It’s not just in Chicago, and U.S. teachers aren’t alone in demanding classroomCovid-19 safety.
“French teachers will walk off the job en masse on Thursday over what they say is the government’s failure to adopt a coherent policy for schools to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, or properly protect pupils and staff against infection,” Reuters reported on Wednesday, January 12, 2022 (read story here).
France is experiencing soaring infections, in their schools, too, Reuters said. But that’s not the only problem teachers and students there face. Their government’s response has been chaotic.
The education minister responded to the strike threat by saying, “One does not strike against a virus.” The teacher unions replied they called for a strike because of “disorganisation” stemming from frequently changing and burdensome testing and contact-tracing rules, increased contagion risk, and “a shortage of face masks for staff.”
This week, Chicago Public Schools averted a teacher strike by reaching agreement with union leaders on “a new set of COVID-19 protocols” (read that story here).
Schools have become a focus of Covid-related political battles, as they’re prime breeding grounds for virus transmission, given that children are only beginning to be vaccinated; and also, school closures have kept working parents out of the U.S. labor force, which is experiencing worker shortages.
Photo: A classroom in Paris doesn’t look much different from one in New York or Chicago; but if this was a school in Florida, half the kids wouldn’t be wearing masks.
