MERIDEN, Connecticut (AP) – Jill Biden, a White House teacher, along with new Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, returned to school on Wednesday with a public push to show districts they have not yet moved to the transition to face-to-face learning can be made safely during the pandemic.
“Teachers want to come back,” the first lady said after she and Cardona spent about an hour visiting classrooms and other areas at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School in Meriden, Connecticut. “It simply came to our notice then. I am a teacher. I’m teaching virtually. “
Biden is a veteran English teacher in the university community who now teaches distance learning from the White House. He said his students told him recently that they can’t wait to get back to the classroom.
“But we just know we have to come back safely,” he said.
The trip was commissioned by Cardona, the former Connecticut commissioner of education, who swore in his new cabinet position just the day before.
Biden and Cardona also visited a Pennsylvania middle school on Wednesday. They were joined by the heads of two major teachers ’unions during the trip, Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers in Connecticut and Becky Pringle of the Pennsylvania National Education Association.
The visits came as the clock lives up to President Joe Biden’s promise to have most K-8 schools open for classroom instruction at the end of his first 100 days in office or in late April. .
To help drive this, Biden said Tuesday he is pushing states to administer at least one coronavirus vaccine to all teachers, school employees and child care workers in late March.
The issue of teacher vaccination became a hotbed in school districts across the country, as many teachers kept the line and refused to return to their classrooms unless they were shot.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not include teacher vaccination in their guidelines for schools to consider when reopening after months of teaching students at a distance through computers.
“We need to continue to reopen American schools for face-to-face learning as quickly and safely as possible,” Cardona said. He said the president’s directive to quickly vaccinate teachers and school staff will be “my top priority.”
Later Wednesday, Biden and Cardona visited Fort LeBoeuf Middle School in Waterford, Pennsylvania, where parents told them they appreciated that the school district had asked for their opinion on the reopening.
After closing in March 2020, the school with several hundred sixth- to eighth-grade students began welcoming them in person, on a voluntary basis, in early September.
“I love that you have this holistic approach,” Biden said.
She and Cardona also visited a robotics class in high school and a class for students who need or want a little more.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump waved flags bearing his name and kept their thumbs upside down as Biden’s caravan drove away from the school. Abortion protesters had placards that said “Protect all children” and “Abortion is not health care.”
During the visit to elementary school in Connecticut, Biden and Cardona saw children sitting at a separate distance at individual desks, each with a mask. Transparent plastic partitions separated groups of four students sitting at crescent-shaped tables. There were hand sanitizers in the hallways.
“I love it,” Biden said after a teacher pointed out the partitions. The teacher also said his youngsters had “no problem” with the masks.
Cardona said the school reopened in late August and “was done in a way that would protect students and their families.”
The first lady and Cardona also visited a “sensory room” with colorful climbing walls, zip lines, monkey bars, stability balls and a mat, where students with special needs can pick up their emotions.
Biden asked the sensory room teacher if he had seen increased anxiety in children due to the pandemic. The teacher said yes.
Later, Biden and Cardona listened as another teacher described their transition to face-to-face learning.
The visit to the school also served as a return to Cardona, which is from Meriden and was so warmly praised that Biden referred to the welcome as a “love party”. Her parents were among those in the school lobby to make these statements.
“Now our nation will have this love for you,” he said.
“Educators’ three favorite words aren’t ‘I love you,’ ”he joked. “He will be the Secretary of Education Cardona.”