Democratic governors to Joe Biden: Migrant crisis is ‘untenable,’ border ‘too open’
By Greg Bishop | The Center Square Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is telling President Joe Biden the number of migrants arriving to Chicago from the southern U.S. border is accelerating. The situation is overwhelming, untenable and uncoordinated, he added. In a letter Pritzker sent the White House Monday, the governor said “the humanitarian crisis is overwhelming our ability to provide aid to the refugee population.” More than 15,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago in the past 13 months. With the letter, Pritzker joined a growing list of Democrats calling on the White House to do more. “Unfortunately, the welcome and aid Illinois has been providing to these asylum seekers has not been matched with support by the federal government,” the letter first reported by Capitol Fax said. “Most critically, the federal government’s lack of intervention and coordination at the border has created an untenable situation for Illinois.” Illinois taxpayers have covered more than $330 million on services for the migrants, a number Pritzker said is growing each day. “That’s a massive amount of money for a state still overcoming the health and economic effects of COVID-19,” Pritzker said. “Add to that the over $100 million the city of Chicago contributed.” Pritzker told Biden the situation is “untenable” and “requires your immediate help beyond the coming work authorizations for some of the asylum seekers.” The Biden administration should have one person provide oversight of the nation’s efforts at the border, Pritzker said, noting there are too many different federal department contacts who are not coordinated with each other. “A single office with an identified leader must be assigned to work for the cities and states across the silos of government to manage the challenges we all face,” Pritzker said. “It is time for the federal government to take a much more active role in managing the transport and destination of the transport of asylum seekers.” Pritzker said it is untenable to allow “just one state to lay the burden upon a certain few states run by Democrats …” While Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has been critical of Biden’s handling of the border by overseeing transportation of migrants crossing the southern U.S. border to Chicago, New York City, Washington D.C., and elsewhere, Democratic Mayor of El Paso Oscar Leeser has also been involved. In Arizona Monday, Gov. Katie Hobbs also expressed frustration with the flood of illegal border crossers and told The Center Square that the busing policy of some migrants from Arizona to other areas of the country is still in effect. “Yeah. As we’re seeing increases in folks coming in the NGO network at their capacity, we’re continuing to provide support, and that includes busing,” she said. In New York, a senior advisor to New York City Mayor Eric Adams urged Biden to “close the border.” “The federal government needs to do its job,” Adams’ advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin told PIX 11. “We need the federal government, the Congress members, the Senate, and the president to do its job: Close the borders.” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told CBS Sunday that the border “is too open right now.” “People coming from all over the world are finding their way through, simply saying they need asylum, and the majority of them seem to be ending up in the streets of New York, and that is a real problem for New York City,” she said. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed border security concerns. “You have a president that has delivered record funding, record funding to make sure that we have additional … border patrol federal employees at the border,” Jean-Pierre said. “We’ve made clear that attempting to cross the border unlawfully will result in prompt removal, a five-year ban on reentry, and potential criminal prosecution.” Among other recommendations Pritzker offered Biden include waiving fees for temporary protected status applications, increasing the logistical coordination and data collection, provide financial support to state, local government and non-government organizations for housing, food and social services, and approve Illinois’ requests for Medicaid waivers, housing vouchers, and federal coordination and support. “Today, Illinois stands mostly unsupported against this enormous strain on our state resources,” Pritzker said. “Mr. President, I urge you … and the rest of your administration to take swift action.” Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Governors ask Joe Biden for ‘honest, accurate’ information on illegal immigration
(The Center Square) – Twenty-four Republican governors said illegal immigration burdens every state and asked President Joe Biden for “honest” and “accurate” information about the situation. A letter sent Tuesday blamed Biden’s policies for a surge in illegal crossings at the southern border. “States are on the front lines, working around-the-clock responding to the effects of this crisis: shelters are full, food pantries empty, law enforcement strained, and aid workers exhausted,” the letter said. “As governors, we call on you to provide honest, accurate, detailed information on where the migrants admitted at the southern border are being relocated in the United States, in addition to comprehensive data on asylum claim timelines and qualification rates, and successful deportations. We ask for this information immediately, but also regularly as the crisis at the southern border continues.” The influx of illegal immigrants places a financial burden on the states, the governors said. “Analysts estimate the annual net cost of illegal immigration for the United States at the federal, state, and local levels is at least $150.7 billion,” the letter said. “States are forced to provide financial, educational, and medical support to migrants entering our country illegally– support that is skyrocketing in cost due to record inflation and the unprecedented influx of migrants into our states.” The governors said more than 5.8 million have crossed the southern border illegally. The problem has also grown at the northern border, where illegal immigration has increased by 850% in some cases, according to the letter. The situation is now a public safety issue as 244 people who crossed the border were on the terror watchlist, they said. A contact within U.S. Customs and Border Protection has regularly provided The Center Square with unpublished data categorized as “gotaways,” or people who enter illegally but don’t’ file asylum or immigration-related claims. They are most often men of military age, according to the source, granted anonymity for fear of career reprisal. Of the 8.6 million estimated to have entered the U.S. illegally, 1.6 million are gotaways. “Absent transparency from your administration, though, we cannot know how many terrorists have evaded capture and are now freely moving about the country,” the letter said. “Your administration admitted under oath to Congress that cartels prioritize the southern border as a major corridor and exploit it daily for human and narcotics trafficking.” The illegal immigration issue affects their Democratic colleagues, too, the governors said. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey called illegal immigration a “federal crisis of inaction many years in the making” earlier this month when calling on the Department of Homeland Security to ease the work authorization process. New York City will house more than 2,000 migrants at a New York City airfield after an agreement was made last week with the Biden administration. Mayor Eric Adams describes the situation as a “financial tsunami” that will destroy the city if it doesn’t get more state or federal help. The letter is signed by the governors of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Joe Guzzardi: Bill Clinton’s post-1994 mid-term immigration awakening
Every now and again, both during and after his two-term presidency, Bill Clinton espoused sound immigration thoughts that focused on the nation’s best interests. Most recently, Clinton, without naming Joe Biden, took direct aim at the sitting president’s open border fiasco. On a CNN podcast, and in response to a question about economic migrants who are, in the host’s description, “gaming” the asylum system, Clinton replied that “there’s a limit,” at which point open borders will cause “severe disruption.” Clinton added that the established immigration protocols, presumably a reference to the traditional agencies that assist incoming immigrants, function on the assumption that border conditions would “be more normal.” “Severe disruption” may be the kindest way to describe the chaos in the Rio Grande Valley and other entry points along the Southwest Border. And severely disrupted is an understatement to define the conditions in sanctuary cities New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., where the mayors are grappling unsuccessfully to accommodate the migrants that Texas and Florida governors Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis send north. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul summoned the National Guard to help Eric Adams with his plan, still in flux, to relocate the migrants to a Randall Island tent city. Adams, who declared the incoming migrants’ need for assistance “a humanitarian crisis,” pleaded to no avail with Biden for a minimum $500 million emergency aid infusion. Having no money to deal with incoming migrants is as disruptive, to use Clinton’s word, as conditions get. Clinton has long been aware of over immigration’s effect on American citizens. In his 1995 State of the Union address, given shortly after Republicans picked up eight Senate seats and a net 54 House seats post a GOP mid-term rout to win congressional control for the first time in four decades, Clinton spoke about the anxiety Americans experience during periods of unchecked immigration. Clinton listed many dangers that illegal immigration presents to Americans that, included illegal hiring, the subsequent U.S. job losses, and providing costly social services. Clinton’s word-for-word conclusion: “It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in recent years, and we must do more to stop it.” During his SOU speech, Clinton mentioned Barbara Jordan, the former U.S. representative who chaired the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform. The commission’s goal was to establish a “credible, coherent immigrant and immigration policy.” The African-American Democrat from Texas endorsed significant legal immigration reductions, emphasizing high-skilled admissions, fewer refugees, more deportations, and a chain migration overhaul that would limit sponsorship to nuclear family members. Jordan distilled her immigration vision in a sentence: “Those who should get in, get in; those who should be kept out, are kept out; and those who should not be here will be required to leave. However, Jordan died just months after releasing her report, after which a civil rights, Hispanic advocacy coalition opposed to Jordan’s immigration goals strong-armed Clinton into backing away. Had Jordan lived, her presence would have kept Clinton committed to her commonsense immigration reform rules. Should the GOP manage to recapture Congress, no sure thing, the results won’t spawn a 1995-style immigration awareness in Biden similar to Clinton’s. As Vice President, Biden continuously hailed “constant” and “unrelenting” immigration stream “in large numbers” as America’s source of strength. Given the red carpet welcome Biden has extended to millions of illegal immigrants and gotaways, complete with, in many cases, parole and work authorization, a presidential immigration awakening is highly improbable. Joe Guzzardi is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist who writes about immigration and related social issues. Joe joined Progressives for Immigration Reform in 2018 as an analyst after a ten-year career directing media relations for Californians for Population Stabilization, where he also was a Senior Writing Fellow. A native Californian, Joe now lives in Pennsylvania. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.
Joe Guzzardi: Bussed migrants prove limits to inviting the world
Emotions are raw; temperatures are heated, and embattled parties are exchanging strong statements. The uproar’s cause: illegal immigrants being sent to sanctuary cities. New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. mayors Eric Adams, Lori Lightfoot, and Muriel Bowser allege that Texas, Florida, and Arizona governors – Greg Abbott, Ron DeSantis, and Doug Ducey, respectively – are playing politics with migrants’ lives, and that racism motivates their actions. After calling Abbott a racist, Lightfoot openly questioned the Texas governor’s Christian values. Bowser declared that the migrants’ arrival constituted a public emergency and asked the White House to summon the National Guard, an ignored request. Fulfilling a promise he made in April and upping the ante in the immigration debate, DeSantis sent two planes with migrants, mostly Venezuelans, to Martha’s Vineyard, an elitist playground. In the spring, the Florida Department of Transportation received DeSantis’ approval to set aside $12 million to fly the aliens to Martha’s Vineyard and Delaware. Abbott sent two busloads to D.C.’s Naval Observatory, Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence. DeSantis and the other governors counter the mayors’ political grandstanding charges by saying that the financial burden illegal immigrants create should be shared among the states. In the governors’ collective opinions, no destinations are better suited as new homes for aliens than sanctuary cities whose leaders have long avowed their willingness to accept them. Days after the migrants arrived in Chicago – and the total 500 headcount is minuscule compared to the millions that have crossed into Texas – Lightfoot changed her hospitable tone. She shipped the aliens unannounced to suburban Elk Grove Village. Mayor Craig Johnson was as displeased as Adams, Lightfoot, and Bowser with the influx of mostly poor, undereducated, and unskilled into his municipality. Johnson asked: “Why are they coming to Elk Grove?” Johnson’s question is valid. From the moment migrants cross the border, during their resettlement, and indefinitely into the future, taxpayers fund the exorbitant costs. A new financial analysis from the Federation for American Immigration Reform found that to provide for the 1.3 million illegal aliens that Biden has released into the interior and the 1 million estimated gotaways, taxpayers will be assessed $20.4 billion annually, a sum that will be added to the existing $140 billion that’s allotted each year to the existing, long-term illegal alien population. FAIR estimates that each illegal alien costs American taxpayers $9,232 per year and further calculates that the $20.4 billion could provide Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to more than 7 million additional needy families, fund and expand the entire National School Lunch Program, hire more than 315,000 police officers to combat the nation’s escalating crime wave across the country, and hire 330,000 new teachers, which would end America’s long-standing teacher shortage. The billions of dollars spent on migrants is against a backdrop of unmet needs in American families. A Brandeis University study found that 35 percent of American families, despite working full-time, year-round, do not meet the “basic family needs budget” – the amount needed for rent, food, transportation, medical care, and minimal household expenses. For black and Hispanic families, 50 percent cannot afford life’s fundamentals. The Brandeis survey showed that low-income families with children are struggling; more than two-thirds of full-time workers don’t earn enough to make ends meet. Those families would need to earn about $11 more per hour to fully cover basic costs, or about $23,500 in additional annual earnings. Black and Hispanic families would require a $12 hourly income spike, $26,500 annually, to meet the family budget. Joe Biden campaigned as Scranton Joe, working America’s champion. But as president, Biden has abandoned his commitment to lower- and middle-class families. Instead, Biden has rewarded illegally present foreign nationals with billions of dollars. As a result, Scranton Joe is as unpopular in his hometown as he is nationwide. In Pennsylvania’s 8th District, that includes Scranton, Biden’s approval rating is 38 percent, indicative of his failures. Joe Guzzardi is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist who writes about immigration and related social issues. Joe joined Progressives for Immigration Reform in 2018 as an analyst after a ten-year career directing media relations for Californians for Population Stabilization, where he also was a Senior Writing Fellow. A native Californian, Joe now lives in Pennsylvania. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.
Joe Guzzardi: Migrant school enrollment begins; less teacher time for U.S. kids
New York City public schools are bracing for a significant enrollment of non-English speaking migrants. The recently arrived youths were bused to Manhattan from Texas, an ongoing transfer from Red to Blue areas of the country that has led to bombastic protests from New York’s sanctuary city Mayor Eric Adams. The political implications for Adams and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott are yet to be seen. But the consequences for the 80,000 K-12 teachers are immediate and demanding. As Schools Chancellor David Banks said: “There are students coming in every day.” But Banks omitted some key elements of what he called a challenge. The new students have arrived illegally from around the world, about 150 different nations, and will need assistance in every facet of public education. That assistance comes at the expense of New York’s already enrolled student body, as well as its teachers and administrators. No teacher has enough time in his or her day to properly educate existing pupils and simultaneously transition the newcomers into classroom readiness. Department of Social Services Commissioner Gary Jenkins put on a brave but foolhardy front. Jenkins said that his agency is going all out to smooth the way for the migrants, support their needs and quickly enroll them. Easier said than done, of course. The burden won’t directly fall on Jenkins, Banks, or Adams. The already overworked and under-appreciated teachers will be responsible for educating illegal immigrants, some with no formal classroom background. Good luck to the soon-to-be overwhelmed teachers. Mayor Adams, Chancellor Banks, and Commissioner Jenkins are off to a bad start. With schools opening on September 8, the high-ranking trio felt compelled to do something – anything! – to give teachers, school principals, and parents the impression that they have a clue. Adams introduced his short-on-details interagency plan to transition the students before their first day. The children received free-to-them, but taxpayer-funded school supplies and mobile phones. Few kids who live in an understaffed shelter as these do are prepared to begin a new school year in a new country and new environment. The child who is age-appropriate for the fourth grade but has no first, second, or third-grade preparation is unlikely, public education experts concluded, to ever catch up and are at risk of dropping out. President Joe Biden’s open borders agenda has hurt millions of already-struggling, poor Americans. Now, Biden’s brazen, illegal, unconstitutional immigration law-breaking will leave its mark on America’s classrooms. Among the biggest losers in the very long list of immigration policy victims that the Biden administration has willfully created are the students who will now have to compete for their teachers’ attention with non-English speaking migrants. Rita Rodriguez-Engberg, director of the Immigrant Students’ Rights Project at Advocates for Children, admitted that migrants who are learning English and living in shelters “will need targeted support in school, including programming to help them learn English and participate in class.” The city is dramatically short of bilingual English language instructors. Consider that in the 2021-2022 academic year, New York’s K-12 1.1 million student-strong profile showed that 72 percent were economically disadvantaged; 20 percent had disabilities, and 14 percent were English language learners. Into that mix, teachers and education-hungry citizen kids must find a way to accommodate the migrants and create a productive classroom environment – a tough assignment that could spike teachers’ already-high attrition rate. In New York, the two-year teacher attrition rate is 25 percent; 18 percent leave in the first year. The national rate is 10 percent. Because Abbott has bused illegal immigrants to New York, and Adams complained loudly, the fallout between them is headline news. But, remember, Biden has also authorized migrants’ release into the interior’s every corner. Other schools will soon be juggling teacher time and scarce resources between illegal aliens and citizen students. Coming off of two years of COVID-mandated remote learning and then vying for teacher time because of Biden’s reckless immigration agenda, U.S. kids have to apply themselves if they want a sound education that will put them on a path to good jobs. But with Biden, American kids’ educations are a distant second to illegal aliens’ schooling needs. Putting U.S. kids second is consistent with Biden’s now well-established America-last agenda. Joe Guzzardi is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist who writes about immigration and related social issues. Joe joined Progressives for Immigration Reform in 2018 as an analyst after a ten-year career directing media relations for Californians for Population Stabilization, where he also was a Senior Writing Fellow. A native Californian, Joe now lives in Pennsylvania. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pushes back against New York, Washington D.C. mayors over busing scheme
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is pushing back against complaints made by Democratic mayors who are complaining about Texas busing illegal immigrants to the so-called sanctuary cities of New York City and Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser claimed that Abbott is “tricking” foreign nationals who’ve entered the U.S. illegally by transporting them to Washington, D.C. New York City Mayor Eric Adams called Abbott a “coward,” saying, “our country is home of the free, land of the brave. We do not become cowards and send people away who are looking for help.” But Abbott responded to both separately, saying their criticisms were misdirected and should instead be focused on President Joe Biden’s border policies. Texas has so far bused 5,500 people to Washington, D.C., only, Abbott clarified. ] “Texas has not bused any migrants to New York. Instead, it is President Biden who has flown planeloads of migrants to New York,” Abbott said. “Mayor Adams should address his frustration with migrants to the root cause: Joe Biden. “Mayor Adams’ problem is not with Texas,” he emphasized. “It is with President Biden’s refusal to stop this border crisis and secure our southern border. President Biden’s open border policies created this ongoing humanitarian crisis, allowing record-high illegal crossings and deadly drugs like fentanyl to flood into our state. A crisis that has overrun and overwhelmed our border towns and communities across our state, whose requests for help have gone ignored and unanswered by the Biden Administration.” Washington, D.C., doesn’t have the resources to deal with the roughly 100 people arriving a day, and its homeless shelters are full, Bowser says. But Texas is dealing with between 2,000 and 3,000 people arriving a day, Abbott said. After Bowser criticized Abbott, Adams held a news conference saying the influx of people was “a real burden on New Yorkers as we’re trying to do the right thing. We already have an overburdened shelter system, so now we’re talking about food, clothing, school. This is going to impact our schools because we do not turn away individuals because they are undocumented. There’s just a whole host of things that this is going to produce, and that’s why we need help.” The Center Square has previously reported that many people coming from other countries are coming because they say they’ve been told by the Biden administration that they will be granted asylum, even though they may not qualify for it according to U.S. immigration law. One Venezuelan man who was released into the U.S. illegally by the Biden administration told CNBC News that he was “in a good place” living in Venezuela, and he wouldn’t have “gone through that journey” to enter the U.S. illegally if he knew he would have ended up on the streets in Washington, D.C. Abbott’s spokesperson Renea Eze told The Center Square, “President Biden’s open border policies have created an ongoing humanitarian crisis, with record-high illegal crossings and deadly drugs like fentanyl flooding into our state. … With our nation’s capital now experiencing a fraction of the disaster created by President Biden’s reckless open border policies that our state faces every single day, maybe he’ll finally do his job and secure the border.” Abbott launched Operation Lone Star last March to thwart criminal activity coming through the Texas/Mexico border, including the smuggling and trafficking of people, drugs, and weapons. Multiple officers in law enforcement are also actively working to prevent, detect, and interdict transnational criminal behavior occurring between ports of entry. Since OLS launched, Texas’ multi-agency effort has led to the apprehension of more than 284,000 foreign nationals entering Texas illegally, the arrest of more than 17,400 people, and the issuance of more than 14,800 felony charges. New York City and Washington, D.C. are also not dealing with the level of cartel-related crime that Texas is, Abbott said. Most recently, members of Tactical Air Control Party Texas and the Texas National Guard eradicated a drug smuggling operation in a 30,000-acre area, for example. Roughly a dozen TACP airmen were responsible for interdicting more than 350 foreign nationals who’d illegally entered Texas, 34 human smugglers, and more than 800 pounds of marijuana during the course of their several-month operation. The soldiers worked through limited cell phone reception in the remote area, the governor’s office said, which impeded their ability to communicate and relay tactical information to mission partners, Border Patrol, and DPS. But, using cutting-edge technology from the Texas Military Department, his office said, airmen were able to create their own communication network using satellites. This allowed them to coordinate and respond to illegal activity along the border within minutes. “What these airmen have been able to accomplish in five months is remarkable,” U.S. Air Force Capt. Andres Cepeda said. “At the end of the day, this is our community, and we are effecting change, taking drugs off the street and stopping human trafficking. It feels awesome.” Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Omicron upends return to U.S schools and workplaces
Some school systems around the U.S. extended their holiday break Monday or switched back to online instruction because of the explosion in COVID-19 cases, while others pressed ahead with in-person classes amid a seemingly growing sense that Americans will have to learn to co-exist with the virus. Caught between pleas from teachers fearful of infection and parents who want their children in class, school districts in cities such as New York, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, and beyond found themselves in a difficult position midway through the academic year because of the super-contagious omicron variant. New York City, home of the nation’s largest school system, reopened classrooms to roughly one million students with a stockpile of take-home COVID-19 test kits and plans to double the number of random tests done in schools. “We are going to be safe, and we will be open to educate our children,” newly sworn-in Mayor Eric Adams said on MSNBC. New Yorker Trisha White said that she feels the risk is the same for her 9-year-old son in or out of school and that being with classmates is far better for him than remote learning. “He could get the virus outside of school,” she said as she dropped the boy off. “So what can you do? You know, I wouldn’t blame the school system. They’re trying their best.” While the teachers union had asked the mayor to postpone in-person learning for a week, city officials have long said that mask requirements, testing, and other safety measures mean that children are safe in school. The city also has a vaccination mandate for employees. New cases of COVID-19 in the city shot up from a daily average of about 17,000 in the week before the holidays to nearly 37,000 last week. Across the U.S., new COVID-19 cases have tripled in the past two weeks to over 400,000 a day, the highest level on record, amid a rush by many Americans to get tested. The high infection rates and resulting worker shortages are putting a heavy burden on employers, large and small. Thousands of airline flights have been canceled in recent days, and many businesses have shelved return-to-work plans. Weekend garbage collection was delayed in New Orleans, and jury trials in several Colorado counties were suspended. Some libraries on New York’s Long Island and a ski resort in New Hampshire had to close. Dawn Crawley, CEO of House Cleaning Heroes, a cleaning service based in Herndon, Virginia, said she had to cancel four of 20 cleaning jobs for Tuesday because four employees were sick — three with COVID-19. “The fear is it will run through the team” as well as customers, she said. Policymakers and health authorities have been mindful of the toll on the economy and the education system. Public health experts have said that eradicating the virus is unlikely and that the world will instead have to find a way to keep COVID-19 down to an acceptable level, the way it does with the flu. Last week, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cut the recommended COVID-19 isolation period from 10 days to five, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said: “We want to make sure there is a mechanism by which we can safely continue to keep society functioning while following the science.” In another development Monday that could have a bearing on the ability of schools to stay open, the Food and Drug Administration gave its OK for Pfizer booster shots for children as young as 12. Boosters already are recommended for everyone 16 and older. Elsewhere around the country, the Los Angeles Unified School District announced Monday that schools will now reopen January 11 because of omicron’s rise. Furthermore, the district’s 600,000 students and roughly 73,000 employees will have to show a negative COVID-19 test result to enter campus. The district will have a testing site as well as take-home test kits available. Syracuse, New York, canceled school Monday because of the increasing number of infections and a lack of substitute teachers. In Wisconsin, the 75,000-student Milwaukee school system is going back to virtual instruction Tuesday because of rising cases among staff members. The district said it is aiming to return to in-person classes on January 10. The Madison, Wisconsin, district also announced a shift to virtual learning, beginning Thursday. Detroit School Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told parents there will be no in-person or online learning through Wednesday because of a high rate of infection among employees that could lead to extensive spread of COVID-19 and “excessive staff shortages.” The roughly 350,000 students in the Chicago school system returned, but a dispute between district leaders and the teachers union over safety measures could disrupt classes later this week. The union said it may vote Tuesday for remote teaching in the nation’s third-largest district. The Peoria, Illinois, district extended winter break by a week. Schools in Davenport, Iowa, surprised parents early Monday by announcing the cancellation of all classes for the day because of a shortage of bus drivers that was blamed at least in part on COVID-19. Minnesota’s educators braced for a spike in cases as classrooms reopened as scheduled. “What I’ve heard from superintendents is that they are nervous about omicron,“ said Bob Indihar, executive director of the Minnesota Rural Education Association. “It seems to be the new normal that changes are going to happen, and quarantines and people being out are just part of the process now. Districts are kind of taking it in stride.” The president of the National Parents Union, a network of parent organizations, called the sudden switch back to virtual learning “an abomination.” “Once again, parents are left scrambling at the last minute and, worse, far too many children are being deprived of an in-person learning experience, which is critical for their academic and social-emotional development,” Keri Rodrigues said in a statement. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
