White House works with teacher groups for back-to-school COVID-19 safety

WASHINGTON D.C. — As millions of children head back to school, the White House is working with two teacher organizations to keep kids in their classrooms, especially as omicron cases surge nationwide.

The Biden administration says the big pushes for the new school year are vaccination and testing. Federal officials are working with the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers to help school staff get booster shots. Those two organizations collectively represent more than 5 million teachers.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, said they’re sharing vaccine information with teachers and hosting vaccination clinics during school events.

Weingarten believes that after two school years in a pandemic, they now have the necessary resources to address COVID-19.

But she said teachers still need more support to tackle learning loss.

“We need to actually create more social and emotional learning and wrap services around schools, we need to focus on reading, we need to help kids get their mojo back, and we need to respect teachers so people stay in the profession and come into the profession,” said Weingarten.

Educators say they also want districts to improve and upgrade ventilation systems at schools as an additional precaution.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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