Four former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention blasted the Trump administration’s “repeated efforts to subvert” agency guidelines related to reopening schools, accusing the White House in a scathing Washington Post op-ed of undermining science with “partisan potshots.”
The directors, Tom Frieden, Jeffrey Koplan and David Satcher and acting head Richard Besser, served in parts of the Obama, Bush and Clinton administrations. They said they “cannot recall over our collective tenure a single time when political pressure led to a change in the interpretation of scientific evidence.”
In his push to reopen schools this fall in order to help juice the economy, Trump last week criticized the CDC’s guidelines as “very tough & expensive” and demanded that the agency issue new ones.
- Education Secretary Betsy DeVos then said on Sunday that the CDC guidance is simply a recommendation, and that kids “cannot afford” to not return to in-person learning.
“Through last week, and into Monday, the administration continued to cast public doubt on the agency’s recommendations and role in informing and guiding the nation’s pandemic response,” the former CDC directors wrote.
- “On Sunday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos characterized the CDC guidelines as an impediment to reopening schools quickly rather than what they are: the path to doing so safely. The only valid reason to change released guidelines is new information and new science — not politics.”
- “These efforts have even fueled a backlash against public health officials across the country: Public servants have been harassed, threatened and forced to resign when we need them most. This is unconscionable and dangerous.”
“We’re seeing the terrible effect of undermining the CDC play out in our population. Willful disregard for public health guidelines is, unsurprisingly, leading to a sharp rise in infections and deaths,” the authors wrote.
- “America now stands as a global outlier in the coronavirus pandemic. It is not too late to give the CDC its proper role in guiding this response. But the clock is ticking.”
By the way, L.A. schools’ decision to go virtual may be a nationwide tipping point
- California is also re-entering lockdown: Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered restaurants, wineries, movie theaters and other family entertainment to stop serving customers indoors, and he ordered bars to close in their entirety.
This could start a domino effect among officials who haven’t made a final decision, especially with the coronavirus surging across much of the U.S.
- It also sets up a conflict with the Trump administration and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who are pushing schools to have students in classrooms.
Los Angeles is the first big district to make this move, with plenty more at a crucial point in the decision-making process.
- New York City will be allowed to open schools if positive test rates remain below 5%.
- Chicago let high school athletes return to practice last week, but hasn’t decided whether to have classes in person.
- Miami-Dade is asking parents to vote on their preference of online, hybrid or in-person, but this only applies if the state goes to the next phase of re-opening.
- Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools released its draft plan this weekend to start September with online-only classes. In-person classes would then be phased in, and blocked off by different periods and grades, Axios’ Orion Rummler reports.
- Las Vegas will have a hybrid system with the potential for alterations.
- Atlanta’s school board is voting today on whether to start the first nine weeks online.
- In Seattle, students are “likely to go to school in person only once or twice a week” in the plan under consideration as of July 8, per the N.Y. Times.
Teachers unions are flexing some muscle here, the LA Times notes.
- Los Angeles teachers union leadership pushed for online-only, and “83% of teachers agreed in a one-day snap poll.”
Cost will be a big factor in these decisions.
- San Diego faced a $90 million price tag to add the necessary support staff and disinfecting procedures to keep schools open. (N.Y. Times)
- The bill could average out to nearly $1.8 million per school district, the School Superintendents Association estimates. (ABC News)