there's nothing like being with the
teacher as opposed to being on a
computer board it's uh
been proven a lot better it's a lot
better
the ipads are wonderful but you're not
going to learn the same way you do by
being there
so one of the nation of the nation's 25
largest school districts i should say 20
are opting for remote learning only as
their back to school model
three are choosing a hybrid model mixing
remote and limited in person learning
and only two
are planning to be fully in person and
the incoming president
of america's largest teachers union says
that she will do what it takes to
protect teachers and students by keeping
them home
becky pringle president-elect of the
national education association
joins me now um becky pringle thank you
very much for
being here uh tonight obviously um
educating our children and making sure
that they don't miss out on any more
learning is the most important thing
to all of the parents across the country
i want to just put up on the screen this
is part of the nea's
guidance on reopening school buildings
and it says this ensure that school
building reopening plans are inclusive
and
equitable for all educators and students
by humanizing learning environments and
designing spaces that are situated in
the experiences
of communities of color not just through
white
cis hetero and able-bodied lens
lenses what is what does that mean and
what does that have to do
with making sure that the kids and
teachers don't give each other covet 19.
so i'm glad to be with you this evening
let me begin by saying that as an
educator with over
30 years of experience i taught eighth
grade science
i know because i've talked to teachers
every single day
that they want to be with their students
they want to be
in schools with their students they know
that that interaction between them
and their students and their and their
colleagues is absolutely essential
to the learning of our students but
we know that if our students are not
safe if we are costing lives
by opening school buildings because we
will not take the basic precautions
to keep them safe then we but these are
not basic precautions that are in
your your own organization's guidelines
talk about
um you know not just through a white cis
hetero able-bodied lens and
designing spaces that are situated in
the experiences what is this
what is any of what i just read have to
do with what you just said and this is
one of the guidelines
and demands of the nea we have said from
the beginning
that we need to focus our resources
and plans on opening our schools safely
and equity
equitably that means that we want to
make sure
that we finally finally do something
about the disparities in access
and opportunities and resources for
our students of color those uh who are
differently abled
those who have been marginalized by this
society
we need to make sure we understand those
goals i understand but a lot of people
are going to look at
a situation that is desperate in terms
of the basics
in terms of just making sure that the
kids can get into the classroom they can
learn math they can learn science they
can learn english
and they're going to look at some of the
things that are in your guidelines and
say those things
are are good they're aspirational
they're good things to think about
and maybe after we get through all of
this we should address those issues but
there's so many basics that don't fall
in there and i want to ask you this
because
new york city catholic schools are set
to return fully in person
in class five days a week a lot of
charter schools are doing the exact same
thing so why can't the public schools do
what those schools are doing
ninety percent of our students go to
public schools
we need to ensure that the resources
that the majority of our students need
are there for them we have been saying
from the beginning
it is not safe if the infection rates in
the community are not low
and low for two weeks we have saying
we've been saying it is not safe
if they don't have the resources for
mass and other protective gear it is not
safe
obviously it's sanitized regularly every
region
is a different story some regions are
very safe some regions are less safe and
everyone understands that
everyone understands if you're in a hot
spot you're gonna have a different
situation than if you're not but a
blanket
um statement you know across the board
that says that they don't have the
resources
is going to leave a lot of children
without the learning that they that they
need and they do have alternatives
apparently
so they could you know do some of those
it is going to put
our students at risk and we know because
the cdc
just revised their guidelines again to
say that to reflect the reality
that there is a 20 percent increase in
the infection rate
and the rate of hospitalization in our
young people
should be able to make the decision and
have an option for them and i know that
there's a lot of discussion about making
that money portable so that they can
make a
a different choice if the parents decide
that's what they want we all want
everyone to be safe ms pringle thank you
for being here and for telling us your
story tonight thank you