Blame game escalates as Chicago public schools remain closed

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Meanwhile, schools in California, Maine, New York, Georgia, Baltimore and elsewhere in the Northeast are struggling to cope with sick children, sick teachers and online learning.

Politico: Lightfoot says teachers’ union has “given up their posts”, still a “hopeful” deal can be reached as children return to their classes. The teachers’ union in the country’s third-largest school district voted last week to close classes in a Covid-related labor dispute. (Wolane, 1/9)

Bloomberg: New York City School Operations Crumble Under Omicron’s Weight New York City school officials have fought to keep schools open thanks to a record spate of Omicron cases. Now students, parents and teachers are grappling with the consequences. Some 300,000 students missed classes on average this week in the country’s largest school district, which serves 1 million. For others, going to class in person represented little real learning, as students were crammed into auditoriums with insufficient numbers of teachers. Students trapped at home had no virtual option, and parents had to decide whether to send their children or risk them falling even further behind after years of disrupted and pandemic education. (Querolo, 1/8)

The Guardian: Staff shortages, fear and confusion: Los Angeles schools grapple with Covid chaos for Los Angeles Unified – the second largest public school system in the United States – classes are scheduled to resume Tuesday, and educators , students and parents alike are bracing for another winter of anxious uncertainty. Schools here are grappling with coronavirus issues facing institutions across the country – but on a huge scale. Vaccination rates continue to lag in children and testing is scarce. And all of this comes as Covid rates rise in the surrounding community, with about one in five coronavirus tests in Los Angeles coming back positive. (Singh, 1/10)

Axios: Georgia relaxes some COVID guidelines for school districts Letter sent Thursday by Governor Brian Kemp and DPH Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey says educators and school staff who are exposed to COVID-19 can return to work , regardless of their vaccination status or when they were exposed “if their employer deems it necessary to ensure adequate personnel.” (Dixon, 1/10)

The Washington Post: Montgomery County to keep 11 virtual schools this week; Will give all students KN95 masks Montgomery County Public Schools announced Sunday that 11 schools with a peak in coronavirus cases will go virtual this week and return to in-person classes on January 18. They also say they will give all students in the county KN95 masks in an effort to limit the transmission of the coronavirus in schools. (Klein and Saint-Georges, 1/9)

The Baltimore Sun: More than a third of schools in the city of Baltimore switch to online learning Monday amid the spread of COVID-19 Sign of the growing difficulty in keeping schools open, more than a third of Baltimore city schools will switch to online learning Monday after testing results that arrived over the weekend showing thousands of students and staff could have COVID-19. The school system listed 57 schools temporarily switching to e-learning on its website on Sunday evening. Two other schools have been closed over what has been described as facilities issues. The city has 155 schools. (Bowie, 1/9)

Bangor Daily News: Schools in Maine expect number of COVID cases to continue Schools in the Bangor area have started to see an increase in COVID-19 cases in the week since the return of students from their winter vacation. And school leaders and state officials expect the numbers to continue to rise over the next week as the return of regular testing for the virus detects new cases. The Maine Department of Education reported Thursday that schools have detected 4,946 cases of COVID-19 among staff and students in the past 30 days. That was a 20% drop from the department’s last report, Dec. 23, of cases reported in the past 30 days. But the drop reflects the fact that schools were closed over Christmas and New Years and did not report any new cases during that time, said Kelli Deveaux, spokesperson for the Education Ministry. (Russell, 1/9)

In other news on covid mandates –

Dallas Morning News: Airplane masking now pits Southwest Airlines flight attendants against non-compliant pilots Transportation Workers Union Local 556, which represents 15,400 flight attendants, said Friday that many of the carrier’s pilots didn’t just hide in the cockpit, as Federal Aviation Administration rules allow, but also dropped face covers during ground training. The union said its members are still required to wear masks and are reprimanded if they do not. (Arnold, 1/7)

This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of coverage of health policies by major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.

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