building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. >> we are asking your questions everyday at three to get your answers in real time. teacher and student strikes over covid safety, tony thurman will be joining us to address issues that i be pressing all schools. news that supreme court justice stephen breyer will retire in june at the conclusion of this term, justice breyer is 83, the oldest justice on the high court , he has served for 27 years, nominated by former president

bill clinton, he is one of three liberals on the bench that is split six-three in favor of conservatives. this is his yearbook photo. joining us today, some a very close to justice breyer, justice stewart, who is in san francisco, thank you very much for being here with us. >> my pleasure. >> it is safe to say you have no justice breyer a long time. >> certainly t t t t t t t t t school and we lived together for three years at stanford as undergraduates. >> we dug up a picture here courtesy of the alumni association, i think it is the forensics team. >> that was the forensics group,

stephen and i both debated among other things. >> it was a competitive debate team, i will not ask you who was the stronger bader, i imagine that was a debate in itself. i know you talk regularly and you have talked recently, how long has he been contemplating this decision and announcement? >> he has seen and coming. from the day of bidens election victory that was announced, for those of us that believed it, he has been worrying about this situation and agonizing about it since then, i think it is fair to say. he was instantly aware of the reasons why people have been

calling for his retirement. he has been pondering it and agonizing over it since then, i think it is fair to say. >> i can imagine how agonizing it must have been. there have been calls for him to retire, billboards up in d.c., op ed written by legal voices. do you think the justice felt that pressure keenly and how heavily do think that he weighed that? >> i am not sure it was the pressure, he was certainly aware of all of the commentators and various people who were calling on him to retire. he was certainly aware of that. i do not think that is what influenced him. it was a dilemma for him. he was certainly aware of the

competing considerations. on the one hand, he is still in good health, active, still performing ably. and playing a very important role in the court at this time. i think that is something he is aware of. on the other hand, although, he has been outspoken in his desire to view the court as not involved in the politics of the day, he is certainly aware of the significance of his retiring or not retiring at this point. in the future composition of the court. it has been a real dilemma for him and he has been struggling with it. as i say, for the last many months. >> do you believe that if he did

not have to consider the political considerations or what the reality is, if you will, he could have had fun, continuing to do this work for many more years? >> i think so. he is still in very good health, still enjoying what he was doing. if it were not for the realities of the political situation today, he probably would have stayed on for who knows how many more years. his faculties are still as good as ever. i think there would have been no other reason for him to retire at this point. >> we have heard some of the talks he has given and we agree with that. what motivates him, on all his years on the bench, what has driven -- drove him? >> what drove him?

it is hard to say what drives anyone. he is committed to democratic principles of our country. certainly very much aware of the significance of the court and the work that it does. it is work that he has been generally committed to performing. and i think, in the last coup of years or so, several years, it has been clear that he is playing a very significant role on the court. committed to doing just that and not relinquishing or abdicating the role that he has been playing. >> more and more so, he has been writing dissensions as opposed to the majority opinion.

has he talked to you about how he feels about that? >> we have talked, but but b friends as we are, he is very discreet about that. obviously he is very concerned about the issues, concerned about the way some of these decisions have gone. above all, he has always maintained his high respect for his colleagues. though he may disagree with them, they are acting themselves in their sincere beliefs and not from other extraneous reasons. he has been very respect of the court, the process, but very concerned about some of the recent decisions that he has issued strong dissent.

>> you were talking about the relationships he built, notably he was very good friends with justice antilles glia, even though their viewpoints differ greatly. i wonder what you think is notable about the role he played on that bench and that dynamic of nine people. >> i think, i think he has played a role in moderating in all directions. that is his temperament, not to go off into extremes. working with his colleagues he has played a role in moderating views even those that he disagrees. some of these decisions, although he may disagree with

them, they are our nuances -- are nuances to one extent or another and he has played a role in moderating things as best he could and as far as he could. >> was that his role at school? on the forensics team? or was he different in his teenage years in college years? >> steve has always been a moderating influence. not somebody to provoke antagonisms. some of our friends, a couple of friends that we had that can high school who we had very divergent views on various issues. steve was never an antagonist, he was already a -- always a moderate. >> i could not let you what you

think retirement will look like for him after june? how will he settle and uses time? >> i do not know, he has not told me. my speculation is that he will do one of two things. i would not be surprised at all to see him return to harvard law school and do some more teaching. i would not be surprised to see him write another book, he has written several while he has been on the court, an amazing feat. those are the two areas that i would expect him to return to. i think he will probably move back to boston, where he has been situated. that is my best get -- guess. >> i hope so, we certainly will and i'm glad we heard from you,

i am glad that a little time in the future is in store for the two of you to catch up. thank you so much for sharing your thoughts today. >> my pleasure, thank you for having me. >> as you mentioned my interviewed the justices brother. she will have that that t today on abc 7 news at 5:00. california superintendent is joining us to talk about a

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kristen: the u.s. surgeon general recently issued an advisory highlighting an urgent

need to address the nation's youth mental health crisis, the california superintendent announced a new initiative to address mental health and it is called a trusted space. joining is now to talk about this and other issues related to schools and students is superintendent tony thurman. pandemic, unfortunately, some kids had to revert back to remote learning, all of this is stressful, any data showing how much the pandemic has affected students mentally in california? >> people are still collecting data, there is not a lot of it nationally, some estimate that hundred 6000 young people have lost a caregiver, a primary or secondary caregiver to the coronavirus pandemic. some data comparisons say they -- that 31% increase in suicide rates between 2021 compared to

2020. with the of hard data or what we hear every time we go to school, we see an increase in depression. we know our students have experienced a toll from the pandemic. kristen: with that in mind a nonprofit in your office has launched a trusted space, how does that work and who does it? >> it is meant to be training and professional development and a curriculum that will focus on helping young people, we are also focused on how we support educators and i am grateful for our state surgeon general to help our educators who experience tremendous fatigue. the way we are trying to approach this is to make sure that we expand the number of counselors available to help california students. we have rolled out a plan to attract 10,000 mental health clinicians.

this will be important to our work to support our students. kristen: thank you for telling us about that, looking forward to seeing how that initiative works out in the coming months. i want to talk about some thing else that is very timely, something that we see in the bay area, districts and teachers threatening to strike over covert safety measures, some doing one walkouts. do you encourage walkouts as these issues are being worked out or do you encourage educators to stay in their classrooms as they work it out? >> obviously these are complicated issues and we want to see how we can address the concerns. people are raising real concerns about wanting access to covid mitigation measures. they are right to be concerned, when school opened in january we saw some of the highest case rates. at the signed type -- same time i have to acknowledge that many of our districts are doing everything they can to get those

resources. if you look a district like oakland where every single student and staff person can have access to kn95's, i know right before school opened, i was directly in touch with a superintendent that was setting up over the weekend before school started, days for families to come and get take-home tests. i do want to acknowledge that our district are. doing every thing they can. we want our schools to stay open, we know our students do their best when the schools stay open, they does best for their social and emotional learning. it is tough to get all the ppe and covid mitigation measures to do that. i want to think them for doing every thing they can to keep the schools open. kristen: i think to the biggest asks are the availability of the masks as well as on-site testing. do you believe those things can be given out to all schools that want them in california for the duration of the school year?

do we have that? >> it has been hard. we opened schools in january against the backdrop of no take-home test for covid testing. thanks to president biden who scrambled to say he would send more, it got us moving to the right direction, our governor is sending more. the lack of availability nationwide hurt everyone. right now california has provided through the department of public health, has provided every school access to take-home test and is providing masks for students and staff. right now we need to work through to see how much we can provide to get them through the whole school year. everything that we are seeing indicates that we will need to continue wearing masks, testing, and vaccines to get through the school year as we continue to combat the pandemic. kristen: you bring up the masks, i wonder if you think the school

mask mandates should stay for the rest of the year. some doctors are now evolving in saying that perhaps they should be optional now. one influential doctor, monica, that we have on frequently also advocates for that. what is your opinion on that? >> i cannot rival that doctors experience, i am not a medical doctor or any kind of doctor. i do know that wearing masks that has been one of the things to allow us to keep our schools open and save. i know it is uncomfortable and inconvenient, but it can literally save lives, that is what is i -- that is what i want to poke us on -- focus on. we have seen this before with surges, or people do not wear masks and all the sudden we see another search. i -- surge. go slowly, our students have demonstrated that they can adapt it wear masks. if it keeps them alive, let's

not rush to judgment and use things that we know to keep them safe. social distancing, wear masks, and vaccines, getting boosters. it is all part of the equation here. kristen:

there were quickly. >> got it. kristen: we are back with superintendent tony thurman, during the break we were chatting on facebook live and i want to bring this up again. we can all learn something from it, superintendent thurman, you caught covid and you were exposed. and you are outside. in a situation where amassed most of the time. >> as far as i can tell, we do not always know exactly how it occurs, i did, i tweeted on social media that hide -- i had been exposed on social media. i went into isolation for several days. just really want to encourage everyone to get a vaccine or a

booster, because i experienced very mild symptoms, i am vaccinated and i have a booster. i know many people have lost loved ones recently to covid who were not vaccinated, who literally died, it is heartbreaking and tragic. while anyone can get covid, having a vaccine and a booster can really help you not have serious consequences. i am encouraging everyone to go ahead and get your vaccine and get your booster if you are eligible. kristen: as you know as yo will soon require the vaccine for students to go to school, no different from other childhood vaccines. this week, a state lawmakerrr introduced a bill to take away the personal belief exemption. do support that? >> i have not had a chance to review the legislation, i would say this, i would encourage people to think past the mandate and think about if it can save a life?

as a parent i would appeal to other parents. i respect people's rights and personal choices, but we are seeing more young people being impacted by the coronavirus, or child hospitalizations, this is a time for caution. if a vaccine can save a life, i would encourage everyone, not just parents, everyone to think about how you can protect your loved ones, keep our schools, businesses, communities open. the best way to do that is gay vaccine and a booster if you are eligible -- is to get a vaccine or booster if you are eligible. kristen: we be taking additional action to get vaccines and boosters on schools? >> we have done tremendous actions, 70% of students between the ages of seven and 12 have now received a vaccine at oakland. our schools across the states have been doing -- state have been doing vaccine clinics. handing out covid testing in san

francisco, i think the bay area is doing everything we can expect parents, educators altogether have to continue to fight this deadly disease. the best way to do that is to make it easier. right now we are working on a campaign to help 4 million californians to get a vaccine, we will continue to double down on our efforts of the messaging of vaccines, masks, social distancing and all the things we can do to keep people safe. kristen: i think i read this week that graduation rates in high score down and enrollment and committee colleges down, i'm also looking at the fact that more students have chosen independent study during this. . when you look at the big picture, how concerned are you in making sure that students are still thriving and living well and achieving? >> we have to be concerned, we have seen from the start of the

pandemic that many students have suffered. if you think about distance learning, a million students and our state -- in our state did not have computers. if that is your only way to go to school, we know there were learning gaps. our plan is to see how we help students, one heel from the trauma the pandemic, that is why we are working on the 10,000 counselors, we are working to keep the 15,000 skeet -- teachers and our california schools. we are making a million books available to california students, on top of that a million books have been downloaded, to nap million books have been read for free online that we have made -- two and a half million books have been read for free that we make available to california kids. literacy, helping students learn a second language, and of course recruiting and helping retain school staff. kristen: i want to ask if the

cesc -- substitute crunch and the teaching staffing situations training better? >> i commend all the districts that have figure out ways to bring on more substitutes, the governor is relaxing policies for retirees to come back. there is a labor shortage for schools nationwide and in avery -- in every single sector of employment. how do we get better compensation, how do we build a pathway? we are putting in the work to help us get there. kristen:

thank you so much much much much interactive show, getting

answers will be here every weekday at 3:00 on air and on livestream answer your questions. world news tonight is coming up next. tonight, the major news at the supreme court. justice stephen breyer, set to retire. president biden's first chance to nominate a justice to the high court. the 83-year-old justice breyer, the most senior member of the liberal wing. tonight, president biden, what he said today about justice breyer and what comes next. the president campaigning on a promise to nominate a black woman to the supreme court. tonight, the short list right here. and how quickly will the senate move? what we're learning already. terry moran at the supreme court. mary bruce at the white house. rachel scott on the hill. also tonight, what could be a dangerous nor'easter. this evening, the two now models just in. the two possible tracks and how much snow is possible? from philadelphia up through new york city and into new england. rob marciano timing it all out. tonight,