The U.S. Biden administration chief of staff expressed support Tuesday (Jan. 26) for the teachers’ union’s refusal to return to schools for face-to-face instruction. And a study released the same day showed there is little concern about the spread of the Chinese Communist virus (COVID-19) in school gates.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials have repeatedly said it is safe to reopen schools. Former director Robert Redfield said last year that the school should not have been closed at all. Officials said Tuesday in a journal article that “there is little evidence that schools are meaningfully contributing to increased community transmission.” The virus causes COVID-19, a disease caused by the Chinese communist virus.
But teachers’ unions across the United States have refused to restore face-to-face instruction, saying teachers would be at risk.
One of the most notable conflicts has been between the Chicago teachers union and the city of Chicago. The city is trying to resume face-to-face classes next Monday. The union claims conditions don’t match and, in a blog post Tuesday, urged its members to work from Home Wednesday. It also said a strike would be called if the city retaliated.
Biden has raised the issue of dealing with the Communist virus pandemic during his campaign. He vowed to lead the charge to reopen schools.
When asked why so many public schools remain closed, Biden chief of staff Ron Klain said it was a funding issue.
That’s why the president of the United States proposed a plan to Congress before he took office to make the investments needed to make schools safe,” Klain said in an appearance on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront. ” Kline referred to Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion bill, which includes a series of measures such as raising the minimum wage.
In a speech at the White House Tuesday, Biden called on Congress to pass the proposal to “help schools and businesses reopen their doors.”
A study released Tuesday showed that rural Wisconsin schools reopened with few cases of virus transmission in classrooms. However, Kline argued that the schools received “significant grants” that allowed them to arrange for smaller classes and implement other safety measures.
“In other states, we haven’t seen this kind of investment. President Biden has submitted a plan to Congress that will ensure that most of our schools can reopen within 100 days. We need Congress to pass that plan so that we can do what you need to do so that schools can be safe; students can be safe; teachers can be safe. The sad thing is, it’s going to cost money.” Kline said.
When the moderator pointed out that the Chicago union appeared to be going against the conclusions reached in the study, Kline added, “I don’t think the teachers’ union is overturning the study. I think what you’re seeing is that schools are not making investments to keep their students safe. I mean, again, the Wisconsin study was an average of 12 classrooms. So, it needs more classrooms, more teachers, or, you know, other forms of arrangements to make them (classrooms) smaller.”
“So, what we need to do is open (school doors) safely. Most of the teachers I’ve talked to want to go back to the classroom. They just want to know if it’s safe or not to do that, and we as a nation should make the investment to make it safe.” Kline added.
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