Zeke Emanuel: You Can Open Schools Safely

‘We should put teachers at the top’

EXCERPT:

EMANUEL: “I absolutely agree with you, Willie. I have been on this, actually, for months and months and months. You can open schools safely. The data are pretty overwhelming. I have argued that we should put teachers at the top, that they’re essential workers, that you can have kids wear masks. It’s a controlled environment. You can space them out, you can open windows and keep the ventilation going. I have advised a number of schools to do this, and it’s been very, very successful. And I do think, you know, there are some cases where we have had widespread events. You can shut down classrooms, you don't have to shut down the whole school. But if you follow the public health measures, you keep windows open, teachers are vaccinated, it can be very safe. And I agree that that’s the direction we should go, and I have been arguing it for months. I think more districts have to get there. And I can't imagine and understand, when teachers say, 'We have to be vaccinated, but every kid has to be vaccinated before we go in the classroom,' that is just putting it off for many, many more months. I also think that we should strongly consider summer school because kids have lost a lot of ground educationally, socially and otherwise. I think summer school would be very beneficial to students at this moment, in-person summer school at this moment in time.”

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