With the science making it abundantly clear schools are safe from COVID-19 outbreaks for both educators and children, the Los Angeles Times editorial board is calling out the city’s superintendent for failing to reopen classrooms for in-person learning.
In a Wednesday editorial, the newspaper said Superintendent Austin Beutner and his district are “officially out of excuses for keeping elementary schools closed,” adding Beutner “needs to put on his big-boy pants” and stand up against the United Teachers Los Angeles union, whose members are refusing to go back to work, claiming the health guidances currently in place do “not do enough.”
The editorial board noted in the article the county’s infection rate has fallen to the point where it is “officially safe,” according to local health officials, for every elementary school to reopen its doors for children.
Despite the overwhelming amount of research indicating its safe — as well as local health experts backing up that data — Beutner has “no immediate plans” for reopening the county’s classrooms, the Times stated.
“There are no more excuses,” it continued. “Further delay is unacceptable.”
Beutner has kowtowed to the unions repeatedly since the pandemic began. At the union’s behest, he has updated the ventilation systems in district facilities, made COVID-19 testing widely available, developed a robust contact tracing database, and urged the prioritization of teachers for vaccination against the coronavirus.
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“At this point,” the editorial board stated, “the superintendent needs to put on his big-boy pants, reopen schools and demand that teachers return or risk their jobs. Union leaders in turn need to realize that not only are students done a tremendous disservice by the continued closures, but most parents vehemently want their kids back in the classroom. The union is jeopardizing its own popularity if it continues to put the needs of students and families last.”
Similar to Beutner, President Joe Biden — who vowed to reopen schools within the first 100 days of his administration — is so far refusing to stand up to teachers’ unions in big cities around the country.
As Faithwire previously reported, study after study has shown teachers and children are safe from COVID-19 infections when in the classroom.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who is serving as Biden’s director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a recent White House briefing that “schools can safely reopen,” adding that doing so “does not” mean all teachers “need to be vaccinated.”
And Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday: “We don’t feel that every teacher needs to be vaccinated before you can open a school.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, like Biden, is contradicting the science and the advice from medical experts. During an interview this week with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, Harris said teachers should be vaccinated before it’s “safe” for them to return to classrooms for in-person learning.
Anything else?
The Times editorial comes as another major California city — San Francisco — is facing its own educational and mental health crisis.
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced last week he has filed a lawsuit against his city’s own school district in an effort to force it to reopen classrooms for in-person learning.
Dr. Jeanne Noble, director of COVID Response for the University of California-San Francisco Emergency Department, said the available medical evidence make it “clear that keeping public schools closed is catalyzing a mental health crisis among school-aged children in San Francisco.”
To that end, the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital said it has seen a 66% increase in the number of suicidal children in its emergency room and a 75% jump in the number of youth requiring hospitalization for mental health services.
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The attorney’s lawsuit notes that 114 of San Francisco’s private, parochial, and charter schools have reopened to nearly 16,000 students with some 2,400 staff members. Collectively, those schools have had fewer than five cases of suspected in-person transmission of COVID-19.
It also condemns school officials for failing to establish plans for reopening.
“Distance learning is a form of instruction; it is not school,” states the lawsuit, arguing that in-person education is about more than just academic advancement but also plays a vital role in the social, emotional, and psychological development of children.