School Reopening

For John, BLUF:  We are approaching a crunch point with regard to reopening of schools.  The different players are maneuvering for position.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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‘Nothing is off the table’: National teacher union supports strikes over reopening plans

From The Boston Globe, by Reporter Collin Binnley (Associated Press), 28 July 2020.

Here is the lede plus two:

One of the nation's largest teachers unions is authorizing its members to strike if their schools plan to reopen without proper safety measures in the middle of the global pandemic.

The American Federation of Teachers, which represents 1.7 million school employees, issued a resolution on Tuesday saying it will support any local chapter that decides to strike over reopening plans.

In providing its blessing, the union is also offering local chapters access to its financial and legal resources as they navigate a return to the classroom.  Union officials said they will provide legal support, communications support and staffing to local chapters that vote to strike.

In the mean time, Home Schooling has begun.  At least that is the report I have from family in Virginia.

As for Lowell, I am in favor of a hybrid system.  In my mind we should be determining which students thrive in an on-line learning enviornment.  Those who can benefit from on-line education should be moved to that path.  It is my assumption that this will free up teach resources, to allow us to (1) do more social distancing and (2) allow for more attention for those students who would benefit from more attention.

For sure, we need to be doing better by all of our students, especially those who struggle in the current school enviornment.

The United Teachers of Lowell, our local Teachers Union has an on-line presence, here.

Regards  —  Cliff