Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, discusses amendments to SB107 in the Senate chamber at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday, Feb. 12, 2021. The language in Weiler’s bill originally took aim at the Salt Lake City School District as the only district that had not offered an in-person learning option at the time. The language now focuses on requirements surrounding “Test to Stay” protocols and thresholds.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY A bill originally seen as a way to push the Salt Lake City School District into returning all students to the classroom is now focusing on testing for students after its sponsor made major changes Friday.
SALT LAKE CITY A bill originally seen as a way to push the Salt Lake City School District into returning all students to the classroom is now focusing on testing for students after its sponsor made major changes Friday.
The language of SB107, sponsored by Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, was substantially altered to focus instead on requirements surrounding Test to Stay protocols and thresholds.
The bill would require the Utah Department of Health to provide support to schools that initiate widespread COVID-19 testing under the Test to Stay program. It also establishes a 2% case threshold, up from 1% of the school population when schools must take steps to mitigate further spread of the virus, which often includes shifting to online learning.
Letter: Insisting teachers go back under current pandemic conditions is insulting
FILE - In this Aug. 15, 2018 file photo, Republican Sen. Todd Weiler speaks during a hearing at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
By Barry Hecker | The Public Forum
| Feb. 4, 2021, 1:00 p.m.
I am a former teacher/coach at West High School. Watching the news, I see Utah state Sen. Todd Weiler pushed for teachers in the Salt Lake School District to go back in the classroom.
With Utah ranking the worst state for teacher-pupil ratio, 24 for students to one teacher at the elementary level and 29 to one at the secondary, how could anyone with any common sense want teachers to be in that situation with COVID-19 killing a half a million people. The Legislature offered teachers $1,500 to go back and teach. Is that a bribe or a bonus? It’s insulting to try and put teachers in that situation knowing that a classroom is a breeding ground for the virus, just as it was
SALT LAKE CITY A district court judge has ruled that the Salt Lake City School District s sole reliance on virtual learning does not violate students constitutional rights.
Third District Judge Adam Mow denied a motion for preliminary injunction seeking the reopening of Salt Lake schools for an in-person learning option four days a week, noting that the group of parents who filed the lawsuit failed to meet their heightened burden for a mandatory preliminary injunction that would alter the status quo.
With a nod to local control of schools, Mow wrote, Under Utah law and Utah State Board of Education guidelines, elected local district school boards have the authority to make that decision for their respective students. Clearly, some students in Salt Lake City School District have struggled with online instruction, which has resulted in academic, emotional, financial and other issues. But this court s task is not to determine whether the board made the best decision or to substitu
I always chuckle when the state Legislature decries the actions of the federal government when it imposes its will without consulting state leadership. For example, on expanding the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase back to their original sizes. But, in the next breath, those same legislators impose their will on Salt Lake City by appropriating a sizable chunk of land to build an inland port that no one who understands air pollution or traffic congestion really wants, or by forcing the Salt Lake School District to face funding cuts unless they return to in-person teaching in the middle of a deadly pandemic, despite the fact that they used distance technology for significant portions of their own interactions.