The students in the Los Angeles school district just can’t catch a break. They have been laboring in masks since the mandate that was instituted and is still in force, by their liberal school district.
The LA schools were among the last in the country to reopen, with most closed for more than a year during the pandemic.
Concerning the mask mandate, things started to look brighter for the students as California Governor Newsome relaxed mask mandates across the Golden State.
Then, shortly after Newsome’s announcement that he was lifting school mask mandates statewide, L.A. County public health officials announced that the school mask mandate would end after March 11th.
As a result, several school districts in the county announced that they would end the mask mandates.
But not so fast LAUSD students. The United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union wants to continue the mandates in LAUSD schools, pointing to a collective bargaining process that, it said, had to be followed before any changes.
The UTLA union will compel children in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to continue wearing masks to school Monday even as the county’s mask mandate expires and other districts will drop masks.
And how is the UTLA going to compel the students? Easy, if the students don’t wear masks, the teachers won’t teach.
LAUSD said in a statement on Friday that it needed to follow the “science” carefully before it allowed the mandate to end in its schools.
The science that informed the on-ramp to the protective protocols currently in place, which have ensured the well-being of our students and workforce, must, too, inform the off-ramp as health conditions improve. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/7VoatYwnYd
— Los Angeles Unified (@LASchools) March 12, 2022
School board Vice President Nick Melvoin, in his own Twitter post, said while indoor masking is still required, the district is working on changing that.
“Disappointing all around and I will continue to advocate that we align with county guidelines asap,” he tweeted.
This is not a clear update. What it should have said was indoor masking still required but they’re working on it. Disappointing all around and I will continue to advocate that we align with county guidelines asap. https://t.co/FkqOrcuOqu
— Nick Melvoin (@nickmelvoin) March 12, 2022
Earlier on Friday, the district had met with United Teachers Los Angeles to negotiate health-and-safety protocols at the district’s request, according to the teachers union. The district cannot lift its indoor masking mandate without bargaining with UTLA, with whom it has an agreement.
“UTLA did not provide a counterproposal today, but a follow-up session is scheduled for Wednesday, March 16,” UTLA said in a statement after the meeting.
The Los Angeles Daily News reported:
Earlier in the afternoon [Friday], the district had met with United Teachers Los Angeles to negotiate health-and-safety protocols at the district’s request, according to the teachers union. The district cannot lift its indoor masking mandate without bargaining with UTLA, with whom it has an agreement.
“UTLA did not provide a counterproposal today, but a follow-up session is scheduled for Wednesday, March 16,” UTLA said in a statement after the meeting.
New York City schools stopped requiring students to wear masks this week, and students in Seattle will have the option of shedding their face coverings starting Monday.
Chicago, the nation’s third largest school district, has also announced plans to lift its mandate on Monday. After its announcement, however, the teachers union filed an unfair labor practice charge, claiming the decision violates an agreement with the union.
I have never been a big fan of unions, even though they were at one time an integral part of the industrialized and following revolutions, requiring negotiated protections for the workers.
Teachers’ unions, to me, are the most destructive of them all. They protect bad teachers, promote social justice indoctrination and as we see here, are all about control.
The end result, failing union-run schools nationwide.
By: Eric Thompson, editor of Eric Thompson Show.
This story syndicated with permission from Eric Thompson, Author at Trending Politics
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