The risk of opening schools: Flexibility, planning needed
With President Donald Trump calling for campuses to welcome students in the fall and numerous large school districts around the country announcing that online-only schooling will continue, risk management teams are grappling with how to safely proceed amid the coronavirus pandemic. While various studies have found that most children are minimally affected when they contract COVID-19, the safety of teachers and other school workers is a growing concern. The political controversy over school openings is taking place against a backdrop of surging infection rates in some regions and decisions by some states to dial back to previous shutdown levels. The [...]
Trump’s EPA Sued Over Understating Risks of Deadly Chemical
NEW YORK, NY — Today, a coalition of community, labor, and environmental groups filed a petition challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final methylene chloride risk evaluation, which unlawfully determined that manufacturing, disposal, and several other uses of methylene chloride present no unreasonable risk. The risk evaluation — the first to be released under the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) — violates the requirements of that law by understating methylene chloride’s known risks and excluding multiple ways in which workers and communities are exposed to the chemical. Read the full press release here.
Pandemic v. Schools – National Coalition for Healthier Schools Plan for Safe Reopening
School Buildings and Occupants Can Speed or Slow the Spread of COVID-19 Jul. 9, 2020 / PRZen / SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- As pressure mounts for schools to reopen this fall, awareness is growing of the need for specific plans on how schools will not just open, but stay open, by protecting the health of children and their families, teachers, administrators and school staff. By their nature, schools are an environment conducive to the spread of illnesses, including COVID-19. They are densely occupied for long periods and have a well-documented history of deferred maintenance which has resulted in well-known problems with ventilation [...]
NJEA, Others Want National School Reopening Guideline Consensus
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 [...]
Will N.J. have enough teachers to reopen schools? Union worried many won’t go back.
School districts have begun to hear from teachers who are requesting to retire early or refusing to return to the classroom during the coronavirus pandemic. Others are asking to teach only from home because they or one of their relatives have health problems. That is raising questions about whether there will be enough certified teachers to teach during the 2020-2021 school year under the state’s new rules limiting the number of students in each classroom, said Steve Beatty, secretary-treasurer of the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union. “That is a real question of whether or not we will [...]
For The Many NJ Applauds Borrowing Deal to Protect Against Budget Cuts
Earlier today, Governor Murphy and Senate President Sweeney announced a deal that would allow New Jersey to borrow funds from the federal government to balance the state budget. In response to this agreement, members of the For The Many NJ coalition release the following statements: Sheila Reynertson, Senior Policy Analyst, New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP): “This deal is great news for residents of New Jersey and will set the stage for a stronger and more equitable pandemic recovery. Borrowing at this level will ensure that the most important public services and safety net programs will be there for everyone, especially [...]