US attempt to reopen schools sends thousands of students, staff home as COVID spreads

[TomCADem]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by JudyM (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: ABC News

The U.S. attempt to return children to the classroom this fall has turned into a slow-motion train wreck, with at least 2,400 students and staff either infected with COVID-19 or self-isolating because of exposure, and the vast majority of large school districts opting to go online this summer amid rising cases of the virus.

President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have mostly waved off the situation unraveling this week in states like Georgia, Alabama, Indiana and Tennessee, where schools opened their doors after a months-long hiatus due to the pandemic -- only to quickly backtrack as soon as infections popped back up.

Trump and DeVos have demanded that schools stay open full-time and threatened to pull federal funding if the institutions fail to do so. At a White House event this week, DeVos made no mention of the crisis in Georgia and elsewhere and said families shouldn't be held "captive to other people's fears or agendas."

DeVos has "consistently said the decision to reopen should be made at the local level, and some schools may need to temporarily remain virtual based on local public health situation," Angela Morabito, a spokesperson for the Education Department, told ABC News late Thursday in an emailed response to questions about the recent school closures.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-attempt-to-reopen-schools-sends-thousands-of-students-staff-home-as-covid-spreads/ar-BB17X74O?ocid=msedgdhp

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2,400 and counting. DeVos is both threatening to pull funding if school do not reopen to in-person classes, but then insists it is not the Trump administrations fault, because the decision to reopen should be made at the local level.

[iluvtennis]

1. No in-person classes should be held until all of the students/teachers/staff/support staff at the

schools are tested. Then there needs to be periodic testing after that - like the NBA/WNBA are handling things in their "bubbles" in Florida.

And the senate needs to pass the Heroes Act (that Nancy sent to them in early May) so that additional funding can be provided to schools to implement social distancing, provide sanitizing stations, etc.

[Timewas]

2. She is right

"families shouldn't be held "captive to other people's fears or agendas."Her and his fears and agendas..

[sanatanadharma]

3. DeVos says families shouldn't be held "captive to other people's fears or agendas."

But for some reason the republican tribe can not comprehend that families shouldn't be held captive to other people's fantasies or selfishness that lead to sickness and death.

Only death cults see death as on par with education.

[NNadir]

4. The post election charges against DeVos should certainly include manslaughter. n/t,

[ananda]

6. Worse than that: crimes against humanity.

I want a full Nuremburg trial for Trump and all his appointees.

[Miguelito Loveless]

5. Who could have forseen....

Oh, right, everyone with the intellectual capacity of a brain damaged box of cake mix.

[cstanleytech]

7. Sorry but you are wrong.

Its actually everyone with the intellectual capacity of a brain damaged box of cake mix that has been sitting on the markdown shelf in a grocery store gathering dust for the past 20+ years.

[JudyM]

8. Locking

after review by the forum hosts. Recap/analysis rather than important breaking news, so wrong forum. Please repost in GD if you’d like.