Biden’s schools bid pits CDC science against clout of teacher unions – By Josh Wingrove (Bloomberg) / Feb 10 2021
President Joe Biden’s push to reopen U.S. schools is running headlong into his pledge to support teachers, who are demanding more coronavirus testing, vaccinations and other safety measures before returning to classrooms.
The president has pledged to follow the science as he nudges schools toward welcoming more students back to class, while also enjoying broad support from teachers and their unions. First Lady Jill Biden, a teacher herself, welcomed the heads of the two top teachers unions to the White House on the administration’s first full day in office.
“Joe is going to be a champion for you,” she told them. Yet that loyalty may be tested as soon as this week, when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to release new, detailed guidance for schools seeking to reopen. School administrators around the country have sought to put teachers back in classrooms before more, or even all of them, are vaccinated, citing scientific studies — including work by the CDC — that shows the risk of transmission on campuses is low.
The administration has pledged to reopen 50% of U.S. classrooms at least one day a week within its first 100 days — a goal that may have already been met. Advancing much beyond that target, however, could be thwarted by delays in Congress on a new pandemic aid package, the continued emergence of new, more contagious strains of the coronavirus or resistance from teachers’ unions that Biden has guaranteed a seat at the table.
