Many school districts are trying to go back to in-person learning this week. The fact is both in school learning and safety are key, and because of all the disinformation, the disinvestment, the failure to tackle #covid, educators and school staff& many families are fearful.
We can combat the fear- with science, rea sources, working together & safeguards. The CDC’s recent guidance suggests that with the right precautions, school reopening can be done safely, but people need the blue print.
Boston and NYC have worked out extensive protocols with a real enforceable plan to make sure educators could do their jobs and keep their students safe and engaged.
Other districts are just mandating professionals to work in person while the virus continues to rage w/o safeguards or testing or vaccines. Instead of blaming teachers, let’s secure the protections and meet their fears.
Let’s be clear: we are not trying to flex our muscle. We are doing what unions should do- protect our communities and knowing in school learning is so important 4 the parents and kids who need it, doing our best to make sure reopening is safe, equitable and follows the science.
There is a roadmap – it’s one we’ve been working on since April, and one we’ve come together to implement successfully in several communities, including New York City and Cleveland where, despite legitimate fears, we worked collaboratively to do reopening right.
Safeguards we're asking for are:
✔️ setting infection rates that trigger closure
✔️ testing
✔️ PPE
✔️ cleaning & ventilation
✔️ distancing
✔️ vaccine schedule
✔️ reasonable accommodations
These are basic necessities required to build trust & reopen schools effectively
Our country’s educators are used to doing it all, but in this uniquely frightening moment, they’re asking for help to keep themselves and their kids safe, and too many of them are being sent back into school buildings and effectively being told to wing it – with their lives.
After decades of working in schools buildings with dirty water, broken HVACs & crumbling infrastructure, they are all too familiar with this script. As their union, we are working on plans that follow the science, and help educators overcome their fears & educate our kids

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More from @rweingarten

3 Feb
Thank you @NCPERS for inviting me to speak to your conference. Now, more than ever, we must work together as public employees to protect pensions and our democracy. Image
While people are struggling from the effects of #COVID19 and racial inequality, they’re also facing another crisis: The prospect of retirement insecurity. It’s up to us to ensure every American has the #FreedomToThrive.
We must also make sure we’re not funding lawmakers and organizations trying to destroy our democracy. It’s prudent that public pension funds investigate whether their members’ deferred wages are invested with firms that enabled this attempted coup.
Read 6 tweets
31 Jan
Thank you @CNN for having me on this morning to talk about school reopenings, #COVID19, vaccinations, and what we’ll need to #ReopenSafely.
Educators turned on a dime to make remote learning work, but we all want to be back in the classrooms. It’s why we’ve been working since April 2020 to #ReopenSafely.  aft.org/reopen-schools
Aligning vaccinations for educators in school buildings that are reopening and who want them and are is an important part of the reopening process, as NYC & Cleveland have shown. It’s what we’re working on elsewhere too.
Read 4 tweets
6 Jan
Students across America are watching this & tomorrow teachers will have acknowledge what is happening in DC today. You don’t have to be a civics teacher to know that this moment is going to be very difficult for so many educators across the country. Here are some free resources
In light of today’s events in the US Capitol, help students understand the foundations of democracy with @sharemylesson’s lesson and resource collection sharemylesson.com/collections/fo…
For two centuries, American political offices have peacefully transferred power after every election. Try this resource from @sharemylesson for middle & high school sharemylesson.com/teaching-resou…
Read 7 tweets
6 Jan
Hoping for these two.. but think about the history made already... @ossoff and @ReverendWarnock
And @ReverendWarnock just pulled ahead with 95% in #GaSen
And now @ossoff is 50/50.. 456 votes between them
Read 6 tweets
12 Jun 20
From a friend of a friend in Seattle:

“Thank you Harold Levine for posting this! Long but worth reading. Thank you Elizabeth Malone 4 forwarding this great piece of "wartime" reporting.

A firsthand report from Seattle, forwarded by Elizabeth Malone.
“My wife and I have been getting a lot of questions from friends and relatives about what is happening here in Seattle given the shocking headlines and imagery of Seattle under siege. So I thought I’d take a moment to share what’s going on and what’s not....
Read 26 tweets

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