White House works with teacher groups for back-to-school COVID-19 safety

As millions of children are heading back to school, the White House is working with two teacher organizations to keep kids in their classrooms especially as Omicron cases surge nationwide.

The Biden Administration says vaccination and testing are big pushes for the new school year. Federal officials are working with the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers to help school staff get boosters. Those two organizations collectively represent more than five million teachers.

Randi Weingarten, the President of the American Federation of Teachers, said they’re sharing vaccine information with teachers and hosting vaccination clinics during school events

Weingarten believes after two school years of a pandemic, they do have the necessary resources to address COVID-19.

But now she said teachers need more support to tackle learning loss.

“We need to actually create more social and emotional learning and wrap services around schools, we need to focus on reading, we need to help kids get their mojo back and we need to respect teachers, so people stay in the profession and come into the profession,” said Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers.

Educators say they also want districts to improve and upgrade school ventilation systems as an additional precaution.

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