Teachers still fear COVID-19, but calls to open schools grow louder

'We have educators who are dying': Teachers still fear COVID-19, but calls to open schools grow louder Even though teachers fear for their safety, lawmakers and parents are demanding that schools take advantage of declining infection rates to open. Laura Ungar and Samantha Young USA TODAY

California mom Megan Bacigalupi has had enough. She wants her kindergartner and second-grader back in their Oakland classrooms.

But the coronavirus is spreading too quickly to open schools in Alameda County, based on current state standards. And the local teachers union hasn’t agreed to go back – even after teachers have been vaccinated. So she expects her kids will be logging on to school from home for a while.

“The impediments to opening are just too great,” said Bacigalupi, who is lobbying California lawmakers to establish firm, statewide health metrics that, once met, would require schools to open. “In the end, it comes down to a lack of political will to get the kids back in the classroom.”

Parents across the country, many of whom relied on schools to care for their children while they worked, are frustrated and angry that remote instruction has gone on so long, even as grocery store clerks, city bus drivers and other essential workers have braved the risks of their workplaces. Lawmakers are increasingly joining their calls to get kids into classrooms, citing the loss of worker productivity and parents’ concerns about the social, emotional and academic effects on children. President Joe Biden has pledged to open most schools within his first 100 days in office if Congress provides funding, and if states and cities adopt safety steps.

But that will be a herculean task. Nearly one year into the pandemic, fewer than half of students are attending schools that are teaching in-person every day, and the question of how and when to get kids back into classrooms often depends less on science than politics – including the strength of local teachers unions.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded recently that schools can reopen safely if their communities have low levels of the virus and they adhere strictly to measures such as requiring everyone to stay 6 feet apart and wear masks. But in numerous communities, those basic measures haven’t been followed, even before the vaccine rollout – and many teachers aren’t convinced they will be safe on campus. ...

In many states, teachers lobbied to be among the first to be vaccinated after health care workers and nursing home residents. But they also argue the vaccines alone are not enough to open schools. They want low levels of community spread. They want as many school staffers as possible vaccinated, which could take months. And they want assurances that schools won’t relax masking, physical distancing and other safety measures. “We’ve had concerns about some districts being more lax even before the vaccine,” said Scott DiMauro, president of the Ohio Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union. ...