# Opening schools **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [May 21, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247 "2020-05-21T15:36:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 65
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1283 "2020-12-04T02:42:04Z")
I suspect, then, that extended family networks play a part. I’d love to see some research on that. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1284 "2020-12-04T04:00:18Z")
I think it’s a lot of making due. Yes, in many cases mom is home with the kids and dad works 15 hours a day. In others, a parent has been laid off anyway. In many, it’s not a simple thing . . .it’s one parent shifting their hours to nights and weekends and other family members helping a day or two a week or some other multi-level arrangment. And some of it is willingness to leave, say, 7th and 5th grader at home alone for all or part of the day. But it is absolutely not true that less privileged families disproportionately push for in person school. It seems to be the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1285 "2020-12-04T12:04:25Z")
Another thought: one thing I have seen a lot of, with professional/relatively affluent parents, is that they need the school for childcare because they are working from home–it makes it worse, not better. One issue is that if you are having meetings and on calls all day, or just trying to concentrate, kids around makes it very difficult to get anything done, and kids interrupting Zoom calls is not cute anymore, it’s unprofessional. There’s also, pragmatically, internet issues. Everyone talks about poor kids not having internet, but we have a lot of professional parents who are running into a problem where having 4 people streaming at the same time is too much for what was, before, perfectly adequate internet access. And, again, having your internet skitter and jump during meetings looks unprofessional. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1286 "2020-12-05T09:29:54Z")
In New Jersey, at least 285 students and staff contracted or transmitted the virus to each other in school. While that may not be a huge number, it only includes cases that were traced to the school. And only 89 of the districts are classroom learning only. The other districts have either a hybrid model or remote learning only. > **[At least 285 kids and school staff caught COVID-19 at school, new state stats...](https://www.nj.com/education/2020/12/at-least-285-kids-and-school-staff-caught-covid-19-at-school-new-state-stats-show.html)** > > New school outbreaks were reported in three counties this week, according to the data. > [@](#): > > At last count, 438 New Jersey school districts were operating under a hybrid model blending in-person and remote learning, state officials said. Another 246 districts are all-remote or moving to all-remote learning, 89 were offering all in-person classes and 38 were offering a blend of different models in various schools or grades. > . . . > The outbreak numbers only include cases where contact tracers concluded students, teachers and other school workers gave COVID-19 to each other at school in the classroom or during related activities. Any cases involving sports teams are not included. Neither are cases where students or teachers contracted the virus outside school, from their families or during other activities. The spread of infection in schools is also likely to be under reported since 1/3 of children who get covid will be asymptomatic. Those cases are unlikely to be reported in numbers like in the NJ state numbers. > **[No Symptoms Shown in Over One-Third of COVID-19 Infected Children](https://www.contagionlive.com/view/no-symptoms-shown-in-over-one-third-of-covid-19-infected-children)** > > Recent study may have implications for social and public health policies > [@](#): > > While cough (24.5%) and rhinorrhea (19.3%) were common symptoms, children who tested negative also showed them, so they were deemed not predictive of a positive test. From the positive group, 714 (35.9%) were deemed to be asymptomatic. > > “The concern from a public health perspective is that there is probably a lot of COVID-19 circulating in the community that people don’t even realize,” Finlay McAlister, one of the lead authors on the paper said. “When we see reports of 1,200 new cases per day in the province of Alberta, that’s likely just the tip of the iceberg–there are likely many people who don’t know they have the disease and are potentially spreading it.” ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1287 "2020-12-06T00:45:16Z")
Here in New Hampshire schools closed on March 14th and didn’t partially reopen until the week of Labor Day. Universities followed suit, and the majority also did remote-only learning from March-August too. I began tracking covid-case demographics in May. On May 21 kids 0-9 accounted for .70% of cases and kids 10-19 accounted for 3.87% Today kids 0-9 account for 3.65% of cases and 10-19 account for 10.05%, and that’s with only 80% of k-12 schools offering any in-person instruction at all: only a third of schools are “mostly in person” and another third hybrid according to a survey of schools this fall. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1288 "2020-12-08T07:36:08Z")
As I’ve said, I want schools to stay open safely. In my kid’s district several schools, and ultimately the district, closed mostly because too many staff were out due to quarantines. There are simply not enough adults, including substitutes, to staff schools in the presence of unchecked community spread of Covid-19. To help solve this the district is planning to bring in “classroom monitors” which will be paid $15/hour and after “a background check and brief training” will be let loose. They won’t teach, but will monitor classrooms while quarantined teachers give lessons remotely to the kids. I can see this working for older kids, but I’m very skeptical of it for younger grades. I’m glad the district is trying to come up with solutions, and I wish them the best of luck with this one. I don’t want to have to make the decision between home learning and in-school party time for a second grader, because I know I’ll pick the in-school party time. The letter announcing the monitors does start out by saying, and I’ll paraphrase, “What is wrong with you people? Take this seriously. If you want schools to stay open you’ve got to wear masks and stop the gatherings. Did you want exponential growth, because you’ve got exponential growth,” so there is that. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1289 "2020-12-13T15:24:39Z")
More clashes in southern California about opening and closing schools. Some children advocacy groups in LA are suing to have LA county open some schools for younger children and disabled children. Meanwhile, in Orange County, the teachers’ union is pushing the campuses to close down due to the risk of teacher and staff infections. Based on the politics of those areas, you’d think the opposite would be happening. > **[Drama over school reopenings reaches fever pitch in L.A. and Orange counties](https://ktla.com/news/local-news/drama-over-school-reopenings-reaches-fever-pitch-in-l-a-and-orange-counties/)** > > The emotional push and pull over schools intensified Friday as advocates filed litigation to pry campuses open in Los Angeles, even as teachers in Orange County pleaded for them to shut down. Amid … > [@](#): > > Days after the Los Angeles Unified School District announced it was [closing all campuses](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-07/lausd-total-campus-shutdown-amid-pandemic-surge)for limited in-person instruction, two children’s advocacy groups asked the state’s highest court to order a partial — but still substantial — reopening to serve the youngest students and those with special needs, such as students with disabilities and those learning English. > > In contrast, many school districts in Orange County[were able to reopen](https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/story/2020-09-24/orange-county-schools-reopen-amid-parent-teacher-concerns)campuses in the fall when virus rates were subsiding. But with the county’s emergency [medical systems near meltdown](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-11/orange-county-healthcare-system-in-crisis-amid-covid-19-surge), teacher union leaders have overwhelmingly called for a temporary but total campus shutdown, saying the risk to staff, students and their families from COVID-19 is simply too great. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1290 "2020-12-13T20:14:09Z")
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#): > > Meanwhile, in Orange County, the teachers’ union is pushing the campuses to close down due to the risk of teacher and staff infections. The teachers are used to the fact that children get sick all the time, and that other infections are passed from children and between teachers. It’s very difficult to argue numbers against personal experience. It was the same in Victoria.Australia. Although at a different point in the cycle. Our dispute was at the time when people were suggesting that probably children would be at low risk and would present low risk. The present dispute is after that has been confirmed. Yes, teachers are supposed to put the interests of the children first. But if you are convinced in your heart that if you let them come to school, you will die, it is very difficult to argue the importance of education. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1291 "2020-12-13T21:21:53Z")
The difference between the Melbourne expierience and the US is that in Victoria at the time they were moving schools online, nearly everywhere that could be considered higher risk had already shut. We closed the bars and restaurants first. The roughly 14 weeks or so of total school closure was painful for everyone, and especially teachers having to redesign their whole term plan in about two days flat, but at least we pretty much all did it together, and once we did it it was done. Trying to figure out what the rules for schools should be in the context of a bunch of wider society just getting out, mingling and spreading, sounds like a long lingering nightmare ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2020, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1292 "2020-12-14T15:01:05Z")
I feel like over the next few months, especially as vaccinations roll out, the conversation is going to switch from “should schools be open?” and more to “when should schools stop allowing a remote option?” and “when should we go back to compulsory in-person public education?” We have optional in-person learning, but at my school, at least, only about 10-15% are willing to come. They don’t feel safe. At what point do we tell them that they need to come? Some of them are doing fine; quite a few, though, are struggling. I imagine we will finish the year like this, and I admit I have some anxiety that we will end up with 50% here and 50% at home, which, from my point of view will be awful just because the way you run a virtual class is so different than an in-person class, and having half and half each class period makes it impossible to do justice to either. I haven’t really heard any discussion of this in the national conversation: it seems to be generally characterized as a conflict between parents who want to send their kids to school but can’t, and schools that want to stay at 100% remote. No one seems to be talking about “remote optional”, even though that seems to be a pretty common situation. All of Texas except maybe El Paso is “remote optional”. Reports on schools never seem to talk about how many are actually attending–just open or closed. I feel like we will likely stay remote optional with more and more kids coming back, and then return to compulsory education next fall. But that assumes vaccines are available for students by then. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2020, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1293 "2020-12-14T20:42:22Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > feel like over the next few months, especially as vaccinations roll out, the conversation is going to switch from “should schools be open?” and more to “when should schools stop allowing a remote option?” and “when should we go back to compulsory in-person public education?” I worry that remote learning will become the norm for years to come, and we will be forced to do both in-school and online learning at the same time, which is a hell of a lot more difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1294 "2020-12-15T04:02:33Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I feel like over the next few months, especially as vaccinations roll out, the conversation is going to switch from “should schools be open?” and more to “when should schools stop allowing a remote option?” and “when should we go back to compulsory in-person public education?” If I’m understanding you correctly, that’s already happening. California has proposed legislation to compel in school attendance when the case rates are low enough in the area. [https://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/Proposed-legislation-would-require-California-15782784.php](https://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/Proposed-legislation-would-require-California-15782784.php) From what I understand of this, schools will be compelled to reopen with in-person learning if the area’s rate of infection goes to yellow or orange (CA defines this). It’s not clear how they would compel this. If the districts don’t have enough personnel, teachers, staff and admin. who could do the job safely, how would they compel them to open? > [@](#): > > County health officials across the state have been allowing schools to reopen for months, as long as they have met local requirements. Many districts have just not applied to reopen, saying they are not logistically ready or do not have the buy-in among teachers and other labor groups. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1295 "2020-12-15T11:59:12Z")
I am talking about compelling parents and students, not schools. In a lot of places where schools are open, there is a remote option available even when schools are open–and lots of people are taking it. In my school, every single kid COULD come 5 days a week, if they wanted–but only 10% are. I know remote schooling is being offered as an option all over Texas. I don’t know where else this is true because for some reason that nuance is just lost to people who aren’t personally involved and it’s not covered in the news–just “schools open” or “schools closed”. But when I talk to teachers around the country, it seems like “some here, some at home” is pretty normal. I just feel like the next phase is going to be “when do we start sending people to truancy court if they don’t send their kids to school?” and “for how long must districts offer remote options?”. A mix of remote and in person is really, really difficult logistically, and many of the kids/families that opt for remote would be the ones least suited for it. On the other hand, if people are in fear of their lives (even if it grows less valid), is it really appropriate to tell them to send their kid or go to jail? ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1296 "2020-12-15T13:58:40Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I just feel like the next phase is going to be “when do we start sending people to truancy court if they don’t send their kids to school?” Ah OK. I’m guessing the answer to that question would be when every student and teacher and staff that are being compelled to be in in-person school have access to the vaccine. Bill Gates [seems to believe](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/03/bill-gates-by-spring-2021-life-will-be-headed-back-to-normal-pandemic.html) that schools will be back to normal in fall 2021. The estimate is that most people will have access to the vaccine by June 2021. I’m thinking that schools will require the vaccine for in-school attendance. > [@](#): > > He thinks a 2021 school year that is “completely normal” is within reach. > > “We can get the whole country, every city back in school. I think that’s achievable and a very important goal to have in mind,” Gates told CNN. I think he means the school year beginning in the fall since [he’s said](https://paktribune.com/news-details/schools-may-not-be-back-to-normal-until-fall-of-2021-bill-gates) in other places that the fall 2021 school year might be normal. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1297 "2020-12-15T14:09:05Z")
But if vaccine compliance is low, even vaccinated people may be skittish. And then there are people who don’t want to vaccinate. Do we provide remote options? When do we say, enough is enough? ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1298 "2020-12-15T15:22:05Z")
Do you mean vaccine compliance in the general public being low? I’m assuming that vaccines will be required to attend in-person school. In that environment, I don’t see why vaccinated people would be skittish. Everyone around them would also be vaccinated. As for those people who don’t want to be vaccinated, that would be the same population that refuses to vaccinate now for other diseases like measles. They’d have to fall under the [immunization exemptions](https://www.webmd.com/children/vaccines/what-are-the-rules-on-vaccine-exemptions). The medical exemption would be harder to fall under since sick children are the very ones who should be vaccinated. If they’re so sick they can’t get vaccinated, they probably can’t go to school. For those people using the religious exemption, they’d probably be homeschooled as they are now. Looking at [this article](https://edsource.org/2020/declining-immunization-rates-for-non-covid-illnesses-means-some-students-wont-be-able-to-return-to-campuses-whenever-they-reopen/644305), compliance rates in the random schools in the article from California, compliance rates are in the 90% range. That’s probably enough for herd immunity. > [@](#): > > Los Angeles Unified, the state’s largest school district, reports that 91% of kindergartners and 81% of seventh-graders have had their required immunizations. That’s down from 96% and 97%, respectively, last school year at this time. Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see the need for remote learning\* if vaccination rates are in this range. \*except for those students who were doing remote learning before covid or have another reason for it. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1299 "2020-12-22T11:30:58Z")
Some experts are saying that the new variant of the coronavirus in the UK is spreading faster in children. They’re just looking at the data and trying to account for why more children have gotten this strain than the other strain, even accounting for schools staying open. But they don’t have a proven reason yet. [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-variant-children-idUSKBN28V2F5](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-variant-children-idUSKBN28V2F5) > [@](#): > > “There is a hint that it has a higher propensity to infect children,” said Neil Ferguson, a professor and infectious disease epidemiologist at Imperial College London and also a member of NERVTAG. > > “We haven’t established any sort of causality on that, but we can see it in the data,” Ferguson said. “We will need to gather more data to see how it behaves going forward.” [https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/new-coronavirus-variant-could-more-easily-target-children-experts-suggest/ar-BB1c7j4Q](https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/new-coronavirus-variant-could-more-easily-target-children-experts-suggest/ar-BB1c7j4Q) > [@](#): > > Experts say that data indicates it may be able to better spread among youngsters than other strains, but that analysis is still ongoing. > . . . > He added: “What we’ve seen is, during the lockdown in England we saw a general distribution of the virus towards children, and that was true in the variant and the non-variant, and it is what we would expect, given that we had locked down which reduced adult contact but schools were still open. > > “But what we’ve seen over the course of a five or six-week period is consistently the proportion of pillar two cases for the variant in under-15s was statistically significantly higher than the non-variant virus. > > “We are still investigating the significance of that.” > > Prof Ferguson continued: “This is a hypothesis at the moment – it’s not been proven. > > “But if it were true, then this might explain a significant proportion, maybe even the majority, of the transmission increase seen. They’re not saying that children are targeted specifically but more that children don’t have an advantage over adults that the old mutation seems to have given. > [@](#): > > She said: “We are not saying that this is a virus which specifically attacks children. > > “And again, if the (new) virus is having an easier time of finding an entrance cell then that would put children on a more level playing field.” > > She added: “Therefore children are equally susceptible perhaps to this virus as adults, and therefore given their mixing patterns, you would expect to see more children being infected. > > “It’s not just the viruses specifically targeting them, but it’s just that it’s now less inhibited, if you like, to get into the children.” ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1300 "2020-12-30T22:21:44Z")
Today Colorado moved teachers and other education staff into the “1B” vaccination group. That is the group that comes immediately after high-risk health care workers and long-term care facilities. Hopefully this will go a long way towards allowing schools to stay open. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1301 "2021-01-03T16:00:58Z")
Yesterday, there was an article with a quote from a person in a hospital in the UK saying that the wards were full of children. That prompted this article. This article reiterates that the severity of illness of the new variant isn’t different than the old variant. Children are not getting sicker from this variant than they were from the old one. I’m not sure if this affects the article I posted on Dec. 22 which says that more children are getting infected. But that says that more people are getting infected, so children are among them, and children are not immune from this. > **[Coronavirus: No increase in severe child cases, paediatricians say](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55518248)** > > "Covid is rife in hospitals, but not among children," consultant paediatrician Dr Ronny Cheung said. In California, Governor Newsom announced a new plan to get children back to school in the Spring (if the case rates go down in the communities). > **[Newsom announces $450-per-student incentive to reopen schools](https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2021/01/01/newsom-announces-450-per-student-incentive-to-reopen-schools/)** > > After painting a dark forecast for the pandemic earlier in the week, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Dec. 30 offered some hope: He has a $2-billion plan for schools to start in-person learning by spring. > [@](#): > > Newsom’s January budget will call for providing a one-time payment of $450 per student to school districts that offer in-person instruction to help cover their extra costs related to the virus. > > The phased-in approach would prioritize the state’s youngest learners, kindergarten to sixth grade, beginning in February, Newsom said. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2021, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247/1302 "2021-01-06T09:33:03Z")
40% of Chicago teachers and staff did not show up for work after the holiday break. School administration says that the union is pressuring them to stay at home. The school administration sent out emails to the teachers and staff who did not show up, letting them know that their absence is unexcused. They say that there will be receiving “progressive discipline”. (That almost doesn’t sound like increasing punishment. Almost.) In a survey of teachers and principals, most voted that school shouldn’t start in Jan/Feb. > **[40% of Chicago teachers and staff didn’t report to schools as ordered, CPS says](https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2021/1/5/22214895/chicago-public-schools-coronavirus-teachers-return-classroom-in-person-instruction-ctu-cps-covid-19)** > > CEO Janice Jackson said those who continue to ignore their orders will face progressive discipline but that it’s in nobody’s interest to fire teachers. > [@](#): > > About 40% of Chicago Public Schools teachers and staff who were expected to report to schools Monday for the first time during the pandemic didn’t show up for in-person work, officials said Tuesday, accusing the Chicago Teachers Union of pressuring its members to defy the district’s orders. > . . . > In a sign of the increasing tension between the school system and the teachers union, CPS CEO Janice Jackson said Tuesday that the number of employees who reported to work was “significant considering the fact that they were pressured by the union not to return.” > > Those who didn’t show up and elected to continue teaching remotely were sent emails telling them their absence was unexcused. Jackson said those who continue to ignore their orders will face progressive discipline according to the union contract, but that it’s in nobody’s interest to fire teachers. > . . . > A survey of 300 principals and assistant principals conducted this week found only 29% felt they’d received enough support from the district, and only 17% agreed that opening in January or February was the right decision, LaRaviere said. > . . . > In a survey conducted by the union, 69% of members who did return reported conditions in schools that were “not adequate,” Sharkey said. Among staff concerns, Sharkey said, were “filthy” buildings, those in “various states of disrepair” and either missing or inadequate air purifiers. In the meantime, in the UK where schools were forced to open during the pandemic, local authorities are saying the rates of Covid among teachers is up to 333% above the average > **[Exclusive: Teacher Covid rates up to 333% above average](https://www.tes.com/magazine/archived/exclusive-teacher-covid-rates-333-above-average)** > > Teacher infections far outstripping local rates, figures from three local authorities obtained by the NASUWT reveal > [@](#): > > Figures for three councils obtained by the NASUWT teachers’ union show that the staff coronavirus infections are far outstripping local rates, casting doubt on the government’s [repeated assertion that teachers are at no greater risk than other workers](https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-schools-hancock-no-evidence-teachers-higher-risk-covid). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247.md?page=64) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-schools/854247.md?page=66)