So if leaders refuse to resort to remote instruction in areas with high levels of community spread or positive evidence, Weingarten said “they will see a security strike there.”
Weingarten’s warning comes a day after the union president announced that coronavirus-related strikes are on the table, adding new tension to the debate over reopening schools.
The union, which represents 1.7 million educators in the United States, adopted a resolution this month that schools should only open in places where the community’s average daily infection rate among those tested for coronavirus is lower to 5 percent and the transmission rate is less than 1 percent.
Educators will not be able to teach children “if people are scared to death,” Weingarten said Wednesday. “And if people die while educating children, you evisibilize any credibility you would have in the future as to whether a school is safe or not.”
The union also said that schools can only reopen if staff at high risk for serious health problems from hiring Covid-19 have access to special accommodations and local authorities have plans to close schools if infections increase. The group’s demands for school safeguards include rules for physical detachment and covering of the face, resources to disinfect facilities, as well as updates for ventilation and construction systems.
