After almost a year of virtual learning because coronavirus pandemicThe youngest students in Philadelphia will see the inside of a classroom in February. “We relied on science and data to help inform every step we took to develop and implement a plan,” said Superintendent William Hite.
The reopening comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that there is little evidence of coronavirus transmission in schools if precautions are followed. In addition to face masks, physical distance and increased room ventilation, schools need to limit risky activities, such as indoor sports and indoor table restriction.
Dr. Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings Program at Harvard School of Public Health, called school closures a “national emergency.”
“We see the devastating cost piling on top of each other,” he said. “The reports we see of suicides and illiteracy, reduced access to food, food insecurity problems. “
The new data “claims that schools are not the source or do not contribute significantly to community outreach,” Allen said.
But across the country, divisive debate anger between districts and teachers’ unions refusing to return. Chicago, the third largest school district in the country, is on the verge of a teachers’ strike.
“My message to teachers’ unions is that we need you,” said 10-year-old Tameika Hinton, a single mother at Destin.
Hinton had to move in with her grandfather after cutting working hours so she could stay home to oversee her child’s learning.
One of the reasons unions are pushing back is that there are only 23 states that prioritize teachers to receive Vaccine covid-19.
Biden Administration seeks to bring younger students back to class as soon as possible. The White House confirmed to CBS News that President Biden’s goal of reopening most schools in its first 100 days does not apply to high schools and there is no word on a timeline for the reopening of high schools.
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