No School This Fall! Is It Really About The Children?

Mark's thoughts on School Closures.

The nation’s largest teachers union, the National Education Association, said its members will do “whatever it takes” to protect students during this pandemic. “Nobody wants to see students back in the classroom more than educators, but when it comes to their safety, we’re not ready to take any options off the table,” the group’s president, Lily Eskelsen García, said in a statement.

Really Lily?

​In many local school districts around the country there seems to be a bit more to it than just safety of teachers and students. Take the Los Angeles School District for example,  I’d like Lily Eskelsen Garcia to please explain what shutting down charter schools, defunding police, government run Medicare for All, funding housing for the homeless, financial support for undocumented students and families, a California state wealth tax, a ban on evictions, and oh yes, of course, a federal bailout of the bankrupt LAUSD so they can meet their obligations to retired teachers and staff.  These are just some of the conditions  that the L.A. Teachers Union has demanded before they even consider reentering the classroom.  Because it’s in the students best interest of course. 

If that isn’t enough, Governor Newsom did his part to protect the union by signing a bill that prohibits layoffs of teachers or other school employees through June of 2021. No school? No problem. Teachers will still get paid.

https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/03/13/governor-newsom-signs-executive-order-ensuring-state-funding-for-schools-even-in-event-of-physical-closure/

In a union funded research paper, the authors argue that “restarting schools should be about learning” and “unlike other countries that recognize protecting lives is the key to protecting livelihoods, the United States has chosen to prioritize profits over people.  The Trump administration’s attempt to force people to return to work on a large scale depends on restarting schools so parents have childcare.”

The Trump administration….again.  Really?? Please!!

No one has yet answered the question about what these demands have to do with safely educating our children or what, if anything, this has to do with teachers providing the resources that students need and deserve. Exactly. It’s not about educating your children. It’s about politics!

Science Magazine has weighed in by publishing an open letter that was signed by more than 1500 members of the United Kingdom’s Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health that states, “Continued closures risk ‘scarring the life chances of a generation of young people.’  Science Magazine reported,  “Science looked at reopening strategies from South Africa to Finland to Israel, some encouraging patterns emerged. Together, they suggest a combination of keeping student groups small and requiring masks and some social distancing helps keep schools and communities safe, and that younger children rarely spread the virus to one another or bring it home.”
 
Hey, the elite liberal progressives love comparing Europe to the U.S. when it comes to, well……EVERYTHING! They have better health care, less crime, no guns, more love, less hate.  Why wouldn’t we look to them to solve the reopening schools issue?
 
Look, for one thing, I support allowing these kinds of decisions to be made at the local level. It should take into account the best interests of students, parents, taxpayers and the community at large.  This, much the same as the “shelter at home’ issue, is not a one size fits all scenario.
 
Let’s hope all involved can put aside the virtue signalling, social justice campaigning and partisan politics and, instead, make an honest effort to make sure our children get the education they need and deserve.