Trump and DeVos demand that schools reopen in full, in-person, on time in a few weeks, even as they block the resources needed by schools to protect students and staff from the pandemic that is raging across the nation.
Districts in which there are few or no COVID infections may choose to reopen if they have the resources to do it safely.
But in states and districts where the disease is still rampaging and where schools do not have adequate resources, reopening is dangerous.
Trump and DeVos have threatened “financial sanctions” against schools that don’t open for in-person instruction. Instead of pressuring schools, they should be fighting the spread of the disease. They could start by wearing masks themselves.
Not only are they blocking the additional funding needed for smaller classes, social distancing, personal protective equipment, and additional nurses, they demand that all public schools open despite the dramatic budget cuts and layoffs that fiscally-challenged states will impose on schools.
Matt Barnum wrote in Chalkbeat about the administration’s efforts to force schools to reopen:
Meanwhile, Trump and DeVos downplayed public health concerns connected to opening up schools, despite rising national case numbers. Trump tweeted that he disagreed with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — part of his own administration — which has issued guidance for schools around social distancing and school hygiene. “They are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!” Trump wrote.
In other words, Trump is bullying the CDC to water down its safety guidance for schools. We already have seen federal officials equivocate for fear of Trump’s wrath. Dr. Deborah Birx said nothing when Trump urged the public to ingest disinfectants, even though it would be fatal to anyone who tried it. Just a few days ago, the head of the Federal Drug Administration was asked on CNN if he agreed with Trump’s claim that 99% of COVID cases are “totally harmless.” He refused to disagree with Trump’s patently false statement.
Thankfully, the CDC just announced that it won’t bend to political pressure to weaken its guidelines for reopening schools.
The death of any student or teacher or staff member at a school that opened too soon will be on Trump, Pence, and DeVos.
We are in the midst of a fierce pandemic, and there is no national leadership calling on us to rise to the occasion, wear masks, protect ourselves and others by following the advice of scientists. Everyone is on their own. We are adrift and rudderless.
As much as parents long to have their children in real schools with real teachers, as much as teachers long to be in their classrooms, it is not safe to reopen schools wherever the disease is active.
IT IS NOT SAFE TO REOPEN SCHOOLS IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC THAT IS OUT OF CONTROL.
Stay home. Continue distance learning. Demand that our elected officials exercise leadership and require quarantines, masks, social distancing, and whatever else is necessary to curb the pandemic.
What is the life of a child or a teacher worth? How many lives will be sacrificed to open schools in the midst of a pandemic?
Safety first. Life first. Only when it is safe for children and adults alike should schools be reopened. It is not safe now.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Once upon a time we had a president named George who aggregated extreme executive power to himself and the people protested. A champion emerged, a charming young Constitutional scholar by the name of Barack, who promised to rein in executive abuses. The people cheered, but when Barack became president he not only didn’t rein in executive powers, he expanded them. Still the people cheered because Barack was a Good Guy who could be Trusted to handle such powers Responsibly.
Then we had a president named Donald and no one lived happily ever after.
Like!
The president is handling this crisis the same way the other president you mentioned handled a crisis that killed thousands and made everyone fear for our lives. He told us to go shopping.
And now from the ”Strange-but-True” files….
Trump and Devos share a rare genetic ailment called “Cohn’s Disease” wherein the colon does not develop properly and is instead rerouted upwards to the back of the mouth through the throat. It causes severe speech and morality impairment and is fatal.
So that’s where the term spewing b.s. comes from! Love it when I can start my day with new knowledge.
All this talk about re-opening schools is STUPID and RIDICULOUS. .
Trump thinks he can use this to prove he cares about learning, when we know he doesn’t care one bit.
Good morning Diane and everyone,
Last night on CNN I listened to a Alison Galvani, director of Yale University’s Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis say that younger people are at their MOST contagious when they are ASYMPTOMATIC and PRESYMPTOMATIC and they are the ones who are transmitting the virus. Again, according to her, the younger people are the ones who are transmitting the virus. So, even if the majority of children are not getting seriously ill, they are spreading the virus.
Also, I’ve been thinking about HOW I would actually teach in school under these conditions. I’m thinking that in my classroom there would be no group work (of course). I would try to have students speak as little as possible. Kind of sad since I teach French but that’s the way it has to be. Hopefully masks would be required but who knows. I would hand out papers but not collect them. This includes tests. They would submit them to me from their laptops. I probably would not do any projects where students draw or color as I do with some of my middle schoolers. Even if they have their own materials to use, they usually talk and sometimes get very “animated” let’s say. I don’t want to encourage that. I wouldn’t go around to students and help them with they work. So, most likely my teaching will look like it did over the computer but it would just be in person and everyone would be more at risk of contracting the virus.
Keisha Lance Bottoms, mayor of Atlanta, tested positive for covid. Her husband and 1 of her children also tested positive. Her husband was sleeping more than usual. She has what she considered to be allergy symptoms and her child has NO symptoms. Perhaps that is why we have to take children as asymptomatic carriers so seriously.
According to NPR this morning Trump and DeVos are making empty threats since they do not control the schools or their budgets except for a small amount. Deformers are always saying parents’ judgment is the best so we need “choice.” Now Trump and DeVos want to take away parent choice. They are trying to wield an axe they do not own. This is federal overreach.
My cousin posted a Philly article about U Penn which has one of the largest endowments in the nation. Philadelphia, desperate for funds, is considering taxing the endowments to get money to open the public schools.
Escambia County in Florida is offering students three options, in person schooling, remote and virtual. In the remote option lessons are streamed to parents’ homes, and parents are responsible for picking up materials. Remote learning sounds like it will be difficult to implement, but it allows students to keep up with the class from a distance.
Happy to: No!
Why does the Kremlin’s Agent Orange and the Bouncing Betsy (the S-mine) want to turn our children into COVID-19 carriers?
ANSWER:
Trumpty Dumpty and Betsy the Brutal were both born into wealth and have never had to work a day in their lives. Both are narcissists and psychopaths. Both are liars.
“Why psychopath cannot love their own children, according to a psychologist”
“The so-called dark triad personality traits — narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy — manifest in people as excessive self-love, a manipulative attitude, and a lack of empathy.” …
“People with DTP traits are often reported to have an obsession with themselves and struggle to see the point in other people’s feelings. Because of this, their relationships are often abusive and controlling.” …
NARCISSISTS ‘can never really love anyone’
“According to Perpetua Neo, a psychologist and therapist who specializes in people with DTP traits, the answer is no.
“Narcissists, psychopaths, and sociopaths do not have a sense of empathy,” she told Business Insider. “They do not and will not develop a sense of empathy, so they can never really love anyone.”
NOTE: If they cannot love their own children, they cannot love any children.
https://www.businessinsider.com/narcissists-cannot-love-their-children-2017-7
The Lincoln Project should produce a video showcasing Trump’s excessive self-love and his lack of love for everyone and everything else on the planet.
This is ridiculous and all a distraction from the fact that we shouldn’t be opening up schools at all. I work in an affluent district. Half of our students have opted to stay home and receive eLearning voluntarily allowing us to “safely” teach the remaining students in school. We’ll have 12 students in a classroom. Desks spaced 6 feet apart. Every student will be required to wear a mask all day with the occasional “mask break” which has still not been explained to us. Daily health checks. Lunch at their desks. Specials in the classroom. No shared materials. No singing in music. 2 weeks quarantine for anyone (teacher or student) who is exposed to the virus (exposure being defined as close contact for 15 minutes or more)
Even with resources, there is nothing safe about this. We are being treated as cannon fodder for people who are trying to politicize a health crisis and for parents who want/need to go back to work and can’t watch their kids.
eLearning is not the same as being in school. It’s not even close. But neither is this new model and even in the best circumstances, I’m being asked to work with all of the students who’s families don’t take this seriously at home.
the last expectation, that any child or teacher who tests positive must suddenly go into a 2 week quarantine is the one which will break the larger system
It’s not even that you have to test positive. That would put you out of school for more than 2 weeks. It’s exposure. At least in my state, where we require anyone who has been exposed to the virus to go into quarantine for two weeks.
My district has at least committed to not counting quarantine days as sick days and has communicated to the parents that they need to be prepared for a whole class to have to go into quarantine if the need arises.
Those of us in states with rampaging infections are the Canadiens in the coal mine. We will die. Our students will die. Our families and student’s families will die. Will anyone mourn?
No, Canadiens need to go back to Canada where they belong! Don’t need no stinkin Canadiens actin like canaries here in Amurika.
How much do you want to bet that canaries was misspelled and automatically corrected to canadians without being noticed?
Well the spelling. I was thinking they were referring to Les Habs.
Canada’s National Hockey League team?
Canaries. Stupid autocorrect.
Thanks for the laughs, anyway!!
The auto-correct program would work better if it was not automatic and all it did was highlight the words and not let us post a comment until we corrected the work or clicked “ignore” the suggested correction.
Then we’d notice the alleged errors and be able to correct them ourselves.
States and local Boards of Education should just say “no” to Trump and DeVos. Local control of public schools still remains with the communities. Our children do not belong to Trump/DeVos. “We The People” should determine when it is safe for our children/grandchildren to go back to school.
Right now I doubt that the general public can freely walk the halls of Congress, the Supreme Court, etc. Until it is safe enough for people to walk wherever and whenever they want then the schools stay closed.
Charter school supporter (Success Academies), John Paulson, was one of Trump’s first Wall Street backers when he ran for president.
Who wouldn’t be skeptical about Paulson’s motives? Page Six, Daily Mail, and Fox describe a letter that Paulson wrote to Spence school ($50,000 a year tuition) telling them he thinks the school has an anti-white bias.
BlackSpenceSpeaks, a site worth visiting. It’s where Paulson’s white daughters attend(ed).
Private schools undermine American democracy and meritocracy.