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Bomb threats target multiple U.S. schools for second consecutive day

For the second day in a row, several historically Black colleges and universities in the U.S. received bomb threats and were forced to cancel classes or tell students to shelter in place. CBS News chief Justice and Homeland Security correspondent Jeff Pegues reports from Washington. Then A. Zachary Faison, Jr., the president and CEO of Edward Waters University, one of the schools that received a threat, joins CBS News' Jericka Duncan and Tanya Rivero to discuss the situation.

news.yahoo.com

More CPS students sign up for in-person learning but still no high school return date set; district sets pre-Labor Day opening for next fall

Similarly sized schools with more than 67% opting in would default to the two-day model. Schools with more than 1,000 students and fewer than 67% opting in could use the two- or four- day model, depending on space limitations. If more than 67% of students at large schools opted in, they could use the two-day model if space permitted but would have to use the one-day model if space was limited.

chicagotribune.com

Los Angeles schools and teacher's union reach tentative deal to start reopening in April

Los Angeles schools and teacher's union reach tentative deal to start reopening in April The deal between the Los Angeles Unified School District and the teacher's union was announced as the district was facing growing pressure from parents to reopen soon. Carter Evans spoke to an LAUSD mom who filed a class-action lawsuit against the district and the teacher's union claiming students were losing 17 to 19.5 hours of instruction time every week.

cbsnews.com

U.N. uses empty desks of "Pandemic Classroom" in call on nations to end "very worrying" COVID school closures

In the Rose Garden of the U.N. campus in Manhattan, the "Pandemic Classroom" exhibit was unveiled on Tuesday evening to highlight what U.N. children's education agency UNICEF calls the "COVID-19 education crisis." "With every day that goes by, these children will fall further behind and the most vulnerable will pay the heaviest price." School desks are setup as part of a UNICEF 'Pandemic Classroom,' each seat representing one million children living in countries where schools have been entirely closed for almost a year, outside the UN Headquarters in New York on March 2, 2021. "We are increasingly seeing some very worrying evidence of the implication of protection-related concerns of schools being closed. The U.N.'s education and cultural agency, UNESCO, which contributed to the UNICEF report, says 888 million children worldwide continue to face disruptions to their education because of full and partial school closures.

cbsnews.com

Deal reached to get California children back in classrooms

(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The majority of California's 6.1 million public school students could be back in the classroom by April under new legislation announced Monday by Gov. Most students in the nation's most populous state have been learning from home for the past year during the pandemic. Instead, the state would set aside $2 billion to pay districts that get select groups of students into classrooms by the end of the month. Crucially, the legislation does not require districts to have an agreement with teachers' unions on a plan for in-person instruction. Districts that fail to have children back in classrooms before May 15 won’t get any money.

CPS opens its schools Monday to the most students since last March. Is it ready? Some principals say schools lack staff to resume in-person classes safely.

“One of the major problems, however, is that schools cannot implement the proper mitigation strategies if they don’t have the staff to implement them. Most schools don’t even have the staff to implement a decent instructional program,” he continued. “For example, tens of thousands of students are going to return to so-called in-person learning, only to sit in the classroom to look at the screen so they can learn from a teacher who is teaching from home, and the CEO and the mayor are not mentioning that extremely important fact when they talk to the public about reopening, which puts principals in a horrendous situation with parents when their children’s experience in so-called in-person learning doesn’t match the expectations.”

chicagotribune.com

Parents, school leaders react to legislation requiring full-time, in-person option

LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Virginia Senate voted 36-3 Thursday, approving legislation that requires schools to provide full-time, in-person instruction as the coronavirus pandemic continues. The bill includes exceptions, such as reverting to virtual learning if a school has high levels of coronavirus transmission. Andrew Glover, the founder of the ‘Conservative Parents of Lynchburg’ group, has supported the idea of full-time, in-person instruction. “We need the extra time to get vaccinations offered to any school employee who wants them. We need the opportunity to plan for getting more students back in the building and what that would look like.”

CPS calls for 2 days of ‘cooling off’ as it reports progress in averting a CTU strike; remote learning continues Tuesday and Wednesday

“We are not locked out today or tomorrow because of our members’ unity, their commitment to their school communities and their fearless solidarity,” Sharkey said. “ ... None of this is easy. The uncertainty and risk our educators, our students and our families confront all take a toll. And all of the progress we’ve made to date in winning real gains at the table is possible because of the tireless work and dedication of our rank-and-file members, our strike captains, our delegates, our parents, our allies and ordinary Chicagoans who trust us to do what’s right by our schoolchildren.”

chicagotribune.com

Can schools safely reopen? Doctors weigh in

As the Biden administration pushes for more resources toward safely reopening schools, tensions between school districts looking to return to in-person schooling and teachers' unions across the country are coming to a head. Mr. Biden unveiled a roadmap to reopen a "majority" of schools last week, part of the proposed "national strategy" for his first 100 days in office. New York City pediatrician Dr. Dyan Hes said Tuesday on CBSN that prioritizing reopening school is essential to students' mental health. The journal's report on school reopening policy underscored Ogden's claims. Hes, the pediatrician, said "frequent testing" was necessary, but with safety precautions, reopening schools would not contribute significantly to community transmission.

cbsnews.com

Chicago Teachers Union authorizes collective action to remain remote, but some students may return to school Feb. 1 as negotiations continue

“Here’s what I’m hearing from residents all around the city and from parents in particular: If we don’t have stability in the public school system, why should we stay in Chicago? If we have to worry about lockouts and strikes, particularly after a historic contract where everyone thought we had bought labor peace for five years, people vote with their feet,” Lightfoot said. “And what I worry about is with young families, one of the first questions they ask is, ‘How is the school system?’ And if the answer is, ‘completely rife with strife and uncertainty,’ that sends a real message: Don’t stay in Chicago.”

chicagotribune.com