Because no one is really sure what the pandemic will look like in two months, the New Jersey Education Association is one of several groups backing a National Call to Action to raise awareness of the need for infection prevention and control plans with the goal of keeping schools open in the 2020-21 academic year.

“The CDC guidelines are a minimum,” Steve Beatty, NJEA secretary-treasurer, said in a Thursday afternoon Zoom call. “We’re not going to have to be able to rely on state guidelines, and in talking about school districts, there can be no flexibility when it comes to the health and safety of our students and our educators and everyone in those buildings.”

The National Call to Action asks that public health agencies provide structured plans to protect not only students but the educators who interact with them — and everyone else who interacts with both groups outside of the schools.

“As a parent, I should not be put in the position to have to choose between my child’s health or attending school,” Debra Coyle McFadden, executive director of the NJ Work Environment Council, said. “And as an advocate for worker safety, a worker should not have to choose between their health and a paycheck.”

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Read the National Call to Action