Tag: education

Scientists warn it may be years before students can return to school without masks, social distancing

Experts say it may take a couple of years before students can resume classes without the risk of an outbreak,especially among grade-school children. They say a combination of herd immunity, a coronavirus vaccine and hygienic practices are needed to bring the virus down to low enough levels and allow schools to safely return to normal.

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DPH: Flu vaccine required for all students of Massachusetts schools

Flu shots will now be required for all students in Massachusetts schools, from child care through colleges, the Department of Public Health announced Wednesday.

Students older than six months will have to be vaccinated by Dec. 31, unless either a medical or religious exemption is provided.

“The new vaccine requirement is an important step to reduce flu-related illness and ​the overall impact of respiratory illness during the COVID-19 pandemic,” officials wrote in an announcement of the new policy.

Students who are homeschooled are exempt from the policy, but health officials said students at elementary and secondary schools that are using a remote learning model are not exempt.

College or university students who are entirely off-campus will also be exempt from the mandate.

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School Reopenings Linked to Union Influence and Politics, Not Safety

School closures have affected over 55 million K–12 students in the U.S. since March as the nation deals with the coronavirus pandemic. Although numerous private schools and day care centers have adjusted to the pandemic and reopened, many public school districts and teachers unions are fighting to remain closed in the name of safety. In fact, 85 percent of the country’s 20 largest public school districts have already announced that they will not be reopening schools for any in-person instruction as the school year begins.

Some have noted these reopening decisions often appear to be driven by politics rather than public health. Unfortunately, many teachers groups are contributing to this appearance. In their report on safely reopening schools, for example, the Los Angeles’ teachers union went beyond detailing the safety needs of teachers and students, also calling for politicians to enact a wealth tax, Medicare for All, and a ban on charter schools. 

Similarly, 10 teachers unions across the country joined a coalition that included the Democratic Socialists of America to “Demand Safe Schools.” But rather than focus on student and teacher safety, they demanded a ban on new charter schools and voucher programs as well as the cancellation of rents and mortgages. 

When a reporter asked Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser if trends in the city’s COVID-19 cases justified the all-virtual start to the school year, Bowser responded, “No. I wouldn’t say the attention to the health metrics is the only thing that’s leading to our decision today” and that “clearly we want to work with our workforce.”

New data suggest these anecdotes—and the underlying theory that reopening has more to do with power dynamics than safety—have some merit.

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Your child’s a no-show at virtual school? You may get a call from the state’s foster care agency

Massachusetts school officials have reported dozens of families to state social workers for possible neglect charges because of issues related to their children’s participation in remote learning classes during the pandemic shutdown in the spring, according to interviews with parents, advocates, and reviews of documents.

In most cases, lawyers and family advocates said, the referrals were made solely because students failed to log into class repeatedly. Most of the parents reported were mothers, and several did not have any previous involvement with social services.

The trend was most common in high-poverty, predominantly Black and Latino school districts in Worcester, Springfield, Haverhill, and Lynn; advocates and lawyers reported few, if any, cases from wealthier communities.

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Fairfax County, Virginia public schools tell parents not to hire tutors because it is unfair to kids whose parents can’t afford them

If you had any doubt that hard-left ideologues run government school systems in many (most?) places, take a look at Fairfax County, Virginia’s most populous county, with over a million residents, one of the richest counties in the United States with an average household income well over one hundred thousand dollars.

The educrats who run the Fairfax public schools have advised parents there not to hire tutors or organize informal homeschool “pods” to replace the shuttered schools because some parents cannot afford to do so, and that would be “unfair.”

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