Schools are still closed. Yes, many school districts have opened their doors, but in most of our big cities and large suburban counties, schoolhouses are empty while the children “learn” remotely. The COVID-19 vaccine was supposed to open things up again, but teachers unions are doing their best to keep the doors barred.
The West Virginia branch of the American Federation of Teachers announced last week that it will file an injunctive action against the state’s Board of Education, along with several county boards of education, to halt Gov. Jim Justice’s plan to reopen all elementary and middle schools five days a week. The teachers union slammed the plan as “tone deaf” and called it an “incredible overstepping of authority,” even though it is well within the state’s rights to hand down guidance to its public schools and most West Virginia teachers are now eligible for the coronavirus vaccine.
The unions don’t care, though. In New York City, the United Federation of Teachers is arguing that city officials must wait to see whether vaccinated people can still spread the virus. Los Angeles County’s largest teachers union went a step further and argued that the city must not only vaccinate every teacher before reopening schools, but every student as well.
Meanwhile, grades are dropping, attendance is waning, and children are losing months of vital socialization. For example, Fairfax County’s schools, which reopened briefly on a hybrid basis before shutting down once again last fall, found that the percentage of F’s earned by middle school and high school students jumped by 83% this past year. Middle school students specifically reported a 300% increase in F’s, and students with disabilities across all grades reported an 11% increase in F’s. But this academic loss did not seem to phase Fairfax’s superintendent, Scott Brabrand, when he announced last week that his county’s schools aren’t ready to return yet — even though Fairfax teachers were among the first to become eligible for the vaccine.
If safety was the main concern, the vaccine should have been the solution. We already know that transmission of the virus is extremely low among young children, and vaccinating teachers would ensure that it stays that way. But many cities are still unwilling to take the obvious next step and reopen their schools, which suggests safety is not the main concern at all.
