Janelle Irwin Taylor
School districts across the state are in ongoing discussions to reopen schools next month for in-person learning , a plan that will be largely driven by state and federal government strong-arming.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, through Education Secretary Richard Corcoran, mandated schools open five days a week, with plans in place to prepare for full reopening, though the plan left the option for parents to continue distance learning.
President Donald Trump and his Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, took to social media and national television to threaten school districts, saying if they didn’t fully reopen, they would lose federal funding.
Local school boards should reject the bullying tactics from elected and appointed officials who have consistently shown they care less about public health and more about placating to their mask-hating, pandemic-denying base (yes, not all of their supporters fit into this box, but enough do, a particularly vocal bunch I might add, to make it worth mentioning.)
The current conversation makes sweeping assumptions while ignoring crucial questions, which have gone largely unanswered at the local level and almost entirely undiscussed at the state level.
DeSantis has stated over and over that opening schools is, basically, no big deal. Why? Because kids are resilient little buggers whose health outcomes are statistically favorable even with a pandemic still raging in Florida, more so than it was when the Governor first decided it was prudent to close schools in the first place.
How, when we were counting cases in the tens and hundreds, was closing schools more crucial for public health than it is now, at a time when the state is routinely logging 10,000 cases per day, some days more?
But it’s more than that. His youthful resilience claim is fair. Children do indeed stand a better chance of weathering this virus than their adult parents, aunts and uncles, and especially more so than their grandparents and great grandparents.
But that claim ignores the thousands upon thousands of teachers and staff members, many of whom are no longer blessed with youth.
Even if schools employ robust social distancing in the classroom, what about the hallways? Do you think kids, who were shut off from their friends for weeks, if not months on end, are going to maintain six-feet of distance while they shuffle from one class to the next? They won’t.
Maybe that is feasible in elementary schools, but certainly not in middle and high schools where children are not chaperoned from one room to the next.
These kids, who, let’s face it, were germ buckets long before the age of coronavirus, are going to be subjecting their innocent whims to their adult educators and mentors.
Those kids go home to families. Those teachers go home to families. It’s not just the kids.
Also left unanswered is the question of what happens when a teacher or student does get sick. And mark my words, that WILL happen. If a student who has seven classes tests positive for the coronavirus, do all of his teachers have to then self-quarantine? What about the kids in his classes?
How will schools stay open when a rash of teachers have to clock out for a two to three week quarantine? What substitute is going to want to work on substitute pay at great risk to their personal health?
How will families be notified if their student was potentially exposed to a person who tested positive for COVID-19? Will those families be on the honor system for keeping their child home?
What about the asymptomatic student who goes to school despite a positive test because her parents had no other choice? You know, the same way all those kids came to school with a common cold pre-pandemic. Parents, you know what I’m talking about.
We’ve long bred a culture that rewards going to school or work while sick. “Are you really THAT sick?” What makes anyone think this will be any different? And are you really willing to risk that on the honor system?
None of these questions have been answered. They’ve barely even been broached. That is unacceptable. Our teachers, students and families deserve the time and effort necessary to ensure safety AND stability.
But yet DeSantis is more content comparing daily education in an indoor setting, which he admits doesn’t promote safety, to a trip to Home Depot, a place where you get in and get out, not spend several hours a day, five days a week.
I’m not saying schools shouldn’t open at all. There are students from disadvantaged families who simply cannot manage the burden of distance learning. Those families need options.
But those families are exactly the reason these conversations need to continue and thoughtful work needs to be done to ensure that for those not fortunate enough to have the option of keeping their kids home next month, safety is still paramount.
That cannot happen until these tough conversations occur.
It’s not only our kids’ health at stake. It’s our teachers, our educational support staff and families who are at risk. And done improperly, the experiment that is reopening will ultimately fail. The biggest losers in that scenario are not the families who were able to keep their kids home. It’s the ones who couldn’t.
5 comments
Ray Blacklidge
July 15, 2020 at 11:05 am
Everyone says we all need to listen to the scientific experts. Yet when it comes to reopening schools they want much, much more than what the experts tell us we need. Schools that have reopened without masks, without social distancing and without the sky is falling chicken littles, are operating just fine without increases or surges in cases. Other than children who need to take extra protections because of pre-existing conditions, school children have more risk of dying from the flu than Covid-19.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fauci-says-u-s-should-be-able-to-head-back-to-school-in-fall
BlueHeron
July 15, 2020 at 11:47 pm
What the heck are we gonna do with folks who think like you with regard to covid and especially our children during covid.
It’s pretty rich that the FOX News crowd, in concert with the WH, is going out of their way to trash talk Dr. Fauci as essentially being incompetent.
Yet, to defend your argument that children will be fine going back to school, you provide us with a link to Dr. Fauci appearing on FOX News on APRIL 1st. A very, very long time ago. All of the so-called lies Dr. Fauci is accused of telling, are actually facts combined with opinions based on what is known at that time. The messages and facts have changed into something different now. The messages and facts will likely change as we move forward. Since the existence of COVID is being rejected by so many, things are getting far worse than any rational person could have predicted. This is why the messages from the Public Health and scientific communities will continue to change. It’s science, not making things up and not lying. SCIENCE.
For the record, unlike the President and almost everyone else in Washington, Dr. Fauci is the first to admit he (or they) were wrong. He is, without question, the smartest guy in the room. We should be allowed to see the now hidden COVID data and we should be allowed to follow the lead of Dr. Fauci, with the President following his lead and using the immense powers he has as President in order to get what we need and to provide real leadership. But, he has chosen not to.
I would like some REAL evidence of the school openings that have happened here in the US. Where are these schools? When did they re-open? You would be hard pressed to name a single school district (or even a Daycare facility) that has officially re-opened all the way without having any issues.
If you have “other countries” on your mind, forget it. China, Israel and others did the right thing and thought they were done. Took a victory lap and sent everyone back to wherever they needed to be. They are now seeing new cases, again. Having actually learned the lessons from the time of outbreak, they are well prepared for testing, contact tracing, quarantine, etc… they are doing what is necessary to avoid another nightmare scenario.
As far as the flu vs covid is concerned… if you care to educate yourself, have a look
https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/blog/how-covid-19-is-different-and-worse-than-the-flu
Flu burden https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden-averted/2018-2019.htm
If you bothered to click this link, you will see that not all people even get a flu shot. No shot gives one a better chance of getting the flu, infecting others and suffering even the worse of outcomes.
Who SHOULD get the flu shot? Everyone 6 months of age and older should get an influenza (flu) vaccine every season with rare exception. Have a look at the CDC link just above and you will see the statistics.
S.B. Anthony
July 15, 2020 at 11:22 am
Fox news, nuff’ said. Parents, one question: will you ever forgive yourself if you kill your kid or your parents when your kid brings the virus home.
Sonja Fitch
July 16, 2020 at 7:24 am
Community spread!!!!!! Our local school boards and superintendents and the unions shall serve and protect our children! The perversion being perpetrated by duffus Desantis, cockroach Corcoran and sociopath trump is going to be prevented! Our children will be trying to transition back with as much safety and caution as possible! Our local school boards and superintendents and unions will demand as much safety as needed!
Jim
July 16, 2020 at 12:43 pm
Great article, Janelle. I agree with all of your assertions about not having enough planning into how our children can realistically return to school. I do, however, disagree with the political spin. You say “the current conversation makes sweeping assumptions…” but you declare the following just prior: “Local school boards should reject the bullying tactics from elected and appointed officials who have consistently shown they care less about public health and more about placating to their mask-hating, pandemic-denying base.” Those are some massive assumptions with some equally massive generalizations. It cheapens your argument and moves the discussion to team cheerleading rather than having productive discussions that actually solve the problem you are highlighting. Look no further than the other comments on this page for an example.
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