Push to reopen schools could leave out millions of students
FILE - In this Sept. 29, 2020, file photo, school staff greet students as they arrive for In-person classes outside Public School 188 The Island School in the Manhattan borough of New York. President Joe Biden says he wants most schools serving kindergarten through eighth grade to reopen by late April 2021. But even if that happens, many schools in urban areas that serve high concentrations of minority students are likely to stay closed. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
President Joe Biden says he wants most schools serving kindergarten through eighth grade to reopen by late April.
But even if that happens, it is likely to leave out millions of students, many of them minorities in urban areas.
Shavar Jeffries is president of Democrats for Education Reform.
He says that inequity could bring “a generational level of harm” for low-income and minority students.
Jeffries says teachers unions in cities are standing in the way of holding in-person classes.
Unions say their members and students should be back in schools only when it’s safe — and that could be harder to achieve in cities.
