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‘We’re afraid for our lives’: Chicago teachers rejecting return to classrooms
CHICAGO — Chicago Teachers Union members who are refusing to return to the classroom said Monday they’re worried about losing their jobs but they believe that reopening schools is a greater risk. “We’re afraid for our lives. We don’t want to lose our jobs. The fear of losing our jobs is real. Many of us are the sole income earners in our homes,” Chicago Public Schools teacher Lori Torres said. “But the fear of this virus is greater than that fear.” Torres and other union members spoke at a news conference early Monday, a day after the union announced that some of its members would not report t...
Chicago Tribune
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An attorney who defends students with disabilities shares some advice for parents
SEATTLE – Education attorney Shannon McMinimee has a rare, 30,000-foot view of Washington state's school system. Splitting her time between Seattle and her hometown in the Yakima Valley, McMinimee has spent the past nine months trying to negotiate services for children with disabilities in urban and rural districts with widely varying policies on reopening. Since last spring, she's filed approximately a dozen legal challenges against school districts for failing to provide accommodations for students. "They really run the gamut," said McMinimee, an attorney at Cedar Law PLLC. In some cases, sh...
The Seattle Times
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How one school district is using its beloved farm to bring students back to in-person learning
LANGLEY, Wash. — Over the course of an hour, the three sisters, their friend and their dad cleared out and deconstructed an entire bean tunnel — chicken wire, hog panel, T-posts, bamboo poles and all.Under the watchful eyes of their teacher Jean Cravy and school farm manager Cary Peterson, the South Whidbey School District students dismantled the big structure one piece at a time, not long after a late October frost rendered the long, thin fortex bean pods swollen, inedible — but still compostable.Their giggles filled the crisp air. After months of learning on a computer, they were happy to be...
The Seattle Times