader at short which academy. Our short which academy. Our tagline as we address the schoolsy, there are 28 and its unique that we serve kindergarten and second grade. What a really does take a community. These are our partners and leaders as we look to address the needs not only of our students and families, but staff is being counter these Uncertain Times of the pandemic. We are china provide an educational response to a health care, or health and economic crisis and its challenging. We have this opportunity to engage you, to show you our plan, our successes, our challenges. I thought it would be fitting for us to bring some educators and leaders here to share their thoughts. We have given our educators the options to teach from their classrooms. I will let him share some of the reasons why he made the decision to teach from his classroom thing gauge the students as we start the year remotely. In the classroom, my choice to teach from the thesroom was i wanted access to all my resources that were in my room so when i do my zoom classroom i can have my whiteboard. And so the kids can see me in the room so when it time for them to come back to class, which will be soon, hopefully, they will know where their seats are, they will know what the. Oom like slick looks like so they are more familiar with it so its not something brandnew. I felt like it was a positive and something that will help me as the year goes on in order to star in my classroom rather than be in my house. Dr. Biden i love that. So the kids feel so familiar with you and im sure they know you already because youre the coolest teacher. The easier will be for the transition. Making them feel comfortable will coming back to school will help them when they come back with the transition so we dont start all over again. Dr. Biden one of the things the Biden Administration will do is recruit more teachers of color, especially men, i wondered, you are such a great role model, are you talking to the kids about going into teaching, or anybody in the community about going into the profession of teaching . Always get a couple every year who say they want to be a teacher just like need. Because they dont see men, especially in the early grades. Most of the kids in the school know who i am a cousin i am the biggest guy here. [laughter] i have the advantage of saying hi to all the kids, kindergartners in the first graders say hello. We have a couple other black males in the building where we try to get together to get the kids going. Dr. Biden good. More rolerobots models like yourself. One of the things i will elevate is knowing where do we fill the graph fill the gaps. Knowing that mr. Wiggins is one of the few blackmail educators in the building and knowing the impact that we as men and education have on the lives of and the data speaks to it and Research Speaks to it, but i will go over here because she is very instrumental in bringing Community Partners in to fill that gap for childrens and family first. Everywhere i am she is there. I am very thing. Have Community Partner such as her fills those gaps. Anything you want to share from your perspective to dr. Biden and the community in terms of what you see . More importantly, the challenges we are facing . Me, ink you for having work for children and family services. The social Service Aspect of my job that i love is the Human Connection. That means a lot to me and i think it means a lot to the family here. I have been here for eight years. We have had some graduates since my tenure here. Its good to see that some of the kids were here for fifth grade so they graduated and that Human Connection to see them to make sure they did their career here and they and we are still in touch with the students. The outreach makes it all worthwhile. Whether the kids are coming here before school and after school and then family things we do for them. We also make sure that we provide all the services they need. They call me the fun lady. But im sure that the kids are actually getting enrichment and the families are getting other resources they need. Dr. Biden can you give me an example of the services that you might help families with . Housing, food and Different Things like that. A lot of them come in years past and they are starting to do it again. Only open back up again and start looking for employment they do certain Academic Resources to help the kids learn and grow at home. Keep in touch by text and email and call at all times of the night. I am available to them. I make sure anything relevant to school is answered and we get a bounce all the people to make sure those families are connected to what they need at the school. Dr. Biden im sure they do call you at all hours of day and night. Most of them do text me. We have this communication, especially during the pandemic, but they definitely have the phone numbers. I will applaud her because she does serve as a voice for the voiceless. Especially as a lot of our andlies deal with Health Things around employment, housing. She holds me accountable as superintendent. I think thats what it truly takes as we have a community. Counselor andhool speaks to the social and emotional means. Those are one of our Major Concerns as was alluded to and we discussed. The first thing we learned in education around Human Development as hierarchy. In number three on that s schools blogging that sense providing that sense of belonging. Ms. Bostic is very instrumental and helping us to provide social needs of our students. First of all, thank you for being here. Youre being here is one of the makes the school, the School Family and the surrounding community feel that we matter. Yes. Here we do have a social and emotional curriculum called path. Its an acronym for path to safety. We were together and show respect. That was something we already had. When the pandemic hit, the fact that we were already using that curriculum helped us even more. We have used it to help students thatgage and we also give curriculum to help restore some of the predictability that covid took away from students. We show up in zoom with the. Tudents, we encourage them if they are experiencing some degree of anxiety and that student can be referred to me and i will reach out to them. I participated in the Summer School program this year. And one of the things that really proved to be effective, as mr. Wiggins said, he is working from his classroom and i work for from my classroom because i have my resources and it makes me closer to the families. I met with some families and i was in my car, they were on their porch. It was just so effective because students need that Human Connection. Especially students from an autism program. And our kindergartners. So, the fact that we do have that social and emotional and the status in place so that when covid hit we continued with that has been proven effective. Dr. Biden im sure you just voicesem feel like their are being heard and somebody cares about them. You have such important job. And as we look to respond to andneeds of our teachers the union and representation is a critical one, we know communities are divided on many issues. Reopen, how should we reopen understanding that our Health Department is in the same position as families. Especially caregivers are families at risk. Point ton important engage with our local association. Many ofof work through the challenges and obstacles that this pandemic has thrown at us. Miss Stephanie Ingram is here to join us. We will give you an opportunity to share from your perspective and working with associations not only intate terms of the successes, but the challenges we are all facing around reopening. Thank you for having me. We have heard about the needs that the students are facing but we need to spotlight our educators and their Mental Health. They went into crisis mode starting in march not having seen their coworkers are having been able to say goodbye to the students for the end of the year. They think its summer of anxiety and frustration as they worried about what school would look like in the fall. If they would be in the classroom or see their new students. A lot of educators are struggling with trying to continue to dig from a well that is empty. We need to remember that they will also need all the Mental Health support we can provide to them so they can supply support for their students. Mike dr. Greene spoke about making sure we are helping our students to feel love and accept it, but educators need to fill that support from the administrators. We have 13,000 educators across the state and trying make sure they have what they need providing a selfcare strategy to make sure that they are at their best when they return to school. Dr. Biden nda was my union. This summer, along with lily, we talked to i do know how many educators, but we were listening to what they were telling us and answering their questions. That is going to be the thisrence in administration and a Biden Administration. A Biden Administration is going to listen to the educators. I think that so important. As an educator myself, i know what its like for somebody to say, it you have to do this in your classroom or you have to do that. When its somebody who has never been in a classroom. The first thing that we are going to do is get a new in thery of education classroom who knows what he or she is talking about. That is the important component of it. Bothnd i strongly support groups. Luckily, thankfully they support us. Andoth unions came out supported us, which we are very thankful for. One of the things we have been hearing from is how heard they were from having to have their questions answered and to hear you speak about how important it is to have a secretary of education who knows what education is supposed to be like in this country and who can rebuild it back. Theahalf folks in Administration Listen to educators on the ground level is very important. Thank you for doing those town halls and giving our educators a voice and listening to their voices. Dr. Biden its my life, i have been a teacher, i know it teachers need or want or are looking forward. We have to have a voice. We willl have have a voice in the Biden Administration. We appreciate that. At thehat is playing out local level. I will let you to have your bonding moment. One, i assured from day am available at any moment whether its for one moment within the union or a collective. To really help us not get into the situation where we can have this dividing wedge issues that has disrupted the system that ends up not benefiting children. Thing, as the main focus on children and families, no pun intended, but also making sure our educators have what they need because they are in that role as well as parents. Many educators have parents. My wife is a High School Spanish teacher. So i see her sitting down at 7 00 in the morning until 7 00 at night she is still on her computer and making sure her students have what they need. And her advocacy for her members, we have an open door policy to make sure that their voices are heard and they have a seat at the table. Its not easy and we dont want to sugarcoat it, but its us focusing on the work necessary on behalf of the children. I want allow you to to have your bonding moment after 20 years. Coming out. For we appreciate you being here. The relationship that him and i have during this time, and he is fairly new, so we both jumped in with two feet and ready to go. Having that voice, having somebody that wants to listen to , he has been all of those things. We can call and text each other at any time. Whenever i reach out to him and say do you have a minute . We are on the phone with each other and discussing things. We are trying to figure out a way. He is very aware of the fact his employees and Staff Members have children and all are going through some of the same struggles. Trying to find childcare and china work with their children while teaching at the same time. So our relationship with the District Administration has been very great. And i appreciate all of the time that you have taken to work with our local rca and our members and to hear our concern. And just some of the challenges of a Kindergarten Teacher. And the hardest thing the hardest thing is to traverse the hardest thing in delaware is is our families not having that first kindergarten picture. To hear a mom call me to say open the school when i am monitoring hospitalizations to and ourut if its safe, educators i know our educators are also missing that moment. As a Kindergarten Teacher he put that in perspective. In regards to you and your colleagues dealing with that first school moment. Oui on all that first day of school was important for the families. They come in and take their pictures and their babies are crying and they dont want them to leave. Dr. Biden and the mothers are crying. And you have to be the bad guy and say you can go. But its just so important that the kids see you and can touch you that first day. That is when you start to build that relationship with those families. I am confident that we are going to do that online. 22 years this is my 22nd year going into teaching. I feel like its my first year because its so much and new and different. Things that you do not have to think about before. How i will be doing with 18 kindergartners. Teaching them the rules and routines in the classroom and in the school. Now you are doing that to resume. I feel like its different. Especially in kindergarten. They want that nurturing and they want a hug from the teacher and they want them to say everything is going to be ok. To set different feeling and im sure it will be hard. Andknowing what to expect then this is their first year in school and its nothing like they expected with it being over zoom and that kind of thing and the families. Dr. Biden did i do a good job teaching her. [laughter] absolutely. That is a relative feeling across the district. Families with disabilities, our english learners, we truly are a microcosm of the demographic and geographic of our nation as a district. For me, it would be fitting to allow the last person who was instrumental in the decisions that we made because principal and building readers are the ones who have to carry it out on the ground. They see it from both ends. They have to put their directors and to place and then they are getting pressure from students, families and educators alike. This is her first year as building principal. But i am grateful we made the position to put her we made the decision to put her in the position. I just want to thank her for her and guiding us through with all that we are confronted with in terms of reopening the school. Anything that you care to add . I think the summary of everything youve heard is the biggest challenge that we face as educators not being able to build the relationship with our students the way we traditionally do. But, we are resilient and we are flexible, so we have come together in our building with our building leaders, which we have created an brainstormed Different Things that we can do remotely to support students and the families coming back. A think its important to know that not only the students in the families, we are worried about their anxieties and traumas, but that is a big thing as well. That is another thing we are working to make sure we address. But we have to make sure that our educators are where they in the emotional stress level so that they can do the best for our students. Luckily we have a wonderful district. The district has always been supported supportive of everything that we need. They just love the kids and they are willing to do anything for the kids. She will go on her own time and make sure she is finding kids or we went out of school and margin came back in two weeks. We decided to go remotely. We have students we cannot find and she was driving around the streets and making sure that she put eyes on our students. That is a concern. We work for a wonderful district. We thank you again for coming out and shedding a light on all these hardworking educators. I know educators around the world are working hard to get ready for the kids coming. Dr. Biden did somebody else want to speak . I just wanted to make a comment. I just wanted to say that we are excited about the future. We are very excited about the future, we have our great leader here. We have good support through the we are also eagerly awaiting that good support from the top. I just wanted to say that. I wanted to take the time to for havingchool community schools. What happens with us is we have internal partners, we have internal partners in the district in different schools and Elementary Schools have supported community schools. I wanted to take the time to let you know internally, every individual with the time and talent has been very important here. Our best foot forward, but there are still many challenges. There are many emails i have to respond to and phone calls i have to make because a parent is either losing your job or making a decision as they support their child with remote learning. We appreciate you coming out or we are not sugarcoating the challenges that we face because we are all in it together. It takes a community. So thank you for joining and being a part of our Community Today and taking time out of your busy schedule to hear from those on the front lines to hear the obstacles and successes in the innovative things we are trying to do to meet the need of our community. We want to thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to join us today. Dr. Biden you all make me feel so proud to be an educator. Itnow who you are, i know lives are like, i have been a teacher for 36 years. I can feel in the school the sense of family. So i know that when your students come here they feel loved and taking care of, and you take such stress off the parents because they know that are are giving their know they giving their children to all of you and you are taking care of them. That means everything to a mom or a dad. Im sure lots of you are moms or dads yourselves and you know the greatest gift someone can give to your child is that love and that care. So i want to thank all of you for doing what you do, for being who you are, and for taking care of americas children, because that is why we are educators. So thank you. Thank you. [applause] ok. [indiscernible] thank you [indiscernible] [indiscernible] [indiscernible] our campaign 20 20 coverage continues with candidates campaigning and debating. Cspan about your unfiltered view of politics. Your unfiltered view of politics. Cspans washington journal. Everyday we are taking your calls on the air on the news of the day. And we discussed policy issues that impact you. Timeseconomic reporter New York Times economic reporter joints to talk about the growth of the middle class. Then, the alliance for securing democracy talks about foreign interference in campaign 2020. Watch washington journal. Join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, Text Messages and tweet. Joe biden talks about reopening schools amid the coronavirus pandemic at an event in wilmington delaware. Joining him will be his wife, a longtime teacher. Live coverage begins wednesday on cspan. Of the most catastrophic betrayals and blunders in our lifetime. Careerspent the entire on the wrong side of history. Our current president has failed in his most basic duty to the nation. He has failed to protect us, failed to protect america, and my fellow americans, that is unforgivable. The first debate between donald trump and Vice President joe biden is tuesday, september 29 at 9 p. M. Eastern. Watch live coverage on cspan. Watch Live Streaming on at cspan. Org or listen live on the free cspan radio app. Earlier today, President Trump took part in a Community Safety roundtable discussion in kenosha, wisconsin. This rs