WINNER OF THREE SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS D.C. AWARDS
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Vol. 57, No. 10 • December 23 - 29, 2021
COVID-19 Surge Amplifies Calls for DCPS to Return to Virtual Learning Bowser Declares State of Emergency as Case Count Reaches Highest Point to Date Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
5 Seniors Celebrate Good Tidings D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s 23rd Annual Senior Holiday Celebration gives seniors from all over the District a fabulous luncheon and reason to kick up their heels at the Washington Convention Center on Wednesday, Dec. 15 in Northwest. (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)
For teachers who have been under the gun this year, the rise in COVID-19 cases and several schools’ recent return to virtual learning represent the culmination of poor policy decisions and unrealistic expectations placed on teachers amid staff shortages, large class sizes and the inclination of youth to challenge protocols. For music teacher David Ifill, he said it’s been business as usual at his middle school. Without clear guidance about whether students and
Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer
BETTER Page 29
QUARANTINE Page 38
Uproar Continues after Watkins Elementary Students Forced to Reenact the Holocaust
Manchin’s ‘No’ Kills President Biden’s Build Back Better Agenda White House officials said the short- and long-term benefits President Joe Biden envisioned for his Build Back Better plan went something like this: Linda, a pregnant working mother in Peoria, Illinois, plies her trade at a local manufacturing facility as a production worker who earns $40,000 annually. When her son, Leo, is born, Linda begins receiving monthly Child Tax Credits of $300 – or $3,600 annually – to help cover essential costs like groceries, rent and medicine. As Leo grows up, the government helps cover his daycare costs, guaranteeing that she doesn’t need to pay more than 7 percent of her income on childcare. When Leo turns three, he attends a high-quality Pre-K program free of charge. After graduating high school, Leo enrolls in a community college because of extended Pell Grants and investments in community colleges.
band members can play wind instruments, he has become increasingly concerned about how to maintain precaution, especially since the rise of the Omicron variant. “There’s been absolute inconsistency and confusion,” said Ifill, who’s also a member of the DC Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators. “There’s a lot of mixing of cohorts. This three-feet social distancing mandate has gone out of the window. Administrators say they’re supposed to be masks on at all times [but] there
D. Kevin McNeir WI Senior Editor
5 United States Holocaust Memorail Museum provides a history lesson for all Americans. (Courtesy photo)
Parents, DCPS officials and members of the D.C. Council continue to express both shock and anger, with allegations confirmed that on Friday, Dec. 17, the library media specialist at Watkins Elementary School in Southeast led third graders in a frightening reenactment of the Holocaust. Several parents reported that when their children came home from school on Friday, they appeared upset with some even crying. The children, all third graders, said during class at the library, they had to pretend to relive
HOLOCAUST Page 9
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