NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
WORKER SAFETY
Teachers union blasts Gov. Brown
for reversal on school reopening
Oregon took months to develop
guidelines for safe reopening.
Now they won’t be enforced.
Amid a record coronavirus
surge, Oregon governor Kate
Brown announced Dec. 23 that
she won’t enforce her previ-
ously announced guidelines for
safe school reopening. The re-
opening guidelines—devel-
oped by the Oregon Depart-
ment of Education and the
Oregon Health Authority—are
based on measures of local
community spread of COVID-
19, but Brown said as of Jan. 1
they’ll be advisory rather than
mandatory. Instead decisions
on reopening will be made by
each school district.
In a letter to the two agen-
cies, Brown said she hopes
more Oregon schools, espe-
cially elementary schools, will
transition to in-person instruc-
tion by Feb. 15.
Oregon Education Association
(OEA) denounced the change,
saying elected leaders shouldn’t
allow political pressures to dictate
public health measures.
“Instead of providing clarity
for students, families and edu-
cators Governor Brown’s deci-
sion to abruptly end the en-
forcement of the state’s public
health metrics will simply be
another example of the contin-
ually moving goalposts in our
fight against COVID-19 that
has left so many Oregonians
and Americans frustrated with,
and distrustful of, our elected
officials throughout the course
of this pandemic,” said OEA
President John Larson.
The governor also directed
the agencies to work with
schools to provide on-site,
rapid testing as a safeguard.
Brown previously announced
that educators and school staff
will be prioritized for COVID-
19 vaccinations.
January 1, 2021 | PAGE 5