MERIDEN, Conn. (AP) – Jill Biden, the White House teacher, went back to school with new Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on Wednesday in a public effort to show districts that have yet to transition to personal learning that it can be done safely during the pandemic.
“Teachers want to be back,” said the first lady after she and Cardona spent about an hour visiting classrooms and other areas of Benjamin Franklin Elementary School in Meriden, Connecticut. ‘We want to come back. I am a teacher. I teach virtually. “
Biden is an experienced English community college professor who now teaches remotely from the White House. She said her students recently told her they can’t wait to be back in class.
“But we just know we have to get back safely,” she said.
The trip was the first assignment for Cardona, the former Connecticut education commissioner, who was only sworn into his new cabinet job the day before.
Biden and Cardona also attended a Pennsylvania high school on Wednesday. They were joined on the trip by the heads of two major teacher unions, Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers in Connecticut and Becky Pringle of the National Education Association in Pennsylvania.
The visits came as the clock is ticking on President Joe Biden’s promise to have most K-8 schools open for classroom instruction by the end of its first 100 days in office, or in late April.
To boost that, Biden said Tuesday that he is pushing states to administer at least one coronavirus vaccination to every teacher, school worker and childcare worker by the end of March.
The issue of teacher vaccination became a focal point in school districts across the country as many teachers kept on a leash and refused to return to their class unless they got the shot.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not included teacher vaccination in the guidelines that schools should consider when reopening after months of teaching students remotely via computers.
“We must continue to reopen American schools for personal learning as quickly and safely as possible,” Cardona said. He said the president’s directive that teachers and school staff be vaccinated quickly will be “my top priority.”
Later Wednesday, Biden and Cardona attended Fort LeBoeuf Middle School in Waterford, Pennsylvania, where parents said they appreciated the school district asking their views on reopening.
After closing in March 2020, the school with hundreds of students in grades six to eight began to welcome them personally from the beginning of September on a voluntary basis.
“I love that you have this holistic approach,” said Biden.
She and Cardona also attended a high school robotics class and a class for students who need or want an extra push.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump waved flags with his name and turned their thumbs upside down as Biden’s motorcade rolled away from the school. Abortion protesters held signs saying “Protect every child” and “Abortion is not health care.”
While visiting Connecticut elementary school, Biden and Cardona saw children sitting at some distance from each other at individual desks, each wearing a mask. Clear plastic partitions separated groups of four students who sat at half-moon tables. There were hand sanitizer dispensers in the hallways.
“I love that,” Biden said after a teacher pointed out the partitions. The teacher also said her youth “had no problems” wearing the masks.
The school reopened in late August, Cardona said, and “it was done in a way that protected the students and their families.”
The first lady and Cardona also visited a “sensory room” complete with colorful climbing walls, zip lines, climbing frames, stability balls and a mat, where students with special needs can gather their emotions.
Biden asked the teacher in the sensory room if she had seen the pandemic increase anxiety in children. The teacher said she did.
Biden and Cardona later listened as another teacher described her transition to personal learning.
The school visit also served as a homecoming for Cardona, who is from Meriden and was so warmly praised that Biden referred to the welcome as a ‘love feast’. His parents were among those who attended the school lobby for the comments.
“Now our nation will have that love for you,” she said.
“The three favorite words of educators are not ‘I love you’,” she joked. “It will be education secretary Cardona.”