David Dayen explains why Florida’s teachers are suing to block Governor DeSantis’ order to reopen all public schools for full in-person instruction.
The short version:
1) Florida is in the midst of a surge in the pandemic.
2) Neither the state nor the federal government has put up the money to provide even minimal safety for students and adults.
First Response
Last Friday the governor of Missouri, Mike Parson, told a right-wing radio host that coronavirus would infect children and we all just have to put up with it. “If they do get COVID-19, which they will,” Parson said, “they’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it.”
The nonchalance of this comment reinforces the impression of the Republican Party as a literal death cult. Not only do children suffer serious injury, and yes, die, from the virus, but as Parson appears not entirely aware, kids don’t teach themselves. And teachers and school personnel aren’t as sanguine as the Governor of Missouri of being marched into a contagious environment and playing the equivalent of Russian roulette.
The flashpoint for this is Florida, where yesterday state and national teachers unions filed suit to block Governor Ron DeSantis’ executive order reopening public schools. School districts in the state begin classes as early as August 10, and teachers must report a week earlier. So this is a last-minute effort to prevent a public health disaster.
“Teachers are scared, they have a high trepidation of going back into school buildings, given that Florida is the epicenter,” said Fedrick Ingram, president of the Florida Education Association, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “We can’t make our schools vectors for the virus, infecting parents and multi-generational families at home. Our goal is to not open schools, it’s to keep schools open.”
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Florida educators have a leg up in this case, because the state Constitution states explicitly that “[a]dequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools.” The words “safe and secure” are paramount here, requiring the Governor and the Commissioner of Education institute policies meet that standard, the lawsuit explains. And they have not done anything close to that.
“The only thing the [DeSantis] executive order says is that there will be a brick-and-mortar option five days a week,” Ingram told the Prospect. No guidelines and certainly no money for social distancing policies have been included. If you need to cut class sizes in half to allow children to be separated from teachers, will there be money to hire twice as many teachers? Or give overtime to the existing ones to double their workday?
That’s just the beginning. No testing and tracing regime has been instituted. No money for PPE has been allotted. No decisions have been made on band or chorus rehearsals, recess, or assemblies. If a teacher gets sick and needs to quarantine for 14 days, there’s no understanding of whether they would get their job back. Air conditioning within the schools, a critical issue in Florida, that recirculate air would need to be altered. Buses would either have to run twice as much or with twice as many drivers hired. “I can go through a myriad of issues and we can talk into tomorrow,” Ingram said. Yet no money has been put toward this purpose, in a state that has historically underfunded its schools.
Reopened schools in several countries around the world have generally led to decent results, although that’s not universal. In Israel, schools had to be shut two weeks after opening after outbreaks raged through them, and new studies show children over age 10 can spread the virus as efficiently as adults. Critically, most countries getting back to school have low and decreasing levels of the virus, the opposite of what we see in Florida, which has registered 10,000 new cases every day for the last two weeks. The initial CDC guidelines on reopening generally call for a 14-day drop in cases.
The case, which has the support of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, includes several Florida teachers. One, Ladara Royal, is a young African American man with asthma, who according to Ingram would leave the profession if forced to go back to work. Another, Stefanie Beth Miller, spent 21 days on a ventilator in a medically induced coma from COVID-19. A third, Mindy Festge, has an immunosuppressed son that she’s keeping out of high school, and doesn’t want to bring the virus home to him.
“We’re forcing these parents and teachers to make lifelong decisions,” Ingram said. “We have other teachers making out their wills because they have to go back to school.” He noted that the state started last academic year with over 3,000 classrooms without a certified teacher. That shortage is sure to increase at a time when more would be needed to properly social distance.
The lawsuit calls for emergency relief to protect the first wave of teachers and students set to enter schools in just a couple weeks. A state where over 17,000 children have already contracted the virus would be home to a grisly and uncertain experiment unless the DeSantis order is stopped. The consequences of not opening schools are tragic for students who might fall behind and parents needing to concentrate on work during the day. But the consequences of creating thousands of death traps is worse.
The Republican Party is a death cult, but only for the American working class and that includes the fools that vote for them (Fool me once shame you. Fool me twice, shame on me. What do we call voters that have been fooled repeatedly election after election?).
The Republican Party worships money and power.
The Republican Party is the white, racist party.
The Republican Party pretends they are the party that represents Christians. Liars!
The Republican Party is controlled by fascists that lied when they took their oath of office to defend the U.S. Constitution against all enemies both foreign and domestic because they are the enemy.
The Republican Party is and has long been the party of corporations and big business. It does not care about working people. It protects the 1% and screws the average person.
Alas, yes
I call the leaders of these corpirates
I agree 10,000,000% with you, Diane, about the GOP. It is their branding and hallmark.
Do you think the Democrats have become just as caught up in corporate interests? Do they really represent on the whole the average worker and labor class?
Yes, I am supporting Biden to get Trump OUT!!! But it’s worth taking an in-depth and critical, honest look at the Democratic Party. Then again, that’s democracy in action, even within my own party.
I had my problems with the corporate tilt of the Democratic Party, which was evident in the Clinton administration (Third Way policies) and flowered in the Obama years. But with all the flaws of the Democratic Party, they are far superior to the hateful, racist, misogynist, xenophobic, pro-billionaire policies of the Republicans. Schumer is friendly with Wall Street. Mitch McConnell is a tool of the 1%. We can push back against the corporatist policies of the Democrats. The Republicans live to destroy poor people, working people and the middle-class while lying through their teeth.
Both major parties have factions. Not all the factions in the Democratic Party have been bought by corporate interests.
“The Six Wings of the Democratic Party”
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-six-wings-of-the-democratic-party/
Without a doubt, corporations own the GOP, at least at the federal level. but one or two of the GOP’s factions have rebelled against Trump and their corporate donors are financing them.
Trump’s chaotic policies are hurting some corporations.
“The Five Wings of the Republican Party”
Click the next link and scroll down to the GOP faction labeled “Anti-Trumpers”
“This is the smallest bloc, and it includes very few elected officials — illustrating how Trump has largely won over a Republican Party that was resistant to him basically up until the day he was elected president.”
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-five-wings-of-the-republican-party/
Robert Rendo, you asked the question “Do you think the Democrats have become just as caught up in corporate interests?”
Susan Collins and Nancy Pelosi are not equally caught up in corporate issues. And Susan Collins sits on the far, far left of the Republican Party, while Pelosi is if anything is on the more conservative side of the Democratic party.
And Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not equally caught up in corporate issues as Brett Kavanaugh. But people who said that Democrats are “just as caught up” as Republicans and therefore refused to vote for the Democrat in 2016 clearly believe that Kavanaugh and Gorsuch and whoever else Trump could appoint to replace Ginsburg is absolutely no different than have 3 new Ruth Bader Ginsburgs who were appointed by the democrats who are “just as caught up in corporate interests”.
I have heard similar types of illogical questions from my Trump-voting friends and relatives who demand that people “prove” that Democrats aren’t just as caught up in corporate interests as the Republicans and then reject every fact-based argument because they just know that there is absolutely no difference.
Imagine if a Trump-voting relative kept asking you “do you think that AOC and Bernie Sanders are just as caught up in the Communist Party as Stalin was” and then no matter what facts you offered them, they still kept rejecting the facts and saying “I reject every fact you offered because you didn’t prove to my satisfaction that AOC and Bernie are no different than Stalin.”
At some point, you’d know your Trump voting relative wasn’t interested in the facts, but just wanted to have some excuse to demonize and attack AOC and Bernie.
You are so much better than that, Robert. Read how Diane Ravitch can acknowledge the problems with the democrats’ position on some issues but from the position of someone interested in facts.
Diane never says “the Democrats are perfect, vote for them”, because she is honest. She also doesn’t say “the Democrats are just as corporate as the Republicans” because that also is not honest. Just like if a Trump-voting relative said that “Bernie is just like Fidel Castro”, you would try to acknowledge that on a few issues there might be some similarities, that is a far cry from the liars who are trying to use false claims that Bernie is no different than Castro” to demonize Bernie.
We live in a time when the far right is not interested in truthful discussion and just wants to use false innuendo to smear Democrats. Those who support democrats try to argue with reason, which means recognizing nuances and imperfections in their own party. And some on the left use the same false innuendo – but only against the Democrats and not the Republicans – as the Republicans do! And it serves to normalize the worst actions of the Republicans, which is a very dangerous thing to do when the Republicans are acting in a way that is very dangerous to democracy itself.
This article is specifically about Utah, but I’ll bet it also goes for a ton of other states experiencing huge increases in cases:
“Politicians and business interests pushed health officials aside to control reopening. Then cases exploded.” https://www.ksl.com/article/50000336/politicians-and-business-interests-pushed-health-officials-aside-to-control-reopening-then-cases-exploded
There have been 612k deaths (and still counting) worldwide from COVID-19
with 143k of those deaths in the United States equal to 23.366-percent of the global total.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=total+deaths+global+for+COVID+19
World Population: 7.8 billion
U.S. population: 328.2 million = 4.2% of global population
How did the wealthiest country in the world with 4.2% of the global population end up with 23.366-percent of the world’s deaths from COVID-19?
ANSWER: Trump and the Republican Party
team science vs team greed
The lawsuit filed by the union asserts that opening schools at this point is violation of Florida’s Constitution, which requires the provision of “safe” and “secure” schools. both the NEA and AFT are backing the lawsuit.
DeSantis has done nothing to create a safe environment in Florida’s schools. His attitude has been nonchalant, and he has left any plans up to local school districts. Some districts have surveyed parents about their children’s intention regarding the opening of schools. Most districts are offering at least two or three options including on-line instruction. There is currently no money available to modify schools to allow for social distancing or wearing masks. With a positivity rate of 18.90%, the governor continues to refuse to order the wearing of masks, although he does recommend it. He does not seemed to be concerned about opening schools with such high rates of infection. Any details remain undecided, and districts are struggling to cobble together some type of plan. Some teachers are busy writing their wills and end of life directives while some in the right wing call them “hysterical.”
Unquestionably that decision for students and teachers is a crime. How can the governer even suggest it?
Why they are suing:
They would rather not die, thank you.
After my Iowa niece’s school district wisely chose to continue remote learning (IA is one of those states where #s are on the rise, no thanks to their dum-dum-in-chief, guv. kim reynolds), g.k.r. ordered that ALL IA school districts employ 50/50. Brilliant!
Anyway, niece’s school board is having an emergency meeting tonight so, hopefully, science will prevail. I referred niece–a 1st Grade Teacher–who’s keeping her 11-yr-old at home–to one of your posts, w/all the good LAUSD info./talking points & other articles.
WHit said, “Kids don’t get that sick.”
Wonder if he saw the beautiful, healthy baby, who had covid, &, in the video during, was lying feverish & prostrate. A baby. & the news just gets better: 85 babies were diagnosed as +. But…”Kids don’t get that sick.”
ANY sick is TOO sick!!!
And…the scientists/doctors don’t know what long-term effects will occur.
But–what can one expect from an it that cuts off medical treatment for its NEPHEW??? (Info. given in the Rachel Maddow interview w/Mary Trump, & in her book, of course.)
Oh–&–speaking of teachers–did you see that video (it was on the national news & has probably gone viral) of the teacher writing her last will & testament?
The financial pages in the papers are giving people advice about how to do just that–for everyone.
A teacher’s job is listed as the #6 riskiest job to have during a pandemic.
https://www.businessinsider.com/riskiest-jobs-after-coronavirus-lockdowns-lift-2020-6
This is a total failure of leadership at all levels. Propping up the economy, where the government has failed, isn’t within schools responsibilities.
View at Medium.com
Well, recognizing that he is losing the presidential election race due in part to his utter bungling of the coronavirus crisis, Trump did an about-face today and read a prepared speech that still contained his racist term “China virus” but also contained occasional statements that might be made by a person of sound mind.
Wonder of wonders
The two keywords are “prepared speech”. Trump didn’t write it. That “prepared speech” might make Trump sound like he is of sound mind, but since he did not write it, he still a serial liar, a malignant narcissist, and a psychopath responsible for the deaths of more than 100,000 Americans, and he is not of sound mind.
Trump does not have the kind of mind that could write a speech that came from a “sound mind”.
When he speaks without a script, his muddled thinking and lack of empathy are on display.
Correct my perception if it is wrong, but I have noticed that when he reads from a script, he looks like he is constipated and having trouble seeing what is on the page, that it takes great effort to read the print in front of his eyes and interpret the words correctly. The more syllables there are in a word, the more trouble he has getting it right. The strain in his voice is evident.
I wonder how long this new willingness to take freaking direction from people who aren’t as crazy as he is will last.
If what’s happened over the last few years is any indication, it won’t last long. Trump grew up without learning how to control his impulses and they are dark, dangerous, and destructive to him, his family, the country, and the world.
People accept the term “Spanish Flu” but it did not originate in Spain. Spain was first to acknowledge it, not censure reality. Historians think it originated in Kansas.
Kansas!!!!! Wow.