BOSTON (CBS) – There have been 582 new COVID-19 cases among students and staff in Massachusetts schools in the last two weeks, according to the latest data from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. That’s a 14-percent drop since the last report before school vacation last week. Districts, collaboratives and special education schools reported 373 cases among students and 209 among staff members between February 11 and 24. READ MORE: Watch [email protected] 8:30 am: Baker Visits Newburyport School's Pool COVID-19 Testing Program Schools are not required to report positive cases to the state. Since September 24th, when the weekly release of data started, 6,814 students and 4,667 staff have tested positive. READ MORE: Friday Marks First Anniversary Of Boston Biogen Conference Super Spreader Event The weekly report released every Thursday shows the number of positive cases for students who are in hybrid or in-person models. It does not include students in remote-only programs. Overall, the state estimates there are about 450,000 students and 75,000 staff in Massachusetts public schools. MORE NEWS: Coronavirus In Massachusetts: Today's Developments For the district breakdown on coronavirus cases, visit the DESE website . ...
Ava duvernay at the new school
Weingarten: Returning to School Full-Time Will ‘Depend’ on Physical Distancing, COVID Variants
On Thursday’s broadcast of ABC’s “GMA3,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten stated that returning students to classrooms full-time “is going to depend upon what’s going on with physical distancing, and what’s going on with the variants.” Co-host Amy Robach asked, “When and how are we getting our students, our children, back into those classrooms full-time?” Weingarten responded, “So, full-time is going to depend upon what’s going on with physical distancing, and what’s going on with the variants. What I can tell you is that, at this moment, 18 of the 20 biggest school systems are now open for in-person learning, for the parents who want to send their kids for in-person. What they’ve done is they’ve done the layered mitigation strategies that CDC has now announced, had testing so that, like with the NFL, we can really manage and see what’s unseen. That’s how New York City is really opening, and opening far more robustly than it did in September and October. And then also, as an added layer of protection, we’ve been trying to get teachers and other school employees the vaccine as quickly as possible.” Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett ...
Teachers Unions Aren’t the Obstacle to Reopening Schools
A student returning to public school in Brooklyn for in-person learning. Photo: Brendan McDermid/REUTERS Donald Trump Jr. is thinking of the children. “One of the things I want to talk about,” he said in a recent video, “is the teachers unions.” Sitting in front of a wall of guns, he continued: They’re “out of control,” they’re “destroying our kids’ futures,” and they should “follow the science” and let schools reopen. As Junior mostly mimics Senior, and to less impressive effect, his school diatribe isn’t all that striking on its own. The Trump White House was determined to reopen the country swiftly without much regard for the physical well-being of the vulnerable — and it wasn’t known for its union-friendly posture, either. But remove the school-shooter aesthetics from Trump’s video, and the content isn’t all that unusual. It’s not even partisan. Liberal commentators are also urging schools to reopen, and a number have blamed teachers and their unions for getting in the way. “It is an abdication of responsibility for teachers unions and district administrations to reject CDC guidelines on returning to schools over the coming months,” Sasha Abramsky recently wrote for The Nation. At Vox, epidemiologist Benjamin Linas conceded that teachers ought to be prioritized for vaccinations but added , “If educators and their unions don’t embrace the established science, they risk continuing to widen gaps in educational attainment — and losing the support of their many longtime allies, like me.” Public-school closures do harm poor students at a depressingly disproportionate rate. Their parents can’t afford tutors and often lack the technology required to successfully complete classwork at home. A January study estimated that if schools were to close for a full year, high-school freshmen living in the poorest communities would experience “a 25 percent decrease in their post-educational earning potential.” Wealthy students would likely experience no such ...
Newsom’s Vaccine Plan Aims To Reopen California Classrooms
SAN FRANCISCO (AP/CBS13) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday released a new plan outlining how the state will allocate vaccines to education workers in a continued push to reopen more schools for in-person instruction. Newsom announced last week that at least 10% of the state’s vaccines would go to education workers starting in March, which translates to roughly 75,000 dedicated doses a week. READ MORE: Victimized Again: Looters Rummage Through Victims' Burned Homes The Governor’s Office on Thursday released an overview showing how those vaccines would be distributed. Each week, the state will provide doses to county offices of education for distribution. Teachers and other education workers will get single-use codes to make expedited appointments online. Our top priority is getting students back in the classroom as safely and quickly as possible. CA's equity-centered plan prioritizes #COVID19 vaccines for educators through dedicated https://t.co/AJLQxKLZZq access and @FEMA mobile sites and vaccine drives. https://t.co/s1ZvR0OCSV — Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) February 25, 2021 The state will also host targeted drives for education staff at two mass vaccination sites in Oakland and Los Angeles that are run in partnership with the federal government. “The education professionals who nurture and support our children deserve to be and have been prioritized for vaccines, and I am proud to accelerate those efforts in all 58 counties,” Newsom said in a news release. If 75,000 vaccine doses do come through each week, it could be a matter of weeks for California’s 320,000 K-12 public school teachers to be inoculated. Much of the supply in California remains dedicated for seniors 65 and older, although more counties are opening up appointments for educators, food and farm workers and other essential employees. The state had administered more than 8 million doses as of Thursday. READ MORE: Man Killed In West ...
Annika Sorenstam’s return to golf brings ‘Tiger feeling’ after 13-year absence
(CNN) After 13 years away from the LPGA Tour, the return of Annika Sorenstam to the course definitely had her competitors fired up. The 10-time major winner, who retired from golf in 2008, announced earlier this month that she was to make her comeback at the Gainbridge LPGA Championship which began on Thursday. Sorenstam shot a 75 in her return, and just the sight of the 50-year-old hitting shots and striding down the fairways had some of the younger players in awe. READ: Grief over her father's death helped drive golfer Danielle Kang to major success Sorenstam hits a shot from the 12th tee during the first round of the Gainbridge LPGA Championship. Patty Tavatanakit -- who won Sorenstam's college event in Minnesota -- said it felt like "a Tiger feeling a little bit" having her back, while Gaby Lopez called it a "dream come true" to be in the same field as her. Read More "Just being with her gave me this kind of peaceful environment and just reminded me of how blessed and how thankful I am to have this opportunity to be able to compete with her, just because I remember the seven-year-old Gaby chasing her down the golf course to get a signed golf ball," the Mexican golfer told the media afterwards. "Her role in this game, at this time of her career, I guess, is just keep inspiring girls. I played with her at Diamond Resorts, and I can tell that you she's still as competitive as probably when she was 20 years ago. "You can see that her short game; putting is still on. That's something that she has in her veins and is going to shine forever. She said that she's probably not hitting it as far or straight as she was before, but at the end of the day, I'm going to say it again: she's my superhero. Her and Lorena are probably why I'm here. Being able to share this with them, with her specifically, is just unbelievable." Sorenstam stepped away from golf in 2008 to start a family. And with her children Will and ...
