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Press Release

Americans, Teachers and Experts Agree: Trump Shouldn’t Decide When to Send Our Children Back to School

By July 15, 2020July 16th, 2020No Comments

Nearly Two in Three Parents Agree That Schools Should Be Among the Last Things to Reopen

A Majority of Republicans Say Returning to School Would Be “Very” or “Moderately” Risky

Harlem History Teacher: “I feel there’s no way to keep immunocompromised teachers safe.”

President Trump’s entire coronavirus response has been characterized by his refusal to listen to the experts, and his denial of how bad things really are. Now, as cases are surging, hospitals are overwhelmed, and the death rate is ticking upwards, President Trump wants to send America’s children back to school — a move that would exacerbate outbreaks, and put teachers and families at risk.

But just as they strongly condemned President Trump’s rush to reopen the economy, Americans overwhelmingly oppose prematurely reopening schools — and fear the consequences of the administration’s ongoing mismanagement of this crisis.

Americans Fear Reopening Schools During The Ongoing Pandemic, Including A Majority Of Republicans Who Believe It Would Be Risky

  • Only Twenty Percent Of Americans Approve Of Schools Fully Reopening In The Fall. “Just 20% of Americans – and only 10% of independents – support fully reopening school buildings in the fall, while most Americans either want to reopen partially or not open at all. In high infection states, 36% support not reopening school buildings at all, while in the rest of the country, only 26% support no reopening and 45% support a partial reopening.” Navigator Research, 7/15/20]
  • Nearly Two In Three Parents Agree That Schools Should Be Among The Last Things To Reopen. “Nearly two in three parents say schools should be among the last to reopen to keep our kids and communities healthy, and roughly the same say they are on the side of those who are being ‘more cautious’ about reopening schools… Nearly three in five disapprove of Trump’s handling of reopening schools this fall, including almost half who ‘strongly disapprove.’” [Navigator Research, 7/15/20]
  • 65 Percent Of Voters Rejected President Trump’s Threat To Withhold Funding From Schools That Don’t Reopen. “A decisive 65 percent of voters rejected President Donald Trump’s threat to cut federal funding for schools that don’t reopen, agreeing instead that schools need resources for continued virtual learning or other types of instruction. Only 22 percent said schools should have their federal money reduced if they don’t fully reopen.” [Politico, 7/15/2]
  • A Majority Of Republicans Say Returning To School Would Be “Very” Or “Moderately” Risky. “82% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans say returning to school would be very or moderately risky. Among these, Democrats were more likely to see it as a large risk.” [Axios, 7/14/20]


[Axios, 7/14/20]

Teachers And Staff Across The Country Don’t Trust The Trump Administration To Do What Is Needed To Reopen Schools Safely

  • National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia: “I Represent 3 Million Teachers, Support Staff, Secretaries, Bus Drivers, And Any One Of Us Is More Qualified Than Donald Trump And Betsy DeVos To Talk About What We Need To Reopen Schools Safely.” “The head of the nation’s largest labor union is criticizing President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for what she calls ‘orders and threats from the Oval Office’ as the administration pushes to fully reopen schools in the fall. ‘I represent 3 million teachers, support staff, secretaries, bus drivers, and any one of us is more qualified than Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos to talk about what we need to reopen schools safely,’ Lily Eskelsen García, the president of the National Education Association, told CBSN anchors Anne-Marie Green and Vladimir Duthiers. García said she was ‘outraged’ and ‘mystified’ over a federal push for reopening that has included the president attacking CDC guidance as ‘very tough’ and ‘expensive,’ and DeVos repeatedly calling for a return to in-person schooling despite ballooning coronavirus rates.” [CBS News, 7/14/20]
  • Matthew Landau, History Teacher At Democracy Prep Charter High School In Harlem: “I Feel There’s No Way To Keep Immunocompromised Teachers Safe.” “With many teachers reluctant to return to work, according to polls, staffing will be a major challenge for districts across the country. New York estimates that about 1 in 5 of its teachers will receive a medical exemption to teach remotely this fall. Matthew Landau, a history teacher at Democracy Prep Charter High School in Harlem, hopes he will be one of them. He survived stage four cancer several years ago and said he does not feel comfortable going back to his classroom. ‘I feel there’s no way to keep immunocompromised teachers safe,’ he said.” [New York Times, 7/11/20]
  • An Arizona Elementary Teacher Died After Being Infected With Coronavirus While Teaching Summer School. “A beloved longtime Arizona elementary school teacher died of coronavirus after sharing a summer classroom with two other teachers who also fell ill with the disease, and now those close to her are warning of the risks of sending teachers and children back to school too quickly. Kimberley Chavez Lopez Byrd, Jena Martinez-Inzunza and Angela Skillings were teaching Hayden Winkelman Unified School District’s virtual summer school to kindergarten, first-grade and second-grade students from the same classroom. Lopez Byrd got sick in early June but was told she had a sinus infection, which was not odd for her, Lopez Byrd’s son, Luke, told NBC News. She kept working, but she also kept feeling worse and was finally encouraged by her daughter to go to the hospital. On June 13, Lopez Byrd tested positive for COVID-19. The next day she was put on a ventilator. And on June 26, she died.” [NBC News, 7/13/20]

Experts Warn That Schools Reopening Too Quickly Will Result With The Virus Spreading In Communities

  • Since May, The Center For Disease And Prevention Control Has Warned That Full Reopening Of K-12 And Higher Education Would The “Highest Risk” Of Covid Spread. “Since May, the C.D.C. website has cautioned that full reopening would be ‘highest risk,’ and that in both K-12 and higher education settings, the more people interact, ‘and the longer that interaction, the higher the risk of Covid-19 spread.’ The ‘lowest risk,’ the guidelines say, would be for students and teachers to attend virtual-only classes — an option the administration this week began a full-court press against.” [New York Times, 7/10/20] 
    • Joshua Sharfstein, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice And Community Engagement At Johns Hopkins University, Warned That Schools Reopening Would Cause Covid To Spread In Communities And Disrupt The Ability For Them Stay Open. “Public health experts, school officials, and teacher unions are warning that any proposal to physically reopen likely depends on containing the broader spread of the virus outside the classroom. ‘I think it does become hard or impossible in areas with very high rates of infection,’ Joshua Sharfstein, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement at Johns Hopkins University and an advocate for reopening schools, said. ‘People will just be getting sick in the community and bringing it into the school. It will be very disruptive to the ability to stay open.’” [CBS News, 7/14/20]
  • The American Academy Of Pediatrics, The American Federation of Teachers, The National Education Association,  And The School Superintendents Association Issued A Joint Statement Saying That Only Health Concerns Should Dictate School Reopenings. [The AAP] joined with three other groups — the American Federation of Teachers, the second-largest teachers union in the country; the National Education Association, the largest union in the country; and AASA, the School Superintendents Association — in issuing a statement about the reopening of schools that was clearly aimed at Trump and DeVos. The statement said that only health concerns should dictate when schools reopen — not political leaders — and that threatening to withhold funding from districts that don’t fully reopen is ‘misguided.’” [Washington Post, 7/13/20]
  • The Joint Statement Responded To President Trump’s Threats To Withhold Funding From Schools That Do Not Reopen. The organizations wrote: “Reopening schools in a way that maximizes safety, learning, and the well-being of children, teachers, and staff will clearly require substantial new investments in our schools and campuses. We call on Congress and the administration to provide the federal resources needed to ensure that inadequate funding does not stand in the way of safely educating and caring for children in our schools. Withholding funding from schools that do not open in person fulltime would be a misguided approach, putting already financially strapped schools in an impossible position that would threaten the health of students and teachers.” [Washington Post, 7/13/20]

Countries That Took The Virus Seriously And Had Adequate Safety Protocols In Place During Reopening Have Been Able To Send Their Kids Back To School, While Other Countries Show That Prematurely Reopening Schools Has Disastrous Consequences. 

Countries That Flattened The Curve And Implemented Strict Safety Measures Have Safely Reopened Schools.

  • Denmark Introduced Strict Health And Safety Measures For Schools, Including Ample Distance, Handwashing, And Regular Sanitization Of School Materials.  “More specifically, Denmark introduced new health and safety measures for schools, including: (1) In the classroom, students must be seated at tables that are at least two meters (6.5 feet) apart; (2) students must handwash every two hours; and (3) all educational materials and equipment must be cleaned twice a day. In some schools, additional toilets and sinks were installed. To minimize risk of contagion, many schools reduced their number of hours or remained closed some days. Parents now drop off students at staggered times, sometimes using different school entrances, and are not allowed inside school buildings. In addition, any child or parent who presents even minor symptoms must not attend school.” [Brookings Institution, 7/6/20]
    • Denmark Requested That Parents Who Do Not Work Keep Children At Home To Address Schools’ Reduced Capacity To Serve Students. “Given schools’ reduced capacity to serve students due to these health and safety measures, the government of Denmark asked families to keep their children at home when at least one parent does not work.“ [Brookings Institution, 7/6/20]
  • Germany Allowed Its Sixteen States To Control Their School Reopening Timetables, But Allowed Smaller, Staggered Teaching Groups And Insisted That Reopenings Should Proceed Only If Infection Rates Remained Low. “Each of Germany’s 16 federal states has been in charge of its own reopening timetable. While most states were allowing at least some final-year students to attend in-person classes by the first week of May, the vast majority of German students stayed at home until much later. In the largest state of Bavaria, for example, schools only reopened for all children on June 15. But even then, some restrictions remained in place, according to the state’s government. Students were still taught in smaller groups and classes are staggered, so not all students are physically present at the same time… The government said schools should reopen only if infection rates in Germany remain low.” [CNN, 7/10/20]

Rushed School Reopenings Prompted A Resurgence Of The Virus In Israel.

  • Daily Beast: “Israel’s Unchecked Resurgence Of COVID-19 Was Propelled By The Abrupt May 17 Decision to Reopen All Schools.” “Israel’s unchecked resurgence of COVID-19 was propelled by the abrupt May 17 decision to reopen all schools, medical and public-health officials have told The Daily Beast. The assessment of Israel’s trajectory has direct bearing on the heated debate underway in the United States between President Donald Trump, who is demanding a nationwide reopening of schools for what appear to be largely political reasons, and health authorities who caution it could put the wider population at risk.” [The Daily Beast, 7/14/20]
  • On July 14, 47 Percent Of The New Coronavirus Cases In Israel Were People That Were Infected In Schools. “On Tuesday, Israel reported 1,681 new cases of COVID-19 infection, its worst result since the outbreak began. The source of the infection explosion can be seen clearly in the numbers from June. As Kliner told the Knesset, 1,400 Israelis were diagnosed with the disease last month. Of those, 185 caught it at events such as weddings, 128 in hospitals, 113 in workplaces, 108 in restaurants, bars, or nightclubs, and 116 in synagogues, according to Kliner, while 657—which is to say 47 percent of the total—were infected by the coronavirus in schools. ‘Not a single school was prepared,’ says Mohammad Khatib, who teaches public health at the Zefat Academic College and is the epidemiological expert on the health ministry’s newly formed advisory committee on the coronavirus in the Arab sector.” [The Daily Beast, 7/14/20]
  • Israel Was Unable To Contain The Spread Of Covid After Opening Schools Despite Only Reporting 10 New Cases On The Day Of Reopening. “Importantly, on May 17 in Israel it appeared the virus not only was under control, but defeated. Israel reported only 10 new cases of COVID-19 in the entire country that day. In the U.S., the debate often is about reopening schools where the disease is not only not in decline, but surging.” [The Daily Beast, 7/14/20]
  • The Number Of New Coronavirus Cases In Israel Has Increased From Fewer Than 50 A Day To 1,500 A Day Since Reopening Schools. “Some Israeli public-health officials are blaming the country’s decision to reopen schools in May for helping fuel a large new wave of coronavirus infections that has prompted authorities to shut down sections of the economy once again. In recent weeks, the number of new cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has risen to around 1,500 per day nationwide from a low of fewer than 50 a day about two months ago.” [Wall Street Journal, 7/14/20]
  • Since Reopening Schools On May 17, At Least 1,335 Students And 691 Staff Have Been Infected With The Coronavirus In Israel. “The surge followed outbreaks in schools that by Monday had infected at least 1,335 students and 691 staff since the schools reopened in early May, according to the education ministry.” [Wall Street Journal, 7/14/20]
  • Israel Was Forced To Close Down Schools Two Weeks After Reopening Because Of Widespread Outbreaks. “Two weeks after Israel fully reopened schools, a COVID-19 outbreak sweeping through classrooms — including at least 130 cases at a single school — has led officials to close dozens of schools where students and staff were infected. A new policy orders any school where a virus case emerges to close.” [NPR, 6/3/20]