Federal COVID relief plan includes $130 billion to help schools reopen
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By Kaitlyn Cupelli
WASHINGTON (March 2, 2021) President Joe Biden s $130 billion school reopening plan focuses on making schools safer for teachers and students, although returning to school remains a contentious and difficult issue.
Reopening the majority of K-8 schools within his first 100 days in office is a key part of the president s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan passed by the House on Friday on a party-line vote and now under consideration in the Senate. We can do this if we give the school districts, the schools themselves, the communities, and the states the clear guidance they need, as well as the resources they need that they can t afford right now because of the economic dilemma we are in, Biden said in January.
Following Tuesday’s vote, union members and the American Federation of Teachers sent a letter to city officials that outlined six coronavirus-related requests.
Educators want the city to create a “situation room” to respond to emergency issues within 24 hours and to require a 24-hour immediate shut down for deep cleaning of any school where a coronavirus exposure has been confirmed, among other items.
The letter also mentioned Helen Marie White, a Ballou STAY Opportunity Academy teacher who died of the virus over the weekend.
“We must make sure schools are safe. What keeps me up at night is that the district is putting the health of our city’s educators and students at risk with in-school learning because of continuing exposures in schools, numerous reports of violations of agreed-upon safety protocols and, tragically, the death of a beloved teacher,” Elizabeth Davis, union president, said. “Our teachers are pleading with the mayor and chancellor to wake up to the
DC seeking temporary restraining order against teachers union ordering educators stop discussing strike
By FOX 5 Digital Team
Published
WASHINGTON - The District is seeking a temporary restraining order against the Washington Teachers’ Union that would order them to stop educators from discussing a possible strike against returning to the classroom.
WTU spokesman Joe Weedon confirmed the information to FOX 5. In a statment released on Tuesday, the union said they are disscussing many issues with members, including the possibility of holding a secret ballot strike authorization vote this week. Teachers want to go back to in school learning when they are assured that the buildings are safe, WTU President Elizabeth Davis said in the statement. The well being of all school staff and students is of the utmost importance. That said, if the District of Columbia Public Schools continues to refuse to work with us to ensure the safety of our school facilities, we must continue to d
Debbie Truong
From Teachers and parents in D.C. Public Schools protest plans for reopening elementary schools in October at Lincoln Park in Capitol Hill. Debbie Truong/WAMU
toggle caption Debbie Truong/WAMU
D.C. Public Schools has met most safety criteria to reopen for in-person learning, an arbitrator ruled Saturday night, finding the Washington Teachers Union failed to prove many of the violations it alleged in a complaint about the school system.
The decision clears the way for the school system to start welcoming back thousands of students for in-person learning, DCPS Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee said in a statement. It would mark the broadest return to in-person learning in the District since the coronavirus shuttered campuses nearly a year ago.