{"id":2092,"date":"2020-09-01T06:00:32","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T06:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uniontrack.com\/blog\/?p=2092"},"modified":"2020-08-31T14:11:50","modified_gmt":"2020-08-31T14:11:50","slug":"aft-nea-schools-reopen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniontrack.com\/blog\/aft-nea-schools-reopen","title":{"rendered":"The AFT and NEA: The Voice of Teachers as Schools Reopen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ken Green
CEO\/Founder
UnionTrack<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few people question the benefit of kids getting back to school. But nearly everyone is concerned with how to reopen schools safely. It has become one of the biggest, most complicated issues in the country as the U.S struggles to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and resume some sense of normalcy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite the near-universal goal of returning students to classrooms this fall, the reality is that school districts cannot simply flip a switch and return to the pre-pandemic school structure,\u201d write Scott Sargrad and Maura Calsyn<\/a>, respectively vice president of K-12 education policy and managing director of health policy at the Center of American Progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schools are running short on time to figure out how they will manage their fall semesters. That time crunch has some teachers concerned that safety will be an afterthought in back-to-school plans. \u201cTeachers say they still have many unanswered questions about how it will all work,\u201d writes Madeline Will<\/a>, a reporter for Education Week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) are leading the charge on behalf of teachers to help get those answers and to ensure that school districts prioritize safety as they reopen schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Unions Have Issued Back-to-School Guidance <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Physically reopening schools has turned into a contentious issue between federal and state officials, who are pushing hard to get kids back in the classroom, and the teachers, parents, and unions cautioning restraint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSafety does not appear to be a top concern of the Trump administration,\u201d writes Cindy Long<\/a>, senior writer and media specialist at the NEA, after the administration dismissed the reopening guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> (CDC), which it called too \u201crestrictive\u201d and \u201cexpensive.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the federal government isn\u2019t issuing an alternative, only threatening to cut off funding for schools that don\u2019t fully reopen in the fall.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To counter that lack of focus on safety, education organizations are following the science and prioritizing safety. \u201cThere\u2019s no one that wants our kids back more than teachers \u2026 but we want to open it safely,\u201d says Lily Eskelsen Garc\u00eda<\/a>, president of the NEA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To that end, both the AFT and the NEA have issued guidelines for safely reopening schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AFT\u2019s Plan to Safely Reopen America\u2019s Schools and Communities<\/a> features five core pillars to inform the decision to reopen. Those pillars include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n