LA teachers union agrees to plan to reopen some schools in April

March 22 (UPI) -- A teacher's union in Southern California has agreed to a plan to reopen classrooms next month for preschool and elementary students.

The union, United Teachers Los Angeles, approved the plan on Sunday. Eighty-nine percent of about 20,400 members favored the proposal.

Under the plan, the classrooms would open in the middle of April.

The agreement includes safety criteria that's required for any schools to reopen. First, areas must be out of its county's purple tier. Second, there must be vaccine access and, third, certain safety protocols must be met.

The union specifically demanded that educators be given access to vaccination and time to acquire full efficacy before they return to the classroom.

"Every step of the way, UTLA educators have kept our students and communities safer, from the call to close down schools early in the pandemic to holding the line against an unsafe return," UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said in a statement.

"We believe this agreement puts [the school district] on the path to a physical reopening of schools that puts safety first."

Los Angeles' school district is tentatively planning for grades 7-12 to return later next month. It agreed to the union's reopening proposal earlier this month.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that it's safe for masked students to return to schools while remaining at least 3 feet apart. The UTLA rejected the CDC's new guidance, saying it's "flawed" because it doesn't account for asymptomatic students and residents not tested for COVID-19.