In her wide-ranging keynote address July 28 at the virtual AFT Convention 2020, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten called attention to “Reopening School Buildings Safely,” the AFT’s updated school-reopening plan, which contains three essential conditions.
Those conditions are: low infection rates and adequate testing, public health safeguards to help prevent the spread of the virus in schools, and the funding and resources to make it happen.
Here are some choice comments from Weingarten’s keynote:
“As this pandemic batters the United States, we are all in the same storm, but we are far from being in the same boat.”
“And our public schools, which are a foundation of our democracy, must be excellent for all, equitable for all and empowering for all. But first, they must reopen safely.”
“We know that kids need in-person learning, and that remote instruction is no substitute for it. But it has to be safe. That’s why the AFT has been planning for school buildings to reopen since they closed.”
“How dare President Trump tweet — in all caps — ‘Schools must open in the fall,’ with no plan, no funding and no idea what he’s talking about.”
To view “Reopening School Buildings Safely,” click here.
